Thank you Sarah Hale for making this day a national Holiday

Thanksgiving was such a great day.  We had such a great time eating with our friends the Huntings and their family.  We even brought our own guest, Jim.  He made his amazing pumpkin pies, and was such a great addition to the group.  I didn't get any photos of us eating, but I snapped a few of the kiddos before we headed out the door.  They were so excited and insisted on wearing their turkey and pilgrim hats.  I just love my kids and Mike, they are so good for me.  I missed my own family this year, knowing at their tables they were all together, but maybe next year we'll be with them.  Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!

A Thanksgiving tradition

I love love love the Christmas Dove, I'm sure everyone has seen past post of this awesome store.  And we always seem to make it there near Thanksgiving.  It helps kick off the Christmas season for me seeing all the beautiful decorations and of course the kids love the trains!  An entire second floor with train villages set up to play with.  What more could a kid want.  And as per tradition we all got our picture with Santa.

Griffin looks just a little too sure of himself.  I can just imagine him thinking, "you know I've been a good boy Santa"

 Mike will probably make me change this picture, but it cracks me up!

What a sweet smile this girl has.

Okay not to ruin it, but I told Elliot to do this..."whisper into santa's ear and tell him what you want."  After looking at me like I was totally bonkers, she complied.  Thanks Elliot.

 And of course Mom's still need to tell Santa what we want.

Elephant-locs and the loving family.

 Caleigh took these photos and is waiting for me to print them off, she plans on writing a story with them, something like this....

One day the loving family went out for a walk while their cupcakes cooled.  Elephant-locs wandered in and enjoyed the cooled cupcakes.

Then he watched some TV.

Then he posted on facebook, "just ate cupcakes...yum."  

And when he heard the washer ding, he rotated laundry to the dryer.

Then he took a long deserved nap until...

The loving family returned and found him in their bed!  Look how shocked they are with their hands raised up. 

 Ha ha ha, Caleigh is so creative, I can't wait to read her version.

Elephant-loc played by "Ellie" the elephant
The loving family played by themselves

Which Smurf are you?

Elliot is definitely "Vanity Smurf."  It is not uncommon to find her in the bathroom looking at herself in a mirror.  And when I take her clothes shopping with me, as long as there is a mirror close by she can occupy herself for a long time.  This particular night she wouldn't eat her carrots until she discovered they could double as lipstick when dipped in ranch dressing.  So of course... she had to grab the mirror!  

I'm not complaining, she ate all of her carrots.

Snow, No Problem

Since winter decided to start early this year, our fall sports were interrupted.  Which meant soccer practice still happened in the snow.  Well, at least for the other teams.  We showed up for practice, and our coach didn't.  But Griffin and the few players that did show up practiced for a half an hour then we called it quits.   We are sooo dedicated.    

October Fun

October flew by (like witches in the air).  We were busy with our usually routines, but enjoyed some Halloween fun.  The kids had a special costume cartoon club.  They dressed up, then drew each other in their costumes.  They have such a great time, we look forward to this every month.  It helps that the all have great friends in the club, except Griffin who is the youngest member.  

And of course the ward trunk-or-treat was very fun.  Our ward was recently combined with the other ward that attends our building.  So we are now members of the Somersworth ward, instead of the Rochester ward.  This was the first activity with the new ward.  The gym was packed with all of us.   It will take us a little while to get used to a big ward again.

 
Mother Nature threw in a trick of her own.  It snowed 8 in The Saturday before Halloween.  So we had snow for trick or treating.  The kids bundled up in the winter coats and snow boots and had a great time.    Caleigh even build us a trick-or-treating snowman (he has melted before I could get a picture, but he was so cute.)