Giving Thanks 2011

It was a Thanksgiving for the record books...in more ways than one!  First of all, we were very thankful to have John's sister and family visit us for a couple of days.  They have been here for Thanksgiving the last 4 out of 5 years....so we have this little tradition thing going now.  It was fun to reminisce a little about Thanksgiving pasts. 

It was probably the nicest weather for Thanksgiving on record.  There were no fireplaces going for us this year...but instead we had our windows wide open and enjoyed the fresh air.  The kids were able to spend lots of time outdoors, which made for happy kids and happy parents.

I, for the record, managed to break about everything I touched this year.  It started out with cracking our kitchen sink the day before Thanksgiving.  That's right...cracked our sink by pouring boiling water down it.  Who knew?  Nothing a little bowl under the sink couldn't fix for now.  I also managed to shatter the coffee pot while cleaning it on Thanksgiving morning.  This could have been pure tragedy (since we had several coffee drinkers in the house), but because of my tendency to be over prepared, I had a second coffee pot on hand (grin).  Lastly while cleaning up dishes after our meal, I also shattered a water goblet.  Since we have plenty of those and only use them about once a year...nothing lost.   

Family picture!

Angie, Teresa and I ran once again in the Annual Thanksgiving Day 5k.  Another one for the records....notice, I'm wearing shorts.  Can I get a, "Whoohoo!?!"  It was the first Thanksgiving Day 5K, in which I was able to comfortably wear shorts to run.  (please excuse the mountain of chip bags above our heads...I have a certain 16 month old, who likes to smash everything she can get her hands on!)

Gwen and Colby were hilarious together.  I love how they really can't talk to each other...yet still somehow manage to communicate through play.  By the way, something else to note for the records...Gwen did turn 16 months old on Thanksgiving Day!

The bird.  John did an excellent job of carving once again this year.  The bird didn't taste too shabby, if I do say so myself.

Some more outdoor time after dinner.  We ended up eating about 3pm, so it was perfect to have a couple hours of daylight left to work off that meal.

Colby and all his cuteness.

Monkey see, Monkey do.

The kids loved putting on "shows" for us.  This never got old, seriously.  I could listen to "Baby, Baby" over and over again if it meant Colby would bust out in his rendition of the "ABC's" and the Barney song.  Finn had some good "ABC's" going as well...somehow I didn't get him in any pictures though.

Thanks Aunt Teresa for playing games with the girls.  Jackie is still talking about it and constantly wants to play "adult" games now.

Maddy and Jackie went on a little "adventure" with John on Friday morning.  They came home with a bird's nest from our neighbor's tree.  Who would have thought an old bird's nest would be so much fun?

So there was just a taste of our wonderful Thanksgiving.  And as you can see this one will be remembered for many, many years!  Thanks to the Baumann's for coming down to visit and spending Thanksgiving with us.   

A Special Invite

Last week John and I were invited to attend a Thanksgiving meal with Jackie at her preschool.  The school provided the turkey and parents brought the sides.  The kids started out with a little song and then a prayer before our meal.  Jackie was so excited to have us there.  She went around after the meal and introduced us to all her friends and even one of the school cooks!  Such a little social bug :)

How to Enjoy A Roasted Marshmallow

Shop Til Ya Drop

Another Annual Kennedy Women's Shopping Trip under our belts!  It was great catching up with everyone once again.  We had a fun filled day of shopping, followed by a group dinner at the Elephant Bar.  You can tell we don't have as much energy as we used to...this group was all ready for a break by late afternoon and we moved up our dinner an hour or so.  Back in the day we would have headed for the casino after dinner...but I think everyone was ready to relax and go to bed :)  Thanks ladies for a great shopping day!

Confessions of a DIY Wannabe

DIY is ALL. THE. RAGE. right now.  And so, after months (possibly years) of wanting to try something....I came up with an idea inspired by either the Nate Berkus Show, Pintrest, or one of many DIY blogs I stalk.  I got the ball rolling one day when I called my parents and told them to save any old unwanted windows they had on the farm.  They came through for me, and about nine months ago, delivered two beautifully old farm windows to my door when they came to visit.  The windows then sat in our basement for at least six months.  It was about Septemberish, when I decided it was time to tackle a DIY project.  Only problem, I'm not a DIY diva.  There were many mistakes made along the way.  Like when I got the chalkboard paint all over the window frame, or when the first cork board I used looked like my 3 yr old installed it.  Then the time I tried to sew the fabric piece to some batting and it looked horrible.  Or the time when I broke the glass out of the window and glass went flying all over the basement floor!  Yes, many mistakes along the way...but I took a step back and thought and tried again.  So, this is what I came up with..... 

And looky here...I found a home for it on the wall.   Is it perfect?  Not by any means!  But, it gave me a bit of a creative outlet and it was a start.  I guess all the DIYers out there had to start some where.

Future Stunt Woman

I knew it was just a matter of time before she discovered she can climb the outside of the staircase.  Fun times, fun times.

But really, who can resist this cheesy smile.  When she saw I had the camera, she posed and gave me her best "Cheeeeeeese."

Evolution of a Library Junkie

Once upon a time there was a little girl.  She loved to go to the library as a child.  While she attended grade school in her very tiny town, they had "library day." This is when they would all line up and walk the two blocks to the town's public library.  Mind you, the whole town was about eight blocks long.  She had great memories of story hour, craft time and other events at the public library.  Oh yes, and she loved to read.  When she was in Kindergarten she read "Dick and Jane" to her class.  As she moved up in the grades her teachers even had her read books and do special reports on them.


Fast forward to high school and college.  The little girl who once loved to read, found it rather mundane.  She read her textbooks and that pretty much took up all the reading time she was willing to dish out.  After college, it was about the same.  Reading was definitely not one of her hobbies.  She did visit the library once in awhile after college to search the Internet for jobs or pick up tax forms, but never to check out a book.

Fast forward again to her 30's.  The little girl was all grown up.  She even had a child of her own.  While amidst the trenches of the newborn stage of her firstborn, she decided to pick up a book while rocking her baby to sleep.  She thought, "Hmm..this is kind of nice."  She slowly, slowly started to read books again.  First it was a couple a year.  By the time she had her second child, it was about one book every two months.  She started taking her children to the library for story times or just to hang out.  After doing this for a year, she even decided to get a library card! 

She enjoyed checking out books for her children, but found it almost impossible to check out books for herself.  Who can keep track of two kiddos while skimming through millions of books on the shelves.  She typically would overpay for a book at Target because they so conveniently set out the new releases right where they can be grabbed off the shelf in a second.  

Then enters her longtime friend, who suggested checking out books online at the library.  Genius!  She started going online and finding books to put on hold at the library.  The best part is the library has a drive-thru.  Go online, put book on hold, go to library drive-thru and receive book without ever getting out of the car!  It has turned the girl into somewhat of a library junkie now.  She is up to reading about two books every three weeks.  She stalks her library hold list to see what's coming up next.  Since she still takes her kids to story hour and to check out books, she's been know to be there three times a week! 

And so the little girl, has once again discovered her love of the library.  The End.

Candy anyone?

If you are like us...you have way too much Halloween candy and you can't get rid of it soon enough!  I had read in years past where you can take Halloween candy (any chocolate variety) crunch it up and use it in cookies like you would chocolate chips.  Just take any chocolate chip cookie recipe and replace with the chopped candy!  Since this was our first "BIG" year of candy, I decided to try this out.  I'm happy to report the end results were fantastic!  It's like a little surprise every time you eat a cookie...and well, I've done plenty of that.  Now, I can't get rid of the cookies soon enough :) 

Doesn't Belong

One of these doesn't belong on the desk...can you guess which one?

So Long, October

Halloween...the "Finale" to October.   Kids, costumes, candy, cul de sac parties...it's always a little crazy, but loads of fun.  Fitting, since our October this year was a little busy and crazy but also, loads of fun.  We are looking forward to the upcoming months and all the holiday finales of the year.  Time to hunker down, get cozy at home, watch entirely too much television and enjoy the fireplace!

Cousins picture, plus one!  Our neighbor girl got in the fun...she's like our adopted daughter anyway.  We'll take her!

"Besties"  Jackie adores our neighbor girl...they could almost pass off for sisters.

Our husbands are rubbing off on us...Angie and I dressed as twins without even planning it!

Excuse me...Miss P.U. driving through!  Cutest little skunk I've ever seen.

All the neighbor kids (high school and under)

Our little kitty and skunk.

"Trick or Treat"  I was a little torn at first about staying home to hand out candy or just putting a bowl out and going trick or treating with the rest of the family.  Then I thought, "This isn't going to happen for too long before they will want to go out on their own."  So I set a bowl of candy on our doorstep with a note.  So glad I did.  We were still able to hand out candy after we were done.

Checking out the loot!