Thanksgiving 2011

We had a lovely Thanksgiving with Todd's family in Thousand Oaks

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The first order of business was opening an early birthday present from Grandma and Papa

Voila, a Baby Alive! 

Both kids were enamoured with Uncle Drew.

Marilyn did such a beautiful job on all the decor and food.

Thatcher's first piano recital

He actually sounded pretty good, a natural!

The whole family :)

A Turkey Birthday

Sam's birthday is on 11/28 which means each year it will be ON or around Thanksgiving.  It also means it is challenging to find a date semi-close to her birthday where people are in town to celebrate, or are not already booked with other holiday happenings.  We've had parties for her AFTER her birthday, we've done it BEFORE, but this year we decided to skip the party altogether.

While she is at the age where the word birthday = party (and cupcakes and presents), she is also at the age where we can get by without a big party and she won't really notice.  I think because she talks about her birthday all year long that when it actually happens it is sort of a moot point.  "Mom, am I almost four? Mom, am I almost 6?"  "Will my birthday be Tuesday or Saturday, or yesterday or tomorrow."  She has no sense of time.  She plans her days by what she is doing before nap and after nap, that is it.  Before you think I am a totally awful parent, she will get cupcakes and presents (and a little thing called Disneyland) but the bounce house and house party is not happening this year. 

The year Samantha was born Thanksgiving fell on the 22nd.  I remember being completely stuffed before we even sat down to dinner at my in-laws house.  Four days later I was admitted to the hospital and two days later (yes it was the world's longest labor), our little turkey arrived.  In 2013, when she turns 6, her birthday WILL fall on Thanksgiving.  We will have to put candles in the turkey that year.

Today at school they celebrated Sam's birthday (early) before everyone headed off for vacation. 

 On your birthday you get to bring a birthday treat to share with your class.  Samantha wanted to bring strawberry shortcakes.

We had so much fun getting them ready last night.

And doing a few test runs and eating a few samples ;)

She requested a princess dress for school today.

And this is Thatcher mocking Samantha's head-tilt model pose she always strikes when you ask to take her picture.

Not only did she come home with a birthday hat from school,

 she of course came home with a Pilgrim hat because we just can't seem to separate the two affairs.....

One thing is for sure, Thatcher is definitely the TURKEY in our house!

Happy Thanksgiving and birthday weekend to my favorite girl!

It's Raining, It's Pouring

Which means our grass is GROWING!

Yes, that's right.  We FINALLY did it, we HIRED someone to landscape our yard. 

I apologize to all the kids who have enjoyed digging in our dirt yard for the past 3 years.  I can honestly say that you are the only ones who will be sad to see it go. Goodbye paw prints, tiny feet prints and adult shoe prints on our dark hardwood floors.  I will not miss you. 

Supermodels

I can't wait to share with you our 2011 family photos!  Colleen Riley did an amazing job capturing our family. 

Stay tuned!

The Thankful Tree

Guess what this little girl is thankful for?

 

She prays for makeup, and now for cupcakes.  I'm guessing her family is next, right???

Beach Walk at Dusk

Flu Shot = IHOP

Halloween 2011

Halloween wins the award for being the holiday that drags on the longest.  One thing is for sure, the kids get good use out of their costumes each year.

We kicked off Halloween at Sam's preschool for the annual parade and concert.

Sam and Mrs. Katie (Snow White and Snow White)

As you can see, Thatcher LOVED his Alligator costume...

Sam and her teacher, Mrs. Cindy

The next day we went to a Halloween party at a friend's house and Thatcher started to get the hang of wearing his costume, sort of...

Reese made the most perfect "Jessie" from Toy Story.

And then the next day we went to the PEP Halloween concert at the park

Sarah sang the National Anthem.  Just kidding.  She gave the opening speech.

Thatcher and Jack danced and snacked the whole time. Actually, Thatcher didn't really dance.  He was more mesmerized by Jack's sweet moves.

Clearly, Jack and Thatcher had way more fun this year than last year ;)

After the concert we came home and carved pumpkins.

FINALLY, we ended Halloween with trick-or-treating and a fun party at the Paskin's house.

Sugar highs, ya think?!

We ended up with A LOT of candy.  Last year we had a TON of trick-or-treaters so we stocked up on candy only to have a handful of people come to our door this year. I had heard about the Halloween Buy Back program which is where you take your candy to a participating dentist and they "buy" your candy and send it overseas to the troops.  Sounded like a good plan to me, didn't sound so great to Sam.  I told her she could keep 15 pieces.  She spent over an hour carefully sorting out all the candy and was not crazy about the idea of giving any of it up.  She kept saying things like, "well, those people might not like this kind of candy," and "we better not give them any of the real chewy things because it will get stuck in their teeth."

Here we are the next day at the dentist's office. This is a fake smile. She was VERY nervous about having to give away her candy. 

This is a REAL smile because they weighed her candy and in return they gave her 5 dollars! She was thrilled to have actual paper money (she is used to coins for her piggy bank) and thought she was hot stuff for having "money like Mommies have".

Farewell Halloween! Snow White and The Alligator have been retired. 

 Until next year.....