First Snow Day!

I'm not so sure I'm ready for the cold weather, but the kids are thrilled.  We had our first snow day last week.  :)

Nativity Creation

We have an annual Nativity Celebration here that the kids really love.  There are hundreds of nativities on display, Christmas music by local businesses, schools, churches, and individuals, refreshments, and kids' activities.  Logan talks about it frequently.

This year Logan has decided that he wants to participate, so he put a lot of thought into creating an original nativity to display.  It was a surprisingly big deal to him.  He's such a good example.

Outage Adventure

A couple of weeks ago, we had a power outage just before dark.  Thankfully, it was the LAST warm day we had, so it was okay.  The kids thought it was a great adventure, especially since it took a few hours for the electric company to fix the problem.

We cooked and ate dinner by candle light and flash light.  There are advantages to having a gas stove!

The kids thought it was awesome to run around our VERY dark house with flashlights.  It was impressive just how dark it was, and strange to look out the window and see NO lights in the distance.

Just as we were gearing up to play a game in our dim light, the power came back on!  I had some disappointed kids.  :)

Toddler Stunts

I feel like I blinked and my baby became a toddler.  She is still so sweet, but now she's also hilarious and a bit mischievous.  A couple of weeks ago, she realized she could climb onto the table.  Every time I turned around she was up there DANCING!  She's so funny, though she did get her first official toddler-sized scolding for getting up again and again after clearly understanding that she wasn't supposed to.  Her little heart was totally broken for a few minutes!

She also loves to wear everyone's shoes, especially my tennis shoes.  She walks around the house in them frequently.  This morning she was pretty upset that she had to share them with me so I could exercise!

Thanksgiving Crafts

For a school activity we made a gratitude tree one day.  The kids surprised me by deciding to color the entire thing after we'd created the bare tree.

Once it was ready we cut out leaves and wrote things we were grateful for on the leaves.  Again, the kids surprised me with how many leaves they filled out.

 For an activity with the women at church we also made a holiday decoration.  The front serves for Thanksgiving...

...and the back is for Christmas.

Best Surprise Ever!

A couple of weeks ago I heard a knock at my front door which was really unusual considering we live in a rural area.  I opened the door thinking maybe the neighboring farmer needed to talk to me, or maybe a package was being delivered.  So I was quite surprised to see MY DAD standing on my porch!  Initially my brain couldn't make the connection; my dad said my face was priceless.  He flew in for a surprise visit!

He was only here for a couple of days, but we had a great time together.  The kids were all over him, ALL THE TIME.  :)

Thankfully we had some decent weather, so we headed over to a local park that has some wildlife.  

We also brought carrots to feed the elk and bison.

This lucky animal had two whole bags of carrots to herself; the rest of the herd wasn't interested this day.

Abby had no fear.

Some of the other fun we had included a fire one night, eating out, and relaxing/ visiting at home.  The kids convinced their Papa to read to them quite often.

We also went for a little hike during which Abby rode on my dad's shoulders.  His ears made great handles apparently.  :)

I so enjoyed having my dad here for a visit; I think it may have been the best surprise I've ever had!  Thanks for visiting Dad!

Halloween

Halloween's a pretty small affair for our family, but we do have fun dressing up and trick or treating.  The cold weather moved in just in time for trick or treating and we FROZE!  Here are our pictures before we stuffed as many layers as possible under costumes.

Alex was our cute little Tigger.

Logan has been bugging me to create a Wall-E costume for a few years, so I finally did it!  He received a LOT of comments on his costume.

Wall-E wouldn't be complete without Eve by his side.  :)

We also had the sweetest little lady bug around.  She really liked trick or treating, especially the eating it afterwards part.  :)

"I don't like this hat Mom!"

Kids Say

Alex, "If we have an ax and the police come and put us in jail.  If we have the ax then we can escape!  But you hide the ax in your pocket!"

Alex, "I feel like I'm never going to be a grown up!  It feels like it's taking a long time!"  Further questioning revealed that his motivation to grow up is so he can buy a real boat.

Me, "Are you going to grow up to be like Dad?"  Alex, "No!  Because I'm going to be a farmer!"

Alex, "Mom, there are dragonflies in the bathroom and they can shoot out fire!  Really.  Cause I saw it in a book.  I'm scared!"

I told Alex he needed to eat a vegetable, so he hopefully asked, "Is cheese a vegetable?"

Guess What?