First Snow

We had our first snow on a Sunday morning, Nov. 21. The kids were so excited to go outside and play in the snow. They discovered that, with a running start, they can actually sled down the hill in our back yard. Pretty fun!

Santa's Here!

On the day after Thanksgiving, we took a trip down to see Santa arriving in the helicopter. Dave and I were hoping the kids wouldn't want to go this year, because it was SOOO COLD! But they did. And it ended up not being that bad. We arrived only about 15 minutes before Santa came, the sun was out, and there was no wind. So it wasn't as bad as we thought it might be.

After Santa arrived, we went into the mall first to thaw out, and then second to pick up our annual Hallmark Ornament. This year we got a Shrek ornament to symbolized watching all three of the Shrek movies this summer, and then going to the theater to see Shrek Forever After. The kids really enjoyed the series.

Thanksgiving

The Tuesday before Thanksgiving was our last day of school for the week. My mom was able to come to the school for "Grandparents Day." Here is Kimee with Grandma K. holding the ornament they made together.

 Audrey's preschool class got all dressed up and took a walk into the office to show off how cute they were. Audrey insisted that they also go see her mom's classroom. I was thrilled! Isn't she cute?

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving break and were able to enjoy time spent with both sides of our family. On Wednesday evening, we had a pie party with Dave's family. For the most part, the adults sat around and visited while the kids ran around in the gym. 

Here is Dave visiting with his brother, Doug. 

 (I don't know why my camera didn't cooperate. Sorry the pictures are so blurry.)

 Maddi would not sit still for even a second to get her picture taken.

 

Shooting hoops.

Will you stop for a picture with Grandma? No way! 

On Thursday, we went for a traditional and very delicious Thanksgiving dinner at my brother Dave's house. My parents and Pete's family were also there. The kids had a great time playing with their cousins. Maddi had a great time playing with the new kittens. Sorry, kittys!

"Get away, quick!"

"Thanks for rescuing me, Alexa!"

We are so thankful for our families!

Maddi's 1st Haircut

 Maddi's bangs were getting so long, they were really getting in her eyes. So I had to break down and give her her first haircut on November 21. Kimee was my photographer.

 Cutting her bangs...

 And here they are...

Now on to the back. She had this one little section that was over an inch longer than the rest of her hair. Dave called it her rat tail. It wasn't so obvious when her hair was dry and curled up a little, but when we washed it in the bath, and her hair was straight and flat on her neck, it was really obvious and funny looking.

 And that is it! 

 What a cutie!

She really is so pretty with those big brown eyes. 

We love you Maddilyn!

November 5

On Friday, November 5, we had a busy and fun day.

Dave took the day off so he could go to a reading date with Kimee at school.

It was also Red Ribbon week. At the end of the day, all of the kids got to let go of a red balloon. 

It was really cool (although not environmentally friendly).

But the funnest part of the day was right after school, when we drove down to Ephraim to visit Hadley. We drove past lots of sheep and cows and even llamas on the way. The older girls were so anxious to get there. It was a pretty nice drive, and not too long. You should have seen Maddi's face when we arrived and she saw Hadley waiting for us. She was so excited, saying "Hadley, Hadley!" Everyone was so happy to see one of their most favorite cousins.
Hadley showed us around her apartment, got a quick driving tour of campus, and then we went out to dinner at Roy's Pizza. It was delicious! Afterwards, we went back to Hadley's and met one of her roommates and took this picture.

Finally, we dropped Hadley off at her choir concert and headed for home. Seconds after Hadley got out of the car and she started walking away, Audrey said in the sweetest, saddest voice, "I miss her. I miss Hadley." It was so cute. We had such a fun time, we hope we can go for another visit in the spring.

On a side note, here's a story I don't want to forget. We only brought one movie with us, Night at the Museum 2, from Netflix, for the trip down. The kids didn't get into it that much. So we decided to stop at  Redbox on our way out of Ephraim. We picked up the new Karate Kid. So Dave took out the Netflix movie, put it in it's sleeve, and put it in the side pocket of the diaper bag. He put in the Redbox movie and we were on our way. When we got home, we pulled out the Netflix sleeve, and there was NO DVD inside. We searched the van the next day. A few days later I did an extremely thorough cleaning of the van, including removing all mats, seats, etc. It was no where to be found. A week or so later, I finally just paid for the missing movie. Luckily, they will refund your money if the DVD is found within a year, which I have little hope of happening.

We've got talent!

A few nights ago, Kimee held a talent show in our living room.
She wrote up a program, which she announced very professionally.

Here it is, in Kimee's spelling:
the tleants:
the master of papifres
the Empor of Books and
the qeen of rrefhments.
the Pro of swinging.

 Kimee displayed some art on the window and I think she did some gymnastics (but that may have been the night before.)

Audrey has a great talent for swinging. She even did a few tricks!

At the end, they did a special bow together.

On another note, regarding talents, Kimee entered a photo she took while we were up in Yellowstone into the school's reflection contest. She was so excited to win a trophy!





She was at her cousins' just before the program, so Mariah got her all fancied up. She looked so beautiful!