Craig's 41

We have decided that maybe we just shouldn't celebrate Craig's birthday. After last year having almost forgotten Craig's birthday, yes, I know, I forgot the big "40". I blame it on the storm and most of the ward being out of power. It was a Call from Mom and Dad Homer that reminded me of his birthday. This year I decided to make up for it with a nice birthday dinner/family night with our friends the Dunklee's. We had Chicken Fajitas, fruit, and Stephanie had made Craig a delicious homemade carrot cake. The Dunklee's showed up at a little after six. I finished making the chicken for the fajitas and had the rest of the meal ready. At 7pm Craig wasn't home and wasn't answering his cell phone. We decided to start family night and figured he would show up at some point. A few minutes later Craig called, his 2pm appointment showed up at 3:15, and when he looked at the clock it was 5:30. He was in New Jersey, while driving home there were two major accidents on Route 17, he made it home about 9pm, just in time to open presents before the boys had to get to bed. We had a great dinner and party without him, maybe next year we will get it right.

Fort Homer

During the Thanksgiving holiday, Dawson, Duncan, and Declan built Fort Homer. They slept in it for about 2 1/2 weeks. When it finally fell, they just slept on top of the blankets on the floor until I remade their beds today. I don't know about you, but I prefer the comfort of a mattress. I guess little bodies can handle the hard floor better than my old body.

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is always a time to reflect and remember the many blessings in our lives and we at the Homer home have many to be thankful for. I seem to miss my family more on this holiday than any other. So we have the next best thing to having your family near, which is your friends, which have become your adopted family. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner with the Dunklee's and Desautels. We had everyone bring their families favorite recipes, everything was wonderful as you can see from the pictures.




Rick Dunklee won the award for the greatest Thanksgiving craft, at least in my boys eyes. He taught all the kids how to make catapults, and then they had a great marshmallow war against the little army men. The kids had a great time with the catapults. We are still finding hardened marshmallows throughout the house.

Ready for Battle

Dawson is always coming up with new outfits for their make believe fun. Dawson and Declan were ready for war and anything else that seemed to come their way.

Halloween aftermath

I know I am a bad mom, I forgot to take pictures of my kids in their Halloween costumes, but I did take pictures of the aftermath. Duncan ended up with 10.3 pounds of candy. Declan had about 8 pounds, and the rest was similar. It was a successful Halloween year.

Pumpkin Carving

It's that time again for the kids to get creative with their pumpkins

Applesauce

My friends and I had our annual applesauce making day! We ended up canning 64 quarts of applesauce. I just love the look after it is all done.

Dawson's Birthday Party!

Dawson asked for a pizza and movie night for his birthday party! I thought they needed at least one activity, so we came up Haunted Gingerbread Houses. The boys thought it was awsome, and I was surprised at how much time they spent on their houses. You just never know. Dawson thought it was the best party ever.

Dawson's birthday!

Dawson is 12 years old. I can't believe he is that old. He is very excited to be in Young Mens and couldn't wait to pass the sacrament. His YM leaders tell me, they haven't seen anyone as excited as Dawson to be there. Dawson is back into Star Wars, and so he wanted all Star Wars things for his birthday. We celebrated his birthday as a family on Sunday and then he had a party the next weekend.