Last week

Since tomorrow starts the crazy of December, I wanted to share some photos of last week which was just full of fun stuff because we had family here.  Family is always fun.  So, on the last day of November memories of the last week. . .

Piano recital--yes I played in it--a duet with Miss E.  We were sensational :)

We had family night with my sister's family and my parents and made our tree of thanks.

Every year we make a Tree of Thanks where everyone gets 4-5 leaves each and write on them things they are thankful for.  

In Kindergarten they have a big Thanksgiving feast--the kids peal the potatoes, churn their own butter, make their costumes, then eat, eat, eat--turkey, mashed potatoes, corn, cranberry sauce, etc and pumpkin pie with whipped cream.  So yum!  I was the potato lady that took the potatoes and cooked them after all the kids peeled them. 

Then I got to serve these pilgrims and Indians. So much fun!

We decorated graham cracker "gingerbread" houses.  Making them from graham crackers is about 100 times faster than making them from real gingerbread.  This is my nephew, my mom and Mr Baldy--aka Mr. J.

The girls and Ben work on their houses.

Aunts got to do hair this week.  They always enjoy it much better when someone else besides mom does it :)

We always decorate for Christmas the day after Thanksgiving.  That is Miss O under the tree on light patrol :)

There are rail road tracks that go through our town, but they have taken the tracks out and converted it into a walking/biking trail.  The whole things stretches about 50 miles. One day last week my mom and Miss A wanted to walk into town from 10 miles out on the trail, so I dropped them off one frosty morning, and 3 hours later they walked back.  They say they had fun :), and then to celebrate their walking, we took the older kids to see Harry Potter. Oh. my.  It was intense.  Not my favorite HP movie, but it was good.  So, that was our week, and now we are ready (I hope) for December, so bring it on!

My prize

Several months ago I won a $60 gift certificate from the blog You asked for it by T.  It was for the CSN.com stores.  I could not decide what I wanted, decisions, decisions, too much good stuff, and then today I found it!!!  I have been wanting a dutch oven for a while, and I found this Lodge one on their site and ordered it today!  Love the green color. Yeah! Thanks T!

Thanksgiving 2010

Well, we survived Thanksgiving 2010.  We had 30 for dinner which was rather insane at times, but it turned out well--plenty of yummy food and lots of friends and family.  What more could you want?

This is the adult table, and 3 people were out refilling when I took this.  So much good stuff to eat!!!

We had small, medium, and large kids' tables this year.  This was the large.

The medium kids' table

And the super cute small table. 

Played football after to run off all the food.  It was rather cold--high of 32, but everyone enjoyed it--that is the dads and kids enjoyed the football outside in the 32 degrees, while the moms enjoyed the heated and quieter house. 

Thanksgiving dinner at my house usually consists of more friends than actual blood-related family because said family lives very far away, so it was extra special to have my 2 sisters and their families here at my house this year.  That was a treat.  And, we are officially sick of turkey left overs here.  Pizza is on the menu now.  Can one ever get sick of pizza?  How about your house? 

So Thankful

Gratitude and thankfulness are on my mind as I am sure it is on everyone else's too.  I have so much to be thankful for.  Here are just a few. . .

Family jam--so grateful for music and a family that enjoys it.

So thankful for a little guy who is willing and happy to rake my leaves :)

Girlfriends--what can I say more?

The most handsome man in the world that willingly puts up my Christmas lights when I tell him.  :)

Library and books--what a blessing! 

A dad who reads to my kids--what a treasure!

The country where we live.  My Savior and redeemer and His Gospel, and my amazing family.

May you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving and remember we have so much to be thankful for!

This was NOT on my 'to do' list

It was a Saturday, and specifically the Saturday before Thanksgiving where I will be having 30 to dinner, and I had a huge 'to do' list--clean the house, till the garden, put up Christmas lights, check dishes, make pie crusts, etc. etc. etc, but. . .

this was NOT on my 'to do' list!  I was vacuuming the stairs while my hubby was tilling the garden.  The kids were supposed to be cleaning their rooms, when my husband comes in and see Mr J and yells at me, "Jen, did you see his hair?!!??  What did he do to his hair?"  Well, while everyone else was occupied the kid about scalped himself with some scissors in 3 different places, the most prominent being right down the middle of his head!   Now I have 3 older girls, and each of them in turn cut their hair at one time or another.  My 3rd daughter actually never cut her own hair, her older sister coerced her under the kitchen table to cut her hair for her, but that is another story. . .Anyway, I kind of expected this catastrophe from girls, but my boy???  My boy tried to cut his hair?  I didn't see that coming, and 

this new look was NOT on my "to do" list.  Oh. My.  Thank heavens we already got family pictures taken.  This kind of a look is generally accepted in June/July/August, but November?  I think the kid is going to be wearing lots of hats.  Thank goodness he is a boy, and he seemed pretty happy with his new look, but  scissors are permanently banded from my house.  Apologies ahead of time if you get a gift from me because all your Christmas presents will be wrapped in ripped paper. 

The joy of a tree swing

What is not to love about a tree swing?  We are lucky enough to have 2 in our yard and Mr. J loves them!

Round and round he goes

He screams, "Mom!  I am going to crash into the tree!!!"

Safe!  No tree crashing.  :)  Happy swinging from our house to yours!

Grateful to be an American

Last week was Veteran's day.  I am so grateful to be an American and live where I do.  What a blessing.  I am so grateful for the amazing, selfless men and women who have fought and given their lives over the course of our country's history and for those that so valiantly serve today, so that I can enjoy the abundant freedom and life that I do.  May God bless those men and women and their families.  I am so grateful for you.

 Our town always celebrates Veteran's day with a parade on the Saturday following.  It is a good time to teach my kids about the blessings we have because of where we live and the many lives that were sacrificed so we can stand on a street corner on a cold November day and salute our flag and remember those who have served.

Seeing this huge flag carried by the men and women who serve and sacrifice for us always brings tears to my eyes.  We are very blessed. 

Branson, MO

Last month the kids had a 4 day weekend, so we decided to go to Branson, MO and visit our bestest friends there.  They used to live in our town, but moved away this summer, and we have missed them tons!  We had a lot of fun in Branson.  It is a very pretty place, but very busy.  The traffic was crazy!  My friend told me when she picked up her kids from school one day she was in the car for 2 whole hours because of stop and go traffic.  Ugh. . . but we loved the weekend we spent with them.  Didn't see any shows, just played with friends and went on the lake. 

This is me and my friend down at the Landing--a fun shopping area by the Lake. 

Our friends have a boat, so they took us out for a ride on the Lake.  It was so fun!

They even let my kids drive :)  Miss E loved it!

Mr J thought is was really fun to drive the boat, but he about made everyone sick because he would turn the wheel one way then the other--back and forth--ugh.  Better watch where you are going son!

The kids love the boat!

What a life. . . 

It was very beautiful with the leaves starting to turn for fall.   

What a fun place with the greatest people!  We can't wait to go back and visit again!

Why I love fall

Nature's colors are so amazing!  I saw this tree while running errands this morning, and I just had to stop and take a picture.  The colors are amazing.  Hope you are enjoying the colors wherever you are.  Happy Fall!

Our new neighbors

I wanted to introduce you to our new neighbors who are now living through our back yard in the back pasture.

Betsy, Sally, Moe, Joe and Fred or something like that.  I can't keep them all straight.

Thankfully they are very quiet and go about their own business and kindly ignore my band of screaming, crazy kids although they give them pretty funny looks at times.  The aren't permanent figures in our neighborhood.  They only stay for the winter, then the move onto greener pastures. . .

But the guy on the right looks a little scary.  We will have to keep an eye on him.  Come visit anytime!

Halloween 2010

Very scary at our house this Halloween, a witch, Leonard DaVinci, Harry Potter and the Dread Pirate Roberts. 

Beware!

Ah, just kidding.  They are the sweetest kids you will ever meet (most of the time. . .)