Gingerbread House

On Saturday morning I went out shopping and came home to Jer making a gingerbread house with the girls. They loved it! And so did he. Look at the details he's putting on the roof.

Can you tell the similarity in the following three pictures?

Give up? They all at one point are licking icing from their fingers:)

Victoria and Bella had a great time making their gingerbread house!

Renae, Josh, Chloe, Caleb, Keira, Carol, and Dick came over on Saturday night and helped to demolish the gingerbread house.

Thanksgiving

Another great Thanksgiving! We went over to Carol and Dick's house to celebrate Thanksgiving with Josh, Renae, Caleb, Chloe, and Keira too. We had the traditional food-turkey, stuffing, potatoes, gravy, corn, green bean casserole, sweet potatoes, rolls, pumpkin and apple pies. (And a cranberry jello salad that I made, that might just have become my signature dish, especially after my hubby raved about it- yes!) We also brought a great Cabernet wine called Franciscian. The kids had Sparkling Cider and had fun drinking from the small thimble sized glasses.
We tried to get a couple of families and cousin photos after lunch, but the kids weren't having it. Oh well, there's always next year.

After letting the kids play for a couple hours in Dick's back yard, we took them to the park. The kids played wonderfully together- cousinly love. Victoria and Chloe rode the small red tricycle to the park 8 blocks away and continued riding it around the park for the rest of the time there.

Bella, my little goof ball:)

She was very proud of herself balancing on this beam with her hands and legs out.

Keira wants to give it a try.

A circular sidewalk was around the small park. Grandma and Renae would take turns being "Toll Collector" by telling the kids (who were riding in circles) to "Stop and pay the toll- a kiss or 5 jumping jacks."

They loved this game.

Caleb even wanted to be the toll collector. He tried to stop the girls and make them do exercises, but Victoria plowed past him most of the time. Sorry Caleb.

But all's fair in love and war.

We have lots to be thankful for! And for those family and friends who couldn't be with us, we love you too and are thankful to have you in our lives!

Little Miss Independant

Bella is going through that phase right now that is equivalent to nails on a chalkboard. She wants to be so independent, but at the same time, so clingy (and unfortunately whinny- and boy, is she good at it!) She is the Ying and the Yang. Last night she threw a full-on fit/tantrum for almost an hour because we wouldn't let her watch a TV program that she wanted. But then today she put on her own socks and shoes all by herself. She's been putting on her own clothes for a couple of months now, but shoes and socks are hard work. She did great! She's also been singing whole songs and reciting nursery rhymes all by herself- "Polly put the kettle on, kettle on..." And then the Yang- when I went to drop her off at school, she wouldn't let me go and started to cry and said "my tummy hurts!" (-her famous words for getting out of Time Out, and getting sympathy.) I left and of coarse spyied on her. After 3 minutes, she puts on a smile and plays with the rest ofthe class. (Little faker:) She's also become pretty crafty with her lies. The other night she told me that she had finished her supper and was now going to eat a lollipop (I've been letting them have one piece of Halloween candy after they finish all their supper.) I go to check on her plate and can't find it. I look on the table, in the sink, under the table, finally I open the trash can, and realize she has hidden her lie- a full plate of spaghetti. Ahhh, Bella. (With this phase of Bella's life, I've learned you take the good with the bad and try to survive with a smile on your face.)

Spending the day with my Sunshine

Okay, I think Victoria has been feeling slightly left out lately. She keeps asking me who I love more (her or Bella) and keeps vining for my attention. So today I took just her out for an "us" day. We went to her favorite "restaurant" Target (it has tables and food) and had an Icee and popcorn. She takes after dad and had the cherry one; me, I'm all about an old fashion Cola flavored one. We gabbed a little bit about school and played the game which do you like better. She prefers dogs over cats, and likes drawing and dancing equally. She asked me if I like playing princesses or playing house better- I laughed and answered "both." Afterward we headed to the toy department to take notes for Santa. Then she helped me do my light grocery shopping. In one of the aisles a lady was passing out samples of a really good raspberry apple juice drink. Victoria took one and comments. "Humm. This is good. I like it! It tastes like Jello." In the next aisle another lady was passing out apple cider. Victoria takes one and takes one sip, then pauses. The lady asks if she likes it and Victoria answers, "I don't know." I ask her and she says the same thing- "I don't know." I told her, "It's okay not to like somethings." And she says, "Oh yeah, I remember- No thank you lady." And throws the cup away. I smirked. I think we met our goal today.

Trick or Treating

What beautiful 70 degree weather to go trick or treating last night! Bella was Pocahontas and Victoria was Jasmin. We met Kate and Abby down at their house first to start off at. How funny was it that all of our trick or treaters were different princesses from the Disney movies (-not planned, I swear.)

Jer threw together his costume last minute from some of the other costumes around the house. He's Fabio (holding up a tub of "I Can't Believe It's Not Butter.) What was even funnier was that all of the guys that we went trick or treating with were all dressed in sexy white costumes too (once again, not planned.) Dan was John Travolta from Saturday Night Fever and Paolo was Elvis.

We started off kind of early around 5:30, so not all the houses were ready for us and had to go get their candy. The girls loved running from house to house to house. Poor little Abby/Cinderella couldn't keep up as much and actually lost her glass slipper running:)

They got a ton of candy! So much candy, that they were walking lopsided. Below Bella shows me just how heavy her basket is, straining to lift it.

After making a round of the neighborhood, the kids were winding down. We went over to Grandma Carol's and Grandpa Dick's house to show off our costumes and play with Caleb, Chloe, and Kiera. A perfect ending to the night.