There were 20 candles for Cate- Happy Birthday !

Our family is getting older....Cate turned 20 yesterday. I took her out for breakfast and in the evening some of us went out to eat at Olive Garden to celebrate. We came home and had cupcakes given to her by Mary and Peter Frey. Funny as I wrote this I realize again how important food is to our family in some of our traditions. 

She was born to a mom who was only 13 and Cate was 13 when she came home Dec. 2005. She is a blessing and sister in Christ whom I love dearly.

More pics for Jenn and Jeremiah

I guess at nap the other day she really was tired :)

Snack time

Twister is a huge hit…we had to improvise with these circles to let everyone have a time to play…..

Ezra spun and announced for the players where to move….

Tonite we celebrated Cate's b-day and Ella sat right beside the birthday girl….

For Jenn and Jeremiah :)

Our daughter and her husband - Jenn and Jeremiah are in Haiti this week…so I will be blogging pics of their kiddos to send to them…Love having the grand kids here with us…They are doing great.

A day of thanks and lots we are thankful for

Jenn and Jeremiah were up for Thanksgiving- first time in yrs and it was good to have them. 

We had brunch  at 10 ish and dinner at 4 with lots of food and fellowship. 

We watched the parades and we played our annual football game. The weather was wonderful as you can see.

So thankful for all the kids that were home...even Molly and Mike made it over for a visit.

This is one way I love on the family…..

Making peanut butter buckeyes or white chocolate or milk chocolate truffles is always a fun time and a yummy one too.

I have shared before one of the ways that I love on the family is thru cooking and baking. We have begun our preparations for Thanksgiving. Jenn and her family will be up, Jonas will be home so we will be feeding around 40 for the holidays including Mary Kate's family. I will be cooking 3 turkeys that have a combined weight of 66 lbs plus one ham and 25lbs of potatoes. I make sauerkraut , green beans , creamed peas, creamed pearl onions,  sweet potato casserole, cauliflower and broccoli salad,cranberry sauce, dressing, jello salad, rolls- plus desserts. Just writing this makes me hungry :)

Happy Birthday Tia

Ears pierced- yep.

Orea ice cream cake- yep.

Being gifted by those who love you- yep.

We celebrated Tia's 16th b-day last Thursday. Breakfast with Dad and Mom….and we took just her out for Chinese in the evening as well as to get her ears pierced. Happy Birthday Tia girl !

It is almost Turkey Time and we are off for a week...

These turkeys are one of the crafts the kids did this week...We also learned alot about turkeys in our unit study. We also learned about the first Thanksgiving . 

  

Our science unit was on crystals and we made this one out of a borax solution and we tasted sugar crystals ( rock candy). We studied about  Veteran's day and I was impressed with how the kids understood the significance of our veterans and the freedoms they have . I am looking forward to the holidays...I have struggled to not decorate any sooner but I think Friday we will. We are getting lots of company for Thanksgiving and even the following week...So for me it is already feeling festive just thinking of my grand babies coming .  I love the holidays.

Pretending- from pirates and princess, Ghana mommas and playing school

It has been a full couple of weeks ( month even) and you may have noticed I just have not had the time to blog…but life has been full. Here are just some pics from the past few days that made me smile. So I thought they might you :)

Big boys and their toys

I looked over and saw my older guys sitting in our new "chair and a half" looking at their iPhones . They were doing different things too- Not playing a game. I actually got one in October and love it. It is so much faster and better than my Samsung Galaxy....I understand the addiction sadly I have to admit. The face time is amazing... When Mary Kate and Keith were in Ghana last wknd...they face timed us for free. We got lots of pictures and even videos of the kids with them in seconds. We can face time with Jenn and her family too. It is way better than the Skype we have used. I also was gifted with a new Apple computer for my b-day....I use it like a phone and I am now a totally sold out customer to Apple. Way worth the money.

Apparently when you eat lunch at Nana's you think you are a "diva"

We looked over at Mady today while she was eating ….and this was her pose :) I tell you this one has some spunk but, I sure love it. I mean really who can resist a very pink little girl who just relaxes at the table while she eats…I mean really relaxes.