Thanksgiving Dinner

Well, Thanksgiving dinner was a success! We had thirty people, two turkies, one ham, thirty pounds of mashed potatoes, lots of yummy sides and many pies all at our house yesterday. Keith and I are blessed to have both of our families (most of them) near by and doubly blessed that they get along so we can spend our thanksgiving with all of them together. This year was especially nice to have my sister Whitney and and her husband Travis in from Idaho and my cousin Bonnie Jean and her family from Pittsburgh. I of course ate until my stomach hurt and then ate some more! Lots of good food!

Cutie in the tub

Bath Time

Go Bucks

Those of you who don't live in Ohio probably don't realize how huge the Ohio State/Michigan game was this weekend. I probably don't even realize how huge it was. But anyways, it was HUGE. The number one and number two teams, long-time rivals, both undefeated, playing in Columbus (yes, where I was on Saturday). According to Keith and my brother, it was the game of a lifetime to watch.

As a side note before I share the rest of my story, Ohio State fans are loyal and their hatred for Michigan runs deep! That being said, on with my story...

So we thought it would be nice if all of us could ride together on the two hour trip to Columbus to go to the temple. Since none of us have cars that fit seven, my parents rented a van Saturday morning. We picked up the van and were driving along, minding our own business when this SUV came up next to us and started yelling something at us through the window. We thought it was a little bit odd, but continued on our way. A short while later we realized that most cars were pointing and yelling at us. Wondering what the heck we had done to upset these drivers so much, we decided to check the cars registration. Yep, just as we suspected...we were driving a van with Michigan license plates, in Columbus, on the day of the biggest game of the year. Luckily for us the Buckeyes won and we didn't need the extra car insurance!

I love to see the temple

Saturday my family and I had the opportunity to go to the Columbus temple with Chase as he prepares for his mission. It was such a wonderful experience. Hard to believe my little brother is old enough to go through the temple and serve a mission! I'm so happy with the choices he has made. I hope he knows how proud we are and what a great example he is setting for my boys who think the world of him. I'm so happy for the opportunity to share this experience with my family. As we were leaving Whitney looked at me and said "well, Ty is next." Crazy to think that the next time we are taking a family member to the temple for the first time could possibly be Ty leaving on his mission! I will be so happy, but I hope it doesn't come too fast!

I'm so happy to have the gospel in my life. It has brought so much joy and comfort to me. I love to visit the temple and feel the peace it brings. We are blessed to finally have one nearby. I look forward to the day when I can attend with all of my family.

Preshool already!

We just got Ty's school pictures back. They turned out so cute. I can't believe my little Ty guy is old enough to be in preschool! He is loving school though. When I drop him off he always gives me a quick wave and is off to see his friends, never looking back. My favorite part of the day is to see his precious little face peeking over his desk and bookbag waiting with patient anticipation for me to pick him up. His little face just lights up when I walk through the classroom door, he can't wait to tell me what he did new that day. He especially loves the crafts (where'd he get that from?) and all the songs they learn. I can't believe my little guy is growing up so fast. Hard to believe Carter will be here in less than 2 years!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!

Cure for cabin fever

Keith and I have finally found the perfect cure for cabin fever--the Bounce Around! We had bought the bounce around this summer for Ty's birthday party, not knowing what a blessing it would be once it was too cold and wet to go outside to play! Last night was our turn with the kids in our baby-sitting group and this was the perfect toy to let the kids release their energy! (Each Friday we take turns with three other families in the neighborhood, so one week a month we baby-sit all the kids, but the other three weeks Keith and I get a date night with free baby-sitting--I recommend it to everyone!) The Bounce Around was still up this morning so Ty had a few more bounces before I put it away. Carter's still not sure how he feels about this large inflatable toy in his basement, but I have a feeling it won't be long before he's bouncing away with Ty.

Uncles

Aren't uncles great?! My boys absolutely adore their uncles! When they are around Keith and I are chop liver. Most the time Carter is pretty fond of me, but when any of his uncles are holding him, Carter pushes me away.

Last night we went to the Bielozer's to celebrate Keith's dad's birthday. Most of the family was their and the boys were loving it!

Ty enjoyed wrestling with all the boys, especially Kevin, "pops." And Carter continued to bully Brian, "Big Show," into doing everything he wanted: Being picked up...

drinking his propel...
eating his cake...and convincing him to play in the basement when everyone else was upstairs.

The boys are so lucky to have fun uncles who love them like their own on both sides of the family!

Apple Hill

I was working on a scrapbook page from when the boys and I went to Apple Hill one Saturday while Keith was at the Ohio State game and decided some of the pictures were too cute not to post, even though it happened awhile back. Enjoy.

Kitchen fun

Someone please remind me why we buy kids toys when they would much rather play with plastic utensils? I came into the kitchen today to find all of the plastic utensils left over from various birthday parties scattered all over the floor and the boys were having a ball! Ty said they were on a "spoon hunt" and Carter was chucking forks across the room. Whatever makes them happy I guess and buys me some time to fold the laundry.

TGIM

I never thought I'd say this, but thank goodness it is Monday! Monday means that Super Saturday and Sunday lessons are over! I spent all last week getting things ready for our Super Saturday (a craft day) at church. Thank goodness for friends like Stephanie who came over to help me sew all of the puppets for the nativity puppet class! We also taught the "love at home" sign class--they turned out so cute (thanks Steph for the picture I stole). I'm working on Keith to let us get a vinyl cutting machine so I can go into business! I'm addicted and already have 10 orders--now I just need to convince him to get the machine!

Ty after a long day of "crafting" with mom and friends.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KAROLYN!

still more...

Here's the last of the photo shoot pictures for now. Stay tuned for the edited versions!



Thanks Steph for being our personal photographer!

more from the photo shoot

Family photo shoot

We finally had blue skies and decent weather the other day, so I dragged the family out for our Christmas card photo shoot. I have to say, they turned out adorable! These are just the raw, unedited versions. You have to wait for the Christmas card--way cute!!

Thank goodness for children

You know what I love most about children? I love how forgiving they are and their ability to love you unconditionally, regardless of all your shortcomings.

People warned me that three's were worse than two's and I'm beginning to agree! Ty can be the most loving, most adorable little boy around, but he can also be the most wild, whiney, stubborn (I don't know where he gets that from) too.

Lately I feel like he and I have been going at it a ton and I'm constantly arguing or punishing him. After a particularly long and stressful day recently, I went to get Ty for bed, fully prepared for another battle. But instead, he lit up when I entered the room, like he had completely forgotten about our battles of the day and I was the most important person in his world. He came over to me on the couch and snuggled up and told me how much he loved me. Could I be anymore blessed? Thank goodness for children to remind us of what is important in life and the value of forgiveness.

Trick or treat continued...

I'm having trouble posting more than 2 pictures at a time...

More trick-or-treat pics

Trick or Treat

The long awaited day finally arrived yesterday--Halloween. After tons of costume parties and pumpkin patches, it was time to trick-or-treat. The final night to wear the costumes! Ty was pumped! He took a four hour nap to gear up for it.

Following tradition, Nikki and Dominic came up from Akron and Mom, Dad, Chase, and Gam-Gam came over for potato soup in bread bowls and trick-or-treating.

Carter was so fun to watch this year! This holiday was made just for him. He couldn't believe there is actually a day where he can run from house to house and they give him candy! Why hadn't we done this earlier? He went to every house, and when he had the opportunity he took extra and went back for more. A few times he tried to go right into the door to help himself. Back home he hoarded all of the suckers and literally fought the "big boys" for their candy. When it was all said and done he cried at the door because he wanted to go back out...That boy loves a good time and really loves to eat!

Carter loved having a personal escort to each house...
Keith carried the two tired trick-or-treaters back home...
Carter liked his spider costume much better than the lion!