Thanksgiving

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving this year. I was so excited, we got to be with my side of the family this year and nearly everyone was there, though we missed the one sister that couldn't be there. We had a great spread.

Everyone contributed and it all tasted scrumptious. My favorite part however was the pies. These are only a few of the many we had at the end of the meal.

Pam had her preschool room all set up for us to eat in. Amazing how we all fit and still had room to move around in, she did a good job of fitting us all in. I didn't quite get a picture of everyone, but I got nearly everyone in the pictures.

Pam's kids (well Heather) made these darling little center pieces. They were very yummy too.

It was nice to spend the afternoon and evening with everyone eating, playing games, chatting and even checking out pinterest and teaching a few family members about it. It was wonderful. Thank Pam and the rest of my family for a great Thanksgiving.

Halloween

 We had a great, busy, fun filled Halloween weekend filled with parties and lots of treats. The kids kicked off the weekend on Friday with their Halloween parade and parties at school. They were so excited! Here they are ready for school. Let me introduce Sir Knight King Michael and the purple witch Karen.

They had a blast and the room mothers did such a great job preparing the parties for the kids. We also had a Fall Festival at our ward. There were a lot of fun carnival type games, but the one the kids enjoyed the most was the donut eating contest. As you can see they each missed a few times, though I think Michael had better aim then Karen (see pics below).









With such a full weekend and no costumes at school on Monday, Halloween was almost anti-climatic for me, until the trick-or-treaters started coming. Karen and Michael suddenly got very excited and their excitement was contagious. Michael is the "black spiderman" or Venom and Karen again is the purple witch. Face painting done by me. (you can get face paint done by me too, see the top right hand side for my website)

They kids had a blast and the weather was perfect, mild and not too cold. They stayed out longer and went to more homes than previous years and came home with quite a haul with several full size candy bars. We didn't hit the jackpot though, we missed out on one street in our neighborhood that had homemade donuts, soda, pizza, hot dogs, & hot chocolate. We are definitely hitting that street next year. Dang!

Pumpkin Patch

We have a tradition of going to a pumpkin patch for our Halloween pumpkins. It's been to a different one each year, but I think we found the one we may stick with from now on. It's right off 11800 So. and just west of Bangerter Hwy. Don't know what it's called, but it has a farmer's market and a huge pumpkin patch. They had a lot of fun things there and reminded us of a mini carnival with hay rides, corn maze, kids crafts, apple cannon, face painting, booths of cute things to buy and of course pumpkins. The kids had a blast. We went through the corn maze and I didn't think to take the picture til we were at the end of the maze.

 We let Michael ride in the wheelbarrow.

Here we are with several pumpkins we thought we might get. Michael looks unhappy here because he had just decided he didn't want the pumpkin he has in his hands and was mad that I wanted to have a picture with it. I also changed my mind before we left, but the little ones Karen and I have we took home.

Michael was very happy again when we did find the one he wanted. It was a fun time and we look forward to doing it again next year!

Bird House

One day Karen asked me if she could build a bird house. I told her we didn't have any wood. She said she didn't need any, that she just needed some card board. Well, we had some of that, so I told her sure. I gave her some cardboard and some scissors, showed her how to cut it, and left her to it. I honestly thought she would get tired of it or think it was too hard and give up. So I was surprised when a little while later she came to me and showed me her birdhouse.

I was seriously impressed. She had a hole for the birds and had even taped a piece to the front as a perch. Karen finished it off with a string taped to the top to hang it on the tree. I was so proud of her for finishing a project, not giving up, and for making it work. It even looks really good. She was also very proud of her project. I helped her hang it in the tree and she's excited for a bird to make a home in it.

Oooey Goooey

 My kids discovered the ooey gooey deliciousness that is cinnamon rolls. We bought a can at the grocery store once and my kids were hooked. They ate them all and begged for more. We got them again and they ate them all before I even got one that time! I decided that the store bought rolls just weren't cutting it, besides they are much better when they are homemade. We found a recipe online and away I went. This was the result.

They turned out delightfully delectable and finger licking good. Oooey goooey, yum!