Black Friday and Cyber Monday

We had some dear friends move to Wisconsin last summer.  They came back to celebrate Thanksgiving and we got to do a game and leftover pie night!  We had so much fun having them back!!! 

 We decided that we needed to introduce JJ to dough-boys, a favorite fire treat.  The weather had quickly turned cold and it was the perfect night for a fire!

 Ben collected the eggs for us!

 Ben explaining something to Mitchell - not sure what, but I sure love the relationship these two have!!!  Love my munchkins!

 Our last night together - the kids sure miss their jungle gym!

 One more day off school... I had a hard workout that morning and was explaining it to the kids.  Therefore, they had to try it too!  What a beautiful sunny day!!!

 Yes, time to put away Fall/Thanksgiving decorations and see what snow stuff we have and what we need to buy so everyone stays warm!  Mitchell was having a blast through this process!!!

Thanksgiving Prep...

 Cutest little Thanksgiving feast in Emily's Kindergarten classroom - cutie little kiddos!  There was so much incredible food leftover...wish I'd had a doggy-bag!

 After the kids were done, they got out their whiteboards and started writing letters - all around Mitchell.  Let me tell you - this kid never lacks for attention!  He did start to get a bit overwhelmed at this point and we skedaddled!

 That night JJ came to visit for Thanksgiving (okay - we totally begged him to come and he finally caved ;))!  He had to do an extra-credit project for one of his engineering classes, so we all watched as he used heat, water, steam, and a paint can to show some type of force...reason number 674 why I am NOT an engineer!

 Time for scriptures!  Yes, for some reason reading on JJ's phone is so much better than the old paper copies we typically use.  JJ also never lacks for attention or group-time while he is here!

 Annual - leaf cleanup!!!!!

 44 bags later, these two were quite stinky and sore...I needed a picture with the last stick!  What's gonna work?  Teamwork!

 Thursday morning, Ben and Andy went to play football with the guys from church.  JJ helped me get a few things together, then we took the kids to the park to watch the end of the football extravaganza that occurs each Thanksgiving morning - massive amounts of testosterone!  (Yes, I am just a bit bitter because when we lived in Texas, they always let *encouraged* the girls play too...)

 Getting dinner ready...

 Annie was the Suez chef in our little kitchen - we used every space that we had!

 FINALLY!!!!  Oh, it was just so yummy this year.  We even had enough leftovers that the kids were sick of them.  Although, looking at the picture is making me crave turkey...  Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Move Over Rudolph...

 The girls did a community play this past fall.  Between their two rolls (Emily - Chip the Raccoon and Annie - Buzzby the Bee), we got to attend every single night of rehearsal that was scheduled.  In short...it was exhausting, but a whole bunch of fun!  (Add 3 nights of play to two nights of soccer to two days of basketball = 1 mom who is glad her significant other is no longer going to classes at night!)

 They hated the itchy makeup but it looked awesome!!!

 Emily with her raccoon family, including the mom who is also named Emily.  They had so much fun together!

 Sweet Buzzzzzby with Swift the Owl and Chipper the Chipmunk.  Annie always made the crowd chuckle with her buzzing around the stage and stretching out her ssss's and zzzz's.

 I was lucky enough to work backstage through 3 of the 4 performances and had a great time seeing all the incredible behind-the-scenes efforts.  Love those other talented moms and dads!!!

Philadelphia Friday and Addy's Visit

 Friday night when we got to Philly - met up with Dave and Anika - Andy's buddy from high school.  Dave is just great; I've loved him from the first time I met him!  He is just finishing up his ENT residency - feels so good to be done with school!!!  They took us to their favorite pizza place and then for water ice next door - fantastic!!!

 Their little Charlie thought Ben hung the moon, especially when Ben shared his gun that he got in Valley Forge!

 After getting home, taking Aunt Jamie to the airport and recovering for an afternoon, we spent Tuesday at the John Johnson Farm and then off to the Akron Zoo!

 Love this sweet niece of mine!  She went home early the next morning, but we filled every moment that we possibly could!

 Can you tell who also fell in love with her????

Emily's Friend and Girl Scout Walk

Emily has another cute little buddy, Mia.  This girl stole my heart at their first day of school - her clothing choices are very similar to Emily's - the more patterns the better!!!  She and her sister came over after school one day to play.  It wasn't until I started taking pictures that I noticed the similarities in the outfits...

Oh, they are cute!  They had so much fun playing in the leaves over and over again!

Annie's GS troop had a walk for life.  The girls collected money to help moms with babies that don't have very much money.  Our family jumped in on this SUPER cold day!!!!

As you might be able to tell - Mitchell is well-loved with this group!  He was born when the girls were all in Kindergarten.  They have watched him grow from a little tiny guy into a boy who will give them hugs when they ask! 

As we walked, the day got more and more beautiful...if not just slightly warmer!!!

Yes - my phone camera took these pictures...just looking at them makes me long for Fall!  Love our GS troop and the incredible leaders they are!!!!