Thanksgiving and Parade

This year my dad drove up to have Thanksgiving with us. We were so glad he made the drive! We took the kids to the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade for a little bit in the morning and then headed home and finished cooking!

Nora watched the parade from Grandpa's shoulders.

Spidey making his way through the streets of New York.

I'm glad we went - the weather was cold but not too bad and the kids had a lot of fun.

Bringing a thermos of hot chocolate helped keep everyone happy and warm.

Daniel's spot to watch the parade.

Kung Fu Panda was a new float this year I believe and Daniel loves that movie so he was pretty excited.

Back to the house to finish cooking: My dad with the turkey "dancing" which he used to do for us when we were little on Thanksgiving. We always thought it was so funny. Daniel thought so too.

On the Menu we had:

Stuffed Mushrooms

Ashley's Cheese Balls

Turkey

Mom's Stuffing

Mashed Potatoes/Gravy

Parker House Rolls

Aunt Emily's Fresh Cranberry Sauce

Asparagus

Grandma Jensen's Fresh Cranberry Jello Salad

Grandma Anderson's Sweet Potato Casserole

Apple Sour Cream Pie

Berry Pie

Ashley's Chocolate Ice Cream Pie

We were happy to have the Dillingham family over for dinner as well.

The thing my kids requested on the menu was asparagus and Nora ate so much asparagus it was insane. I'm surprised she didn't have a tummy ache.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Halloween Festivites

Trunk-Or-Treat (My standard trunk-or-treat car decorations)

This year we had a cow (a la Chick-fil-A) and an astronaut. (I didn't tell the astronaut he might be hitching a ride with the Russians - let a kid dream...)

Family picture

Our nice neighbors

It was funny - when the door opened these two were leaning on it and fell right in!

Carving Pumpkins

Friday night we ordered Chinese food and carved our pumpkins.

Nora helped Mommy. By "helped" I really mean watched. Niether of them wanted to touch the goup inside the pumpkin. Daniel was acutally able to help trace the pattern though and did a little carving himself.

Nora and Mommy's pumpkin.

Daniel and Daddy did a bat.

Field Trip for Nora

While Daniel was at preschool one morning Nora and I had a little "field trip" with her joy school friends at Eden Farms. We had a good time and she was so excited to tell Daniel about it when we picked him up from school.

Nora and Mommy

Nora and her friend Drew

Checking out the animals

Hay Maze

We went on a hay ride and she got to pick out a pumpkin.

Gourmet Girls

I am part of a cooking group. We get together each month and this month was a Halloween potluck. Everyone came dressed up and it turned out to be so much fun. There are more pictures and recipes on our blog here.

(photo by Lindsey Arbuckle)

The girls: My friend Lindsey came up with our costumes. She was the Progressive Auto Insurance Girl - Flo and - I was the Orbit Gum Girl. Thanks Lindsey!

(photo by Lindsey Arbuckle)

I made these mini "pumpkin" cheese balls for an appetizer. My sister Jenny gave me the idea. Thanks Jen.

Joni made these AMAZING chocolate spiders.


It was a fun night.

Nature Hike

Daniel's preschool class went on a Nature Hike recently. Daniel was so excited that I was able to go with him. We got rained on a little bit but the kids didn't mind and it was fun to watch him interact with his friends and teachers.

Daniel's Teacher, Daniel, and Daniel's friend

Hugs for Drew: Nora was happy to tag along especially since her friend Drew was also there.

They found a little snake under a rock! I really do not like snakes...but the kids loved it and Daniel was the first to ask if he could touch it.

Daniel and some of the boys.

Daniel and Mommy