Giving Thanks...

Well, it's that time of year. Thanksgiving. I love this time of year. So do my kids because they know once Thanksgiving is over, next is the BIG ONE: Christmas. They are already praying that they will get a certain toy. Oh, dear. This year has been a year of transition for us and has been rough, but also many great things have happened. Sasha got baptized. How thankful I am that my dear, sweet husband was worthy to baptize her. We started another year of homeschool and I love it. Seth started Kindergarten and he is already smarter than me. Seriously. Addie has stopped saying "hate" so much and that is something to be thankful for! LOL. We are having a baby girl, who we will name Audrey, around Valentines Day. I am thankful for every kick I feel. The other morning, very early, I woke up just wanting to know she was ok. My mind began to worry and fret when I didn't feel her for longer than I would have liked. When she finally did give me a little kick, I felt so thankful. What a joy this baby girl will be. I am not sure why we are getting her, when it could have gone the other way, but I am so thankful. What a bright spot she will be to our little family. I am thankful for this ward. AMAZING. Generous. LOVE it. I love the YW and serve with the most amazing women. One even wears a rockin' white mumu.......love her to pieces. I am thankful for our prophet and for general conference. I have been reading the talks lately and it has helped me so much. Love them. Well, I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving. I know we will.

p.s.
Are you going shopping on Black Friday?? Me, not sure. Did last year......just for fun......

Dear Casey:

Dear Casey:

(Our highly entertaining pup)

I was just wondering why you decided to chew the cord

that I use to upload my pictures with?

I know you were excited to see us all go

downstairs to clean someone's messy room,

and since you aren't allowed down there,

you found your own entertainment.

I know you like to chew, but geez.

I need that. I need to upload

Seth's birthday pictures.

It is one thing to chew on pieces of

wood that you find outside, which

actually does bug me a tad

since you drag them into

the house and then our floor

gets covered with little pieces

of wood. Plus also, you don't pick

them up. Naughty, naughty.

If you could just chew wood or your

own toys ONLY, that would be super.

Plus, you are supposed to eat DOG

food. Not PEOPLE food. So, could

you stop barking at us when we are

eating. It is bad manners.

I am glad you have figured out

that sleeping on the couch is

where you'd like to be,

because I sure like getting up with you

at all hours to let you out of

your barricade down the hall so you

can sleep there. You are so stubborn

and boy is that fun. (OK fine. Sleep on

the couch. But if you pee-pee or poo-poo

on my floor like you did when you first joined

our family, I am GONNA sell you. Ok I can't

because my kids love you to pieces and

it would break their hearts. Guess we are

stuck with you. At least you smell

nice after you have been groomed

and bathed. Bless "Ruffledale Doggie Salon").

From:

Your Owner

(The one with blond hair that tells you to

stop barking at the doorbell.)

I can't believe I just did it!!

I just added the ticker I have been dreaming about for a long time. Everytime I go to add it, I stop myself and tell myself to wait a few more weeks, or wait for one more doctor's appointment to get through. Well, I decided to just add it anyway!! I hope I am not jinxing myself. I think this one is a go. Come on, little one, we are waiting for you!! :) Valentines Day is just around the corner and we can't wait!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Conversing with Addie...

Addie is my little shadow and we have some very nice conversations. She always makes me smile.

Addie: "Can we make a recipe?" This means she wants me to get out a bunch of spices, a bowl with water and let her have at it. Yes, I have let my kids do this. I have given them flour and water, sent them outside and told them to make "Little House on the Prairie Bread". And boy, oh boy, did they.

Me: "Addie, what are you going to get me for Christmas?"
Her: "Fabrics". Sweet. I really do want "fabrics" for Christmas.
Me: "What about Daddy?"
Her: "A white tie." Sounds good to me! :)

Her: "And for you a wedding dress so you can marry dad."

Her: "Look, I am wearing underwear!!" (Showing you that she is indeed a wearer of the undergarment. At least for the moment. She went through a phase where she was not sporting underwear, so we had to ask her a lot!)

Her: "Is it my turn to say 'payer'"? And boy, if it isn't, she growls, snarls and stomps her feet. Then she cries all through the prayer that someone else got to say. She mumbles something like "poop....I was supposed to say the 'payer'". Will and I usually laugh but sometimes we grit our teeth and roll our eyes. She likes to say the 'payer'. Always. I think she does this in primary if she is not chosen for something. Sorry about that, Primary Teachers. :)

She loves to pick out our clothes and if you don't wear what she picked out, she is really bummed about it. You have to be sneaky and put back her "suggestion" or else. She loves to do "school" and you have to give her an actual worksheet to do. You have to explain how to do it and don't cut corners just because she is 4! She asks me how to spell words, copying her big sister, all the time. She is so funny, and fiesty, and cute, and helpful, and honest, and golly we just love our Little Boo.

Halloween 2009

This year our ward party was on the night before Halloween. We had a soup dinner and then headed out in the parking lot for the famous "Trunk-or-Treat". The poor kids had to wait for an eternity, in their eyes, to get dinner over with! I ran out of candy very fast! There were so many kids there! I'll do better next year!


Addie eating her haul after the ward party. "Any chocolate for me?", is what I wanted to know! Hand it over!

Happy Seth eating waaay too much candy! Oh, well. Like I can talk. I LOOVE candy. Well, mostly just chocolate.

Heading out the door. Note that Seth is NOT amused at my desire to get a picture. Sasha is a Southern Belle, Addie is a princess (hooray for our huge dress-up bin downstairs.) Seth decided to be Luke Skywalker at the last minute. Again, hooray for the dress-up bin.

Well, Seth is making an attempt in this picture to look happy! Poor kid. I just won't leave him alone, will I!? My camera decided to be dumb so I didn't get any the next night which was actually Halloween. Grrrr. Oh, well. They looked pretty much the same except Seth decided to wear his Darth Vader costume and Addie put on Sleeping Beauty this time. Sasha said once she wanted to wear her costume from last year, and I was like "No way!" I spent so much time sewing this years' costume I wanted her to wear it! :) I hope I got a shot showing her cute hoop skirt on the last post. She really did look darling! I even did an zipper......I did have to unpick each side.......twice......!

Will wanted to be Captain Jack Sparrow, who we all love and a cute lady in our ward has told me on more than one occasion that he looks like Capt. Jack! We did our best with what we had around the house. He is such a good sport and lets me create his costumes each year! :) So sorry that there isn't one of me..........actually I'm not. I don't like getting my picture taken these days. I was a witch. I had a orange and black hat on. I wore Will's black graduation gown. That's all! :) Hope you all had a great Halloween.

Halloween Party!

Homeschool Halloween Party!
I wanted my kids to have a Halloween party so we invited some of our homeschool friends to come over for pizza, games and fun. It went well! I found a bunch of games online that were very easy to do with things you already have on hand. Here is one:
We had the kids divide up into teams and wrap eachother up with toilet paper so they looked like a mummy! They had to do it by the end of a Halloween song I had playing: Witches Brew. They all had more fun doing this than I thought they would! They played it several times!

Sasha wrapping up Addie. Where was Seth during all of this? Hmmmmmm......

My friend across the street brought this totally awesome jello! It looks soooooo real! I couldn't get over it! It tasted really good, actually. Some kids would NOT try it. Mine did! :)

Sasha eating an eyeball! How fun! It was a great party and something I think we will do again.