Christmas Smiles

This was the gift the kids picked out for Chris.

Thanksgiving 2010

We had a great Thanksgiving at the coast with family! It was relaxing, mostly good weather, great food, and the kids were having so much fun with their cousins that I don't think I heard one fight amongst the 16 kids. Amazing!! It was truly a wonderful couple of days!

All the kids were really into card games like Uno and Blink.
We had the traditional Thanksgiving feast. Of course it was delicious!

Some of the younger kids!

Andrew and Grant at the "big boys" table.

We spent quite a bit of time down at the pier where some of the kids tried out crabbing. They had a ton of fun, but didn't catch anything big enough to keep.

Uncle Jared was kind enough to chaperone many of the older kids at the pier 2 days in a row! What a guy!

And we always enjoy hot cocoa after being down at the cold beach.

But I think the favorite part for the kids was when there was a brown out and most of the electicity went out. Grandpa gave all the kids finger flashlights to use. They still were able to play their card games and have a fun time!

Grandma had the coolest light of all! The flash makes it seem light, but it was very dark!

The next morning, the kids were determined to head back at the pier and try out crabbing one last time. No luck, but again, lots of fun!!



And the following Monday, we had more excitement! After 4 weeks, it was time for Kristen's cast to come off!

One last cast pic

She said it tickled when they took it off!

And it's off! Good as new!! So happy to be able to wear all her clothes again!

Oktoberfest, and Broken Wrist!

October was another busy month for us! It started with the 1st grade Oktoberfest. I love the Oktoberfest at the school. It is adorable. The kids learn German songs and dances as well as their colors and numbers in German. Kristen was very excited to perform!

Here is Kristen with her partner, Adam. They were both wearing outfits Chris bought in Germany several years ago on a business trip. They have been used by all the kids!

Can you tell she's excited?!

She had a part as the blue matrose in a song. So cute!

Getting ready to dance with Adam.

I loved watching them waltz!

And I loved watching her waltz with her daddy!

I got a chance to be her dance partner as well. She did a great job and created many fun memories that day!

And later in October, we were off to the pumpkin patch for a field trip.

So many pumpkins to choose from!

This is the one!

I think her favorite part was playing on the swings!


A class picture to end the day!

And then our adventure really began! When the kids got home from school, they were more hyper than usual. I remember telling Nathan to calm down or go outside more than once, but I was busy doing something else and didn't follow through. Within minutes, one little girl was crying, one big brother was denying, and one mother was yelling. Yep, I was quite upset. A trip to the doctor, and then to X-ray showed a broken wrist. It was splinted, and we were sent home to try and get homework done, get the boys to scouts and keep a hurting little girl from crying. Did I mention that Chris was out of town? To sum up our adventure, Kristen's wrist was casted 2 days later, and we rushed her back to school just in time to enjoy the tail end of her class Halloween party!

We had to cut the sleeve to fit her cast!

That evening, we got together with some friends for pumpkin carving! Kristen didn't let her casted wrist stop her.

Grant didn't like the insides and insisted on wearing a glove!

Nathan liked helping David with his pumpkin.

Showing off their creativity! I think they did a great job, and boy was I glad that the week was over! And hoping not to have a repeat of that craziness any time soon!