Not that type of turkey

Thanksgiving has come and gone as have the family that came to celebrate with us. We had a great time and the kiddos especially liked having some of their cousins here.

As is usual for our family we had a grown up table and a kid table for Thanksgiving dinner. Livia managed to hold her spot at the adult table probably because she bribed Brett with giving him her piece of pie :)

I also did my usual Black Friday shopping but Wal-Mart was sneaky this year and did it at 12:01 instead of crazy early in the morning. I actually liked the late night start. My sister and mom didn't believe me that you had to be there when the pallets were sliced open to get some of the deals and they were both amazed at what Black Friday was like. For me I thought it was really good with people actually helping get things for others like a special size and type of PJ, etc. I won't post what I got as one thing is the major Christmas present for Ian.

In the afternoon on Friday, all of us took the five kids bowling. This was a first for Ian and Livia and they LOVED it. Livy was so tiny she didn't have to wear bowling shoes even. We had a ramp and bumper pads. No one had a strike so we didn't have any of that type of turkey over Thanksgiving.

Trial and Error

This year for our family Christmas pictures we opted not to have them professionally taken but rather used our backyard scenery (not the usual fake Christmas backdrop) and the timer mode on our camera. And to really change it up, we opted for very simple attire this year for our family photo. While I am not posting the finalists that may make it into our Christmas Card yet, here are some of the out takes.

The blowing raspberries pose....

Help me I'm falling pose....

And my personal favorite...the choking pose. I was trying to get Ian to rest his hands on her shoulders. Apparently we need to sing head shoulders, knees and toes more often in family home evening to review exactly where our shoulders are.

Harry Potter Complete

I finished the Harry Potter Series yesterday and it was a wonderful read. So good that I am now looking to buy the books (in hardback) and I never buy books. Brett and I have been discussing things from the books as he read them when they were coming out but somehow I thought they would be too dark for me and not want to read them. I guess my Twilight and Hunger Wars reads in recent years has softened me.

I kept hoping that Harry Potter would not die and Brett wouldn't tell me yes or no which I didn't really want him to tell me.

We watched the first movie last night and as is almost always the case, the book was definitely better than the movie. I am hoping to watch all teh movies in time for the first half of Hallows later this month in theatres--yes another gasp that we would go and pay to see it in the theatre.

No Tricks

This year I could not find the box of costumes that I had packed away so for Halloween we had to make do with what I had hanging up in the spare closet and the dressup bag. A trial run of their costumes this year. Ian was a lion (and a zebra later on) and Livia a witch. I discovered thankfully early on that Livia's costume was a bit on the short side.

We decorated cupcakes with the neighbors this year. And no suprise that 5 year old boys would put way to many sprinkles on their cupcakes. Is there any cake underneath there?

Livia really wanted to just eat the frosting and she managed to swipe a spoon from the table.

On Friday we went to the ward Trunk or Treat party. Where the kids went car to car around the loop twice for treats. I gave out over 100 pieces of candy.

And look at all those treats...well don't look if you are a dentist. We'll be sure to brush extra carefully.

Happy Halloween!

some kind of crazy

At of the beginning of September a literary bug must have bitten me because I have been reading non-stop. All sorts of books. I chug through a book every two days almost and it is great. I am watching almost no TV (only watching the results shows of Dancing with the Stars and Criminal Minds). Of the 30 or so books that I have read recently here are my favorites and recommendations

Hunger Games Trilogy
Hunger Games
Catching Fire
Mocking Jay (just to finish the series. I didn't like this third book at all)

DairyQueen Trilogy
Dairy Queen
The Off Season
Front and Center

Princess Ben
The Amaranth Enchantment
The Help
Book of A Thousand Days
Ever
Ketchura and Lord Death
Harry Potter Sorcer's Stone (almost done)

I haven't read like this in so long and it is delicious to put the kids down for bed and just curl up and read. What is cute is Ian now carries around what he calls "journal books" to pretend to read like he sees me doing.

Happy Second Birthday

Livia turned 2 today!

I did a trial run of curlers in her hair two days ago to see if it was worth it for the big day (no second attempt). She held very still letting me put each one in as she was looking at books. Out of the 9 in her hair, 4 made it through the night until the morning. As a nostolgic note, these are the very same curlers that my mother used on my hair when I was Livia's age.

To celebrate Liv's special day, we went to the SC Aquarium for the first time in over a year. The kids loved seeing the albino alligator, the turtles, and of course the sharks.

After lunch and nap (for all of us but Ian), Liv opened presents and played with the new toys. Her big gift was a fisher price dollhouse and it was a hit! I love how the people and things from different sets are interchangable. Livy wanted to drive a car through the door of the house to make it a garage--which was cute but frustrating to her when it wouldn't fit. She also got some books, clothes, craft stuff and was generally spoiled but her extended family (thanks for the awesome stuff family!) She gushed over the Dora things.

I made (or tried to at least) a Dora Explorer backpack cake. When I showed it to her she said "my cake" and "treat" because she could see the M&Ms on it. She got the piece of cake with map and initally tried to eat it with a fork

but then decided that it was much better going face first.

Happy second birthday sweet Livia!

In a Tent

We tried to be clever and make a conference tent just like in the days of King Benjamin and we tried to have snacks set up for each time a speaker said a special word like Jesus or temple and we tried to church games for the kiddos to play but we still missed a lot of this past General Conference. I am so grateful for the Ensign that prints the messages.

I do however think that the kiddos liked the tent and the treats.