I guess I better get the posts up for 2013. :) It's already February and here I am posting Halloween... So here it is!
In October we went camping with some friends and family! We camped at Gifford Pinchot state park- it was beautiful! We brought the kayaks and got to go out on the lake!
The kids love camping as much as we do. There we plenty of leaves and friends to play with!
Ellie
Leaves!
Mailei and Lily
That night it got pretty cold but we stayed nice and toasty! (I can't say the same for everyone else in the group!)
In the morning it was super foggy and they guys went out on the water- it looked awesome.
Chad and Lily
Yay for camping!
The night we got home from camping we had our ward talent show. Lets just say Heather and I did a Russian strength lifting routine. We were pretty much amazing. I'll have to post the video sometime.
Pumpkins!
Through October Chad spent most of his time working on the roof. (With help of my father-in-law and the missionaries some times.)
Right before he started!
What a hard worker! I had to help do some chalk lines once... Lets just say I didn't ever go back up.
Almost there! (Yes that's my mother-in-law on the garage with Chad!
DONE! What a good looking roof!
For Halloween this year Lily and Ellie wanted to be Jake and Izzy from Jake and the Nederland pirates. I Made the costumes again this year and I thought they turned out pretty good!
Ellie as Izzy
Lily as Jake
Andie as a cat! :) So cute
For the ward trunk or treat my in-law's rented a cotton candy maker. We were a hit :)
Chad was Mario (Seen above) and I was Princess Peach!
Halloween night we made hot dog mummies for dinner.
The Pirates ready to go trick or treating!
Cubby (Kacen), Izzy (Ellie), and Jake (Lily)
Somehow I managed to not take very many picture in November. Chad's sister Jessica and her now soon the be husband, Adam, came for Thanksgiving and we had a really good time meeting him!
After Thanksgiving we set up the Christmas tree!
For our ward Charistmas party the kids got to do a nativity. Unfortunatly most of the family got super sick right before it was time to go. So I took Lily and Kacen and they ended up been pretty cute angels.
Later in December we got to take a trip to Maryland to see some of our favorite people! Andrea,Scott and Johnny always make us feel so welcome! We played outside in the snow and made a huge snowman!
Then Johnny sat on his head...
Then Chad stood on his head...
Then Scott body checked it. :)
Father like daughter...
We played some more in the snow and had pizza and games after. Lily and Ellie keep asking when we are going back. :)
One of Chad's family traditions is building gingerbread houses! They all turned out pretty great this year!
Not that we are lacking for traditions to do when it comes to Christmas... I wanted to start a new family tradition! These are Christmas crackers:
A bit about Christmas Crackers:
Christmas
crackers are
part of Christmas celebrations
primarily in the United Kingdom. A cracker
consists of a cardboard tube
wrapped in a brightly decorated twist of paper. The cracker is pulled by two
people, often with arms crossed, and, much in the manner of a wishbone, the cracker
splits unevenly. The split is accompanied by a mild bang or snapping
sound. Crackers are typically pulled at the Christmas dinner table or at
parties. Typically the contents are a colored paper hat; a small toy, and a motto, a joke, a riddle or
piece of trivia on a small strip of paper. The
paper hats, with the appearance of crowns, are usually worn when eating Christmas dinner. The tradition of
wearing festive hats is believed to date back to Roman times, and the Saturnalia celebrations,
which also involved decorative headgear.
My crackers were homemade this year and did't have the snap in them to really be crackers- but I did put a champagne popper in each one so we still got to pop something!
Amazing. I know.
Our nativity on Christmas eve. Gus the dog made a great camel.
Santa came!
Every morning for breakfast Lily and Ellie have pancakes- and for Christmas Chad made extra special ones!
Chad loved his new phone from Laura :)
I made some felt animal masks for the girls and it was fun to see them excited about them.
Nana and Papa got all the grand kids these huge dragons! They have the kids names on them and they love them so much!
On Christmas day we went caroling at Masonic Home (a huge retirement home).
It was really fun and I'd love to do it again! Here we all are in one elevator. :)
Here is Ellie and her friend showing this sweet lady a doll.
For new years we went to a party at our friends house! It was a great time even if the kids did get a little crazy.
January 13th was my 30th birthday! Lily and Ellie had planned a party for me that I don't think I will ever forget! (Thanks Heather for helping set it all up! You are the best!)
We had a fancy tea party complete with lemon cakes, little pb&j sandwiches, frozen berries, raspberry sherbet as a palate cleanser and of course tea
We had our fancy clothes on...
our red hats..
great company...
and beautiful decorations made by Lily and Ellie.
It was so much fun I think I might want to do it again for my birthday next year.
Well that gets us caught up through January. Sorry this post was super long. Who knows- maybe I'll post more often...
