Give Thanks November

So much to be thankful for.

Noah, Alex and Kiah compounding the leaves in the trash can.

 I can't resist taking a picture of a sleeping baby. They are so angelic.

Alex's Thanksgiving preschool program. His indian name: "Catching Lizard", apparently given to him by his teacher after catching a lizard at school.

Lot's of baking went on this November.

After he wowed everyone with his candy and cookie turkeys last year he attempted to stake his claim to most domestic dad again and succeeded. He perfected two creations this year. The first was a delicious bread pudding. I had never cared for bread pudding before, but his was the perfect combination of decadence and comfort food. His other creation was a white chocolate pumpkin cheese cake in a gingersnap crust. YUM! Way to get in touch with your domestic side, Rob.

Thanksgiving morning we had our neighbor's, the McGoverns, over for breakfast. The menu: PIE! I'm usually too full Thanksgiving night to fully enjoy pie for dessert. It was fantastic for breakfast. My favorite to make and eat is my caramel apple pie. 

The kids made their own pies to eat. Addilyn choose apple, Maycie blueberry (of course) and Alex pumpkin.

Isaac thought the pie was okay, but mostly liked the whipped cream.

Thanksgiving dinner at the Abbotts house with lots of friends and LOTS of food. 

The party included us, the Abbotts, the Smiths, the Yandows and Julie Sandidge. 

Maycie enjoying coloring the kid's table.

Sandy's beautiful centerpiece for the Adult table.

Thanksgiving weekend we took the kids to a farm to cut down a Christmas tree. We didn't end up cutting a tree from the farm (we didn't like any of them), but we enjoyed a picnic, farm animals and the zip line.

Later that weekend, we had our "Deck the Halls" party. The kids got to pick out their ornaments for the year. Maycie choose a crystal - she likes pretty things. Addilyn choose a Harry Potter ornament since she's been reading the books this year. Alex choose a guitar since that's what he asked Santa for. Isaac got Mickey Mouse ears since we made our first family trip to Disney World this year.

Addilyn reading the letter from "Christmas", our elf.

Addilyn also requested an "Elf on the Shelf". She sent a letter to Santa with one of the neighbor's elves.  A few days later an elf appeared at our house. The kids voted to call her "Christmas". Every morning she would be in a new location and be holding up either a smiley face or frowney face based on the kids behavior from the day before. It was a pretty effective warning system. The kids were terrified that the elf might give Santa a bad report.