Thanksgiving in St. Louis

We were crazy enough to make the 14 hour drive from Raleigh to St. Louis to visit my older brother and his family who just moved there from Oklahoma.  My parents, sister, and grandma met us there. To break of the drive we stayed at a hotel and had a swimming party- a little bribery goes a long way... 

Carrie was the life of the party in the eyes of the kids.  She taught them how to play her ukulele (of course after an AMAZING performance herself- TALENT!!!)

Carrie's moto...

She even took naps with my kids...

As you can see Ashlyn idolizes her aunt, thus the matching clothes.

And is the baby whisperer...

Ashlyn never complained when Carrie did her hair- you can see why...

The kids loved playing together, Mr. Mouth was a big hit with the little ones...

 And phase 10 got played endlessly, especially by Morgan and Dylan...

And 5 month old baby Meg was a MAJOR hit with my kids.  They argued over who got to hold her.  Corbin would have taken her home if he could have...

 Then we went down town to go to the Gateway Arch...

We enjoyed the museum and learned a lot...

Waiting to go up in the arch...

In our pods...

All of us at the top...

 Looking at the city below on one side and the river and barges on the other...

And of course our 14 hour drive home we had to spice it up with some treats...

 Wishing you had a wonderful and meaningful Thanksgiving!  We are so grateful we had the chance to see family!  (and much, much more of course)

Halloween

We sure had a Happy Halloween!  

Our Minion...

 Our pop star turned witch at the last minute...

 Dash...

 I tried to talk her into one of the costumes I made for Ashlyn but she was determined to be a witch...

Independence Day

We had a great 4th!  I found this wreath on the beloved Pinterest and knew I had to make one.  

 Kamryn loved the sparklers and watching fireworks for the first time (last year it was rained out.)

 We enjoyed the company of our friends for dinner and fireworks.  However, we could have done without the lost set of keys and glow in the dark bracelet solution getting in Dylan's eyes!

Father's Day 2012

I am sure this might sound redundant to many of my father's day postings, but I think this man...

Has turned out to be a pretty darn amazing dad if you ask me.  I know he might not look like it from this picture, but besides being a big kid at heart, he is an amazing example and teacher.  I couldn't have asked for a better man!  

This year has brought some new challenges with it.  Because Dylan is getting older, we are trekking into some unknown parenting places.  The way Connor handled these experiences has made me even more amazed by him and more grateful.  I know my kids will be in good shape, even though I often feel like a huge mess of a mom.

So here is what Connor got himself for Father's Day...

Since all my readers are big truck fans I am sure you could all tell from the picture.  NOT!  He got himself some new tires for his truck and a lift so they would fit.  I have noticed more men drooling as I drive by in it.  Can't say I understand it, but I love that he loves it!

And of course we treated him the best we could and made him wear his silly homemade tie (which I don't have a picture of, but you can get the idea of it by looking at the last two years.)

And of course I know he wouldn't be the amazing man he is without having such a great dad himself.  So thank you to Roger for setting the bar high!  And I am so grateful for my own Dad who has passed on some wonderful habits to me and who has always supported me in all that I have done.  I still remember the time I wrote one of my first papers at school, he spend hours with me.  It was then I knew how much he loved me and how smart he was!

Thank you to all the Dad's, who put their Father role first!

Ugly Sweater Party

You know you have great friends when the highlight of your holiday season is an Ugly Sweater Party. Especially when your friends feel at ease enough to come dressed like this...

Ben borrowed some of his wife's fake pony tail to create his own creepy do. The scary part was that he pulled if off too well...

Ali as...

Amazing that they found these just the other day at Steinmart...

The awards begin...

"An Innocent Toy Had to Die For Your Sweater" Award went to Jake (this is a very poor picture of Jake, but the best of his sweater- you can see the end of his reindeer on the back of his sweater) ...

The "Dickie-rific and Creepiest" award goes to Ben and Annie (she made her own Dickie since they are hard to come by now-a-days)...

The "Best Couple Sweater Combos" award goes to Andrew and Michelle (she will be shipping them off to her Mother-in-law who thinks they are cute, if you want a pair of your own you can find them at k-mart)...The "Knowing The Owner Of Your Sweater" award went to Kim and Kevin (they snuck them out of his parents house)...The "You Need a Tie With That" goes to the one and only Connor (I have to keep watch around the clock to keep him from burning it)...The "Best 80's" award goes to Dan and Janet...The "Ticky-Tacky" award goes to ME...

The "Grand Prize" winner goes to Ben and Megan. They get the coveted gnome that will be the grand prize for next year's Ugly Sweater Party...

And the people who made it all possible, our lovely hosts, Julie and Patrick (Patrick got his very chic mug on amazon)...

I hope your holidays have been just as cheery!!

Thanksgiving 2011

I had the most wonderful Thanksgiving this year. It was relaxing, and that was a huge gift in itself.

It started out with a 5k at 8 am at the near by high school for a no drunk and driving cause. Then hurried over to the ward Turkey bowl. This was by far Dylan and Connor's highlight of possibly the entire year. We had enough people to play two big games and even a little kid game. When the little kids were done they came and played with the big guns. I even got to play- what a treat thanks to Hannah. I did however, come home with war wounds. I was covering bishop and he was off with the ball toward the end zone. I was running right on his tail but couldn't quite catch him. I knew I had to dive for it, but I got him! Dylan and Connor have many of their own success stories as they were on the winning team of the winners game. I of course realized that I hadn't taken any pictures until everyone was walking to their cars...

We had two families that also don't have family around over for dinner. Lucky for me, Patrick brought the turkey, it's always good when he makes it. Shelley brought the most amazing appetizers. The company was great and of course football got turned on near the end. All-in-all, it was a success!

I was also very happy with the center piece. I kept it there until yesterday when Christmas took over...

FYI- For all of those who wish you lived in Raleigh...Today is December 7th and this morning at 7 AM it was 65 degrees already. We sure have been having pleasant weather this last MONTH!!

Halloween 2011

I strongly dislike carving pumpkins.

I am sure you have all now labeled me as a Halloween scrooge.

I have finally figured out that it isn't so much the carving that I hate, but it is when the pumpkins start to become a host to more living things than I want to imagine that throws me over the edge. They get soggy and turn black. No thanks. So I have resorted to finding other fun things to do with pumpkins. Last year we painted faces on them, used Mr. Potato head pieces and clipped facial features from magazines and glued them on.

This year we enjoyed hammering golf tees to make polk-a-dot pumpkins and painted a few to mimic candy corn. Since Nate and Leslie had to leave their pumpkins here from their visit (another future post), we had enough to make a snowman pumpkin! No melting!

Every year, Genworth has trick-or-treating at the office- LOVE IT! It is warm, not dark and the kids can't run too far ahead. This is my kind of trick-or-treating. (Someday, when the kids are older, my true halloween spirit will come out! You'll see!) They then serve ice cream. Kinda weird. Don't you think that is a little overkill on the sugar? Who's complaining?

Dylan was Jay Ninjago...
Depending on the night Ashlyn was either a princess or a fairy...
Corbin wanted to be a fairy too. I didn't have to do too much persuading after I slipped in the Incredibles movie. He was the perfect Dash...
Kamryn played an especially cute octopus...
Seeing her walk was the cutest!