Thanksgiving

this year for thanksgiving, C's parents came to visit. 
It was SO great having them here!!!! the kids loved it!
We took them to the big market in town and ate doughnuts, handmade amish pretzels and lemonade, fresh cut fries, sampled nuts and cheeses. we bought some honey crisp apples and homemade cider, fresh fruit, christmas wreath for my door. it was glorious! i love that market!! we visited a great park and enjoyed the warm weather.
We also took them mini bowling and to a chuck e cheese type of thing. we ate mr. sticky's sticky buns. mmmmmmmm. visited wegmans got doughnuts and had dinner. and shopped .

they brought christmas with them. we opened presents thanksgiving morning and had some great squeals of delight. we cooked and ate. we had turkey, mashed potatoes, homemade rolls (made about 7 dozen), apples and pomegranate salad, nana's stuffing, green bean casserole. we also had homemade coconut cream pie and cheesecake. delicious. we took the family to see Rise of the Guardians. cute holiday movie. might be a little scary for some. my kids were all okay with it. i showed them the trailer ahead of time and talked about it being scary, so they were fine with it.
we hit up black friday sales in herhsey, got some great items. j got some cute red ear muffs. we met the boys at a bounce house and then we went on a date while c's parents took the rest of the kids home. we finished off the evening with watching christmas oranges.
they left saturday morning. it was so sad to see them leave. it's been a long time since we've had any family visit. it's nice having a piece of our hearts here with us for a while. 
great vacation! 
now to loose the 10 lbs. i gained before christmas rolls around, or shall i say until I roll up to christmas.

booby traps

about a month ago, we went to the DC temple. a friend of ours, who we have known forever, moved to DC a while ago and lives 7 minutes from the temple. She graciously offered to watch all FIVE of my kids. i kept declining, but i finally consented. 
SHE WAS AMAZING!!!
My kids had the best time! They made homemade bow and arrows with quivers, she did home made pizza with them, she also gave then an entire skeen of yarn and they went crazy with it. they strung it up and down her 3 story town house. i had to belly crawl to get up to the first floor. my kids haven't had that good of a time for a long time!! K told me that we needed to go to the temple every week. the next morning when he woke up, he said 'I wish I was waking up at Erin's house'

kudos to you erin. double kudos for staying sane.

well, it's a sad day. for whatever reason, blogger wont let me upload pics anymore. it says i'm using 100% of my 1G memory. i don't know much about computers, but i can't imagine that my little blog really is using that much space. i'm going to keep documenting, and maybe when all this gets sorted i can add pics then. i got online and a lot of other people are having the same problem. guess we'll see.

mormon helping hands

C got to go and help in new york with the hurricane clean up. it was an amazing experience for him. so glad he got to help out. 

great group of men.

it breaks my heart that these people got hit so hard. 

C said it was so nice being there and working with  people from lots of different religions and boy scouts handing out food. 

lots of people working together.

great community.

more messes

i need more baking soda

 she gets into our trash and eats whatever she can find.

so gross. 

 B was in time out and C sat down right next to him to keep him company. what a sweet sister. 

the saying must be true 'misery loves company'

 C was loving playing with her reflection in the door

 C got stuck on top of the piano and couldn't get down

never a dull moment

pears pears pears

oh my! we have been busy.

we got some pears from a lady at our church. and WOW, we got a lot!!! which meant we had to do some canning. 

a friend and i canned for about 5 days straight. it was a mess. 

the kids just ran amuck. there was sticky pear juice everywhere!

my hands smelled like fermented pears. there was literally not even an inch to set anything down.

 the kids made so many messes. one of the worst, that i didn't get a picture of, was when i thought they were playing in the basement in the toy room. i couldn't find them and finally located them in the upstairs bathroom. c had gotten into the toothpaste. it was all over the tub, floor, sink, and yes, of course the toilet. the tube of toothpaste was all wet, which meant it had been in the toilet and i'm sure in c's mouth. there was shampoo and lotion all over the bathroom and all over C-hair, up her nose, on her clothes, i should have known it was too quiet!

now we get to enjoy the fruits of our labors. i think we each got 34 jars of pears and 5 jars of pear jam.

mmmmm. 

a couple shots

b has taken up photography

wow, they really do learn by watching us.

yogurt really is my nemesis.

i bet i clean up it up 5 times a day

 how these two entertain themselves

 c's favorite place to play (other than the bathroom or pantry)

halloween extravaganza

I don't know about you, but does Halloween seem to last 10 days. From Halloween parade, church trunk or treat, class halloween parties and the official night of halloween, it is a HUGE event. 

The kids enjoyed every drop of it.

this was their haul after the trunk or treat

 getting ready for halloween night.

C was a duck and refused to wear the hat, k-ninja, g- suppose to be buzz light year (said the costume was for babies), suppose to wear ninja (refused to wear it), so dressed in ninja clothes and a batman cape.. J- ghost pirate (again for the 3rd year-yes, the costume is a size 4), and B, a firefighter-he wouldn't wear the hat either.

 this was our annual pumpkin carving night.

 J of course dug right in.

 G loved designing his as frankenstein

 yes, K is wearing surgical gloves

 B admiring the finished product and saying 'spooky' his favorite halloween word

 BOO

 the actual night of trick or treating.

we had soup, mummy dogs and witches fingers for dinner and then we went out in very cold temps. the kids were so excited and were running from house to house. the poor small kiddos couldn't keep up. 

they decided to do one more neighborhood, G said he's rather go home and have a toasty shower because 'i'm just not into candy'

 rummaging through their haul

 K got/traded 57 reeses

 this is the kids 'discard/dont like bag' lucky me. because it just so happens that i DO like these......

enjoying their hard work