Happy Thanksgiving.

We had a great time this year hosting our Thankgiving feast. Our dear friends, the Huntings and the Tituses came, bringing lots of yummy food with them. The kids had a great time helping helping me set the tables and clean up the living room for all of our guests. I was a little nervous about being in charge of the Turkey, but everything came out great.
Mike was so sweet, for an early Christmas, I bought the rest of the beautiful dishes I started collecting a long time ago. They were wonderful.

Portland Head Lighthouse

Here's all of us at Portland Head lighthouse. The waves were crashing against the rocks and their was a warm breeze blowing in. There was enough fog that the light house's light was on, and we even got to hear the horn.

This photo had potential to be my Christmas card photo, except Mike looks drunk, and Caleigh is oblivious to the hair in her face. Oh well, I might get desperate and still use it.

We had to walk to the water and touch the ocean. Oscar loved the waves, and giggled every time they came close. The best part of the whole visit, was getting to see what a great Dad Ryan is. He was so patient and kind to Oscar and all of my crazy crew. He rocked Oscar to sleep every night, and carried him without complaint the whole time they were here. We had so much fun together and hope that they can come back again.

A visit from family.

We were so blessed this past week to have my little brother, Ryan, here visiting. He was able to bring one of his babies, Oscar, who we all adored. Ryan was so brave to bring Oscar with him across the country, so we tried to make it worth their while. We had so much fun visiting Boston the first day, then Portland, ME the second. We also took Ryan and Oscar on a drive to see UNH, and Portsmouth, NH. Even though the trees are all ready for winter, Ryan got to see a little of the landscape, and the charming towns that we live near.

Oscar trying out the hammock, he's ready for the sea.

Oscar and Ryan's first ferry ride across Boston Harbor. It was a little cold, but we made due by walking around to keep warm.

A winner at 2!

Our local Walmart had a coloring contest for Halloween. All of the children entered a coloring sheet. Miles, Caleigh and Griffin worked so hard on their entries. But on Nov. 1st when the winners were chosen, it was Elliot who was our winner. She was chosen from the 2-3 year old group. Her prize... a $10 gift card to walmart. Good job Elliot!

Trunk or treat

I had to get a picture of these cute starch Ghost me and the kids made with our friends. It was so easy, we'll look forward to making more next year. Thanks Emily for the great idea.





Here are a few late pictures from the night of our wards awesome trunk or treat. Elliot was a wingless butterfly, Caleigh was an artist, Griffin was Count Dracula, and Miles had to be forced into wearing his Anakin Skywalker costume, which he took off halfway through the party. We had a great time.

Our Halloween day came and went with no photos, but it was a fun night with "Mummies" for dinner and yummy homemade chili. It was so warm the kids didn't even have to wear coats. And as usual their favorite part of the night was handing out candy after they had gone trick or treating. And are only costume changes were Caleigh traded in her easel for a monkey costume, and Elliot became a nice witch.

A personal challenge.

I thought I would get a jump start on my new years resolution to finally loose my baby weight from Elliot (can I still call it baby weight even though she's about to turn 3?). Anyway, so my personal challenge is to go Sugar-Free from the day after Halloween to Thanksgiving. This has got to be the hardest thing for me, and I'm not 100% sure I can do it, but I really do want to be healthier and this will help me. Why am I telling you all this? Well, I figured I would have much more success if I made my goal public on my blog. Look forward to a Sugar-Free counter.

Knight family Par-ty!

Every year the incredibly generous Knight family host a Halloween party. This year was especially fun, since they had Madam Zucchini and Madam Panini come and tell fortunes, paint faces, and play music with the children. They set up a tent and brought small groups in at a time. They were so funny and creative, never breaking character. The kids had so much fun playing carnival type games, eating pizza, and shoving in as much candy as possible.


Aren't these women adorable. Jen York and her sister were the gypsies for the night. Madam Zucchini told Miles he would be tall and handsome, he would have to be nice to the girls, since he would break all of their hearts, and she also said he would serve a mission one day. On the way home he said to me, "Mom, I don't know if they were real gypsies, but I am pretty tall and cute, and I mean, I do want to serve a mission."
Everyone is waiting patiently for their turn. Thanks Michelle for all the hard work! The kids had such a great time.

Jack's

This year carving Jack O lanterns was great. The kids did most of the de-gutting, and all of their own carving. It was a bit frustrating for Griffin, but he had a good attitude about it. I think the sense of accomplishment overrode his frustration. They turned out great.

What can't Caleigh do? She is so super-crafty, and creative. Her pumpkin turned out so cute.

No, I don't clean Elliot's face.

GUTS!!!

Keene Pumpkin Festival!

Before we even moved to New Hampshire we knew about the Keene, NH pumpkin festival. The town of Keene is an hour and 45 minutes away from us, but it was totally worth the drive. The town is so charming, and the festival is HUGE! Mike and I are waiting for the website to come up with the official count of pumpkins, but there were so many, I don't envy the guy who's job it is to count them all.

These were some of our favorite pumpkins, you could literally spend hours seeing all the different ones. There are some pretty creative people out there.

Somehow we ended up forgetting Elliot's stocking hat, so we bought her one of the pumpkin ones, so cute. We enjoyed just walking around looking at all the pumpkins and eating. We ate pumpkin spice donuts, fried pickles, pizza, hot dogs, and chili cheese nachos.

The pumpkins were most impressive at night. We ended up skipping out early but fireworks were scheduled for 8:30. We all had a great time. We hope to go again next year.

October Fun!

Monday, Columbus day, we all had the day off, and decided to have some October fun. We found a corn maze close by to us, and it was on a charming New England farm. The shape of the maze was in a skunk smelling a sunflower. Throughout the maze they had mailboxes with questions about skunks and sunflowers. All the questions were multiple choice, and each answer led you in a different direction.

We all agreed Uncle Jeff would appreciate the Haunted maze they have there also. Some of the characters looked like something He would create.

And of course we couldn't walk away with out some pumpkins.

Lotsa Locks of Love

Caleigh has been growing her hair out and I have been begging her to cut it (not herself, we've had problems with that in the past). She has gorgeous hair, it just looks scraggly half the time. This morning she decided she was ready, they cut off 71/2 inches which means we will be able to send it of to Locks of Love. I love this little pip-squeak with short hair. Too cute.