Thanksgiving Recap

The little kids had their parties/feasts the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. They put on a show for the parents and had a big feast where they made corn bread, muffins, pumpkin pie and homemade butter. Each kid could bring a sibling to the feast, so they went to eachothers, and then Taylor surprised Isabella by coming to hers, since she got out of school early. Isabella was very excited to have her sister there.

Thanksgiving day, we took our annual walk in the woods. This year, the weather was perfect. I didn't take my camera so, unfortunately, I have no pictures. It was the right choice, because we took a different hike and were scaling steep hills and crossing deep and wide creeks. Isabella is Miss Caution and wanted to hold my hand the entire time. Nicholas slid down the hills and walked through the creeks. Gio ran up and down the hills over and over again waiting for us, and also ran through all the water. When we got home, I made them undress on the deck and I dumped about 2 cups of water out of Nicholas's boots and  it looked like Gio had an entire pricker bush attached to his rear end. 

  We went to my sister's house for dinner. The table was set perfectly, and the food was fabuloso. 

Dave (my brother-in-law) bravely dropping a turkey into a deep fryer and hoping not to catch the side of the house on fire.

After dinner, my sister and I scoured the paper for Black riday deals. Nick had to work the next day, so I wasn't about to battle the store myself with the little kids, so I got on the computer first thing in the morning and started ordering things like a maniac. My inept typing fingers were movnign so fast I thought the keyboard was going to start smoking. 

Packages have been arriving daily. This is how I react when that brown truck drives up our driveway. 

 

  

It's Going to be a Long Winter

This is what I woke up to this morning.

Halloween

I know it's been a week since Halloween, but for some reason, I couldn't get my pictures to upload until now.

We started the Halloween festivities last Sunday with our annual pumpkin carving. This is the second year that Taylor has been at work and was not able to participate. So we got a stand in and invited Shea's friend, Ben to come over and carve one. Man are those two competitive with just about everything they do! They were each determined to have the better pumpkin. Ben's pumpkin was the haunted house with the bats and Shea's was the goofy face. Shea was really hoping that Ben would accidentally slice the house in half trying to carve out one of the windows, and Ben continued to goad her about the lack of technical difficulty required to carve hers.  I refused to choose a side. I applauded both of their skills. Isabella picked the Spider, which Nick did, and Nicholas wanted the dragon, which I started and Shea finished. Nick and I were done carving. I did mine a couple hours later, which I never got a picture of, and Nick never carved his. (Which by the way, happened to be the biggest, most beautiful pumpkin in the bunch) It's sitting in my lawn on display with a few mums, looking very festively fall-ish.  

On Monday we went to Nick's brother's house, which also happens to be our old neighborhood. We have gone there every year since we moved 6 years ago. It's the best location for trick or treating.

Isabella decided to be Jessie and Nicholas was Woody. In September, Nicholas wanted to be Iron Man. I bought it, he wore it around the house a few times, and in October when it was good and dirty, he decided he wanted to be Woody. I know I should have said "tough tooties, you're going to be Iron Man", but how cute does that duo below look in their matching costumes? I justified the $20, and he can run around the house saving us from peril for the rest of the year. Nick asked me to kindly please stop going to stores that sell costumes until November 1st, so as to avoid another switch. For the sake of his sanity, I agreed.

Shea and my oldest son her boyfriend dressed as each other. They thought that little number up all on their own about 2 hours before trick or treating started.  These two are a goofy pair of kids. The entire 30 minute ride in the car, Ben acted out and recited every ism that Shea has or says. Nick and I thought she was going to pummel him.

 The Cousins!!

The next morning, bright and early, still coming down from the sugar buzz, Nicholas and Isabella had their school parties. They had a parade and a little show for the parents, and then they played games and did crafts for the rest of the class. They had so much fun, and Nick was one of the parent helpers for the party. He was the ONLY dad there!

Here's the loot....

And here is the tax that they must pay me in order to live in my house.