Happy Thanksgiving.....

Love,

Two of the cutest little pilgrims!

A Thankful Month!

This month we have had fun working on fun Fall projects and talking about what we are thankful for.  We started off by the girls putting together turkeys for our table centerpiece.

 It was cute to watch Kaylee help Lex with hers. :)

 For Kaylee's class we had to decorate or disguise a turkey so it would not become Thanksgiving dinner.  Kaylee chose to make hers a princess.  I think this turkey is safe!

This was something new and fun that we did this year.  We brought our tree out the beginning of November and decorated it as a "Fall Tree".  It has been fun having the tree out so early.

 This year we made a "thankful" garland for the fireplace.  I got the idea from my Mom's group and Pinterest.  :) It was really fun to talk with the girls and get their ideas about what and who they are thankful for.  Then I wrote it out on fall leaves and we hung them up.  We also added a few pictures the girls colored on the garland.  Here they are coloring their turkeys and cornucopias, or "copias" as Lex calls them for the garland. 

I love how the candy cane skirts have started to make an appearance!

 Then of course we must twirl in the twirly skirts!

Then these are from earlier today.  Kaylee was such a big help and helped me get a few side dishes and hot cocoa mix ready for tomorrow.  She loves to help in the kitchen.  Then of course she was not going to let the day slip by without making turkey hand cookies.  :)  Holidays are such a big deal in our house and the excitement was not lacking today.  I let them have a "fun bath" tonight, that is a bath in Mom and Dad's big tub, and then they were running around giggling and gobbling and wondering how soon Charlie might show up.  Charlie is our "Elf on a Shelf" sent from Santa if you don't remember from last year.  We read "The night before Thanksgiving", and Kaylee said tonight she was going to have visions of turkey legs dancing in her head!  Love that girl and her enthusiasm!  I think the real reason for the huge extra excitement is really for the season and holiday that follows.  I can't say I blame them!

Our Halloween

These are a little late but back to Halloween.  After Kaylee got home from school we carved our pumpkins.  Poor Lex is not going to even know this tradition because the last two years she has been napping and sick with a stomach virus.  :(

Making our yearly "boo" cups.

Ryan decorated his ghost like the Charlie Brown costume on "It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown"

Yea!  I remembered to save and roast the seeds this year.  Both my girls LOVE the pumpkin seeds.

 Our sweet Cinderella

Poor Lex, this is how she rolled on Halloween.  "In Jammies" as she told everyone.  We were going to have her stay back with my Mom and sister but she got really upset when she was not going so we let her ride in the wagon. At least by Monday she was throw up free, but that morning she still had a little fever so we took it easy.  She said, "I am not going to wear my bumble bee!!"  The girl knows what she wants!

First house...

We met up with some of the neighborhood kids and trick-or-treated with them.

And I guess they all got tired because for some reason they all did this.  It was a quick power rest and they were back on the go!

Let's hope for a much healthier Halloween next year!

Highlands Fall Festival 2011

This year our church had their big fall festival at Westworld again.  It was the Saturday before Halloween.  It is a great event with lots of fun activities.  We ate, played games, road on the hay ride, jumped in the bounce houses, girls got their face painted, danced, and came home with lots of candy.  Lex came home with something else again for the second year in a row.  That is right, she woke up throwing up for the second year in a row the night after the fall festival.  I think I am going to keep her home next year.  Poor thing has had two duds of a Halloween.

Our little Cinderella.  The bumble bee was not about pictures before we left. :)

I am glad I got these pictures of the girls in their costumes because the costume never made it on Lex for Halloween. :(

This was the first time either of the girls got their faces painted.  I guess it helps when you have a younger sister to show you it is okay. :)  And no, I did not say that backwards!  Kaylee actually would have probably done it without Lex this year, but up until this point she always said no.  For about her first 5 years Kaylee was never into stamps, stickers, fake tattoos, face paint etc.  I think she just never liked the idea of having something on her skin.  Lex is the exact opposite and LOVES that stuff.  With Lex liking all of that, and now that she is almost 6, I think she has realized that that stuff isn't so bad. :)

And of course we could not forget all the games and candy!!

Mom's group Halloween party

The kids all started off on a cart/hay ride to pick out a pumpkin

 Lex not so sure at first but she ended up having fun! :)

Picking out her pumpkin in the pumpkin patch.  I could not get her to wear her wings or antenna.  I actually only got one picture of her this year in full costume and it is on my phone.

We found a winner!

 Now back inside to decorate it.

 Playing with BIG felt pumpkins

Decorating with Fall leaves

Yummy time!

After lunch the kids went on a trick-or-treat walk in the church offices

 And back for one last craft of painting pumpkins.