Molly shares my love of the new bakery in our neighborhood!! This time we invited some friends to join us one Sunday afternoon.
Another way we enjoyed the time off from school during Thanksgiving was a special kolache lunch at our favorite place. Josh was excited!
He always makes me smile!
Usually we’re traveling for Thanksgiving, but this year we stayed here with my parents and family came to see us! This meant I had a few days with the kids out of school before Thanksgiving, so we went with our friends to Bass Pro Shop to visit their Christmas display before the crowds. The kids had fun coloring, shooting arrows, driving a train and seeing the fish while I enjoyed time with my friend Caren.
Thanksgiving day was really nice. My sister Kristi came earlier in the week to help out with my mom and to help us cook for Thanksgiving. My sister Kathy also cooked alot before they came on Thursday, and my dad smoked ham and turkey. That morning we actually sat around and watched the Thanksgiving Day parade, which is always one of my mom’s favorites, before we did the last bit of cooking. We had lots of food, laughs, and good family time together!
The big kids really like for me to take pictures of their creations these days.
Molly worked all morning on our Thanksgiving centerpiece. She did a great job!
Ryan doesn’t draw as much as he used to, but when he does make something he works hard and does a great job! He made this card for a friend’s birthday.
Ryan has been wanting to play more grown up board games lately. He’s really good at understand both rules and overall strategy! He definitely beat me at Kingdom Builder. He also played alot of Jaipur recently. Joe does such a great job of explaining how to play games to kids and adults. I’m glad Ryan’s enjoying our games more. He also learned to play Power Grid and stuck with a whole game! I was very impressed.
Joshua is pretty good at having fun playing with toys, daddy’s shoes, or just being out and about. He’s at such a fun age right now.
Finally, these two things are always fun to see…my beautiful Molly and the rainbow in the sky my kids saw one day while in the backyard.
These guys really are best friends!
We were invited to a barnyard theme birthday party with a petting zoo, and Molly and Ryan loved every minute of it. Ryan especially loved the goats and ducks, and Molly of course enjoyed the bunnies. I didn’t ever think Ryan would leave! He said at one point he put a duck on the back of a goat….I’m guessing the workers didn’t see that. Joshua was excited about the bunnies at first but got pretty overwhelmed and just enjoyed playing with toys. Ryan and Molly really do have a heart for animals.
Joshua had a little Fall Festival at preschool, but they requested no costumes. I volunteered to help, and man, I was busy!! At this preschool they had games and activities set up in all different rooms, and we had to take a whole class of 2 year olds from room to room to play games. I had a good time seeing Joshua with his friends and teachers though so it was worth it. He wasn’t shy at all about rolling the pumpkins down the hall, and he loved the parachute game.
The kids found some mud to play in at Grandma and PawPaw’s house before putting on costumes for trick or treating.
We went home, got cleaned up, and then went around to our neighbor’s houses. This year we had a lion (Ryan’s hand-me-down), a dragon trainer (with a custom-made hat by Molly), and an elephant trainer (custom crocheted hat by me!)
Joshua did really well with trick or treating. I’m sure it helped that his brother and sister knew what to do and he just went along with them. Our neighborhood was extra quiet this time. I think most people went to the park for trunk or treat, but we always enjoy walking our street and the ones close by. It’s just a good chance to see neighbors you normally wouldn’t.
After we got home Molly was just SO excited to pass out candy. After quite awhile we only had one family stop by, so we loaded up and went to Grandma and PawPaw’s house and passed out candy from their driveway. Molly and Joshua both would just get start yelling from excitement anytime they thought someone was coming our way. I love their generous hearts!!
I decided after years of long hair that I was finally ready….I cut my hair!! 3 months later I still love it even if I do actually have to use a hair dryer now.
I love my sweet sleepy boy. He’s so grown up looking when he’s awake but still has some baby left in him when he’s sleeping.
He’s pretty full of life when he’s awake, like when he wraps himself in tape or uses his hands as “mission goggles”.
This boy also LOVES a good mini-muffin and any excuse to make silly faces.
Mimi and Papa visited and brought Rose with them, so we had to have some girl time at my favorite Bribery Bakery!
Yes, we do still have a cat. And yes, the kids are quiet and cute sometimes long enough for me to get a picture.
Molly enjoyed making her first huge LEGO set from the lego rental service, and Ryan had fun creating at Grandma’s house one night.
I always like getting to go have lunch with the kids at school. I like seeing them with their friends that I usually only hear about, and of course they are always excited to have me there. I know it won’t always be like this so I’m enjoying it now. This time it was for the school “cookout” which was extra fun because the kids ate outside with their parents I always love a good excuse to be outside with my kids. Molly thought she needed to wear my sunglasses, silly girl. And Ryan was showing me some great playground moves after we ate.
I also had lunch with Joshua one day, too. That kid is just full of joy and excitement!
Normally the kids don’t get to wear costumes to school, but this year they let the kids do a storybook parade just a couple days before Halloween. Ryan brought a pokemon book and his pokemon hat, but when he found out it was an actual parade around the track with only the kids on costume walking while everyone else watched and cheered he decided to stay back and watch with Joshua and I. Molly loved every minute of the parade and being Elsa with her Elsa book. Joe had his first WatchDOG volunteer day and was already worn out by then!
Mary & her Merry Friends were back again at the walk this year! And this time we had a much better plan…a sun shade, snacks, chairs and perfect weather. Last year was so hot we almost passed out, and this year it was so breezy that it was almost chilly. We had a great time. Some of us stayed and cheered from the sidelines while the others walked. Joshua just ran off the path into the grass the whole time, and Molly had to go retrieve him. This year we even had our own awesome team t-shirt custom designed by Kirby and printed from Caren’s friend. I’m so thankful for all the support through funds and by walking and making the day special!
