Thanksgiving 2012

I am so mad at myself for not assigning the camera to someone for thanksgiving this year. I know before hand that I get caught up in the madness of trying to get everything ready to serve and people taken care of to worry about taking pictures so I need to give that job to someone else.  And this was our first year of having Morgan with us!! We did have a big group of about 30 people this year.  At first I thought it was just going to be our family with both sets of grandparents, Morgan, Dave, and Don and Jill's family.  But it turned out that Dale and Anita's family and Anita's mother and Darin and Sunny's family and the Shaw kids came as well.  We had two turkeys. I made one and so did mom and dad.  We both brined them again this year and everyone loved them.  We had lots of side dishes and WAY too many pies!! We will be cutting down on that next year.  Morgan and Ethan and Dave enjoyed the new indoor basketball game we bought from Costco the night before. And the kids just enjoyed being together and playing. I am sooooooo bummed I didn't get any pictures of any of this!!

The New Wall!

One thing I love about Dennis  is that when he decides to do a project he gets to work and gets it done. Unlike me, who just thinks and dreams and never gets anywhere;)  He has worked so hard to get this rock wall done before Thanksgiving. Saturday, he worked for 20 hours straight; from 4:30 am until 12:30 am. I love the way it turned out and so appreciate my wonderful husband who always wants to improve and beautify our home!!

Our 5 year old Girlie

Ava has been so excited for her 5th birthday for months now and was "4 and a half" right up until the day of. She wanted to get her ears pierced, get a mermaid tail, and go to Jungle Jims with her two best friends.  All her wishes came true and she was the happiest little girl in the world. Of course, there were some tears and rather loud crying when the ears were pierced ( a little girl watching and begging her dad if she could get her ears done next decided she didn't want them done after Ava's reaction and left the store;) She and her friends, Hope and Ava loved Jungle Jims and the other girls were saying they were going to ask their moms to take them there for their next birthdays. We stayed for almost 3 hours and I think they would have stayed longer. Her friends gave her presents too. Hope gave her a Pocahontas doll which sings and Ava gave her a whole set of bead jewelry and they had fun making necklaces the next day. Such fun memories for her 5th birthday!

Photos in the Dark

We were planning on using these pictures for the family newsletter and for something that Rachel asked for but we weren't real happy with how they turned out.  It gets so dark so early now that by the time Dennis got home from church it was completely dark.  I love the picture of the boys but the flash made their eyes look wild and crazy and of course the one I liked of me and my girl is great except you can't see her pretty brown eyes!  We'll try again tomorrow and hopefully they will turn out better:)

Halloween 2012

Halloween was so warm this year! Record-breaking warm. It was 75 degrees during the day and a nice mild night as well.  Ethan went to a friend's party and dressed as a tourist in Hawaii.  Brad went with a few friends around the neighborhood and he dressed like an escaped convict.  Jake wanted to be a gangster (grandma thought he was a French man). Ava was Hannah Montana and Eli was a baby racoon. Dennis wore his traditional costume of an Eagles fan:)  I was able to pass the candy out to all the adorable little munchkins in our neighborhoods. Everyone had a great time!!

Dad's Helper

Dennis is trying to sand and refinish some bookcases for our front room and was busy working one evening by himself.  Jake put on a little mask like Dad and asked if he could help.  Dennis showed him how to sand and let him take over on the inside of one of the book cases.  I don't know how long he lasted but I thought it was super cute that he wanted to help!

Ethan's Eagle Project

Ethan has finished his Eagle Project and now just has to do a few more things before his Court of Honor.  It took a while for him to get started but he did really well at delegating and asking for help with the other boys.  ( I got home after the rest of the boys had already taken off so I took a shot of the Hanna boys and Ethan knocking at our own door;)  Ethan decided to do a similar project that was done in Grandma and Grandpa Merrill's neighborhood.  It was an emergency packet of sorts to let others know the status of the household when a disaster strikes.  He included quite a booklet of different disasters and how to prepare for them and a red, yellow, and green cardstock to be placed in the window after an emergency. Red means serious injuries, needs immediate help, yellow means minor injuries, needs help when available, and green means everyone is okay. Grandma and Grandpa both really liked this project as it is something they felt they could really use and need someday. Hopefully the National Council will accept it as well!