December is here....and almost over!!

Morgan and Lauren dressed up for their Thanksgiving program at school.  Lauren was the youngest with a speaking part and ironically the only one you could actually hear... no fear of public speaking in that child!  I think it's supposed to be a bonnet on Lauren's head...

WOW!  Can't believe how fast time goes by.  That last entry feels like forever ago! 
Shortly after Toben returned from hunting Sara and Andrew were here from London for a week to enjoy Thanksgiving with us.  This was a wonderful time that was very busy and went way too fast but a great start to the holiday season!  I hate that Sara and Andrew live so far away but probably makes us appreciate them all the more when they are here :)  (Plus when they are here we seem to eat too much and drink too much wine, is it them or just an excuse?!)

Mmmm, mashed potatos!  We enjoy cooking all together when Sara and Andrew are in town, it's a day long event!

Got the men right where we want them!  They are actually both great in the kitchen! (Andrew and Toben in picture, did you make it through customs with that beard Andrew?)

Thanksgiving was followed quickly by Morgan's 7th birthday!  No, I can not believe I have a 7 year old already, where does the time go?!  Can't believe I had her when I was only 20..... or something like that.  We had a small party with the DeVree side to celebrate Morgan's birthday and cousin Lillian's 3rd birthday.

Let's not forget Christmas decorating!  Morgan and Lauren had been asking to put the Christmas tree up since the first of November, I told them we had to wait until Thanksgiving was over, you guessed it, day after they woke up asking to put the tree up!  I was one of those black friday crazies so did not get home until almost noon.  Thankfully Toben put the tree up and plugged in the lights, the extent of his decorating help :)  He then swiftly took off to hunt while I wrangled the ornaments, decorations and four children and the 'treats' that go along with decorating the house!  It WAS a fun afternoon, love those cozy days with Christmas music playing in the background, we're a regular Normal Rockwell picture.  We even did a gingerbread house for the first time ever!  I'm still confused as to the purpose of these sugar coated candy wasters but hey, it was fun!  We only experience one injury that day... I'll let you guess what that was after the next picture....

Yup, bad mom moment, took a picture and as soon as I went to remove the ball from her mouth she bit down and sliced her mouth :(  On the bright side she has not touched the tree again and any of you who know her KNOW that's a feat, she is into EVERYTHING!  The latest being the fireplace or the shower (when I'm in it!), she's a sneaky one, I was showering this morning and suddenly feel something on my leg, look down and there she is, purple fleece sleeper and all grinning like a mad woman, can't do anything but laugh, and maybe not close my eyes while in the shower anymore....

Moving all ornaments to higher ground

Ok, this is the blog entry of all blog entries so I'm going to wrap it up, mainly because Layna is awake now and Lauren is done doing her slave labor (you might all get Christmas cards after all, she stuffed 50 of them)  and I want to reheat my coffee for the fourth time today.  Which leads me to a question for all of you moms out there, when is a cup of coffee no longer coffee?  how many times can you reheat it and still consider it safe for human consumption? Things that make you go hmmmmm

'While you were out...'

As a few of you know Toben was gone for 6 days and my saintly mom and Aunt Marcia decided I needed a project... well actually I think they needed a project but it was a good way for me to deal with any negative energy or emotion at being a single mommy for 6 days! :)  SO while Toben was away we had some FUN!  My 40 year old bathroom was in desperate need of some updating and updating is what we did, (thank you craigslist)!  Wish I had a better before picture to show you but here are a few snapshots of the during and after, a HUGE thank you to everyone who pitched in and provided some skills I didn't have...

Ugly 40 year old sinks and fixtures---buh-bye

My dad and uncle Ray removing the dreadful sinks

"saint" marcia removing old paint from the trim and molding

My saintly mother taking over kid duty

Paint, yeah!  I've been wanting to do that for 7 years now!

Layna getting 'in' on the action, new hardware and drawer liners (the little things make a bit difference!)

I really enjoy my new bathroom and Toben was very surprised!  It was a fun project but alot of work, I think next time I'd send a kid or two with Toben :)  Everything from the floor to the ceiling was either new or completly redone so I feel like I'm in a brand new bathroom, the kids even call it the "new" bathroom.  I was very impressed that Morgan and Lauren were able to keep it a secret, they were bursting at the seams to tell him.  Morgan was talking to him on the phone Wed to find out what time he would be home, when Toben told her she said "Uh-Oh Mom, he's coming home" and about dropped the phone, he knew something was up but didn't know what!  Again a HUGE thank you to everyone for your help, I couldn't have got it done without you!

Fabulous Fall Weekend

We enjoyed the wonderful weekend weather.  Our annual neighborhood party is held at our house each year, usually around halloween but this year we pushed it off a week and thankfully we did!  We have never had better weather.  Unfortunately I don't have many pictures b/c i was running around like a chicken with my head cut off and Toben was manning his donut making machine so between taking care of the kids and running a party it was nuts but FUN!  The kids had a riot and were up WAY too late but the weather was so great and they were all so good we just enjoyed the night and hopefully built some great memories.

Kaden and Layna getting cleaned up for bed

Fun in the leaves!  It's a love-hate relationship...

Halloween Fun?!

After much anticipation and dilemmas about costumes and how to "do" blue hair I think we spent way more time in preparation than we did trick or treating!  Sorry I don't have many pictures, just enough to remember the year, we're outnumbered and I'm the only one who actually TAKES the pictures so I just gave up :)  Ryer was completely excited to be a cowboy and we had no problem convincing him to wear his costume (thank you cousin Jackson!!), only problem was convincing him to take off the cowboy boots!  He is his daddy's boy that's for sure.  To keep it simple we stayed home and went in our neighborhood with the neighbor.  Alayna lasted two houses before I decided it was too cold for her and Tob quickly volunteered to take her home!  Ryer lasted 2 more houses before wanting to go home, so I trucked him back to the house to hang with Toben and Alayna, no sooner did I rejoin the group than Morgan decided handing out candy would be MORE fun than collecting it... wise beyond her years.  Lauren on the other hand would have gone all night long.  She was in tears when I finally decided I was too cold and we were done.  She spent the most time as the lone 'Thing 1' so had to keep explaining her costume, combine that with her somewhat difficult to understand speech and we spent way too long at most houses!  After bathes (thankfully the blue color came out easily) they had a movie night with the neighbor boy and we let them stay up quite late and eat some of their loot, worked in our favor b/c they DID sleep in for once!!  Here are a few pictures just for fun...

the blue hair was a huge issue, they weren't real excited once we started spraying it and wouldn't let me give them "big" hair!

I think his grin says it all!

Cute, chubby little ladybug :) (and Toben too)

had to show you their funny little dinner!

just a cute picture taken after the outdoor fun!

Family Weekend

Morgan and Lauren had off from school last week Thursday and Friday so we made the most of it taking day trips from our house.  Wednesday we spent the afternoon at Klackle orchards with Missy and Kaden

Ryer wants to "drive" anything and everything with wheels so he was in his glory!

Mmm, good stuff

My lovely Aunt shared her first thoughts of Adam and Eve.... hmmm, Aly was the first to get a chunk out of the apple!?  Leave it to the woman!

Friday was movie day which was a fun new experience for Morgan and Lauren and then on Saturday we went to the Air Zoo via motorhome with the DeWitts.  The highlight for the kids was definitely the hot air balloon ride!  If you've never been there I highly recommend it, I believe general admission is free until December and wristband for rides is free for those under 4, or if you're lucky like us you have cute kids and they just give you wristbands :)

Making slime with the kooky scientist

I lost track of how many times they rode this ride

Another fun ride for the kiddos...

and Alayna's favorite ride!!

Giving this a shot...

Ok, after a some prodding I'm going to try out this blog thing... stay tuned for more updates (maybe). I'll start by trying to figure out how to post pictures and maybe this weekend give an update on the kiddos!