Christmas Tree and Decorating

This was our first year getting a real Christmas tree. We decided to go to a local Christmas tree farm where you could cut down your own tree. Here is a picture of what kind of trees we had to choose from. . .

Here is the one we got. . .(the kids choose it)

The tree is shorter then me. . .if that is imaginable! It is kind of sad looking but I think that is what we liked about it. The kids liked it because it was their size!

Here is what it looked like all decorated. . .the kids did all of it, except the lights. . .

We also made our first gingerbread house. It was a kit so it should have been easier to do. . .however, I seem to feel a need to do everything the hard way. It's together now and the kids loved decorating it, so I guess it all worked out.

Thanksgiving

We went to Utah for Thanksgiving. I remembered to bring my camera for the trip but I forgot to take it out to take any pictures, until the last day when we did some "formal" pictures of the family and the grandkids. . .well here is a shot I got of all Brent and Anna's cousins on the Wahlquist side.



It was a really fun visit and the kids had a blast playing with so many cousins.

Halloween

This Halloween we went to a pumpkin patch and picked out pumpkins. On Halloween we carved those pumpkins. This was a first for my kids. They mostly wanted to watch me do everything. . .they were grossed out by the "pumpkin guts", they did want to carve it, but I wouldn't let them. . .though they did tell me how they wanted the faces to look.

Later in the day they got in their costums and we went over to a friends house to go trick or treating together. Anna was a witch with a kitty cat on the front, so according to Anna she was a Kitty Witch. Brent was Luke Skywalker. . .more specifically the "black Luke" from Return of the Jedi (that is Brent's favorite).

I love this picture of Brent because he is "being" Luke.

Here is Anna casting a spell. . .so cute!

My camera wasn't working so well with these next pictures, they are very grainy, but this was the group of friend we went out with. . .Adelaide was Cinderella, Haven was a Mermaid, Brent was Luke, Mal was a storm trooper (Brent and Mal are the best of friends), Cole was Yoda and Anna was a Kitty Witch. It was a ton of fun to go out all together. These kids get along so well and they are such good friends, it made Trick or Treating a blast!

Chore Chart

Maybe 6 months to a year ago my friend Cami posted on her blog a picture of some chore charts she had made. I was really impressed and inspired by that. . .at the time all we had was a piece of paper with the kids chores listed on it posted on the wall. Well I started thinking of all these things I could do and it started to become VERY complicated and ornate. . .so I told Andrew what I was thinking and this is what he came up with. . .

It was made with a magnet board, paint and stickers. Their chores are listed on the left and everyday they complete them they get to move a small round magnet down. Once they get all their magnets down they get to move their spaceship of butterfly to the next reward. I think it looks really cool and captures the personality and interests of our kids. They are super excited to do their chores now and it is almost like a game. I am glad I am married to a very creative man that can simplify my life!

Pumpkin Patch

We went to a pumpkin patch today. It had a hay bale maze for the kids, farm anaimals, pumkins, and a farmers market. It was a lot of fun!

Silly Kids

I have two VERY silly kids. . .they are always making me laugh. . .

Toby

Brent and Anna were having some fun with Toby one day and it was just so cute. . .you can see how much they love him!:) Toby is our dog/puppy, he is just over 1 year and huge but very much a puppy at heart.