Thanks to Give

*We had a great Thanksgiving this year with the Lochheads *Drew and Annie were in town from Longview--and this year Annie is sporting a lovely pregnant belly*Their Little Pipsqueak was viewed by all in many ultrasound shots, but alas, no genderistic parts were revealed*the 3 great-grandparents made sure we were on our best behavior*Jen and Kevin's clan and Ang and Ryan's crew came over for dessert to celebrate our November birthdays--Scott and Annie*Turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, sweet potatoes, and Jen's amazing Pumpkin Cheesecake with Gingerbread crust*cousins playing on their own downstairs!*Swede eating the paper towel...and successfully passing it*and last but not least, Elmo's Christmas Countdown!

He just makes us laugh...

So the other morning Josh was playing in the kitchen and I heard some smooching noises, slightly muffled by a binky.  

I turned the corner and saw this:

 Kissing cars.  Of course!

Josh loves the "one-eyed monster" hat the G'ma Joan bought him at a craft fair.  The funny thing is, he wouldn't keep a hat on for ANYTHING before this one...apparently he just needed the perfect fit...  We are finding quite a personality within this boy of ours.

Turkey Day!

We had a great Thanksgiving with Jeff's family this year--I'll post pictures soon!  We have so much to be thankful for this year...our jobs, our community, our kids...we are truly blessed!  We missed out on hosting friends over the break, and instead our family is hosting a BUG (NOT a good trade).  A feverish little bug, that's landed in our lungs and throats, so today, our Black Friday was spent at home.  Naps, kid shows on TV, Airborne, and putting up Christmas decorations!  A good chance to re-boot.  :)

We've been hearing a very fun Thanksgiving song from Gracie the last few weeks...and last week we got to see her perform it with her preschool class--and the entire daycare, too--at their Thanksgiving Feast.

Mrs. Kristin herding 3 year olds...a daunting task to many, but not her!  Mrs. Suzy is probably nudging the stragglers...

The tune is "Where is Thumb-kin," the words:  Mr. Turkey, Mr. Turkey...Run away!  Run away!  If you're not careful, you will be a mouthful, Thanksgiving Day. Thanksgiving Day!

As I was attaching these pictures, I realized that she's singing on the very steps that Jeff and I got married on...sweet.

11-11-11

We could not let this day go by uncelebrated...

...and since we were at the farm for Veteran's Day Weekend, Mom helped plan the special numeric holiday only the weirdest families celebrate...

...the hats were a must with our 11-layer tacos...

...the evening's planned entertainment was a special viewing of "Ocean's ELEVEN", but alas, we were pooped out from the day's festivities...

...and now we're dreaming of DOZENS of things to do next year on 12-12-12...

Fall Family Pics

Johnny and Rachel helped us take our family pictures in early November.  Whitworth had some amazing leaves...but it was SOOO cold...you'll have to notice the red chilly cheeks!  And PS, one of these may be adorning our Christmas Card--so if you don't like spoilers, skip this post and wait by your mailbox!  :)

Halloween Tails

 This year Joshy was an elephant...

 ...and Gracie was a cow!

 I guess you can say they were both calves.  :)  

Sunday, the 30th, we went to G'ma Colleen and Papa Scott's right after I came home from a girls weekend in Leavenworth.  I think I was missed...Gracie displayed this by not wanting to rush off in costume as soon as I got home.  So, the sweet outfit that G'ma Colleen made for her was worn half-heartedly this night.

 Janie and Henry were at G'ma and Papa's house, too!

 Janie was the Tiana from Princess and the Frog

and Henry was Tigger.

(This was hilarious to us--Gracie had just had a crazy dream about "Tigger crying"a few nights before.  This Tigger was quite content, though--no crying here!)

 This boy is getting so big so fast!

 On our way home, Gracie got to eat one Mounds bar.  The others she had to save for the next day.

When we got in the garage, Jeff thought that the smell of chocolate and coconut was awfully strong...










...and he opened our van door to this:  a girl with a warmed candy bar oozing out its edges onto our cute pajama'ed girl.

But on Halloween Eve, you get a quick wipe down and you get sent to bed with chocolate smudges on your jams...

And on Monday, after work, we tried it again...

...stopping by our neighbor's house and Granny and Pappy's house.  A much better go-around.  :)

Elephant Boy.  When you ask, "Josh, what does the elephant say?" he does a quick trumpeting noise while lifting up his arm like a trunk in the air.  Cute!

Gracie wanted to be a cow ever since she saw a baby cow costume at Costco in September.  She talked G'ma into making her one and loved the red cowbell that G'ma found to complete the outfit.

Playdate with the Hastings

Jocie and Baby Ellie came over to play last Friday!

Jocie just turned 4 and Gracie is 3 1/2 on Thanksgiving, 

so they got along so well being so close in age!  :)

 And Baby Ellie is one month younger than Josh,

so they also had a lot of fun together!

Plus, similar hairlines.  :)

 Picnics and playing preschool and then going outside...

 ...finally Mom caved and let them watch a 1/2 hour show...

It was such a fun morning!  Hopefully it happens again soon!