Thanksgiving and Apple Cup

We had a fun thanksgiving at our house this year with Grandma, Grandpa and Grandma Great.  It was fun cooking a turkey and finding new recipes to use.  I wasn't sure how long the turkey would take, and it seemed like it was cooking really quick, so here we are eating some snacks quickly so that we would be ready for the BIG meal :)

Enjoying Grandma Great and Grandpa

 Getting tickles from Grandpa

 ooooh...look at that turkey steam!

 YUMM

 Proud of our big turkey!

 Let's EAT!

 Traditional olive fingers!

 Then...onto Apple Cup festivities the next day.  Originally it was just going to be the boys and the girls (along with the rest of my side of the family) were going to meet up and shop/go to a movie.  That ended up falling through at the last minute due to sick kids.  I was just going to stay home, but Mark convinced me to go as a whole family and BOY WAS IT WORTH IT!!  Yeah COUGS!

 Grace loved being nice and warm and didn't fuss the entire day!

Thankful for Family and Cougar Victories!!!  Happy Thanksgiving!

Making Root Beer

Mark had the week off last week so made some homemade root beer with the kids.  They thought it was great!  It made about 3 cases (he had to bring it to work to fit it all in the fridge!!)  So, we'll have plenty to share.  We'll be taste testing it this weekend!

1st lost tooth

Hayden has been working and working on this tooth the past few months and it finally came out today!! Hopefully is doesn't deter him from thanksgiving eating!

Fun with stickers when Mom's not looking!

Fun Weekend

We had a good time last weekend!  It was nice not having to work!  I had called into a radio station earlier that week and won tickets to a kids concert ("The Fresh Beat Band").  Although we had no idea who they were, it was a good time!  Brian and Jamie came into town early to watch Caleb and Grace while we took the big kids to the concert.

 The next morning, it was time to play in the snow!  The kids all headed out to have some fun!

 Even Aspen!

 Then inside for some warm breakfast.  Lilly was proud to help "fork" the food for Aspen!

 Then it was my turn watching the kids while Brian, Jamie and Mark headed to the game.  Let the chaos begin!!  It really wasn't too bad, and Aspen was my little buddy.

 Making hand print turkeys with Lilly's help

 Mini pizzas - here are my #1 eaters...I mean helpers!

 Aspen LOVED Grace and was so sweet with her.  She loved giving her kisses.

 Then to end the night - "Princess and the Pop Star" dance party after the movie was done....look at calm Aspen amongst the chaos!

We even fit all 5 kids in the bath tub for bath time!  It was a fun night!

This Boy Loves His Baby Dolls!

Can you tell?? :)

This is how I found him when I went to check on him last night before going to bed....both arms around his dolls.

Halloween Festivities

We had a fun week last week celebrating Halloween.  The kids counted down the days all month and were excited it was finally here!!  On Monday, we carved our pumpkins.  Here is our little pumpkin's 1st pumpkin experience!!  Does she look excited??

Drawing on our faces

 Takes some concentration!

 And some cuteness!

 Should we really be letting this guy get near the pumpkins/and kids with a knife??!!

 Happy to be helping

 Digging out the guts!  Hayden did a great job and got every single seed out of his pumpkin

 Lilly was more fond of squishing the guts in between her fingers

 Caleb didn't mind it either

 hmmm....what is this?

 I'm not so sure I want to put my hand back in there!

 BOOO!!

 Finished product (from left to right:  Hayden's, Lilly's, Caleb's, Grace's)

 Attempted all 4 kids shot, but hard to get the lighting right and ended up blurry

 Inside for some yummy Halloween donuts and hot apple cider

 On Tuesday Papa surprised us with some fun Halloween treats!

 And Wednesday, Robin and Jake came over for some early trick-or-treating

 Halloween night - making pumpkin face pizzas

 Ready for trick-or-treating

 This little pumpkin stayed home, but still dressed up to look cute!!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!