Putting up the Tree

The kids were so excited to put up the tree.  Shawn tried to fix a glitch in some lights.

 I tried to only use UNBREAKABLE ornaments this year.  

Paul wanted so badly to put the star on top.  He was a little nervous up on Daddy's shoulders.  

Joy found our old reindeer antlers.

And Paul found a good use for some stockings.  

Gideon

We're working hard to make friends with Gideon.  He is still so shy.  Finally, he'll tolerate having us near him wile he is eating, but he still does not want to be touched!

Thanksgiving Feast #2

We like to have our own Thanksgiving leftovers, so we planned our own feast for Friday. (We would not be stepping out of the house toward any sort of shopping area.)  We invited Michael and Jackie to join us.  We had a lovely time catching up with them and Paul and Joy were really excited to play with Jackie.

Thanksgiving Evening

We were glad to get to visit Shawn's whole family at Uncle Lee and Aunt Marcy's.  Joy loved Kate's M&M cake.  I may have to make her one for her birthday.  M&M's are her favorite candy.

Paul had a great time playing with all his cousins. 

Joy was tired and cranky.  She didn't even want to play with Grandma and Kaitlyn, two of her favorite people!  She fell asleep on my lap while we were playing Catch Phrase and then Grandma took over.

Thanksgiving Day

Shawn and I ran the Turkey Trot in the morning.  I did 26:10 and he was just under 30 minutes.  Way to go Shawn!  Then we had a giant feast at Grandma and Grandpa's.  

Joy and Paul slid down the steps on their butt LOTS of times.  They had fun, but Joy complained that her but hut for the rest of the day (and even today.)

Crafts with Camille

The kids were thrilled that Camille babysat them on Tuesday afternoon.  They made Thanksgiving crafts.

Retiring the Backpack

This old backpack was a hand me down from Aimee.  I finally threw it away today.  I used it for my diaper bag until I completely wore it out.  I found that I needed a backpack to have my hands free.  I now use the Steelers backpack.

Making Pies with Grandma

We had lots of fun making pumpkin pies with Grandma Ely for Thanksgiving on Wednesday.  Paul and Grandma worked as a team to open all the cans.

Paul, Joy and Grandma read books, built a puzzle and played Paul's play dough game while the pies cooked.

We enjoyed eating our extra pie afterward.  Joy just wanted whipped cream!

First Tea Party

We had Joy's first real tea party the other morning.  We invited her Lego Ariel and Flounder.  We both drank coffee (she loves my decaf!)  I was going to pass the set onto Arianna, but maybe I should hang on to it.  We had fun and did it again the next day.

Burger King with Dina, Olivia and J.J.

Dina took the kids to McDonald's while their house was being shown and Olivia really wanted Paul to go.  We had something else going on, but she has wanted him to go to McDonald's with her since.  There is no McDonald's nearby with a play place, so we went to Burger King instead.  It worked out nicely, we had the place to ourselves for 2.5 hours.  I didn't get any pictures of Paul and Olivia, they were too busy crawling up through all the tubes.  Joy and J.J. were not quite big enough to crawl up through, so they stuck to the steps on the bottom.  I didn't notice until I got home that Joy was drinking J.J.'s chocolate milk in these pictures. 

Pictures with Fina

Last Saturday, we took pictures with Fina at the Cathedral of Learning at Pitt.  These are just the pictures I took with my own camera.  It went as well as expected and we got some great  pictures.  I still need to figure out how to download them.

with Baby Jesus

Look carefully between the railings, Paul wanted his picture taken in front of the skyscraper.  The kids were SO excited to go to a skyscraper, but Paul did not want to go to the top!

 We went to a restaurant called "The Porch" right across the road for lunch.  It was yummy, especially the freshly made doughnuts!

Rolls

I was super excited to finally make some rolls that were close to Grandma Speer's.  I told Paul that I think those rolls made me fall in love with his daddy.  The only problem is I can't stop making and eating these things.

Planes

The Planes movie came out on DVD Tuesday.  We went to visit Grandma Ely on Wednesday.  I told Paul if he was very well behaved we'd go get the new movie.  He was so we did.  He has been excitedly playing with the toy Dusty Crophopper Keli got him for his birthday ever since.  Instead of buying Joy one, I thought maybe we could make a craft one.  So we found a nice pattern on the internet and we made our own.  

Then, of course, when Paul got home from school he wanted to make his own.  So he did.  And in usual Paul fashion he had to take it to the nth degree.  So we built an aircraft carrier to go with it, complete with a rubber band plane launcher that would really launch his homemade Dusty.  And then he invented a game to go with it.  He built a "girls hideout" out of blocks and made a block "dice." We had to roll the dice and move the aircraft carrier in the direction it pointed.  The object was to move it into the "girls hideout" and destroy it.  It was quite clever and we had fun playing it.  Except, Joy kept trying to destroy it a dozen times and I had to put her in her thinking spot so we could play.  

Bucket Heads

Toenails

Tonight I needed Shawn to do "surgery" on two sore toenails, one ingrown and one with a hang nail.  Usually I'm a big chicken who whines and has a heck of a hard time letting him do what he needs to do.  Tonight I prayed that God would make me brave, and I was, and now hopefully I'll be in good foot health for the Turkey Trott!   God takes care of the big things and the small things!

Charlotte's 3rd Birthday Party

Put the bandaid on Lambie's boo boo.

 Balloon swords!

Cake time