Over the river and thru the woods...

Thanksgiving drive to the Great Grandparents. Its so close you would think that handheld devices would be unnecessary. Thats what everyone is looking at in the back seat. Keeps things quiet I guess.

 Cousins are awesome. So is turkey dinner.

 Pies too!

 More cousins.

 And it wouldn't be a thankful Thanksgiving if we couldn't see more people we loved. Another handheld occupied drive later and we got more of everything awesome. Cousins, turkey and pie!
Except T. he skipped the pie 2nds and went straight for the whipped cream. Yum.

We are so blessed to live near all these great people. I love sharing our lives with them and wouldn't want it any other way. Family is the best blessing there is!

Oh, the things we do for our kids

And the things they do for us, too.

Z. seems to think that a Girls Night Out (GNO) is a reasonable thing to do on the weekend. Except that she isn't nearly old enough to drive herself, and neither are any of her girlfriends. Her main requirement for a night out was breakfast food. Smart girl. 

 How could I say no to those squinty smile eyes?! And bacon.

 Parents also have the right to request things from their kids, right? N. would do anything I ask but only after telling me "No". Teenager! So, on the way down the "G" trail a few weeks back I noticed a bunch of rocks I was in love with. Thats normal for me. I love rocks. Because we were going down quick (steep=fast) and I didn't have any way of carrying them, I decided I would be coming back. To get them. I hate to go alone so I got N. and his buddy to go with me.

 The plan was to find a few of those cool rocks I saw and then head home. About 10 minutes into it we were so busy looking at the rocks we didn't notice how far along the trail we were.
New plan.
Hike to the "G". That is how I accidentally hiked the trail again without planning on it.

 Once in a while we ran into a patch of leftover snow and suddenly I had a neck full of ice. Teenager!

What would my boring quiet life be like without these fantastic kids to fill it with noise and love?!

Snow!

Yay, Snow! Enough to make snowballs and a SnowAngel. 

 Enough to make a snow fort, where the sled is the fort. Good enough.

 Enough to sled, kind of. We were all so hopeful that we would wake up to a beautiful white covering to everything. Sadly it warmed up and was gone. Maybe December will dump a ton of snow?!

T.man turns 9!

Boy, this kid is growing up way too quick! Ive never been able to hold him back at anything he wants to do. Especially growing up. 

Birthday lunch with mom at Red Lobster. Lucky kid! He didn't tell me till after we got there that he was expecting to try Lobster, Crab and Shrimp! He loved them all except the lobster which means mom got a delicious lunch too. 

 Celebrating at Nickel City. Its the perfect place to take a truck load of excited partygoers. They got a ton of tickets playing games and then played a super fun game of laser tag. Perfect!

Later at home we celebrated with the family. He got a can of silly string and had a blast living out his dream of spraying the kitchen with it! He said this birthday was the Best!

I sure love that crazy kid! All 9 years worth!

We finally hiked to the G.

I have always heard that the "G" trail is steep so I have procrastinated taking the family up there. Then I heard that at least half of my primary class of 4&5 year olds have hiked it. That did it. If their parents didn't have to carry their kids, I shouldn't have to either!

S. is ready for something a little more arctic I think. Carrying the fuzzy hat and scarf for her is better than carrying her though, so I won't complain that she immediately peeled them off.

 And it IS that steep! Seriously! No one told me it was THAT steep! Well, I didn't actually believe them when they did. At least it is a short trail and absolutely worth the effort for the view.

 What a fantastic view from up there. The valley is so beautiful! Also the trail levels off. Much to my happiness.

 N. and his "G".

 I made it. Anyone could. Just know: its steep. Being November and all, I wore a sweater. Completely unnecessary. I should've just put on some sunscreen. This season has been hot and dry!

 Z. and Hog admiring the view. I definitely want to come back in the spring and see this quick trail with green grass and leaves.

Around the house in November

T. figures if mom won't let him take piano lessons and guitar then he will just learn on his own. Thanks to YouTube and iPod apps! He learned a bunch of chords in just a few minutes time.Watch out music world!

 Moms favorite part of the afternoon schedule. Reading homework. Z. devours books. I love it.

 T. doesn't think its his favorite thing to do after school, unless he finds a book with lots of action to act out later.

 S. is just learning to read and figuring out that its not nearly as hard as it seemed. Also it's really exciting to tell everyone exactly what the cereal box says. Word by word.

 Z. attended a youth activity where they learned to decorate cakes. She is hooked. And already has a hand and eye for it.

For several days after that she experimented with baking from scratch and frosting techniques. Im pretty sure we ate cake creations for a week.

 Donny built me a beautiful steel barrier to keep the grass out of the flowerbed to replace the spidery weedy rocks that weren't doing their job. Unfortunately the down spouts poured water into the flowerbeds and created a little swamp, stopped off nicely by the metal. Fortunately Donny is hard working and loves to shovel rocks! OK maybe I was being sarcastic about the rocks. But I am so glad to have a handyman who is creative and doesn't mind getting messy, just for me!

 This is where we find the dog these days. She thinks she is a foot warmer or a rug. Once in a while she gets stepped on accidentally. Whoops. N. doesn't. Just the rest of us. He's the only one who stays conscious of the 80 lb. hairy beast underfoot.

 And this year we are skipping the gift giving for Christmas. At least we should. The kids have so many hours of fun with packaging that we are just giving that. Cardboard and bubble wrap. What kid could need anything more?!

Luck Drive turns out to be just that

On our block of the neighborhood the street behind us is called Luck Dr. And although it is named in memorial of the Luck family that we are not a part of, we can now claim to have a share of some "luck".

It started out as a quick spin around the block on the Harley for Donny, just to warm it up. Then there was gravel and a sharp corner. Then a wreck. Doesn't sound so lucky? That part wasn't. The bike was totaled. Donny miraculously walked away with some bruises and a scratch! Even the fence that stopped the bike after it slid across the sidewalk seemed  just fine! 

So, goodbye much loved Harley Sportster. 

Hello hidden blessing Jeep Wrangler.

Before it even was running and licensed the kids adopted it as their new favorite place.

Donny is happy to be able to use 4wheel drive once in a while and spend hours fixing and perfecting his new toy. I mean vehicle. Harley you will be missed, Jeep you will be loved!

Halloween finally came

Sheesh, we've been waiting all month! These aren't in order but you get the idea. Lots of dressing up, lots of candy. 

Trick or Treat. Warm, lots of walking up hills, great neighbors that make donuts, cotton candy, hot cocoa, and scones. Oh and the candy is super too. 

 Dad the welder, maybe he needed some lessons first?!

 Mom the Elephant. Lots of sequins. Z. was probably jealous.

 S. the pink tooth fairy. She was stoked about those eyelashes.

 N.'s addition to the Halloween decorations in the living room. Dirty socks, certainly scary!

 N. as Slenderman. Those gloves are the creepiest! Too bad he can't see very well out of the mask.

 Cousins trick or treating all around the neighborhood.

 N. explaining that his shirt is showing his costume. Andreas Korean student was fully decked out as a dinosaur and had a great night on his first Halloween in the USA.

 Family party with the cousins, not even scared. Bummer.

T. was super hard to see running around in his black morph suit. He surprised me more than once coming around corners looking like a shadow. Z. freaked us all out! We are not used to seeing a punk in the house. Scary!

Spooky Piano Recital

S. started lessons just in time for a Halloween Recital. She did a great job on her first performance.

 T. was born with music in his soul. It leaks out of him it is so strong. His fingers fly across the keyboard. He is so fun to listen to.

 Grandma is an excellent, patient teacher. Her lessons are a great blessing to us. And she isn't nearly the witch she pretends to be ;)

Z. also had a piece to perform but had a more pressing ballet class at the same time. She was a little sad to miss the recital, but not overly sad. She is just as fun to listen to as T.