Thanksgiving

We went to visit Sam's family for Thanksgiving. It was full of a lot of fun cousin time. Katherine and Hannah are 6 months apart with Emily being 5 years older and Caroline 2 years younger but somehow they all still play well together. A favorite is always playing dress up.
We tried to get a cousin picture and it was tough. They were not all in the mood but the girls were pretty cooperative.
All the kids - Zac (21 months), Ty (5), Hannah (4), Nathan (7), Katherine (4.5), Caroline (2), Emily (9.5)
Grammy, Grandad and the Grandkids.
Our family of 4
The kids and grandkids.
On Friday only our family was there so Grammy and Katherine had some special time and made a gingerbread train.
Caroline loved being buried under everyone's stuff.

Pine Wood Derby

This year Katherine and Sam are participating in Adventure Princess at the Y. When I was a child it was called Indian Princess but now they are politically correct so it has more of a Frontier theme where the kids are in Settlements rather than Tribes. They have had some fun activities like a camp out and a roller skating party. They also had a Pine Wood Derby. I was so proud of Sam because as an engineer and handy guy he really could have made a fast car. But, the project was supposed to be daughter led and ours was totally let by Katherine. Therefore, we have her car but not a winning car. Katherine chose to make her car into a truck like Daddy's truck. She also wanted it to be a Cinderella truck so it was painted blue with crowns on either door.

Caroline wanted to participate and lucky for us, at the Saturday Home Depot project they gave us a left over from before and it was a race car so she made her own. Here is our final design.
On the day of the race the kids did not actually do much. There was a group of dads who set up the cars and let them go. It was all entered into a computer and not that exciting.
Katherine's truck raced a few times. It never won a heat but it did not lose either. She was proud of it and thought it was cool.

At the end they each get a patch for their vest and a trophy.
Here Katherine is showing off her trophy and car with her good friend Emma.

Trick or Treat

Since Halloween fell on a Sunday we went trick or treating with our community group. It was a lot of fun and our neighborhood is great for Trick or Treaters.



The kids figured out the routine really fast.


When we got home we sat on the front porch and handed out candy to the big kids.

Pumpkin Carving

We enjoyed carving a pumpkin with a really simple, traditional style. First Daddy had to clean out all the ick. The girls were not crazy about that at all.

They each were able to help me carve using our special kids pumpkin carving knives.



Here they are with our proud creation.

Family Day

Sam went with us to the Arboretum for their trick or treating. It was a gorgeous fall day at one of our favorite places.

Fall Fest

When we got home from England, we headed straight from the airport to our church's fall fest. Nana and Pops took the kids there and they were all dressed up as ballerina's. Katherine's favorite part was the petting zoo and specifically the bunny rabbit. She stayed in there for at least 5 minutes after I got there after having not seen me for a week.

Caroline on the other hand was very excited to see me and would not let me put her down for awhile.
Here is Caroline with one of her good buddies Zach, dressed as Robin Hood.
My beautiful ballerinas
Getting in some daddy snuggles.
This was Katherine when she reunited with daddy.

They had all kinds of kids games. Here they are playing "Go Fish".

Last day in London

We spent our last day in London. We have been to London together before so we did not really feel the need to be there for a long time. I was really excited though because my good friend from when we lived in Norway was in London the same week for work. Her conference started the day we flew out so she came a day early to hang out with us. When we left Norway 3 years ago I honestly did not know if I would see Hilde again so this was a special treat.

We spent a few hours having lunch at a little cafe. Then we walked a long way in the rain through Kensington Gardens, past the palace. We went to Harrod's to buy souvenirs. It was a great time just to catch up.

Christmas Eve and Day

Since Will and his family were here the week before Christmas, we spent Christmas Eve and Day mostly with our family of 4. I had grand visions of the Norman Rockwell type holiday making beautiful memories. I sure tried but Christmas with a 2 and 4 year old is often like any other day with a 2 and 4 year old.

We made and decorated a birthday cake for Jesus.
We had a movie night complete with Christmas PJ's, hot chocolate and pop corn.
We left cookies and milk for Santa with his letter and vegetables for the reindeer.
Santa visited and this is before the kids came in. This year we tried really hard not to go overboard. I think we did OK with that.
Yes, both girls got a huge calculator. They love to play with mine and call it a computer. But, I can never find mine when I need it.


We always get a lot of dress up clothes.

Every year Hooligan gets a new bone for Christmas.

Here they are closing their eyes for their "big" present. It was big in size but I bought it for cheap at a consignment sale.
They got a tool bench so they can practice just like daddy.

Katherine loved her ballet bar and video.
For dinner we ate in the dining room complete with our fancy china. Dinner was a disaster though and both kids had to be disciplined including Katherine getting all of her toys taken away until the next day.