Thanksgiving Day!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I cooked and we invited the Shaw family to share it with us. I just love Thanksgiving! All my favorite foods in one meal! We're so very blessed. It was a lovely day! We just missed all our family... as usual on holidays!


Turkey!

Stuffing with sausage!

Heidi's homemade rolls and my homemade Cranberry sauce!

Beautiful close of the day!

The Lake

We drove out to a nearby lake to ride our bikes around. It was really windy and a bit cold, but we were excited. We unloaded the bikes and started out and then... my bike decided to have some issues... So. We stopped and just played and let the kids run. We found a fun swing and sat and watched the boats on the lake. It really is pretty there. The bike ride will just have to happen next time we go!! Hee hee!


The boats

Pretty shore

Jess and Jill

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Jilli's View

I let Jilli take some pictures. Here is what she finds interesting at our house...
It really gives you a new perspective... hee hee.

The Canal Museum and Boat Ride!

We went on a field trip here in our hometown with GVA - the group we homeschool with. It was a lot of fun and a great way to get some Science hours! They showed us a movie in the museum theater about the history of the canal ( I thought it was interesting!) and then the tour guides broke us into groups to do a scavenger hunt through the museum! It was all very well thought out and the kids really enjoyed it. After the hunt, they loaded us on a big wide canal boat and we rode up and down the canal, watching for local wildlife. We saw some ducks, squirrels and several different birds, but the kids were disappointed that the alligators had gone south for the winter! All in all, it was a fabulous trip and the best part was it was totally FREE! Love that! Thanks GVA!

A Bug!!

Miah caught this cool bug the other night! He named it Jumper and kept it for a little while before releasing it back into the yard. Coolio!

Flag Ceremony for Pack Meeting

Jeremiah participated in the flag ceremony for his Pack meeting on Wednesday night. He was supposed to be carrying the Cub Scout flag but it broke... so he was flagless... but he did a great job!

Big Girl turns 4!

Jillian turned 4 on Tuesday and we had a little GIRL party for her. She was so excited! We blew up balloons and opened cans of black olives, baby dill pickles, goldfish crackers and carrot sticks with "branch" - all her favorites! I baked a cute little cake with accompanying cupcakes and pink frosting and sprinkles... It was just a really fun day! She has gotten so big! I am just amazed every time I stop to think about how much she has grown! I tell her every day to stop... but she just doesn't listen! She got lots of really fun gifts and had fun playing with all her friends. I know she didn't want the party to end! We sent the little girls home with goody bags and then we ate her favorite dinner - black olive pizza! She is just crazy for black olives! Overall, a very fun day! Hopefully one she'll remember for a while!

Jeannie made her this adorable card with matching envelope... Lovely!

Opening presents!!

Eating snacks and cupcakes!

Blowing out her candles!

Waiting for the party guests to arrive! (she'd actually been waiting all day!!)

Posing for a fun picture with all her balloons!

More presents...

Trish made her some darling hair bows!! LOVE the polka-dots!

Happy Halloween Part 3!

Candy Monsters!!

Holed up on our front porch on Halloween... This was our view! Chris had to work on Halloween so I got the kids ready and rounded up some of my friends for us to walk around the neighborhood with! We were supposed to leave at 6pm and make the rounds... but the weather didn't cooperate! Luckily I snapped some photos before the rain started! It was pouring right at 6 when all my friends came over! Crazy! We waited for a little while on the front porch and then it tapered off so I pulled out all our umbrellas, passed them around and we started Trick-or-Treating! Crazy! Never had it rain on Halloween before! Guess we'll always remember it!

 

Cute little Fairy princess!

Artist!

Wizard!

Cute little trio!