Giving Thanks

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday at our house this year! We got to sleep in (just a little bit), and then we started our day by watching the Macy's Parade on TV. Before we knew it, it was time to start working on the "Feast".

Kelly did a great job peeling Yams AND potatoes. He peeled a ton of potatoes because he really LOVES mashed potatoes and I don't make them nearly enough for him.
Now Kelly has enough mashed potatoes to feed him until the middle of December!!!

This is George the Gratitude Turkey. During the month of November when we sit down to the table we think of things we are thankful for and then add the feather to George. So, he started out as a "naked" turkey and now he is in full bloom.
This is what we were grateful for this year:

Alaska, loving husband, cabin, Gee Gee's garden, Grandpa McGee, sweet treats, family, water, hats, food, planets, preschool, world, zombies, chickens, Gee Gee, wrestling, snow, truck, soup, washing machine, Aunt Valerie, electricity, memories, ice cream, Halloween, video games, Chance, Hunter, beds, Mickey Mouse, trees, cookies, teeth, toys, bugs, music, reliable vehicles, Batman, fish, Joker, broccoli, sweetheart wife, warm home, good friends, Ryan, string, airplanes, Grandpa Joe, showers, sharks, Our Countries flag, USA, outerspace, bacon, stars in the sky, milk jugs (milk duds), fun days with family, clowns, yummy smells, auto start, soda, books, days off, our bodies, hulk shirt, snacks, job, broncos, movies, toys, cereal, stuffed lion, our minds, dump trucks, cartoons, The Gospel, Thomas Train, Brandon, hugs, kisses, fingers, clothes, health, The World, Momma, Dad, Button (a guy Kelly works with), hockey, good landlord, health, football, Dodgers and NAPS!!!!!

We are VERY fortunate despite the sad things that have happened in our extended families this year. We are very aware and grateful for the blessings we DO have.

While dinner was being prepared, the boys did a "color by number" cornicopia picture,

and took turns playing games with Dad.

Handsome little Chance

Brothers

Dinner was very delicious and all turned out well. It is tricky however, to get the timing down so that everything hot at the same time. Maybe next year I will get to be thankful for a double oven!

While we were eating we noticed that Chance grew a bit of a goatee. Apparently when he was wiping his face, the napkin stuck to the marshmallow goo on his chin.

We got a pretty good laugh out of that!

Little goatee guy

My "LUV"

After dinner I was ready for a nap, and Kelly was ready for football, and the boys were chomping at the bit to watch the "Thundercats" DVD that came from Netflix.

Everyone got to do exactly what they wanted....it was NICE!

After football, movie, and nap, it was time for pie. We had chocolate velvet pie, and pumpkin. The were both very delicious. Hunter chose to eat his pie with his hands like pizza.

Yum!

At the end of the day Kelly was most grateful that his Broncos won!!!!

It was a lovely holiday for our family, a time to reflect and enjoy eachother's company.

Memories & Dreams

Do you remember growing up when the toy catalogs started coming in the mail, and it was getting close to Christmas? There was a certain magic and excitement in the air, and the dreaming began.

We received our Toys R Us catalog in the mail on Wednesday, and I think it has been read, studied, searched, and flipped at least 100 times so far. Hunter, even last night spent over 1 1/2 hours looking through it again. It has also become a good learning book as we learn about 10's and 100's and practice identifying numbers and their placements.

Hunter decided that he REALLY wants the Batcave listed for 34.99. He even cut the ad out of the magazine and has it stashed in a "secret location". He will ask Santa for it when we go to the North Pole in December. He is really excited!

It has been fun to watch the boys and see them turn the pages of these magazines over, and over. The other day I received the American Girl magazine. Can I tell you how many times I pored over this catalog from the ages of 9-15!?!?!?! I dreamed of having the dolls, the clothes, the accesories, but it was soooo expensive, I knew that I wouldn't ever get one.

It was so fun to DREAM!
This is the doll that I wanted (below) her name is Samantha. One year for Christmas I got her book collection, I am sure my Mom would have loved to have given me the doll, but on a single gals income it would have caused a financial struggle. I still have the Samantha book series and hope one day to pass them on to a daughter or a grand daughter and hopefully she will love them as much as I did.

So, as I flipped through this catalog, it was fun to think of the memories of all the times I used to look through this catalog in the "old days". Now you can buy the American Girl that looks like you, I found the one that looks like me, that was fun!
While I was sad to never get the Samantha, I got something better, I got the chance to dream.
THAT IS ONE OF THE BEST GIFTS!!!
While some of you might think I still am looking at the catalog everyday, I really only looked at it twice and then gave it to one of our friends little girls. I told her they were expensive, but it is a fun magazine to look at :)

DREAM, DREAM, DREAM

"I've Told You Three Times!!"

For preschool today, we were lucky enough to get to go on a field trip to the firestation.

Here are two of the cutest firefighters I know.

This is Firefighter Andy. He gave us the tour, and reminded us how strong a fireman has to be. He also taught us to call out for help if we are ever in a fire and to stay down low to the ground.

This is Chance inside one of the big fire engines

Hunter and his good friend Brandon loved pretending to be firemen.

You always hear little boys say that they want to be firemen when they grow up. However, this is the conversation that went on in our family....

Mom: "Hunter, do you want to be a fireman when you grow up?"

Hunter: "NO! I've told you three times...

(with a look on his face like, "don't you ever listen?")

Hunter continued: ......I want to be a Dodger and NOTHING else!!!"

So there you have it folks, Hunter will be a Dodger and not a fireman.

October!!!

October started off with a bang, or a punch I guess. Kelly thought it would be fun for the boys to box him and eachother. It was pretty funny- but a little rough.

Look at this little "Tough Stuff"

Hunter puts up a pretty good combination
and gives his Dad a run for his money $$

Our neighbors REALLY love Halloween. In fact, they love it so much that they were married on October 31st, 20 years ago. Anyhow, they go all out in their Halloween decor both inside and outside the house. They also have some fun costumes on hand, including this horse that fills up with air when you put it on. Hunter thought is was pretty cool.

I really love to have a few store bought, but mostly homemade crafty decorations for the holiday. I bought these little pie pumpkins for the boys to draw spooky pictures on, and then we displayed them on our bookshelf along with a big Jack 'O Lantern basket. It looked nice.
Hunter really got creative and made his own skeleton on his pumpkin without me even suggesting the idea or how to draw it. This is what he came up with. I thought it was pretty good for a 4 year old.

Chancey's is a mixture of Momma's help and his own creativity. He knew exactly what he was drawing even if we didn't. He was pretty pleased with his pumpkin and would often be found toting it around all month.

It ended up that we were sick for about a week and a half before Halloween. It was really awful and hit all 4 of us. It just so happened that Kelly was quarantined from work for 7 days, so it was nice to have him home to help me with sick boys around the clock. He also let me have a couple of 3 hour badly needed naps.

Since we were sick we missed 2 of our planned Halloween festivities. So, we made due at home! We had our annual dinner in a pumpkin early for something to do. Along with the fact that Kelly had to work Halloween night, so we wanted him to be around to do something Halloweenish.

(Come to find out Kelly doesn't like our traditional "dinner in a pumpkin" guess I need to come up with a new traditional Halloween dinner...any ideas??)

Hunter looks enthusiastically sick.

Daddy pretended to be "meat guy" which is Chancey's word for a Zombie.

We got double use out of our decorative pumpkins. They were really yummy and still decorated for the occasion. Kelly was thankful for the extra carcinogens that were baked into the pumpkin dinner.

Ghosts and Goblins pretending to be excited for "dinner in a pumpkin"!

The next night after this picture was taken was the ward party. We thought we would actually make the party until about 5:00 pm when Hunter said, "I feel HOT!" Sure enough, he was 102.4. Sheesh!!!

So we stayed home, carved our pumpkins, and trick or treated our bedroom doors.

The boys walked back and forth between bedrooms knocking and saying "trick or treat" and they made out like bandits. Who needs trunk or treat anyway???

Not all bad came from being home sick. Chance is now officially DAY and NIGHT potty trained. How nice!!! Let me just say to how much easier it is to potty train when you don't have a newborn baby, and when your husband is home to help. Anyway, he did it! I have TWO big boys now. Yippee!!!


This is Chance enjoying a fresh out of the box giant chocolate bunny, yes from Easter that no one ever ate, for doing his first GIANT POOP!!! He was pretty excited and proud of himself :)

ME TOO!

By the time Halloween actually rolled around we were all well except for the occasional sniffle. So, we went to hockey practice in the morning, came home and napped, got up and ate "Dunch", got dressed in our costumes and headed out the door. Chancey was spiderman and had a cute spiderman hat to wear, but didn't want to put it on until later. I barely got his costume on because it was a full body suit where he has no access to his belly button. He likes to be able to rub and play with his "outty" button.

Hunter was the most excellent Batman and Chance was the most angry Spiderman.

I decided I didn't care to go trick or treat door to door in 16 degree weather, so I opted for the indoor mall trick or treating. First we went to see Kelly at work, and his co worker loaded us up with some goodies, then we went to the mall and got treats from about 12 different stores. It was really fun because you could actually still see the kids costumes because you didn't have to put snow gear on them. It was perfect since I was taking them myself.

Finally,we went to a "Cool and Not Scary" Halloween party at our friends house. There were games, LOTS of candy, food, and dancing. They boys had so much fun with all their super hero friends, playing and dancing and talking. I had fun being warm and having other adults to hang out with!

*** I did dress up, there just were no pictures taken. I decided to keep with the superhero theme that the boys had chosen, and I found some wacky colorful patterned clothes to wear. I put my hair in pigtails with a giant bow on top, and I put lots of blush and freckles on. Hunter asked me what I was and I said, "I'm supermom!!!" He said, "There's no such thing!!" He is probably right, but I can always try :)