Catching up...Thanksgiving weekend recap.

Phew!! We just had a fun evening with friends decorating Gingerbread houses.  Let the holiday festivities begin!! I will post a picture or two of our masterpieces soon but tonight I am catching up.  So many fun things have happened over the last couple of week that I just don't want to forget.  It started with a day of pie making. One of my favorite traditions. Cherry, apple, Lemon Meringue, and pumpkin

We declared our Gratitude for soccer, new cars, "weasels", Christmas, etc.

I am thankful for this fun bunch. 

We took our pies to dine with our neighborhood friends.

Then Friday we took off for a little spur of the moment family vacation to St. Augustine.  Some highlights include...driving our car on the beach and exploring a bit.

Jack found a new treasure every few feet.

 

Seeing an old canon shoot...

 ...and seeing a demonstration on how to launch an "atl atl".  The weapon experts were all ears.

A lady saw me taking a picture of the kids on a cannon and offered to take a shot of the family... I just might declare this our family picture for the year. (except for Lulu's closed eyes and Doug's face covered with glowing hair, it didn't turn out too bad.)

We went into a cathedral.

Our favorite might have been the tour of the Whetstone chocolate factory.

I love those cute pointy cheeks! 

This was probably our favorite because we got to eat chocolate. :)

I took a bunch more phone pictures which you can see on instagram @smark007.  I don't have the energy to transfer them over tonight.  All in all it was the perfect get away.  We ate delicious food, enjoyed beautiful weather, and very minimal child disagreements.  It has been too long since we did something like this. Vacations are so much easier and fun now that the kids are older. It was actually relaxing. We just might have to do that again.

On to Christmas!!

Happy Birthday Grandpa!!

Too Much Awesome

Wow, it's been too long since I posted.  We had an eventful weekend here.  Friday afternoon I came home to a flooded laundry room.  Oh yes, somehow the washing machine sprang a leak and we ended up with a 1/2 inch of standing water in the back part of the room.  Awesome! The water leaked under the walls into the garage and a little into the carpeted area of the "dining room". It was a bit of an ordeal to clean it all up and the laundry room now looks like this.

We think the leak shorted out the motor that makes it spin so we went ahead and bought new washer.  It will be delivered on Tuesday.  Tuesday can't come soon enough.  In the mean time we wash clothes in the tub then hang them in the bathroom until they are dry enough to put into the washing machine. It reminds me of my college days when my roommate hung up her delicates to dry and called it her "underwear wonderland" 

Saturday was Max's last soccer game.  Jack and Mer had games too but they have their last games next weekend.

 Breakfast

This is what everyone else did during Max's game

And this is what Mer's dirty sock looks like after walking around in the mud.  I told her she had to wash her own socks out in the tub that night.  Gladly she said.

 We went shopping Saturday night and we found a shirt made just for Max.  (this is his favorite description of himself, he reminds us of this constantly)

Jack wanted to show off the bird house he made Sunday night.  Can you see his big teeth coming in?  This kid is getting a new grin.


Today is a day off.  We will totally enjoy doing NOTHING!

Happy Halloween!

I got back from my little trip to Houston late Monday night.  I had such a great time at Quilt Market with my mom and sis and my friend Caroline.  You can see lots of pictures from the trip on bluesusanmakes.

But Today is Halloween, so Happy Halloween!! We had a great night of tick-or-treating, the kids were so cute. Want to see some costumes??

Mer had her friend Snow White come over and Mer dressed up like the wicked Queen as a hag.

Next we have Aragorn

Captian Jack Sparrow

and the Incredible Hulk

I was supposed to be the candy corn queen and Doug is Bruce Banner before he turns into the hulk.  Jack invented Doug's costume just before we walked out the door.  The backpack came in handy to carry extra candy once the bags were too full.

Trick-or-treat!

Of course the best part is dumping it all out when you get home and sorting your loot.

And that was happy Halloween Night!

Origami Max

 Max has a new passion.  ORIGAMI.  Well it's not really new.  This has been going on for a few  months.  We have piles of paper all over the house. You might think it was trash at first glance.

But if you take a closer look you'll find scorpions, crabs, snakes, and Yoda in a variety of sizes

He invented a stingray on our trip to Jetty park.

He frequently hops in the car after school with a new origami to show me.




He's getting so good that he doesn't really need instructions for things anymore.
Here's a movie of one that moves like a serpent.

I love Max. He's always creating something.

No More Braces

Now you see them 

now you don't

Mer Got her braces off today

She's so excited.  3 months of daytime retainers and then she'll just have to wear them at night.

Isn't she pretty?

October Update.

Wow, is it really October already!!! We just got the Halloween boxes down from the attic today. The kids are so excited for Halloween. Everyone's still trying to figure out what they are going to be. So far Jack wants to be the wolfman, Max and Mer are undecided, and Luke keeps changing his mind between Hulk, a wolf, and a spy. I made him a hulk costume though, so I think ultimately he'll stay with that. Pictures of that to come soon. We had a nice relaxing weekend listening to conference. There were no soccer games, it was nice to get a breather in the busy day to day schedule we keep. Luke is loving preschool again. He got these glasses from the treasure box today.

Last week he threw the biggest fit about going to school. The teacher actually had to rip him away from me. I've never had a kid that had to be ripped away from me at school. I know this was totally whimpy for me but I walked away crying. It was so traumatic. I was having flashbacks of the endless screaming I heard when he broke his leg last summer. Anyway it was crazy, he totally loves school and can't stop telling me about it when he comes home.

He got some new shoes today. Purchased on the way to school because apparantly he got into the car with out shoes this morning and I didn't notice until we were far enough away from home to be locked into the kid drop off schedule. It was either stop and get a pair or turn around and make everyone late to school/miss the bus, etc. Good thing he really did need a new pair. I snapped this picture because I think this is the last time I will be able to squeeze him into the front seat of the cart. He is getting so big!

Mer is doing so well in school. She is really stepping up and keeping organized in all of her classes. I snuck a shot of her practicing the piano. She had to fix her hair before she let me take a real shot of her. She is getting her braces off next Tuesday!

Tonight we were all home. My Softball games got cancelled and there is no soccer on Tueday. Kids had time to practice piano, do homework, AND play.

We held family home evening tonight. Max taught a lesson on body organs, which he has a test on tomorrow. It was pretty funny. You can imagine him explaining how food is digested and where it goes next. Body excretions/noises are his favorite subjects.

Then we decorated votive holders. We did this with the Young Women last week and the kids have wanted to make them too. I found the idea HERE

It turned out to be a fun evening, without much planning.

Are you getting ready for Halloween?

oh, and I got an iphone :)

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