Conversations with the kids

Recent conversations with the kiddos...

Talon: "I've got hair on my arms!"

Nolan: "I've got hair on MY arms!"

Natalie: " I got haiw on my ampits!"

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I took Nolan to Target with me a couple of days ago, and let him give my debit card to the cashier. Today, as we were driving in the car, he randomly asks, "Mom, did you put my card back in YOUR wallet???"

Thanksgiving 2014

We had Thanksgiving at Jeremy and Donna's again this year. Jeremy roasted at turkey, and smoked one.  There was lots of yummy food!

By our choice, we were banished to the kitchen with the kids.  I didn't want to have to try to get stains out of their nice carpet.  Melanie came in to eat with us.

Some of the sibs idea of playing games... gaming on the computer with friends.

Grandma and James

Debating over which game we should play

Natalie playing on the bar stool... right before she got her leg caught, started screaming, and had to be rescued.

The kids enjoyed watching/listening to them play their game.

A round of Phase 10, for the more traditional game players

Entertaining herself with all of the new books

We had a great day filled with food, family, and fun... and then fussy kids when we stayed up too late playing games.  Oh well, it doesn't happen very often, and they recovered nicely.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Learning to be thankful

This year, the morning of Thanksgiving, we asked the kids if they knew what Thanksgiving was all about.  When the answer "TURKEY!!!" came out, we decided we needed to have a discussion about what it is really about.  Then, we had the kids sit down and list some things that they are thankful for. I think it was good for them, and something we will make a tradition.

Talon wrote his own list without any help.

I wrote out the rest of the kids' lists for them, as they named things off.

This is Kaitlyn's:

Nolan and Natalie only had to list 10.  

This is Nolan's:

Natalie's cracked me up.  She needed a little coaxing to get started, but then got the hang of it.  When she ran out of things to list, she just kept saying, "And Mommy, Daddy, Mommy, Daddy, Mommy, Daddy!".

 I also noticed that, after our discussion, 'turkey' didn't even make anyone's list.  I hope that means it sunk in!

Kaitlyn's Birthday Party

We had a little party for Kaitlyn with a couple of her cousins. It was a little later in the month, because things got so busy that Mommy didn't get the planning done. She didn't care. She loved it.  

The theme was, of course, Hello Kitty, because that is her favorite!

What do you do when you have tons of broken, dull crayons?  You melt them together and make big crayons.  I found muffin tins at Dollar Tree (score!). The kids enjoyed mixing the colors together.  The most difficult (and time consuming) task was taking all of the paper off of the crayons.  I figured they would love this part, because they do it all the time when they aren't supposed to.  It got monotonous after a while, and me and Granny had to jump in and help remove the paper.

The finished product.  They turned out very colorful, and the kids thought they were great!

Next, we had a treasure hunt with clues.  The prize was a whole bunch of candy. (I'm sure the parents all loved me for that one!)

They wanted to blow up balloons.  I think they found it was a bit more difficult than they had anticipated. I love it when a kid has tried to blow up a balloon for 2 or 3 minutes, is unsuccessful, then hands the slobbery thing to you to blow up.  Let's just say, I promptly traded them out for clean ones.

Apparently, chasing around balloons, they worked up an appetite.  So, we had sandwiches and chips.

The party animals

She got a lot of really great gifts

The goofy, youngest party animal

Some time for tea, and to play in the kitchen

The kids had a great time and there was very little drama.  I love that! Thank you to everyone that came, and helped make Kaitlyn's birthday so special!

"Come find me!"

Natalie's favorite way to play hide and seek... stand in one place and yell, "Come find me!".

Goin' for a ride

Nolan brought his Tonka truck downstairs to play with it on the hardwood floor this morning.  As soon as he was done, Natalie decided it would be fun to cruise around in. (Of course, when she was done with it, she left it in the middle of the kitchen.  When I came through, I almost fell over it.  Wouldn't that have been a fun ride?!  It wouldn't have been graceful, that's for sure!)

Still celebrating

We went to Grandpa and Grandma Bauer's last night to visit.  She got a couple more birthday gifts, and I made a pumpkin cake.

It wasn't fancy, but she didn't care.  We sang Happy Birthday and she blew out the candles.  She was a happy girl!

Coffee explorers

Because we have been sorely disappointed over the past many Starbucks coffees we have gotten, we are now on an mission to find some good coffee shops that we can visit.  We've found a couple. We went to one in North Salem last night, called Broadway Coffeehouse.  They serve Stumptown Coffee.  It was really good!

The kids enjoying their coffee and cookie

We are really into coffee, and trying different places is fun thing to do as a family.

If you have any good suggestions for coffee places in our area, please feel free to leave a comment!

(Another picture from another day at Origins. Have I mentioned how much we really like that place?)