Happy Thanksgiving

On November 12, we celebrated Daddy's birthday.  The girls were so excited to get him out of bed so he could open his gifts!

 Daddy was happy to find a Star Trek trivia game and a light for his work shop.

 Leaves have nearly all fallen here, and our raking is finally done.  One last big project remained outside, and we tackled that the week of Daddy's birthday - disassembling the trampoline.  Mr. No Nap joined us outside since we couldn't convince him to sleep in his warm bed.  A bit of swinging and watching the goings on and he was finally adorably asleep.

 The girls were very excited to help take down the net and poles and springs and all, though I think they played on it more in that afternoon than in the past few weeks combined.  There was a novelty to it, knowing it was going away for the winter, I guess.

The weekend of Daddy's birthday, we went with friends to see a play at the Wayland High School.  They presented a Dr. Seuss version of the Christmas Carol, and what fun it was!  Our kids' first time seeing a play, they did great and had such a fun time.  There was so much to watch and they even got to participate in some dancing at one point.  Even Elam did well, though he slept through half of the show.  

 That sleepy baby at the play that Friday evening became a sick baby by Sunday night.  A feverish, miserable, sleepless, restless, sad baby for 4 days and nights straight.  Mommy and Elam "slept" in the chair at night to help him breathe, but it didn't help much.  He was so congested he even went on an eating strike for nearly 12 hours before finally giving in to his milk through gasps.  Poor little guy is on the mend now, but still not 100%.

 Last week was spent with much preparation for Thanksgiving.  This year we spent the day with our friends Tony, Kathy, Travis and Emmett.  The day started a bit rough with a tired and recovering baby, exhausted mama, broken jars, spilled oil and sticky floors, but it worked out to be a nice relaxing day.  The kids were able to play outside for a while in the sun and burn some energy.

 Lunch was delicious!

 And games and fun were enjoyed by all.  I bought Twister for the kids and what fun they had!  The giggles from the girls were too much at times.

 Friday morning, the girls helped me set up and decorate the Christmas tree.  As has become a tradition, each of the kids got to open a gift - a new ornament to be placed on the tree.  Each year, I choose an ornament that speaks of a significant thing from the year for each child.  This year, Ezri got...

 A spool of thread and needle ornament.  And she LOVED it!

 Alora got...

 A Kindergarten ornament.

 Tierney got...

 A Big Sister ornament.

 Elam got...

 Hungy!  He tried to eat his new ornament, his baby ornament with all the measurements and dates.

There was great debate over who got to put the start on the top of the tree.  After looking at last years' pictures, it was determined Tierney was out since she did it last year.  Ezri and Alora compromised and decided to do it together with Daddy as a ride up to the top.

 Friday afternoon, Aunt Becky, Opa and Oma joined us.  The girls had a great time playing "Pretty Pretty Princess" with Aunt Becky, and lots of other games too.

 While the girls played, Opa and Oma helped Alex and I make Croquetten, a treat Alex grew up with and loved.  It takes a couple of days, so we started the process by cooking shredded turkey and some veggies and spices to make a paste that we then set out to stiffen.  Saturday, we all worked together to roll the paste into rolls that were then breaded and deep fried.  What a task!  But they were delicious!

The girls each got mail on Saturday, all the way from Georgia where Grandpa and Grandma spent the holiday with my my brother and his family.  What fun to get mail!

For church yesterday, Ezri pulled a dress out of her closet she had never noticed before.  New to her, it was more than 30 years old, a flower girl dress I had worn in my Uncle's wedding.  She was just thrilled by how special and neat it was.  She declared that she looked like a "Little House on the Prairie girl" or maybe Amish.  It was fun for me too, to see that dress on my little girl!

And now we take a deep breath, dive back into school and begin the final descent into Christmas and the end of 2017.  How has this year gone so fast?!

Happy Halloween and Welcome November

Our stint as the Mr. and Mrs. Noah and crew (Bunny, Kitty, Elephant and Lion) is in the books.  Trunk or Treat went great, around 700 or more kids came through, the rain held off until the end, and fun was had by all.

 

Monday, the kids were invited to Grandma's work for some fun and candy.

Halloween arrived, and the girls were very excited to put on their costumes again and go out for candy!

First, we made our stop at Great Grandma's, Uncle Fred's and Aunt Nancy's.

Then we headed back home.  The girls were thrilled to have their friends Travis and Emmett join them for some trick or treating around Hopkins.  First, we decorated some cookies...

And then they were off!

 It was quite chilly outside, so instead of walking through town, we loaded the kids in the back of the car and drove instead.  Nobody seemed to mind!

 November is now upon us, and another month of 2017 has flown past.

Our usual is happening at home, with a few new things.  A late picking of Broccoli in the garden found cabbage worms on the veggies.  Ezri wanted to try to get them to make cocoons and become butterflies.  Though they will become moths, we set up the bug habitat and watched to see what would happen.  After about a week or so of feeding them broccoli, we have a cocoon!  Actually there are 2 now and about to be 3.  It has been very exciting for Ezri to watch each day, and honestly the rest of us too, anticipating what will happen next.  Not sure what we are doing with them after they hatch... but hey, its cool!

The leaves are falling, and have been raked a few times already.  Nearly done now, I've had some pretty cute and willing helpers along the way.

Thought it's been pretty chilly, we had to sneak in a few pictures with the leaf piles!

 This past Saturday, since the weather was so icky and cold and the kids are already going stir crazy, we went bowling!

 

We all had a great time together!

Amid all of the leaf raking that happened again this cold week, Elam came out for some fresh air.  He stayed cozy warm and cute in his snow suit!

 And even took a nap outside!

Hard to believe we are looking ahead to Thanksgiving already in the near future, but we sure have much to be thankful for and have begun hanging leaves on our Thankful Tree each night.  The girls really look forward to having their turn to choose a leaf and write their thing on it, and the tree is slowly filling out.