our photographer

I walked in on Kaitlyn arranging some of her toys for a photo shoot! It was quite cute.

Heeeeeeeeee issss BAAAAAACK!

Joe, our Elf on the Shelf, made his appearance after Thanksgiving! The kids love him. Conner could stop staring at him the first day. He would be talking to me and the look up on the shelf. It was funny and cute at the same time! The first night Joe forgot to change spots. I actually remembered this morning before they got up....so the count is one for one now! I don't know if i can keep it up for a month but we will see!

Decorating

The kids LOVE to decorate the tree! I think they did a pretty good job!


do you see this ornament? Tim made it when he was a little tike. It is falling apart but I can't stand to part with it. We didn't use all of Tim's old ornaments this year ( we used most of them) but this snow man had to make an appearance on the tree!

The hunt for the "Best Christmas tree EVER!"

A hunting we will go! We searched and searched...until we found our Charlie Brown tree....seriously.....as we cut the tree down the top broke off. I decided we needed a slender tree this year....wrong decision. Next time Tim picks out the tree. Our tree is pitiful! We paid a lot of money to cut down our own pitiful tree. It looks a little better after the kids decorated it. Tim is ready to go out and buy another one. I say it just gives us memories!

A star is born

3 &4 year old basketball is quite entertaining! Actually, i got a little irritated by one of the moms. The only girl on our team has some older siblings and i think her mom use to play a little ball back in the day. They were yelling constantly! "Gabby, pay attention!", "Gabby, rebound!" "Gabby, you have to dribble!" Shoot! "that guy is open!"....on and on. They would get mad and disappointed if she didn't score. Good grief these kids are 3 and 4 year olds. How about lets have fun!! They were taking it way to seriously. Our couch is awesome. You can see Conner's team (blue) playing zone defense. The whole thing is cute. So it got me thinking (since i was a high school basketball star-----hahahaha that is hilarious!) basketball takes a ton of skill! So much more than soccer. At least in my opinion that is. Conner hasn't totally figured out this sport but he has improved since the first week and he has fun doing some of the silly things they have them do. So fun!

getting ready....

the snow is coming! We are getting excited!

So much to be Thankful for....

We really do have soooo much to be thankful for. Our family is so blessed in so many ways. Being able to be together is one of my biggest thanks. Many people take this for granted. I think of all the service people that are so far away from their families this Thanksgiving. I am so thankful that we can be together. Our health alone is another awesome blessing!! Trust me it sucks to be sick during the holidays and in the hospital sucks more! I am thankful for my job. I hope I can shed a little light in some of these people's lives. I could go on and on and on......we are just so blessed.
Today is just another example on how blessed we are. We have been so fortunate to have amazing neighbors/friends. Our immediate neighbors always think about us being on the other side of the country without our big family......remember how we spent Easter with a neighbor family? Well, this thanks giving we were blessed with another invitation. It was an easy walk right next door to Samantha's house! Great food, great fellowship and i got smoked in a couple x box games. Thanks for letting us join your family for the day! We are thankful for you guys!

We saw Tangled!!

What a fun little movie! Kaitlyn had half day today so we met up with several of her friends at Mickey D's ate, played and then headed to the movies!! So much fun! 6 little girls and our little Conner! They all behave so nicely! K has a great little group of friends. Actually her whole class are good kids...so nice to see...lets hope it stays that way.

2 turkeys

I think these two turkeys are the cutest! Conner made the little turkey at preschool. I have to remember this one for next year. So creative. Conner says they taste really good too!!

Play date

Nothing like an afternoon play date! We love them! Since it gets dark so early right now it is fun to have kids come over and play! My kids were exhausted!!!

One down, one to go

Kaitlyn is a busy girl this weekend. 2 parties! One a day...at least they are spaced out! Today it was fun at Lana's house and tomorrow is a swim party! Kaitlyn's cup of tea! It is so fun to watch Kaitlyn play with her friends. Happy Birthday, Lana!

Today

Conner and I have been having a lot of fun during the days. We miss Kaitlyn but it is good Conner time. Today after swim lessons, we went to the park. On our way there we had some flurries. The first of the season. It melted in mid air but Conner got to catch a couple on his tongue!
This is how we do it in New England! Since we are so far north, it gets dark early. This pic is taken about 430pm as the sun was going down. It is cold out there in the evening. We broke out the balaclavas (go ahead google it!) tonight! Keeps em warm!

Turkey Day is right around the corner

Do you remember this song from last year. Kaitlyn was singing it. Here are the lyrics if you can't understand big C.
Gobble Gobble Gobble Gobble Fat Turkey am I
I'm not here for living. I'm here for Thanksgiving.
Gobble Gobble Gobble Gobble Fat Turkey am I.
I think it is cute! Morbid but cute and true!
Conner is showing off his turkey he made at school.
Let the Celebrations begin, After I finish the next 4 nights of work that is!

Christmas shoe boxes

Every year I mean to do the shoe boxes. I think we have only done it once since Kaitlyn was born. This year we were determined to get it done. What a great way to teach your child what Christmas is actually about! Giving! God gave us his greatest gift, His son, Jesus. It is Jesus' birthday!! We want to make sure we celebrate that every year!!! So the kids and i went out and did a little damage! Yet another excuse to go to Target! Boy that place is bankrupting us!
These pictures are awesome! I wish we could be there to actually see who got our presents. I would love to see the look on their faces. Maybe the kids who got our boxes will write to us! Sure hope so! This morning Conner was at the table about to eat and I asked if he had prayed yet. He bowed his head and i heard something about food and then about the kids in Africa( could be many different countries but Conner loves Africa from some of his movies) who will be getting the box of toys. We now have some more friends to put on our prayer list! I love that little boy!




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The brothers came to play

We love these guys! Danny, Mikey, and Christopher came over after school today! It was their Mom's birthday so we made cards and pictures and all kinds of fun stuff to surprise their mom. The kids have so much fun together!

The boys thought we had a cool car. Yep that is a minivan folks. Kids totally dig them! To all you anti-minivaners, when you give in you will sitting in the lap of luxury! Seriously! HA. Anyway, we thought we would munch on suckers and watch a movie in the van of all vans! One of the boys asked me, "when is the last time you vacuumed this thing out?" Oh so true...time to do that again!

Last day with Grandma

We love having grandma come visit. Kaitlyn was showing off her reading skills while grandma visited! We still had a little color left for grandma to enjoy with us. Thanks for coming!!

We love Grandma!

CHEESE!!

New friends and old friends

Dylan has been the kids friend for about three years now and Dalia and her brother are our newer friends. Friends are sooo much fun! Thank God for friends...old and new!

Grandma is here!!

We took a bird walk and hung out on the beach! The wind was blowing really good but we still enjoyed ourselves! We love hanging out with grandma!

A big thank you...

to all the men and women who have fought for our freedom. "One nation under God"

Hoops hoops hoops are on fire

Conner had his first pee wee bball today. We've got some work to do but he was so cute out there! He is a trooper. Here he is one the bench waiting for his turn to play!
Pow wow in the middle of the court. Nothing better than watching a bunch of 3 and 4 year olds play bball at 8am after a long night of work! Seriously this kid is so fun to watch!
Playing a little D!
And he scores!!!!!