Thanksgiving

Things have been busy here, but nothing too blog worthy. Our Thanksigiving was pretty quiet. We spent the afternoon with a good friend and the evening with my aunt, cousins and their families. The kids spent the morning doing Thanksgiving word searches and other Thanksgivingish activities.

[I tried to white out our last name on Andrew's hand turkey.]

Andrew brought home a rather interesting art project from school.

And who do you think he chose for his wife?
That's my boy. I wonder what Ashton would say about that.

A Cause for Celebration

This past Saturday there was a shower for my cousin, Traci, and her husband, Adam. They are in the process of adopting a precious girl, Maylin, and boy, Pierson, from Taiwain. Pierson and Maylin are brother and sister. You can go to her sister's blog to learn more about them.

In an effort to defray the costs of bringing Pierson and Maylin home, Traci is using her talents to make jade bracelets, t-shirts, journals, artwork and other items to raise funds for their upcoming trip to Taiwan. She is also setting aside a portion of her profits to donate in order to assist other families in completing their adoption dreams. Please check out Loved By Choice Designs and get some of your Christmas shopping done while sitting in the comfort of your own home!

Fall Fest

Last Saturday we headed to the Fall Festival at the elementary school. We climbed and disappeared into the mouths of strange alien-looking things.



And then slid out the back of them.



We did some jumping.



We played basketball with some friends.



We threw some baseballs ~ 32 mph.



And one of us became a ladybug.

Andrew's in the ladybug class at school.

This was the first year that Adam ran around on his own~that takes some getting used to on my part. I'm finding that this growing up thing is difficult for me. It's hard to let go, even if it's just a tiny bit.

Outtakes

I have 83 pictures almost exactly like this one.


So I put them behind bars and wouldn't let them out. (not really)

Birthday Part II

Last night pizza was the choice for the birthday dinner, and I didn't end up at that crazy kid place with the person dressed up in a big rat costume...know what I'm talkin' about? I don't like that place. We had a great time at dinner with lots of laughter, then headed home for a game of Exago and more cake.





We love you Andrew!!

Six

Today Andrew turns six. My youngest child is SIX. It hit me last night how big all of the kids are getting. I was thinking about how when Adam sits on my lap now his legs seem almost as long as mine. Before long, it will be like that with Andrew too. So, I scooped him up and held him last night. {sigh]

We had a little family birthday party for him while my parents were in town. There was cake of course.



There was also a whirlwind of present unwrapping.



This morning before school Adam, Abby and I gave him his presents from us.

Adam and Abby gave him Exago.



I gave him his photo book for the 2007-2008 year. It was a big hit. He'd asked about it for quite some time because obviously I was behind. He'd given up asking the last couple of months so he was pretty surprised this morning. I love this series of photos despite the fact that they are kind of hazy.



Before the kids had looked all the way through Andrew's book, Adam and Abby had gone to get theirs.



For dinner tonight, he's gone back and forth between wanting pizza and going to Quaker Steak & Lube where he's gone for the past 5 birthday dinners. We'll see what wins out...

Halloween Recap

The past week feels as though it has been a constant blur. My parents were in town. Yeah!! The kids had a half day of school on Thursday, and they didn't go back to school until today. What a nice break for them! My parents actually arrived a day early. I didn't tell the kids about the change in plans, and they were so surprised. The boys were outside playing, and they came flying into the house yelling, "GRANDMA AND GRANDPA ARE HERE!!!!" Abby was squealing, jumping up and down and turning in circles. They really enjoyed spending time with grandma and grandpa. My dad had a lot of practice being a horse.



He also spent some time getting his hair "fixed."


On Thursday evening we thought we'd carve pumpkins. My friend Dawn and her two kids came over to join in the fun.


Notice the plastic bag taped to Adam' hand. He and Abby also tried wearing rubber gloves in order to avoid the feeling of pumpkin slime.



We took pumpkin mess...



and turned it into this salty, yummy goodness.



We also ate pumpkin cream cupcakes and pumpkin pie. Thanks to mom for baking those!

The kids did dress up for Halloween. Abby wore her Christmas dress from last year and became a princess. The boys were both Duke from G.I. Joe. I had never heard of Duke before...not being a G.I. Joe fan myself. And despite the looks on the boys' faces, they were happy and having a good time. I'm not sure why it's not reflected in this picture.



The boys also posed with this monster thing at the end of our street.





Abby wanted no part of that. She was more content swinging her candy bag.



It rained Halloween night...just as the kids were getting ready to head out the drizzle began. By the time we reached the end of our street, it was pouring. They still had a good time despite being quite wet.

I did carve pumpkins, but haven't captured a good picture of those yet. I'll have to try again.