Aaargh!

I pretty much threw Lincoln's birthday party together this year. Unfortunately I had to leave town unexpectedly right before it to go to a funeral. I got back the day before the party completely worn out and physically and emotionally exhausted. But, the pirate party must go on!

Luckily three and four year olds are pretty easy going! We made pirate hats, read a pirate story, played "Pirate, Pirate, Captain", went on a hunt for pirate booty (the kids loved that!), had lunch and cake and ice cream. Woo hoo!

Don't worry--that Pirate's Ale is IBC Root Beer! Look at the little swords I found to put in the bananas!

So I don't think I'm very crafty or creative, but I am really good at copying other people's ideas...and cakes! Check it out!

That night when Daddy got home, we opened the presents from the family.

Happy Birthday, Lincoln! I can't believe my baby is 4!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Three school parties to attend...

(All at the same time...call me Super Mom.) Then came the big day. We hosted this year--2 turkeys, cranberry sauce, green bean casserole, frog eye salad, 10 pies... (call me Super Mom again.)

Tons of food...

Friends...

And fun!

The reason...

for the fact that I am so miserably behind on the blog...

We have decided (or I decided and just told everyone else) that we are doing a DIY, handmade, homespun Christmas this year. Meaning the majority of the gifts we are giving to eachother and others are made by us. It has been awesome and fun! The kids are really getting into it and thinking of all kinds of creative things to make for each other and their teachers and friends. However, it is also EXTREMELY time consuming!! I have been staying up late almost every night making everything from Barbie furniture to magnetic games to doll bedding to sugar scrubs. So I got up early this morning in an attempt to at least get current with the blog so that I will have more time to craft tonight!

This is only a very small sample of all that we have made. I'll have to take more pics on Christmas morning!!

Our Budding Artist

Audrey had some of her artwork selected to be displayed at Barnes and Noble a few weeks ago. It was "Antelope Ridge Day" at the store so we not only got to see her beautiful creation, we saw lots of teachers and all four kids participated in a math contest. There were a few drawings and our family ended up winning a t-shirt and $15 worth of Barnes and Noble gift certificates!! So, thanks to Audrey for hooking us up!

Black and White Ball

When the girls turned eight, they got to start going to Activity Days at church. They meet with other girls their age twice a month to do fun activities arranged by fun leaders. One of their first activities was a Daddy/Daughter Black and White Ball. They were so excited to dress up and go dancing with Daddy!! They learned some swing dancing and even had Oreos for dessert!

Veteran's Day

Audrey wrote the following piece at school and I wanted to share it--complete with all the hearts (<3) she drew (and with a little editing on my part--her spelling is still a bit creative):

"Veteran's are important to our country in many ways. <3 One is they risk their lives for us. I love <3 veterans <3 so much. Veterans save us in many ways. Thank you, oh thank you for saving us from those mean people. <3. You go to fight. You don't care if you die. You just keep going on no matter what. <3 You need to. I will encourage you. Go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go. Keep a' goin' forward. Go, go and go. <3 Fight in the battle. Go. <3 <3 <3 I know you can do it. <3 Every November 11th we celebrate your battle. <3 Veterans are the best. <3 <3 <3 <3

Another finished project

The pantry!

Before:

and After:

(That's Kirby down there...)

Express Yourself

Last Thursday the girls were scheduled to go on a field trip and, as all kids are, they were sooooo excited. Unfortunately, as they were on the bus, driving to the historical museum, the teachers got a call that the museum had had a power outage and they couldn't go. The buses turned around and took all those disappointed 2nd graders back to the school. They just had a normal day--complete with a spelling test, which Audrey brought home yesterday. This is what she had drawn on the bottom:

I love her teacher's comments. "Is this you? Are you upset about the field trip?"

So yes, my girls may not be very verbally expressive (in public), but I think they can still get their point across if needs be.

Snow Day!

Our first snow day of the school year came on Wednesday. Ideally I would have been feeling 100% but I was pretty miserably sick so it wasn't quite as fun for me as it could have been. I think the kids still had a great day, though. And I have to give most of the credit to Pinterest. Anytime they got bored, I just looked on my "Things to keep the kids busy" board and voila! Another fabulous idea to keep them entertained. We stayed in our jammies until about 5 pm. :)

I finished up the "Jack O Lantern repurposing" and ended up with about 65 cups of pumpkin puree.

From which I used 3 cups to make about 7,000 pumpkin cookies and froze the rest.

The kids made a fort.

I made pretzel bites for lunch and they ate them inside the fort.

How cool is this?? It's a Darth Vader snowflake in case you can't tell.

I do love snow days. Occasional ones.

Halloween

I have to admit that Halloween was kind of an afterthought for me this year. Between the baptism, birthday, crazy soccer schedule and finishing up projects on the house, it wasn't really at the forefront of my mind. And then I started getting sick the day before the baptism and just keep getting worse...

Luckily Ryan and the kids were on the ball. We were able to squeeze in some time to carve pumpkins.

On Halloween, I hoarsely passed out candy at the church Trunk or Treat, but that wore me out, so I went home and put a sign on the door that said we weren't home and ignored the few Trick or Treaters that couldn't read. I know, Bah Humbug, right? I am SICK. Ryan took the soccer player, twin detectives and karate man trick or treating through the neighborhood.

Hope you had a good one, too!

Baptism Day

The girls were baptized yesterday, Oct. 29th, 2011. It was a great day! They have really been looking forward to this and invited just about everyone they know. Before the baptism even started they were literally glowing with excitement. Audrey told me she was so happy she felt like she was going to cry.

Before...

Chloe, Ryan and Audrey
The girls practicing their special musical number

Our happy family (why do I have a double chin??? I don't think I do in real life. Really. Do I??)
The table display
I just had to take a picture of Audrey. She was glowing.
After...
All the family (minus Sarah, who graciously offered to take the picture so I could be in it.)

We hosted a luncheon at our house afterwards. I should say luncheon/birthday party, because Aunt Katie made the girls a beautiful birthday cake that we all enjoyed (way. too. much.)
We were blessed to have lots of friends and family in attendance. Thank you so much to those who came and supported our girls on their big day!

Isaac and cousin Ben.

And just because they look so cute, here are some pictures I took before church this morning.