Decorating

So I have been just waiting for thanksgiving to come and go so I could get the Christmas decor up in the house. I do the inside Chad does the outside.

So the boys and I worked hard and got a lot of it finished. two trees up and decorated, the tops of the kitchen cabinets decorated and a few of the nativities are out of the boxes and set up.

It still looks a bit messy around here so I know I am not done all the way yet but we are getting close.

The boys also made gingerbread villages. This is a great tradition in our little family that they really love.

A Thanksgiving List

Just a small thankful list....

(in no special order)

my family (near and far)

our little house

our little school

my two little boys (not so little but always will be to me)

my calling at church

all the friends who make our lives so much sweeter

a car that works

blogs

friends that blog

game nights with the boys

ice cream

big holiday sales

rain

my boys school teachers

our church

Our Savior

computers

grocery stores

the library (where else can we spend 2 hours and not spend a penny)

My husband who works hard everyday, puts up with my impatience and craziness, will always do anything to make me happy and is always the one to say he's sorry first, and I will always be grateful he asked me to marry him.

Happy Thanksgiving World!!

What we did today....

Since the boys are out of school....this is one thing we did today....

I remember going bowling every time we went to my Grandma's house in North Carolina and we went there for Thanksgiving some years...so it felt right to be bowling over the boys thanksgiving break....

And Chad lost to Kaden(in the first game and when you combine both games scores K=232 C=214)...I think the boys are going to start giving Chad a run for his money now when Chad doesn't take this very seriously. All of my boys are very competative so this is pretty great in Kaden's world!

So Happy

You know how little things can make you so much happier?

Well after Plymouth day at school I stopped to get gas by the boys school and this is what i saw.....

I was amazed and so excited!! Chad laughed at me for taking a picture but to fill the jeep was really killing me lately so this was a great treat....Gas is still over 2.20 up at our house so I'll be checking in there whenever I drive to school.

Busy and Fun

This week was a busy week for all of us. Chad is now working out of the house and he is staying really buys with that. We are lucky to have him home, and for him to be able to continue to do the same work for himself out of the house. It is a change but so far it is working out really well.

On Thursday night the boys did the Evening at Plimoth plantation play at their school. Once again the lower grammer sang and the upper grammar acted. It was re0written for this year and was so great. Ethan loves to be a part of the performances. He told me that he tried to stand up straight, smile, and make his voice go all the way to the back of the auditorium.

On Friday was the boys Plimoth plantation day at school. this is the 2nd one we have been in town for and the boys loved it. Everyone chooses to dress up like a pilgrim or Indian and then all day they go from center to center to learn new things. Some are crafty so are not. the ones my boys talked about the most are dancing and archery (a brave teacher took that one on, and Ethan is proud to say his arrow stuck into the hay bale they were shooting at)

For lunch they are served what the pilgrims ate at the first thanksgiving. so there is turkey, bread, butter, clam chowder, parsnips, squash, succotash, fish, veggies. everyone gets a little taste of each thing and then they can get more of whatever they want. I worked in the kitchen and serving...so I had to be a pilgrim. Almost all the moms/teachers were pilgrims. It was a fun and tiring day at school.

Weekend Vistors

This weekend we were lucky enough to get a visit from Kris and Elisa. Elisa flew in after a quick work trip to San Diego and Kris drove down to meet up with her. Kris also wanted to see Ethan play in a soccer game before the season was over. Ethan was so excited to have Kris come to see him play. He was running all over the place and very talkative the whole game.

I got to "Talk Wedding" with Elisa and see the wonderful colors, ideas and invitations she has picked out. She even brought down dresses for Amaya and Leilani (our neices) to try on for the wedding. We are so excited for thier marriage and wedding in January...we just aren't too sure about the cold Utah weather!

The boys also got to play with Kris and Elisa a lot and had a lot of fun.

We got to do dinner out with just adults and were lucky to catch up with Blaine and Vannessa in between their work schedules. After dinner I got these cute pictures with the kids and Kris and Elisa. The funny thing is that Chad walked into the room said one thing and Amaya started screaming. She went and sat with Elisa (someone she doesn't know all that well yet) and was perfectly content. She was all snuggled in and looked so pleased.

We are lucky to have Kris,and now Elisa, who is so good to our boys, and all his nieces and nephews!

Ethan's Badge

Ethan was so proud of himself when I picked him up from school on Tuesday. He got into the car and immediately asked if I noticed his "badge" that he got for voting. I asked what they were voting for he said "president" like I was really dumb. So I asked who he voted for to which he said "McCain".

Then we get home and he shows Chad the "badge" and Chad asks "who did you vote for?" To which Ethan answered "Obama"

I think our child doesn't know who he voted for but he was sure that the "score" was 7 to 3. But he doesn't know who won either.

Get out and VOTE

Okay this will be my last post reminding you to VOTE.
I don't care who you vote for or any of that.

I just want you all to vote.

Take the time and learn and than vote.

You can do it.

It's part of this great country we live in and we are so lucky

to be able to have the freedom's we have so ......

GET OUT AND VOTE!!!

(turn on your volume for this little song)

A Big Mess

I decided this last week or two that I was no longer going to beg the boys to clean their room or clean it myself so I would just close the door and keep on walking. I figured it was theirs to clean up and I will just work on them getting the other chores done around the house instead. Well Thursday rolls around and the boys don't have school and I hear E say to K "Mom's going to make us clean our room." to which K tells him "just close the door and maybe she won't see it." And I am just fine with that. So than I tell C this and he doesn't find it funny and says he will make them clean their room Saturday. So after and hour in their room Saturday morning it is now clean and mostly by them with direction from Dad.

But here is the before picture....it looks better than it did b/c you can't see all the layers of mess there was.

Halloween Night

Well Halloween was more of an afternoon/evening thing for us this year.
We started at about 3 by going to our local shopping center where we meet up with some friends from the ward. We trick or treated all the stores and the kids got tons of candy and the moms got some coupons for free food from the restaurants.

Than about 5 pm we went with some of the same friends up to a model home area and trick or treated and they got more candy and we got more free stuff...we are liking that they give stuff ot the parents too!!

After we got home I took the boys around our little block and because there aren't a lot of kids who trick or treat this area we got a lot of candy. They boys loved to answer the door for the people who showed up at our door.

They sorted out candy and instead of trading Kaden just gave away most of his candy to his brother. He decided this year that he only needed two pieces of each type of candy...ss E really won out on this deal.

Here are the boys in all their Halloween glory!

And yes....Kaden always makes that face at the camera now.