Thanksgiving fun

For Thanksgiving this year, we almost hosted it at our house. But, my MIL decided that she wanted to host it at their house one last time, even though it is very stressful for her to do. So, down to Sterling we went. We had wanted to get there by noon, and ended up arriving just as the turkey was being carved and dinner was about to be served (1:00). We brought a veggie tray, cheese ball and crackers, and jalapeno jelly with crackers. Yum. I also experimented with two new pies this year. I wasn't able to go to "pie night" the day before Thanksgiving because Ashley had an eye infection and I wanted to keep her away from other people as much as I could. So, I made a Chocolate Turtle Cheesecake and a Raspberry topped cheesecake-like pie. Both were delicious! After dinner was over, the kids pretty much just snacked on crackers and then they all had chocolate cream pie that was so yummy. I got to sit at the kid's table with my kids for dinner and I loved it. Elliot was being a pill and kept kicking the table so I finally just scooted him away from the table and put his tray on. He really didn't seem to mind. Elliot skipped his nap for the day so he was so grateful when it was time to go and he could crash in his car seat for the entire ride home. The girls were lucky enough to watch "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs" the whole way home and I was grateful when it was finally time to return that movie to the video store.

Elliot throughly enjoyed his pie and just about everything else he tried.

Ashley was a trooper. She had to have eye drops 4 times a day for a week. She had her last installment last night and was so happy to be done with them.

Amelia ate a lot of crackers on Thanksgiving. But the deal was that she had to eat something from the veggie tray for every cracker she had so it all worked out.

Pointe Digital Give Away

I have a friend at Pointe Digital that is doing a give away right now. So, I am giving it a shot. I would love to have new family photos and a nice video to go along with it. Check out their website at http://pointedigital.blogspot.com/ And of course, you should enter too!!

Preschool for Ashley

The teachers at Ashley's preschool will occasionally take pictures of what the kids are doing in school and then post it on their blog. I recently ran across this picture and it just made me laugh.

Some may be looking at Ashley thinking, "I can't believe her mother let her come to school looking like that!" Yes, she is wearing a hat and a hoodie. But quite honestly, I really hate to argue with that girl before dropping her off for preschool. At least I didn't have to do her hair that morning.

Ashley is starting to enjoy school more and more. When we are getting ready in the morning, I wait until the last possible moment to tell her that it is a school day for her. She would rather just be taking Amelia to school. She doesn't cry when I drop her off anymore, so that is a great improvement. Her teachers are great and she loves to see them and I know that she is learning a lot and getting ready for Kindergarten.

Ode to Blue Puppy

This has been Ashley's favorite toy lately. She is rarely seen without Blue Puppy. My rule has been that the kids can't take anything into stores because they generally loose it. But Ashley gets so sad if Blue Puppy has to stay in the car by herself that I have bent the rules a little bit just for her. I have even let her take Blue Puppy to preschool in the hopes that she will have an easier time being dropped off. I think that has helped a little bit. There was one day that she had to take Bunny to school because I couldn't find Blue Puppy before we left. It made me laugh that the first thing her friends asked her when she got to school was, "Where is Blue Puppy?" So, while we were taking pictures at the cabin, Ashley insisted that I take a picture of Blue Puppy. So photogenic!

October Fun

It is always fun to download pictures off my camera and then remember all the fun things that we have done recently. Back on October 15, my mom and I took the kids to This is the Place. They were doing special activities for Halloween so the kids got to trick-or-treat around the village and do some fun crafts. The best part of the day was riding the train and then having cookies.

I love that I had dressed all of the kids in plaid shorts for the day and didn't even realize it.

Ashley was not a fan of riding the horse.

Amelia felt like she was going to fall off the entire time. Maybe it was a good thing that the horses only did two laps.

Amelia loved the little petting zoo.

Halloween was full of fun for us this year. The kids got a ton of use out of their costumes this year. I was going to make costumes for the girls, but my mom was able to borrow some and they worked out great. Amelia had two costumes because her school dresses up according to what each grade is studying at the time. So, Kindergarten was dressed up with a Columbus theme. Amelia was a mermaid, but there were also a lot of pirates, King Ferdinands, and Queen Isabellas. Amelia dressed up as Little Red Riding Hood for halloween and my mom and I made her cape and it turned out so cute. Of course, I forgot to get a picture of her all dressed up so I will have to do that before we return the costumes.

On the Friday before halloween, we had a ward harvest party. We dressed up, played games, had a great dinner, cooked hot dogs over an open fire, and there was even a spook alley for the extremely brave. Oh, and I can't forget the hay ride. That was the highlight of the evening. Then on Saturday, Amelia's school had a halloween carnival. I had signed up to volunteer so I went early and then Guy brought the kids over later. There was a few bounce houses for the kids, a dunk tank, face painting, and games in every classroom. It was a lot of fun! Right before it was time to go out trick-or-treating, a huge hail storm blew through and I thought that we would be going out in the rain. Luckily the weather got better but Amelia said that she would still go out if it was raining. So, I got the kids all bundled up and out we went. Guy was the lucky one to stay home and hand out the candy. But I think I was the lucky one since one of the houses we went to was cooking hot scones out of their garage and serving them up with homemade honey butter.

Ashley dressed up as Alice for her preschool halloween party. It was the only time that she did the complete look with the tights, shoes and bow in her hair.

Down at the cabin, just this past weekend. (Yes, I know that was in November.) The weather was perfect so we spent a lot of time outside. I raked some leaves into a pile and Amelia and Elliot loved jumping in them.

Amelia running and jumping into the leaves.

Elliot still loves the swing. He spent at least an hour in the swing and kept asking me for a big push. He and I got to spend some time together (just the two of us) while everyone else was away.

Of course, we had to get a picture on the rock. My kids were being extremely goofy and this is about the best picture that I got of them.

Tori and Becca -- Brian's daughters. They were able to spend the weekend with us and it was so much fun to have them there.

All the kids. What a crazy bunch!