Thankful Chain

We did a little family project in November.  As much as I dislike Halloween, I love Thanksgiving.  I love the food, the family, the decor, and the concept of gratitude.  After chatting with some friends on facebook, I came up with the idea of everyone writing down one thing at dinner each night that they were thankful for that day on a strip of paper and making a Thankful Chain.  It turned out GREAT!  The kids were really into it and asked to do it each night.  At the end of the November we took the paper chain and used it to decorate our little Christmas tree in the den!

 

I took a minute to write down what every one was thankful for this year:

Gillian:
My family and friends
Cuddly Bunny Jammies
Momo napping with me today
My favorite friend, Louise
My Barbies
My warm, cozy bed
My pink, fuzzy blanket
Dancing class
My cousin, Sarah
Both Weasel and Momo
GraGra
The Earth
WeeWee
Daddy
My friend, Sarah
Love
Our dinner
Aunts and Uncles
Ham
Friends
Me
Books
Food
My family
Mommy


Colin:
Family
Bacon
A nice, cozy bed
Noodles
Snow
Legos
Bread
Houses
Santa
Real friends
Plants
Bones
Tomatoes
School
Potato chips
Joshua's triplets
Dino Museum
Ham
Friends
Mustard
Trampolines
Carrots
Momo and WeeWee
Turkeys

Mommy:
Daddy, Colin, Gillian.  Momo and WeeWee too.
That Daddy's home
A warm(ish), solid house
A fun afternoon with Gillian
Pretty, new curtains
Fridays
A warm, cozy bed
The milk actually being in the car
Colin and Gillian
Hawaiian Pizza
Daddy's hard work
New paint for the dining room
Yoga class
See Saw and Miss Thelma
Kids doing gymnastics
Kids who play in the snow
Happy Weasels
Family dinners
Friends
Music
A beautiful, sunny day
A fun day with Colin and Gillian
A beautiful red tree on our way to school
A productive weekend

Daddy:
Health
Beef short rib ragu
Daylight Savings Time
Math
NPR
Umami
"GraGra and Papa distracting C&G so I could sleep in"
Strudelknot and Festerdoodle
Veterans
Cat snuggles
Noodles and red sauce
To not be in the Phillipines
Wallpaper removal professionals
Chinese food
Noodles
NSAIDs
Feeling well enough to run
No fear of public speaking
The weekend
Legos
New tires for winter
Lazy Sundays
Being 1/3 done with work this week
Moderation
Family

Finished product!  See we managed to get some curtains up in November too!

Halloween 2013

Halloween comes one week after the kids' birthday.  Halloween has never been my favorite holiday...even less so after a week of birthday crazy.  BUT, Colin and Gillian LOVE Halloween.  They love the creepy, the crawly, the (slightly) scary, the CANDY. So...off we go.

School party the day before!  No costumes (YAY) but books, games, crafts, and treats!


Halloween itself was wet.  Very wet.  BUT also warm!  I think when we stepped out to Trick or Treat it was 65 and drizzling.  Daddy stayed home to pass out treats and the kids and I hit the neighborhood!  I think we went to 15 or 20 houses, but it was plenty.




See my enthusiasm?


Momo thinks he wants to come along.




 

It was as fun as Halloween can get! Weeeeeee!

Wrapping Up the Birthday

The weekend after the kids' birthday we had Grammy, Papa Frank, Uncle D, Aunt Cedes, Dickiedoo, and Noonie for lunch.  The kids had a great time showing off their pumpkins, opening presents, and playing with their family.





















Tommy enjoyed the light saber very much!






We had a very fun day!  I think we celebrated five correctly!

Hunting and Carving Pumpkins

The Saturday after the kiddos' birthday we took our annual trek to Trax to pick some pumpkins. The kids always enjoy climbing the pumpkin piles and the other (expensive) activities!  It was a bit nippy this year when we went, but we soldiered on!















Ghosts!


Pumpkins!


Refreshing ourselves with kettle corn, apple dumplings, and hot apple cider.


Later that day we attempted to carve our pumpkins. ATTEMPTED. We broke two or three pumpkin carvers and a paring knife. Next year we will not get warty pumpkins. Daddy did us good in the end though!

Fall Singing

Just a few fall songs at bedtime:

Leaf Jumping

I'm typing up this post on the coldest day in years. Like -14 cold. BRRR. So, the sunny, beautiful October day looks even better!!!

Colin's biggest request in the fall is make a pile of leaves and jump in it. Gillian enjoys it too. So, one beautiful early October day the three of us hit the park with our rakes. We had a blast.



























My favorite shot!


A couple little videos for your enjoyment!