Grateful...

cousins Claire and Emilie

Aunt Katie helped the kids make turkeys with cookies and candies.

mom's beautiful table. 

 more cute cousins- Gregory and Lydie

 our handsome bird carving man :)

 another shot of the table with our salads all ready to go. 

 wouldn't be Thanksgiving without mom's famous butter rolls!

 3 girls in the kitchen

Lydie had a great time keeping Grandma Lytle company.  She sat and talked to her for hours!

Hope your holiday was as wonderful as ours! 

These are a few of my favorite things....

....that was the theme of Emilie Sue's 6th birthday party.  We celebrated a day early at Grandma and Grandpa's house so we could celebrate Grandpa's birthday too.

  We played a matching game of "Emilie's Favorite Things".  Her presents were all wrapped in brown paper and tied up with strings.  She had a garland with cream-colored ponies and sleigh-bells on it.  And, her doll was wearing a white dress with a blue satin sash!  (Can you tell that I was a little bit excited when she told me that she wanted a Sound of Music party? Seriously!?  I love this girl!)

  The birthday duo eating their delicious birthday meal :)

 happy girl!

  playing the "snowflakes that stay on my nose" game. 

You guessed it!  She had crisp Apple Strudel for dessert (it was really fun to make!).

Happy Birthday to our precious, sweet little Emilie Sue.  We love you!

Hooray for Veteran's Day!

 the kindergartners sang the Armed Forces Medley

 Our veterans came to support her and be recognized by the school for their service to our country

 We love our veterans!

Happy Veteran's Day!

All dressed up....

...with nowhere to go (yet)!
We had some time to kill before church this morning and the kids were begging to use the camera. I let them each take a few. Daddy came home to get us for church in the middle of our photo shoot so he got in on the fun too. :)

Costumed kiddos

 Charlie was a bee.  It is an old costume of Eric's and he looked pretty hillarious! 

 I just love Charlie's little face!

 Grandma gave them the best reaction!

 Little mouse Lydie!

don't you love Emilie's pouty face?!

little mice

1 happy little Indian!  He was so excited to have a bow and arrow. :)

I know, I know.  The family theme thing just didn't happen this year.  I tried to talk them into Golidlocks and the 3 bears (Lydie would be a darling Goldilocks and Eric and Emilie could have been mama and papa with Charlie as baby bear), but it wasn't "cool" enough.  Oh well. I knew I would have to give it up someday! :)

Happy Halloween!



Joyeux Anniversaire!

Happy Birthday Mamie! There are so many things to love about my mother-in-law but I'll list a few:
-her cooking! mmmmm
-her contagious laughter
-her faith
-the way she gets excited to learn new things
-the way she talks louder and faster when she feels strongly about something (she is Italian, after all!)
-the way she is drawn to the jewelry section of the store like a magnet
-the way she can sew herself a skirt and 2 aprons in one day
-the way she showers her family (especially her grandchildren) with love.
-did I mention her cooking?!
We love you Mamie! We are praying that we'll get to see you very soon!

Mamie joyeux anniversaire! Il ya tellement de choses à aimer de ma belle-mère mais je vais énumérer quelques-unes: 
-Sa cuisine! mmmmm
 -Son rire contagieux
 -Sa foi
 -La façon dont elle se hâte d'apprendre de nouvelles choses
 -La façon dont elle parle plus fort et plus rapide quand elle sent fortement sur quelque chose (elle est italienne, après tout!) 
-La façon dont elle est attirée sur la section bijoux du magasin comme un aimant
 -La façon dont elle peut se coudre une jupe et 2 tabliers en une journée 
-La façon dont elle aime sa famille
 -Ai-je mentionné sa cuisine?! 
Nous vous aimons Mamie! Nous prions pour que nous obtiendrons de vous voir très bientôt!

79 degrees

That's what the temperature gauge in my van said today as we were driving home from a hike up to Stewart Falls.  That's right.  It's October 16th and we went for a beautiful hike where my kids were complaining that I made them bring sweatshirts.  Amazing. I know. Here are the pics to prove it.

 Lydie, Emilie, Zachary (front), Eric, Brayden and Ethan

Thank you to our friends for inviting us! 

FUNdraiser!

Every year our school has only one fundraiser.  They host a 1-mile fun run and encourage the kids to find sponsors.  Parents and grandparents will happily sponsor them while feeling grateful that they don't have to buy cheap chocolate or tacky wrapping paper.  The kids all get a school t-shirt to wear for the run too.  This year Eric and Emilie chose to run with Grandma and Grandpa (they were quite possibly the only grandparents participating!  Thank you, Grandpa and Grandma!).  It was Emilie's first run and she was  the 4th girl to finish (the kindergartners got a head-start but she did really well!)  Eric was one of the early finishers as well!  Way to go kids!

waiting (and waiting some more) for the run to start

 "Do you have to take a picture in front of my friends, mom?"

 heading to the starting line

 ready to run!

 cute little cheer-leaders in their school shirts!

 crossing the finish line!  Look at her cute red cheeks.  She did awesome.

 Hooray for Eric!

It started raining during the run and the girls were shivering with their Otter Pops but they all had a great time.