Thanksgiving Dessert Night

The weekend before Thanksgiving, my family and extended family gather for a pre-Thanksgiving dessert night. We used to have Thanksgiving dinner together, but with kids growing up and getting married and families growing, it became difficult to work out all the different schedules. So, my Mom decided to start hosting a Family Dessert Night the weekend before Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving has always been a big family holiday from the time my Mom was a kid, so it's nice to continue to get together with everyone. I still miss going to Bakersfield every year, but this is almost just as good.

The kids and I made Pilgrim hat cookies for one of our treats.

Eric and my siblings played several rounds of Nertz. We haven't played Nertz since Eric and I started dating. He taught it to my family 8 long years ago!

Tessa had everyone laughing as she showed off her "princess smile".

Adam loving some goodies!

The spread! We had some yummy stuff to enjoy!

Jason and Bryan

Chris and Dad

Angel, Sophia, Melissa and Devin

There were a lot more people there, but I didn't take very many pictures. It was fun to visit and laugh with everyone! Family makes the holidays wonderful!

Thanksgiving Fun!

We have been having fun with Thanksgiving activities!

We colored turkey pictures

Adam helped me make baked apples. He is a good helper in the kitchen!

We played the dice game and built, Pilgrims, Indians, and a turkey

We made popcorn pictures

Each week we add more "thankful feathers" to Tom the Turkey.

I love what the kids come up with! You know which feathers are Tessa's. They usually have something to do with junk food.

Daddy helping Tessa write what she is thankful for.

Adam writing his blessing all by himself! He sounded out the words and got them all correct!

Tom the Turkey is looking good this year!

Adam came home from school today with his Turkey hat. He loves doing art with Mrs. Dimick.

We are thankful for this time of year and for the opportunity it gives us to slow down and really think about how blessed we are. We have so many things to be thankful for!

Christmas Wish List

One of my favorite memories of Adam is last November when the Toys R Us catalog came in the mail. He circled everything in that catalog to put on his Christmas wish list. It reminded me of being a kid at Christmas. My siblings and I would spend hours it seemed going through the JC Penny and Sears catalogs that always came around Christmas time. I don't think we ever got anything we circled, but it was always fun to wish.

This year we got two catalogs and the kids went to town yesterday circling what they want! We have made progress from last year. Adam has narrowed his list down to 13 things.

Adam's City

Adam is our little architect. He loves to build buildings and for weeks now he has been building his "city". He adds to it and changes things constantly. He is pretty clever with what he comes up with. We are impressed with his good imagination!

Empire State Building, Walmart, a Museum, The Great Wall, an Ice Cream Shop, and a couple city statues.

A Police Station, the Twin Towers, a castle, Burger King, a gas station, and an airport.

A movie theater, a traffic light, and the Eiffel Tower

A better view of the city statues and the Ice Cream Shop

Since I took these pictures he has done some renovating to his twin towers and added a football stadium. He loves his city! I don't know if he will ever take it down!

A Happy Halloween!!

Happy Halloween!!!

On Sunday night we carved pumpkins!

Adam knew exactly how he wanted his pumpkin to look.

Daddy helped Tessa draw her pumpkin face. She told us, "make it as mean as can be!".

Tessa wanted nothing to do with the pumpkin "brains". She said, "It's too confusing in there!"

Adam did a good job getting his "brains" out.

This was the sketch Adam made for his pumpkin face.

They turned out pretty good!

Halloween morning we made some spooky pancakes for breakfast.

I helped out in Adam's classroom for their Halloween party and then watched the Kindergarten Halloween Parade! Adam was a very cute Cowardly Lion!

We took the kids trick or treating in my parents neighborhood with their cousin Ares.

A huge thank you to Aunt Dee for making such amazing costumes!

They loved trick or treating! Tessa announced after every house, "I have so much candy!" and she had us rolling on the floor at one point as she threw her arm in the air and yelled, "Candy, here we come!!!!"

With all of their Halloween loot