Turkey PARTY!

That is what we call Thanksgiving at our house.  Well that's how I explained to Axel that it wasn't just an ordinary day, but a special day, he totally went with it and screamed with excitement.

Because I am a crazy woman, you can say it, I know you are all thinking it anyway. I decided the week of Thanksgiving that I wanted to do something fun and Thanksgiving-ish, and I wanted it to involve my son and crafts and yummy food. In the past I have tried to host small gatherings of loved ones and their off spring, and as fun as they are, it always requires some serious resting after wards, my house is a mess, and well the kids don't care for it really. (see Axel's Birthday this year, perfect example)

Axel loves walks, and it was really nice weather that week. So instead of the above I decided a "Progressive Play Group" would be so much better! So that night I sent out a mass text to my neighbors who have kids Axel's age, with this outlandish idea that each house come up with some sort of Thanksgiving activity for the kids and then we would just go from house to house spending about 20-30 minutes at each house. BRILLIANT right?! That way everyone does their part and the kids get their wiggles out walking in between each activity. I may be crazy but I am a genius too.

Pretty soon I had quite the list of moms and we had 9 tots (not to mention the 6 babies who came along for fun) on our guest list and 5 families, 6 if you count I was sporting two extra with me. (Oh! did I forget to mention?! YES this was also the day that I was babysitting Kassie's kids :) )

At the first house we made some costumes...

Can I just tell you, seeing the kids run down the street together in their get ups was pretty much the cutest thing ever. We were quite the site!

Then we went and learned about the first thanksgiving...

She had these cute felt puppets that helped the kids visualize.

Then on to the next house where we made Turkey hands....

Axel really liked this activity.

Then back to our house for a few games, (we combined forces, one less house to walk to) and yummy dessert.

I made these deliciously cute turkeys,  and we had water to drink with "Mayflower" straws. The Styrofoam cups are ug, originally we were going to do hot cocoa, but after all that walking we were all parched, so water seemed to be the better choice. Apparently when I was planning my treat I wanted chocolate, infact, the clerk the night before while ringing me up cracked a joke "Someone's got the midnight munchies he he" ....wasn't funny in high school, and still isn't. Just Sayin. If I would have asked him the time, I am sure he would have said something about 4:20 too. anyway...

In honor of said conversation I took this picture,  gotta love Axel's face and Story's chocolate beard. And the 70' s colorization of the photo was a must.

It was great fun and only took us an hour and half! I am still amazed with how quickly it all came together and with such ease and it was actually fun, and Axel loved it.WE LIVE IN THE FUNNEST NEIGHBORHOOD EVER


THANKSGIVING DAY
The actual day was spent with my family at my parent's house. My mom went all out and everyone catered to Kory's diet, making everything with almond milk and agave. He pretty much got to eat everything, which is really rare for him, it was really yummy too!

 This kids table

I attempted my first sugar free pumpkin pie this year, it turned out, but still wasn't as good as my Mother inlaws. But I am glad I made it because we were going to try to make it to the Andersons for dessert, but we missed it! It was over so quickly! Kory would have never forgiven me for having him miss out on pumpkin pie on thanksgiving.

Some photos of Thanksgiving Day

The kids enjoyed the coloring place mats while they waited to eat

 

Maddy sat here for like I don't know 20 minutes by herself waiting for the dinner. She is so strange sometimes. 

 

 The guys

 Axel didn't want to sit at the kids table, he wanted to drink "Doda" From the giant red cups like all the adults.

 This was baby girls first thanksgiving. She seemed pretty happy, here she just woke up so she is tired.

 I never get pictures of me so here is one that night when we got home.

All in all it was a GOOD THANKSGIVING! 

It is time for a post.

I have a big Thanksgiving post but I wanted to share these fun videos of my kiddos from this week, because they're really funny. Well we think so at least!

Axel has gotten really good at hitting the ball with a bat. (Or in this case a wooden spoon) Can we say future racquetball champ!? This isn't a fluke either, Kelli will back me up, she was here the other night and he was hitting a ball with his bat too.

Now watch it a 2nd time and watch how spastic our big dog is to Kory. Yes she is like this all the time! Drives me crazy! 

Baby girl is such a weirdo these days! Who knows what she is doing here, but we think it is cute! She has been doing this a TON lately. We are just like WHAT?!

 

I think she is either dancing or trying to say hi.Who knows really, but it is freaking funny!

B is for

Buddies

We met up with Ashley and Ashdon for a playdate last week. It was too chilly to do much outside, so we decided to hit up the mall and let the boys play there.

Early this month we went on a walk with a neighbor friend to a park, I thought this picture was cute of Evan and Axel playing together.


And of course with Story. They were playing Grandpa that day. They came running into the kitchen giggling and Axel  said "Hi mom! I'm Grandpa!" then Story said "I'm Grandpa TOO!"




Boyfriends
I remember growing up my parents picking "future husbands" for us. It used to drive my sisters and I  crazy, because the guys they picked were never who we would want to date...ever! But now that I am a mom, I totally get it. Both my kids have multiple "future spouses".

I wouldn't mind if Dani ended up with this little guy. He is so sweet to her, and always comes to see her during Relief Society or Sunday School and his parents are great!  Last week Dani reached for his long locks and ran her fingers through it. He just smiled and held her hand. He is such a cute cute kid.

Boats

When I leave my laundry basket out Axel requests to "make a pie" ie wooden spoon, and to "get a boat" ie laundry basket. So he can paddle him and Dani around in it, and sing row row row your boat. These are from last sunday.


Blue bugs

The last time I weeded my flower bed, Axel and I came across this BLUE potato bug! I had never seen a blue one before. I wonder if it had some condition or if it was just a weird one. Anyone else seen a blue potato bug?


Books

Books before bedtimes is what we do.

Bedtime

Bedtime has kinda flipped itself upside down recently. Axel gets out of his bed a bazzillion times and comes and hides outside our door. All we have to do is open the door and he books it back to his bed. We can't help but laugh, but it is mighty frustrating that the kid will do this over and over until 11pm. And Miss Dani is not doing so well anymore sleep wise. It's like she has forgotten how to sleep! I get really really frustrated at night because she was my good sleeper. She used to go down at 8 pm and sleep until 5! Now she wakes up at midnight or 2 am and wants to nurse. I am hoping it has to do with teething, and that maybe when it breaks through we can get her back to normal.

 
 
This picture is actually taken a bit ago, since then she has completely stopped using this binki, she like her brother said forget it all on her own. UGH

 Big Girl

Dani has graduated to sitting in the grocery cart. (I still leave her in her car seat most of the time, because she is usually asleep) But here she was so happy to sit up and play with all the toys and smile at all the people stopping to tell her how pretty she is.




She is also sitting up and saying a few words now!  I can't believe she is so big already, yet still so tiny! 

Brand new
One day Kory and I were in the basement discussing our carpet dilemma. ie we have dogs, dogs that only like to use the bathroom on carpet, even though our house is mostly hardwood, they use the rugs! It drives me completely crazy! The destroyed our last rug during July because of all the fireworks. During the rest of the year they are pretty good, but we have had some accidents.

So we were contemplating what we should do, because things are tight for us, and the last thing on our budget is buying a rug. But we needed a rug because Dani is getting to that stage where she wants to get down and play and roll around.

So back to my story, so we were like "MAN what should we do! We really need a rug!" Then we heard someone at our door, not even two minutes later. And it was my parents, with a GIANT GREY RUG! It totally made my day/week/month! Thanks mom and dad you guys are the best!

That same day, Dani was testing out the rug and I was cleaning and when I went to check on her she was fast asleep!


Axel loves having a rug so he can play and lounge on it and watch his shows.

Bears

Axel was given this great big bear from Grandma and Grandpa Anderson, and it is his new buddy.

Everywhere that Axel Goes he is sure to bring along mr bear...

In the Car

At the store~i've never seen so many kids faces light up! Seriously, every cart with a kid in it had to stop and show their parents the cool bear.


Eating dinner

Rockin out with dad in the studio

He has even put it in time out :) 

Bald

It may not seem like it, but Baby Girl is finally getting some hair, but in pictures she still looks bald as can be, but she is getting some hair, it's dark too. So it will be interesting to see if she has dark hair or if it lightens up like Axel's.

 

This is a random post, but hope you enjoyed it! Next will be our Thanksgiving festivities, so stay tuned!