Thanksgiving 2011

A quick recap of our holidays...

C's Preschool Thanksgiving Feast

Thanksgiving dinner with the Gardner's and S. Alexandre's

Eating pie is can be dangerous... be sure to wear your helmet.

multitasking:  crafting and skyping

Traditional family talent show: 

Luke at the piano

 Evan, banjo

 Nicolle, a song

Not in the photos:  Greg made "prestigue"- our favorite drink from Mexico- for everyone.  Anna showed us her amazing sketchbook, and Sean wrote a computer program right before our eyes (then spent the rest of the evening showing Luke how to write a program that would list "Luke is awesome" over and over again). 

Riviera Maya, Mexico- 10th anniversary trip

Greg and I celebrated our 10th anniversary in Mexico.  We have been home several days, but I have hesitated to write this post because I have been grieving for my brother.  We got some bad news about his health when we returned home from our trip.  I am posting this in honor of him, and something he said... which was to enjoy every second you have with your loved ones because time and love are by far the most valuable things we have in this life, and both are in short supply. 

This was exactly what this trip was... a celebration of Greg and I's love for each other. 

 . We are so grateful to his parents, who traveled to our home to stay with the girls for 5 days while we were away.

  We got to eat delicious food

swim with dolphins

snorkel

eat dinners in the moonlight

 

visit Chichen Itza (Mayan Ruins) 

and did I mention eat? 

  We feel so lucky to have taken such a fun and relaxing trip.  We enjoyed every moment together.

Halloween Festivities!

This year SJ was a clown and C was Belle (Beauty and the Beast)

Trunk or Treat and church Fall Festival

Maurice (Belle's crazy father) and a construction worker.  C called me Bob the Builder all night :)

2 Rapunzels + 2 Belles = lots of trick or treating fun

I think Clara was even more excited to get home and hand out candy to trick-or-treaters (while scarfing her own candy).

Halloween with these two cuties is so so fun!

C learned this song at preschool and taught SJ.  It cracked me up that instead of "brew" she sang "stirring my broom."  She carried a  broom around all week to use as a prop while she acted out the song. 

halloween creations

 Glitter pumpkins centerpiece

Bat goodie bag puppets for Clara's preschool party

Hairy eyeballs in a slimy sauce (aka chicken curry balls with cilantro yogurt sauce).

Mine is the one in the orange dish in the front right corner of this photo... I'm proud to say I took home the award for "tastiest spooky food."

It's a bird, It's a plane...

No, it's SUPERGIRL!

And other adventures at the pumpkin patch

We asked C to hold onto SJ, and make sure she didn't try to stand up and climb out of the cow train. Loved this thumbs up we got from her... "Mom, she's not standing up!"

10 years

Sooooo in love.

Then...

Greg and I were married 10 year ago! 

I am a lucky girl, and here is just one reason why:

When we play tennis against one another, Greg gets more excited when I make a good shot than when he does.  Add that into everyday life and it makes one happy wife.

He is always thinking of others before himself.  I hope to be like him when I grow up.


...and now.

Camping Trip

Friday morning, after Greg joined us at the library for story-time, we headed to Stone Mountain State Park in NC for a quick camping trip.  The weather cooperated!

High-75 degres

Low- 45 degrees

Sunny, no rain 

First, a picnic lunch.

 Then, a hike to the waterfalls.  We took a family photo at the beginning of the hike, thinking that the girls might be whiny by the end.  Suprisingly, they were great little hikers, and with only a few piggy-back rides happily finished the hike.

To congratulate their efforts, we went to the general store for ice cream.     

Later, we set up camp and cooked dinner over the fire... hot dogs, asparagus, corn on the cob, (plus quinoa salad brought from home).  And, of course, S'mores.  Aunt Suz, Uncle Joel, Uncle Sean, Anna, Chloe, Luke, and Gray joined us on Friday night for a campfire and hot chocolate.  All in all it was a pretty great day.




Saturday, we went for another hike, this time to a restored homestead with a gorgeous view of Stone Mountain.  It was such a peaceful place.  After the hike and another picnic lunch, C ran around like a wild girl with her older cousins (who were so sweet to include her) for a few hours before we headed home. 
 

A very fun, but exhausting weekend.  Saturday night, we put the girls to bed at 7pm and we were in bed by 9pm! 

5 on Friday

1.  I'm trying not to constantly interrogate C about school.  I am dying to know what she does all morning without us, but whenever I ask her questions about it her resonse is "I don't know."  If I am patient and don't pester her, I'll eventually get gems like this...
"Bats aren't actually scary.  They use sounds to see... it's called echolocation."  (whoah!... I had to google that one)
"Mom, today Emory and Ava Grace asked me to be a fairy, because they needed two fairies, and I said yes.  I was a fast flying fairy and I had to protect the castle with a bubble.  Now they really love me."

2.  This week marks the 7th anniversary of us in our house.  I can't believe it has been that long.  I fall in love with it, again, every Autumn when the weather gets cool and we can spend lots of time on the porch or outside and see the trees start to change.

3.  Greg and I noticed, recently, that we no longer know what good Mexican food is.  When we first moved here from AZ, we were appalled at what the restaurants here called "mexican."  Now we eat it happily and can't remember what was so different... so sad.  I'd say it is time for a trip to Tempe. 

4.  My parents came in town last weekend and we had a great visit. It had been a year since we had seen them, so it was great to show the girls off to them.  Sadly, I have no pictures of the visit!  

 I got to go to the Relief Socitey Broadcast with my Mom.  "Gi-gi and Poppi" also came to the store with us to help pick out the girls' Halloween costumes. 

They are always generous about noticing some housefold item that we need... once it was a potato masher, another time a router.  This time we received a new toaster as an early Christmas present.  Thanks, Mom and Dad... it is nice to have our bread toasted on both sides for a change! 

  5. Enjoyed hearing from the Prophet and Apostles during General Conference last weekend.  Especially enjoyed this message about children and this one about eternal decisions.  Also, a quote from President Uchtdorf's message. 

"There is nothing wrong with righteous yearnings—we hope and seek after things that are “virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy.” The problem comes when we put our happiness on hold as we wait for some future event—our golden ticket—to appear."



Here is a video of SJ singing her ABC"s and some photos of the girls displaying some of their  library and school projects.