halloween '09

The kids had a great time trick or treating around the neighborhood last night. Elle dressed up as Pippi Longstocking, Ava was a princess (she would tell you she was a princess in a castle), and Thomas was the Aflac duck. It was so funny to hear them go up to the door and say 'Trick or Treat please' and then to hear Thomas follow that up with 'Aflac!'

memorial weekend 2009

We had a great holiday weekend! BBQ's with friends, lots of progress made on the shed, more flowers planted, a little laying out in the sun, our first boat ride, and relaxing in the evenings.

Ava loved the boat ride. She sat up in the front with Thomas and Elle and said 'Faster Daddy!'

thankful that you are still reading

I've been so bad at keeping my blog updated that I had to check it tonight to even see what my last post was about! We were in Nebraska last week celebrating Thanksgiving with our families. We had a great time!

We started Christmas decorating yesterday. Scott got out the outdoor Christmas lights and put some up on the porch. Just a few strands of white icicle lights across the top and a few strands of solid white lights on the railing. Ava loves it and keeps saying 'It's beautiful!'

I was going to get a real tree this year but when Elle and I went to the tree farm yesterday it was so busy and they were really short on help so after standing in the cold for 10 minutes we decided that our artificial tree would be just fine again this year. I put it up and pulled apart all of the branches yesterday and now need to get the lights on it.

Well, that's a quick update on what's been going on around here. I really am going to try to get back to blogging regularly now!

halloween 2008

This year Elle and Ava dressed up as clowns and Thomas was Indiana Jones. Scott's work had a Halloween party and he took 2nd prize with that pirate look he's got going there.

The weather was great for trick or treating and as always our neighbors spoiled the kids with lots of candy. Their baskets were full when we got home.

Ava said it best when she said, 'It's a great day!'

thanksgiving memories

This a big picture post but I wanted to share some of my favorite pictures from Thanksgiving weekend. It was such a fun weekend with many great memories made!


The girls all went shopping together on Saturday afternoon. I took this picture as Elle was making her purchase. Look at that smile!

Making marshmallow guns with Grandma Sandy.

Elle putting her play makeup on Grandma Sandy.
Playing cards with Grandmary.

Me and my sweetie.
My youngest sister Hailee and Thomas.

My sister Nicole and I getting beautified. We stopped at the grocery store and picked up highlighting kits and went to work on our Cub Foods highlights!

This picture explains the next one. :)
My hubby is no Nick Arojjo! (Thankgoodness!!) After he globbed one chunk of hair in the back with way too much highlighting solution I came to my senses! We don't have a good after picture. We went pretty skimpy on the highlights not wanting to regret doing this! :)

happy thanksgiving

We woke up to a frozen lake and snow. Big, fluffy flakes that glistened in the sunlight. It was like we were in a snowglobe all morning. It was really neat.

This is my sister Nicole and I cooking together.

Basting the ham. It turned out so yummy as usual. Ina's Baked Virginia Ham has become standard fare at all of our holiday dinners.

The best turkey I have ever made! I will always brine my turkey now. I used Martha's recipe because I forgot to order the Williams Sonoma seasoning jar in time. It was so moist and flavorful. The bones are cooking up into broth right now. Making use of all of that turkey!


My second helping. :) Not really. I don't have any pictures of the desserts. Forgot to take them. They were good though! My favorite new recipe that I tried this year besides the turkey was The Pioneer Woman's Butternut Squash Puree. Yum! It will be part of our Thanksgiving dinner for years to come.

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I better go get the kids in bed and go there soon myself. Gotta get up early for those early bird specials tomorrow!

talk about tuesday

We are putting up our Christmas decorations today. I have never put them up before Thanksgiving but I'm breaking tradition this year. Since my mom is coming tomorrow and she has never saw my house decorated for Christmas in the 9 years that Scott and I have been married I thought that I would go ahead and decorate before she gets here.

I was so happy to pass the job of pulling apart the branches of the fake tree to Thomas and Elle this year. They were excited too...until they started on it! They quickly realized that it really isn't as much fun as they thought it would be. :) We used to get a real tree but after the year it fell over 3 times and soaked my carpet each time I bought this artificial one. I'm sure Ava is going to love the tree this year. I think I'm going to have to leave off the ornaments I made last year with a gingerbread type crust that is inedible. They look too much like cookies and she loves 'coo-coos'.

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