Giving Thanks

The morning of Thankgiving, we woke up to the sound of men playing football. Nothing says Thanksgiving morning better than a 'Turkey Bowl'!

After a lazy morning, we got ready to go to Grandma's.

Of course there was Football...

Wrestling...

Toys...

Reminiscing...

Games...

And finally...FOOD!

Then everyone figured they had already talked enough for one day...

I am SO thankful for my family

and just so blessed!

Coffee Talk

My girlfriends and I meet at the Coffee Shop once a week  and I always feel bad because there are more kids than adults, and it's not exactly a kid-friendly place. We usually clear the place out within the first few minutes and then take it over.

Although, I think the women are even louder than the kids!

Sunday Dinner

Jeremy's family is nice enough to invite us over for the occasional Sunday dinner. It's always good food and great company, but I had to take some pictures of this last time.

It was a beautiful day and the colors were just starting to change on the mountain.

Once dinner was ready, there wasn't enough room on the "Grown up" table, so Emma had to sit here. 

She was being such a little stinker about it. 

I thought it was funny.

After a while, she said she wasn't feeling well, and wanted to go lay down. I thought she was just pouting still, but knew she must be sick if she didn't change her story once the cake came out. 

Olivia on the other-hand, stopped right in the middle of playing "Rock Star" and ate that cake!

The next morning, Emma woke up with a fever and red cheeks.

Sorry for calling you a stinker ;)

Landon's Birthday Party

Landon's birthday isn't until October 16th, but we can never count on it being good weather, and this year he really wanted an outside party. So I decided to have it this weekend and got busy planning outdoor games like a treasure hunt or relay games, when Landon reminded me he's turning eleven- not six. He clarified that eleven year old's just 'hang out'. I guess all my plans were foiled, but hey, much less work for me! I did manage to talk him into a "Sports Theme" and include a cake.

I had a movie prepared just incase things got a little slow. But, once the boys showed up, it was non-stop craziness. They played a pretty serious game of hoops...

Then settled down to watch the movie and have some pizza...

Once the pizza was gone, they started a pillow fight...

Then cake and presents. He had a great time and scored with the gifts!

Howdy Partner!

It's cowboy day at preschool...finally! Olivia has been asking me for two weeks when she can dress up and today I was happy to tell her it was time. I can see why she was so excited...she's the cutest little cow girl I've ever seen!

Off-Track Fun

September is usually my favorite month to be off-track (out of school for 3 weeks), because the weather is usually nice and so we can somewhat prolong our summer. However, this year it was freezing, so we had to find something to do indoors. We decided to go to Classic Skating and each take a friend. Landon took Payton, and Emma took Caitlyn. They had a great time!

My Stoner Child

I picked my sweet four-year old up from preschool today, and we had the following conversation:

Olivia: "Mom, don't you wanna talk about my day?"

Mom: "Of course, tell me all about it!"

Olivia: "I bonked heads with Olivia L. and I cried. BUT...it was an accident".

Mom: "I'm sorry you got hurt today, so are you okay now?"

Olivia: "Yup, I'm fine. I decided to be high at recess, so that made me feel so happy."

Mom (a few seconds after choking on my apple): "Um...you decided to be high at recess? What do you mean by that?"

Olivia: "All my friends are brave and like to be high. I don't like it 'cuz it scares me. But today I finally was brave and got SOoooo high!!!"

Mom: "Okay...so...can you PLEASE explain to mommy what it means to be high?"

Olivia: "Well...I don't really it too much 'cuz it- it scares me. But today I got brave and tried it. I let Sam push me so, so, so high, and now I love the swings!!! I think I'll let Sam push me really high every time!

Mom:  (After a sigh of relief and deciding this was a good educational opportunity)..."Yes, yes you are so brave. But Olivia...please don't ever do anything you aren't comfortable with just because all your friends are doing it. You are strong, and brave, and a great friend. You never do something that makes you sad or scares you...okay...you just tell Mommy if that happens and I'll help you...okay?!!!"

Olivia: "Oh, Mommy...I have something to tell you!!!"

Mom: "What?!!!"

Olivia: "Addie picked her nose today!!"

...and...

we're back...

The Dreaded Laundromat

Our washer broke and it took me a week to get someone to look at it and then another week for the part. I was tempted to just go buy all new clothes and towels just to avoid the laundromat, but I decided it would be a good learning experience for the kids. Well, not really, but they were off-track, so I had to drag them along. They were amazed with the number of washer and dryers there, and wondered why anyone would want to own their own when they can just come here and get it all done at once.

Then they saw the answer.

Gotta pack some heat at the laundromat.

Never know who's going to try to take your comforter
(and no, he's not a cop).

The kids were good, as usual, and kept themselves busy, but I think this was a good "one time" event. 

Swimming Lessons

I wanted to make sure the kids kept busy while they were off track, so I put them in Swimming Lessons. They've had lessons before, but this is more advanced, since they learned diving techniques and new strokes. They both did great and Landon is looking forward to trying out for the Swim Team.

Mother & Son Having Some Fun

I wanted to spend some one on one time with my little man, so we decided to go to an arcade. It was fun to see such a big smile on his face and watch him have a good time.

But then, I started to look around and found a bunch of my childhood games, and thus, turned into a child. 

We both had fun, but I'm sure he would just tell you

 it was more embarrassing than fun. 

What?!!

Well, at least I had fun!

What the?

I woke up to a bruise the size of a baseball on the back of my leg. I do bruise really easily, but I knew I didn't do anything that would have caused a bruise like this. After reading and researching, I determined it was a burst blood vessel. I was concerned that it might be a deep vein, so I went to the doctor. Luckily, he said it was just a surface vein.

Somehow the word "just" doesn't make bursting a vein sound any less scary. It's definitely something I need to look out for in the future, and it turns out we have quite the family history of vein issues. However, I got a chance to speak with a lot of my family members about our family history and I got a lot of information (even though a bit scary) that I never would have known had I not had this happen, so something good definitely came out of it!