Thanksgiving

This year we spent our day cooking, feasting, and gaming with friends! The Matsons were our fantastic hosts and the Greens joined the party too! So much delicious food to try & we had the best company to eat it with:) After stuffing our bellies we played a lil' Trivial Pursuit followed by pie of course!

These were only the appetizers;)

Ben, Glenn, & Scott (Ben is very proper looking...what is going on? ha ha!)

Me, Bann, & Teresa

Bann's famous cakes & pies! (if they weren't famous before, they are now!) That woman can bake! Mmmmm!

The Matson kids have this awesome train set that all the kids went crazy for! We had Dylan AND Claira asking Santa for a train set after the fun time they had with this:)

Claira & Jayda looking so cute!

Reading is Rad

Claira and Dylan LOVE books! They love to read so much they will obey me if I threaten to cut out books at bedtime when they're acting like little rascals;) I love it too, we get snuggled up in blankets, sit, relax, and read...for hours! Well, I can't prove that last part because I've only had the stamina for upwards of an hour of straight talking/reading in a singsong way...the pipes get parched! Regardless of how long we read the kids always beg for "just one more book?"

I love that Claira is reading now, it's really impressive what she can do! We were reading the scriptures the other night and she read the word "requisite" without any help...crazy cool.

While Claira is away at school, Dylan and I have been enjoying some quiet time and reading in the afternoons (since he won't nap most days...he at least sits for a while...and lets me get some hugs, kisses, and bun squeezes...what. Diaper buns are the squeeziest!:) Yesterday we actually fell asleep on the couch together while we were reading. Ben was home and noticed he couldn't hear me reading anymore, so he came in the living room to see what was going on and found this:


Today we were at the end of our pile of books and Dylan looks at me and says "You're a good reader Mommy!" He no doubt learned this from us because we are constantly saying this to Claira, he's just so nice!

Catch Up Time!

So I've been neglecting this poor blog but I'm determined to catch up & give a few highlights of what we've all been up to! Prepare for the longest post of your life.

Me, Claira, and Dylan were all very sick for about a week in October, but we're all better and feeling great!

I'm the primary (kids) music leader in our church & consequently I missed the primary program because, wouldn't ya know it, I woke up with a raging fever the day of the program! Luckily I have the most fabulous friend on the planet! Teresa stepped in for me with a moments notice and lead the kids wonderfully!!! Thanks Teresa! You're the best, I seriously owe you big time!


I had a birthday! the big 2-7!!!! It feels the same as 26 so far, but I'll let ya know how that goes. I really don't mind getting older, birthdays are fun!!! Plus, half the time I don't even remember how old I am so it's cool. Well, on the day of my birth Ben took the day off work and school to take care of me & the kids (still sicklings), he ran to the store and bought some soup, didn't stress about homework (in front of me:) ) and gave me lots of love, blankets, and a sweet birthday card...with money inside Eeeee! When I got to feeling better I was spoiled with a cake, a delicious dinner, and a birthday lunch with my friends. It was so awesome & thoughtful! Thanks to all who made my birthday so nice:)

Most Friday nights I let the kids have a "pajama party"! Claira is usually pretty worn out & ready to relax by the end of the week...and so am I! Whew! Kindergarten is busy but we all have loved our new busy-ness, there's really never a dull moment! So I let them pick a movie and we get some treats and popcorn goin', bring out all the blankets and pillows and snuggle up for a nice evening at home. The kids REALLY look forward to it every week, and Daddy is a little sad he can't join us but somebody's gotta be the bacon-bringer-homer;) You'll have friday nights off someday daddy...someday!

The aerial view of our killer party

Claira, do an "I'm excited" pose for mommy...that's it, got it!

The guilt and the sneakiness....we can have one more piece of candy right?!

Fully engaged in 'movie watching position'

Next came Halloween! It was fun to get out of the house after being cooped up all week, the kids had a blast and got lots of loot!

We carved pumpkins,
Tadaaaa!
Ben's is the top mummy guy, Claira's is the middle skull guy, and mine & Dyl's is the classic pumpkin face guy

went trick-or-treating,

and came home to snuggle up together and watch It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown...a classic.

Then we got some GREAT news! Ben was invited to interview at 2 medical schools! We're crossing our fingers and toes that he gets accepted somewhere...anywhere! He really deserves it, he's worked sooooo hard and sacrificed so much of himself to get to this point. I'm really proud of him and I hope that all his wildest dreams come true! There will be a lot of nail biting in the weeks to come. Please pray for us!

Claira is doing so well in school! She just loves it! She's even been on a few field trips alread...way cool! She is loving reading, writing, counting, coloring, and she even learned how to tie her shoes recently, an accomplishment she's very proud of:) We have a Blue's Clue's dvd where Joe doesn't know how to tie his shoes and he learns how to by the end of the episode. Claira now thinks it's so cool that she can tie her shoes better than Joe. She says "I can tie my shoes, Joe's a grown up and he's still learning!" it's cute:) She says she helps out other kids in her class with their shoe laces sometimes, what a good helper:)

Dylan & I also went to a farm with the playgroup here and rode on another hayride, found some pumpkins, went through a maze, sat on some tractors, and ate some free ice cream from their creamery!

Save me a piece of that corn for later! (Nacho Libre...oh I love that movie)

Hayride time!

pumpkin pickin'

hay sittin' (and snackin')

Mommy/Dylan time! I do love me some black and white photography:)

Our friends, the Greens, babysat the kids so Ben & I could go on a much needed date last weekend!!! Woo Hoo!!! We ate some Japanese food and wandered around the mall for a few hours drooling over fun things. It was such a good time. Sometimes I forget how fun Ben is when he gets caught up in school, but when we're together he reminds me why I married him. He's fun, hilarious, HOT:), caring, and he's my very best friend. I just love him, he's perfect for me!

Feeling nostalgic... so here's to love!

Junior Homecoming 2000

That pretty much catches you up...Next stop, Thanksgiving!!! FOOD!!!!

Operation Tooth Fairy

...was a success!!!! She was not detected...even though the floors are squeaky and it was her first visit to our house:) Way to go Tooth Fairy!

About 3 weeks ago Claira felt the first inklings of a loose tooth and finally today it came out! I picked her up from school and she started telling me all about her day while her tooth was hanging on for dear life & flipping around like crazy! I was totally giggling while she told me about her day...it was so distracting! She got in the car and I asked her if she wanted to see if her tooth was ready to come out, so she lightly touched it and it came out! She was soooo excited! The Tooth Fairy is gonna make her rich! Can't wait to see her face in the morning:)

Fall Fun & Apple Picking!

A few weekends ago we were able to take a break from school work, and play for a little bit with some friends at a way cool orchard right outside of Philly. We stuffed ourselves with way too much carnival food (This is ALL fat free right?) had fun looking around at the animals, fresh flowers, pumpkins, listened to live music, went apple picking, and enjoyed a hay ride! It was a nice day off to spend together, we had soooo much fun!

Claira & Dylan found this cute little tree stump chair to pose in:)

Getting ready for the hay ride!

Me & my buddy riding around:) The hay ride was so fun, they took us all around the farm and we got to see everything they grow there! Berries, peppers, tomatoes, pear trees, apple trees, even Christmas trees! The kids loved it!

They really can't handle looking at the camera! I love them. (Crazy camera phone pictures are the best! ha:))

This was at the park on a different day. she was soooo excited to find the first fall leaves of the season. She collected lots and took them home to show daddy:)

The 'fruits' of our labors! I'm bummed I forgot to get pictures of us actually picking apples...but you get the idea! We got about 25 pounds for $25! not bad!

The apples were either mutant HUGE or mutant small!

So far I have managed to make the best (or worst...however you look at it) of our apples. I've made a huge batch of homemade applesauce (click on that for Teresa's super recipe!), several apple crumble pies, and a batch of apple cinnamon oatmeal cookies that are to die for!!!! I have enough apples left for one more treat! Wish my waistline luck! I guess I could eat the apples fresh, but where's the fun in that?!

A Sweet Reminder For Me

Firsts & Crazy Mellow

Man, this week has turned into a whirlwind of firsts for Claira!

She bit into a nice big philly pretzel today and said her tooth hurt. Ben took a look at it and sure enough, she officially has her first loose tooth! I'm such a weirdo...I actually got a little misty about it.

In the last 2 weeks my baby girl has turned 6 years old, started kindergarten, and has her first wiggly tooth?! Can I handle all this growing up business? It's likely I can, but it's crazy all the same;)

Today Claira defined her parents' personalities perfectly in her observations of our reactions to the loose tooth. I was upstairs when Ben discovered the loose tooth, so he had the first reaction. Then Claira came up to show me.

After all the commotion she thoughtfully stated "Daddy didn't get all excited when he saw my loose tooth, he just got happy and smiled, but when I came upstairs to show you, you got REALLY excited and waved your arms around like this...(picture arms raised over head, closed fists, waving around all crazy)...and you said THAT'S SO AWESOME!" then I told her about a 5 minute story all about the tooth fairy and how rich she's gonna be (at this point Ben says "rich???" )

She's finally discovering Ben's mellowness and my craziness. I think it's great! It really works out nicely. We compliment each other right? I always tease Ben that the most excited he gets is when he slightly raises his eyebrows...which isn't that far off;)

He also doesn't like saying that he LOVES things...it's much too strong for him. He LIKES lots and lots of things, but rarely when I ask "don't you totally LOVE this?!" does he say "Yes"... he almost always says " Well, I don't love it, but I like it a lot" it kills me because I LOVE everything! I guess it does make me feel that much more special when he says he LOVES me though:)

Anyway, I'll keep everyone updated on that tooth though! To be continued....