Thanksgiving 2010

Sorry to write so many different posts! But I am watching the Thanksgiving parade with the kids and had some timne to get caught up!

We had a super busy day on Tuesday with Thanksgiving celebrations!!!

Laynee and I made cute marshmellow/cookie pilgram hat treats for her class. Aren't they cute?!

The twins had a very cool Thend Now Thanksgiving celebration at school. They rotated through 7 different Kindergarten classes doing projects and playing games.

Here is Makenzie in her turkey hat. Sh is painting a handmade nampking ring...

Here is Danika Making a placemat...

Here is Makenzie playing pumpkin bowling...

Here is Danika making bread (which smelled AMAZING!)....

After that, I got to go to Laynee's school Thanksgiving celebration. I LOVE her pilgram hat! It even has braids attached.

When the kids got home, we got to work making our own Thanksgiving meal! Scott was originally scheduled to work on Wednesday and Thursday so decided to have our dinner on Tuesday. And then his schedule got changed to Monday and Tuesday! lol. So the kids helped me cook.

Danika helped with green bean casserole and pumpkin pie (one for us and one for the pie tasting in her class).

Scott woke up just in time to carve the turkey...

The kids were excited to eat at a fancy table. They are used to plastic plates and cups with paper nampkins!

We have a tradition where everyone gets a new ornament at their spot at the Thanksgiving table. They are always personalized. (Scott and I even gave ornaments as a favor at our wedding which was over Thanksgiving weekend!)

This is me right before I burned myself. Now who us holes in their potholders?!! We do!!!

Time to eat!

Another tradition- olives on the fingers and dipped in mashed potatoes...

Cheers!!!

Dessert!

So today is actually Thanksgiving. But we get to relax! Later this afternoon we are going to have dinner with Scott's parents. But no cleaning, baking, or dishes for us. We are done. And thinking about putting up the Christmas tree!

Soccer is OVER!!!!

So the kids loved soccer (especially Kyler and Makenzie). But I am not shedding any tears over the end of the season! Three practices and two games every week was A LOT to handle!!! And it it was no fun having 10 o'clock games when it was well over 100 degrees and 8 o'clock games when it was 45 degress. What luck, huh? So here is to having our Saturday back!!! Woo Hoo!! But, I did enjoy watching how much the kids improved and their excited little faces.

Here is Danika and Laynee being defenders... Danika getting a kick in....

Makenzie (who turned out to be quite the soccer super star!)...

Check out this kick Kyler got in while being the striker! He was mostly a defender, but during the last game they gave him a chance to do offense. He had a couple really amazing games! And to think he hated soccer last year. I was shocked when he asked to play again!

All my sweet kiddos after their medal ceremony....

I am certain we will be back on the fields next year!

Smores!

So there is nothing too special about roating marshmellows in the backyard. I am just putting them on the blob because I like how the pictures turned out! I like the sky in the first couple. And for some reason (that I can't really explain), I love to take pictures of fire. And yes, I know I am weird.

The Accident

Many of you already know this, but last week Scott was in a nasty car accident on his way to work. The good news is that no one was hurt more than sore muscles. Someone was definatly watching over Scott that night.

So he was driving down Hunt Highway (which is only 2 lanes, super busy and under construction) when he and the 4 cars ahead of him came to a complete stop to wait while a car made a left turn. The car behind Scott also came to a stop. Sadly, the huge truck behind her did not stop. He his her going about 50 mph. The force made her car fly off the road. By the time Scott saw her car on his side, he had already been hit by the same truck. The impact caused Scott to hit the person in front of him who then hit the person of front of them. There were 5 cars involved.

So I was at home reading the kids a story when my phone started ringing. I saw that it was Scott and my heart stopped. He doesn't call me 15 minutes after he leaves for work to say that he misses me. It is always bad news. I answered with "What's wrong?!" I am still not allowed to drive, but really what choice did we have? I loaded all the kids and we went to pick Scott up. This is not what any wife wants to see! Scott was all shaken up and when I saw the car, so was I! If Scott had had a passenger, they would have been injured. This truck was in his back seat!

The night went from bad to worse. But in the end, everyone is safe! His car was a total loss. But the other guy's insurance company accepted complete responsibilty in a matter of just 36 hours. So they got Scott a rental car. Then we got the call yesterday that they have already cut him a check for his car (that is higher than we expected!). It only took a week!!! I am actually a little bummed about that. We only get the rental until Monday. That means we need a new car by Monday!!!!

Scott and I have had plans for quite some time for a weekend get away to celebrate our 8th wedding anniversary. I will be so bummed if we have to spend the weekend car shopping! I HATE car shopping with a passion! Too bad they don't have car coupons. Then it would be more fun!

More posts coming! I want to catch up (instead of doing homework!).

Sneak Peak.....

I have lots of pictures and stories I want to blog about. But I got so excited when I saw this picture, that I just couldn't wait to share!

We hired a photographer to take our family Christmas pictures this year. She took them at the Royal Palms Resort in Scottsdale. This is the first "sneak peak" that I have seen and I love it, especially since Scott and I will be celebrating our 8 year anniversary in just a week! Now I am just crossing my fingers that we captured a decent family photo. I have a kid or two that don't stand still and smile! You would think that by now, they would be trained.

Now I should really get back to my homework. Only 3 1/2 more weeks of classes and I am DONE!!!

Halloween Fun

We had a a very busy Halloween weekend. I was still recovering from Friday's school festivities. But Saturday we had 2 soccer games, tumbling, shopping, and a big costume block party. The party was so much fun. It was just down the street from us so we could walk. They had a DJ, band, bounce house, fire truck, and TONS of food. And everyone, even adults, were required to wear costumes. It was fun seeing what the adults came up with!

Then Sunday we had church, pumpkin carving, portraits, and trick-or-treating. So here are some pics from the pumpkin decorating/carving...

And here we are ready for trick-or-treating....

Not many pics of the kids in their costumes because they were way too anxious to get candy and we had just had portraits done! But Kyler was an astronaught, Danika was a rock start, Makenzie was a cheerleader, and Laynee was a ladybug.

The kids scored big time trick-or-treating! We never had much luck in our old neighborhood because no one was ever home. But this was a whole other story. There were just hundreds of people sitting in drive way, amazing decorations, and kids galore!!!! We went through 2 1/2 bags of candy in 10 minutes and I was only giving one piece per kid!

And the pumpkin all lit up...

Everyone went to bed exhausted!!!! (And thus we were all cranky the next day! lol)

Literature Parade

Since kids are no longer allowed to wear Halloween costumes to school, the big kids' school came up with an alternative: a Literature Parade. The kids dressed up as their favorite character from a book and paraded around the school while parents cheered. It was cute. (But since the girls are only in school for 3 hours on Fridays and they also had a harvest party- it was a super overwhelming morning! I cancelled the rest of our plans for the day and took a long nap!)

I had planned out all the kids characters and costumes before I got sick. But in the end, Scott had to put most of it together. He did a great job!

Kyler picked to be Ralph S. Mouse. He read all three Ralph books a couple months ago so it was a perfect choice. Scott made his helmet out of a white mixing bowl.



Makenzie picked to be Pinkalicious. This was no surprise to anyone! She found this book at the library sometime last year and made me read it over and over! So we got her a copy last Christmas and it continues to be a favorite! We already had a tutu, wings, tights, and a crown so this a super easy one. We just had to spray her hair pink. It took an entire can to make her hair look pink!

I tried to talk Danika into being Fancy Nancy since we have 3 sets of Fancy Nancy costumes....but she is strong willed and the moment she knew that I wanted that- she picked a different character! She decided to be Angelina Ballerina. Since we already had the tutu, tight and ballet shoes- it was pretty easy. It just took a while for Scott to figure out how to make good mouse ears. But in the end- it looked awesome!

Keep in mind that the kids leave for school at 6:50 in the morning! This was quite a lot to accomplish by that hour of the morning! I was actually ready for my nap by 7! lol