Much to be Thankful For - November

I have so much to be thankful for. Every day with my husband and children is a gift, but to all be happy and healthy with needs and wants met and with loving family and dear friends surrounding us - that is a generous God given blessing that I try never to take for granted.

Here are some November events that I'm thankful for...

I'm thankful for Maycie learning to ride a two wheeler. After mom spent the morning away with girl friends I returned to find Maycie waiting to show me her new skill. Rob said she picked it up in about 5 minutes. I'm grateful for children who have healthy bodies and a husband who is a wonderful father to his children.

I'm thankful for family near and far, for airplanes that take us 2,800 miles in a few hours, and for parents who donated their frequent flier miles so we could come visit Thanksgiving weekend and be there for Caitlin's mission homecoming. At the end of November we got to fly to Utah to visit family for 10 days. It was a great reunion.

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What's Caitlin doing in this picture, you might ask. Showing off her "bottle-licker" from the Netherlands. Caitlin brought home several treasures for each of us including
dutch pottery, strop waffles and the "bottle-licker" which can clean the last remaining contents from any bottle.

Once again, I'm thankful for a wonderful husband and three beautiful, healthy children - with one on the way.

Gathering after the mission homecoming talk.

Cuddling with Aunt Caitlin.

I'm thankful we could visit St. George where Rob grew up. Rob enjoyed sharing one of his favorite childhood places, the red cliffs, with the kids.

Over looking St. George.

Climbing the slot canyon.

I'm thankful for temples and that through them my family can be together forever. I'm thankful I could share my testimony of temples with my children when we visited the St. George Temple visitor's center.

Thanks to Marmie's connection to Southern Utah University's gym the kids were able to explore and play on the gymnastics apparatus. They had a blast.

I'm thankful that in early November I was able to fly to Utah alone to greet my sister, Caitlin, at the airport as she returned from her mission to the Netherlands. I'm grateful I could be there with my other brothers and sisters to share in the moment and I'm thankful I have such a wonderful husband to take the kids all weekend for me.

Dutch translation of the poster: "Caitlin, will you marry me?"

My brother-in-law's contribution to the event was this practical joke. He bribed some young guy at the airport to hold this sign up. Caitlin was so overwhelmed with all that was going on she never would have seen it if we hadn't pointed it out to her. The young "chap" was a good sport about it considering he stood there for more than 30 minutes while we all snickered about it.
So, I guess I'm thankful for practical jokes.

Back together again.

Cousins sleeping at Marmie and Pops.

Addilyn, Maycie & Whitney.

October 2010

It's the most wonderful time of the year.

Fall. Autumn. My favorite time of the year. I love the colors of orange, reds, yellows, deep browns. I love the smells of decomposing leaves and wood burning fires in the crisp air. I love pulling out the sweaters and boots buried in the closet. However, these things did not come soon enough for me this year. So, we traveled to Blowing Rock in the mountains so I could get a quick fall fix before heading back to unusually warm fall weather at home. The kids enjoyed the leaves and ginormous pumpkins.

Maycie enjoying the swings at our favorite park in Blowing Rock.

Don't you just love school fund raisers? Well, I don't, but due to guilt we participate anyways. Many schools have caught on to the boosterthon fun run scheme.Rather than going out and selling stuff people don't really want the kids collect "pledges" from friends and family members for each lap they plan to run. It helps promote fitness and of course, the kids are spurred on by fun incentives like toys and gadgets. But the most important incentive is helping out the school. This was the one Addilyn was most driven by, or so she said. Every evening she would beg to call more people to collect pledges so she could help out the school. After hitting up the grandparents (which is where I draw my limit) she broke down in tears convinced she hadn't helped out her school enough.

Here she is running her little heart out. She ran the full 35 laps.

I found the kids snuggling and reading books to each other one evening before bed.

Five minutes before I took this picture Alex was whining at the bottom of the stairs begging me to carry him up because he was too tired to walk. I refused and got the girls ready for bed figuring he would give up and come up on his own. Well he did give up and apparently he really was too tired to walk up the stairs.

Good Citizens.

One afternoon after school the kids along with some neighborhood friends decided they wanted to do a spontaneous neighborhood cleanup. The grabbed plastic bags and went around the block picking up trash.

Our neighborhood Fall Festival.

Great fun for the kids. We had a magician come and entertain. Addilyn and Maycie got to assist. Addilyn ended up with a toilet plunger on her head and Maycie helped make a table float.

Spontaneous cookie decorating.
All I had on hand was 4th of July and Christmas sprinkles for our Halloween cookies, but that didn't bother the kids.

Maycie got a little carried away with her sprinkles. I think there's a cookie or two under all that.

Preschool costume party.

Spiderman (Alex), Husky (Maycie), Cheerleader (Abby)

Playgroup Halloween Party with a very creepy food.

For our annual pumpkin carving party I decided to try homemade root beer. The kids, not excluding myself, were quite fascinated with the effects of the dry ice.

All the neighbors come over to carve pumpkins.
Then we come in for some good eats. In addition to the root beer we also had homemade chili, cornbread and I attempted my first try at homemade donuts. They were a hit. Especially hot out of the grease and freshly glazed. I think we'll make this a tradition, though next year I'll see if I can find a more halloweenish shape than hearts.

Mmmm. Homemade root beer and donuts.

Another tradition based around FOOD.

For Halloween night before the trick-or-treating begins we always have a personal favorite. Tyropita and tomato soup.

Here they are.

Spiderman (Alex), Husky (Maycie and her favorite animal), Mermaid (Addilyn)

Here the girls are with their good friends Athena, Kate and Emma Worth.

Trick-or-treat.

Here they are in front of the "Halloween House". One home on our block is known throughout the neighborhood as the "Halloween House" for it's dramatic and overboard production of Halloween decor. Every square foot of the yard, porch and garage looks like an elaborate spook alley. Every year they seem to add several more things. It's quite the attraction.