November: That's a wrap!

I wish I could have done the 30 days of Thankfulness...I wish I were motivated to invite an Elf to come sit on my shelf...and I wish I had the time to make a gorgeous Pinterest wreath for my front door.

But to be honest, maybe I don't even wish. Because I probably could squeeze the time in if I really wanted to. But instead, I've been working hard during the weekdays, and then, at home in the evenings, just trying to BE instead of DO.

And we've had a great November just "being" and I marvel each day at just how precious these children are when they play together.


















We are charging our batteries this weekend as we gear up for a crazy and fun filled December.

Bring it on, Santa!


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Way Back Wednesday: My Turkeys

In honor of Thanksgiving tomorrow, here are my kiddos on their first Thanksgivings.


We hope you have a great holiday weekend! Happy Thanksgiving!

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Pumpkin Patch Failure

Right about October 30 I realized that I never got the kids to a pumpkin patch this fall. I was sad (for about a minute) mostly because of the break in tradition but then quickly realized (with the help of my husband) "it's all good."


Luckily, thanks to the kids' awesome schools, they each visited a pumpkin patch and came home with their own pumpkins.

Mission complete.

Trip to Kersey Valley

Brooklyn's class took a field trip on Halloween day so I took a vacation day from work to join them. She had a blast with her friends and I am trying to soak up all the time I can while its still "cool" that your mom attends a class trip. :-)

Checking out paths in the corn maize...
Consulting the map and clues in the maze...
Would have been a cool pic had she not refused to look in my direction...

Our "team" in the maze...
Panning for gems...


Just hanging out on some pumpkins...
Jumping on the jump pillow...
This kid is like Wilson from Home Improvement...you can never get a straight picture.
It was a fun day and some much needed one on one time with my eldest.

Happy Belated Halloween!

It was a full week of Halloween celebrations after a full week of birthday parties. Needless to say I'm glad it's November now. :-)

We did Trunk or Treat at church last Sunday, which the kids enjoyed. Too bad I forgot candy to pass out AND a bag for their candy. We improvised.











Then, Jake wore his costume to school Wednesday to trick or treat around classes.








Brooklyn's class had a field trip that day (more on that later).

That night we asked the kids what they wanted to do. Jake wanted to go to one house and Brooklyn wanted to pass out candy. So they did.


And later, later that night I went to a Pink-o-ween Halloween Zumbathon benefitting Susan G Koman with my favorite roomie, Heidi. It was a fun time and we even got in a work out. :-)


I hope everyone had a great week celebrating!

Jake's birthday: the final saga

We celebrated jake one more time with our Godfamily on Saturday. This was where we gave him our presents too because we combined with the Henzlers to get the boy a drum set.
















Cutest Godpuppy ever.




He seriously was so excited. And he plays it everyday. Thank goodness for upstairs playrooms.




He even shared and let the big boys play...




And was content to play a Tupperware bowl in the interim.




Happy birthday (x4), sweet Jake! I love you, Pookie, and I am so proud of all you have done already in three little years.