Family Pics Winter 2012

I had a $16 groupon for Picture People that was about to expire so I decided we should go and grab a Christmas photo. Turns out we loved them all! Our little girl who has NEVER cooperated with a photographer decided she was a super model and couldn't keep her hands off her hips. It was pretty funny!!! We loved them all!

Christmas Tree

Due to my extreme desire to be thrifty we have never gone to a farm to cut our tree down. We've been happy with our $20 lot trees and they have always held up well. This year Noah really wanted to have a huge tree like his aunt and so we budgeted for a more expensive tree. And then, our neighbors told us about a place called Bernard's Tree Farm in Honey Brook where EVERY tree is $35. They provide the saws and haul it and bail it for you! We were so excited!

Of course we knew Maeve would struggle to walk through the hills to choose but after some initial fussiness she warmed up.  

Noah was so excited and believed every tree was the right one.  Finally he did find a great tree.  My lumberjack husband was prepared and cut it down in about 3 minutes. 

Up on the tree, ready to go!!!!

And here it is in our family room... a little over 16 feet tall!!!! We love it!!!

Thanksgiving 2012

We had a perfect Thanksgiving Day this year.  It seems the older we get the less of a fiasco the holiday is!!!  I remember our first one and I think everything was ready an hour late.  My brother came early to make his cheesecake and the kids helped him by sneezing in the batter and eating the nuts that he was going to use. I think they loved it!

This year all 15 of us were able to sit around one table (the farmhouse table Paul made) which made me REALLY happy.  I loved having everyone together.

I had a blast making some little things from Pinterest for my guests.  These are cornucopia treats made from ice cream cones.  We set up the steamer and put the cones in the top tray.  That allowed us to bend and curl them and then as they dried they became solid again.  We filled them with yummy M and M's.

We also made pilgrim hats out of Reese Cups and Fudge striped cookies.

I filled some candle holders with corn to add to the ambience.  Of course everyone tried to pop some of the corn in the flames but it didn't work.

The kids got a Thanksgiving Mad Lib.

And everyone got a VERY corny (hee hee) joke.

The kids decorated by making a turkey of all of the people coming that they were thankful for.  Noah wanted to add Uncle Bob so he put him on the turkey.  After he added him he asked me if he had an Uncle Bob.  I told him he had two Uncle Bob's but neither one was coming to Thanksgiving but he insisted on putting him on the turkey.

The kids and I made these adorable 2X4 Turkeys to give out as favors.  Paul cut the wood, the neck is from a paint stirrer and the feathers are popsicle sticks.  We had all of the pieces in house and I think they are wonderful!

Paul's mom greeted us with a new Scentsy that lit up the occasion.

And we all remembered to GIVE THANKS!!!  God has blessed us so greatly and we couldn't be more grateful.

Halloween 2012

We were very excited to spend Halloween in our new house and go trick or treating to people we know!  

First came Noah's school party and I got to make some very fun things to prepare!  The first was Monster Slime.  We took a bottle of Elmer's glue, Borax powder and glitter and mixed it up.  It was the consistency of Gak or silly putty.  The theme of our party was Monsters so I put some googly eyeballs on the containers.

And we made monster bags to put all of the kids awesome crafts and treats in for after the party.

Halloween morning we had pancakes made Halloween cookie cutter shapes.

And Halloween ghost pancakes.

Here are the monsters enjoying their treats.  There are also monster eyeballs on the plate as you can see!

And somehow they grew fangs while they were eating.  Yikes!

After we were all done filling our bellies we got ready for the day.  Maeve is still allowed to dress for school and she put on her purple butterfly costume and paraded with her classmates.

Noah had to wait until evening to don his Space Angry Bird.  I stayed home and handed out candy while the kids and Paul walked around.  Lucky for Paul as some houses were handing out beer for dads!!!

The kids were gone for quite a while and ventured into the next neighborhood down.  After all of the gobblins on our street came by I headed to another neighbors for a great Halloween bonfire outside.  The kids played and noshed on some candy until they passed out!!!!