Wednesday, December 28, 2011

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! 

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

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!