Thanksgiving Festivities 2016

Matt's class did the cutest Thanksgiving poetry/singing program.  They made invitations and everything.  Lots of pictures, few words...

                                      

                           

Matt's favorite and mine...

Hip Hop Turkey...

"Gobble Gobble Yo!"

Thanksgiving was at Uncle Eric and Aunt Valerie's house this year...

Valerie committed me to trying the lamb.

For me that's huge since I don't eat meat.

It wasn't that bad...for meat :)

Valerie gathered us all around after the meal and had us watch old home movies...

They were hilarious and had us all cracking up!  Especially at Jo who kept trying to get into all the shots.  We decided he was the original photo bomber.

Ben had a little friend following him around trying to play his iPad the whole time :)

Halloween 2016

Here's my Halloween crew...

Josh and Matt both wanted to be hobos.

I got pics of everyone before school except for Josh so this shot was later that night.

About the only character that Ben loves that he hasn't been for Halloween was "Super Why".

I didn't get crafty at all...just decided to buy it online and it fit wonderfully!

Abby's costume was the trickiest...

I think I purchased three different pirate costumes and none of them fit or worked well.

We eventually ordered the shirt off of Amazon and were very grateful that it fit, found some boots at Walmart, the hat at Halloween City and kind of just pieced together the rest of it.

We were able to visit Grandmas after school...always fun to see them...and of course, Ben wasn't cooperating very well for the pictures :)

That night the kids went off with their friends to go around the neighborhood and my parents and brothers came over for dinner.  We watched Halloween Studio Cs and munched on goodies and handed out lots of candy.

My little Super Why was exhausted.

I forgot to get pictures of the pumpkins in their full glory but here they are just before we turned out the porch light....

Andy is so sweet and often finds random reasons to bring flowers home for me.

I don't want to sound like I hate Halloween but it is definitely not my favorite holiday.

I am always relieved when it is over and we can get on to Thanksgiving.

Knowing that it is kind of a stressful day for me, Andy brought these beautiful roses home to brighten my evening.

Gorgeous!

Happy November Everyone :)

Abby is 12!

The only other lady in the house is becoming a young woman :)

She turned 12 at the end of October

These next several pics are from our celebration at my parents' home the week before her birthday.

Here she is (from a distance) while her class sings Happy Birthday to her...

After school I snatched her up and surprised her by taking her to get her ears pierced.

She had been asking for a while if she could.

She did great and we spent quite a bit of time afterward looking for earrings and fun things.

Then we stopped and snacked on soft pretzels, checked out Bath and Body Works and then went and picked up pizza for her birthday dinner.

Her main gifts were a new scripture bag with a matching Personal Progress holder since she is now in Young Women at church...

...and an essential oil diffuser for her room.

In the past, she has begged to use mine so I figured it would be a fun surprise for her.

We watched a movie and had pumpkin and salted caramel cheesecake after we ate our pizza.

We love this lady!  She is such a great influence in our home and is beyond helpful taking care of Ben.  She is kind and loved by all her peers.  It's fun to see her growing up :)

Happy Birthday sweet Abs!