28 November

 We went to our traditional Candy making day at Haven's candies.  It was so fun to make our own candy canes and shop in the store.  The kids are fascinated with the process every year.  And we won a raffle prize this year!  Dinner for two at Longhorn steakhouse every month for a year!

Oh, and Ethan the elf showed up.  Already he has brught a lego advent calendar and carried one littel boys letter back to Santa :)

27 November

  Thanksgiving 2014.....

The icy snowy beautiful day started with Work.  Holidays aren't so bad at work anymore now that the kids are getting older.  We work around it and I am happy to be of service to those who are sick and can't be at home. 

 Afterwards THIS crew gathered at my house....for food and festivities.  Really I'm so blessed. 

 I think I am going to carry on the tradition of making Nanny's cheese ball at holidays. 

 WE had the kids make the table cloths....it kept them busy for exactly 12.3 minutes

 made my own cheesecake from scratch too....loved it!

 I always stress about everything coming together at the same time and staying warm.  Although with this crew, there is not much pressure to be perfect (thank god!)

 They cooked the farm turkey (first year getting it from the farm) on the Big Green Egg, honestly we will probably never cook it another way. 

 brothers (in-law)

 Yep, we have fun together....almost two teenagers in the house (at least they think they are!)

 Brought out the "good china" even though everyone would have been just as happy with paper.  I'm just startting to understand now why you register for this stuff in your 20s. 

 The crew.  Love them all so much/

 They ate alot of rolls.

 Then wrote down why they are thankful.

 Yeah, they ate pretty much just rolls.

 on to the clean up :( and a walk for the adults.....

 and mocie Time (broke out the Christmas movies and they watched ELF....love that one!)

 They are outdoor kids at heart really, and came in in a big sloppy wet mess.  Glad for the snow they could play in. 

What a great year :)

25 November

 

The weekend Lens.....

What they'll remember about sleepovers at  Uncle Kevin's house.

Running to the field and playground

Going in and out with no coats and shoes when it's cold out

Energy and excitement and Joy

Playing hide and seek tag

Talking about how boys are "gross" (they are!)

The amazing bagel and egg breakfast sandwich

Getting in trouble for laughing at the dinner table 

doing the dishes :)

Uncle's grateful heart at having everyone around his table

Watching age appropriate movies in their respective rooms

Listening to music and watching comedy and documentaries

Comparing phones and photos and apps

sleeping on the blow up beds

Having 5 helpings of cheese pizza, and gelato for dessert in the living room

Doing cartwheels in the living room

Love and family and fun.

19 November

 Right Now.....

the first snow and snowman has come and gone.  Winter is upon us, it's cold and dark.  It's funny how I act surprised when it sneaks up on us every year....but every year it does happen.

 this kid is kicking total butt in her inclusive class.  she just recently finished a 4 page story filled with emotion about a butterfly in a tornado. 

 meet Bob.

 At least we're not in buffalo.  I can't imagine.

 this boy is super excited, however.  He loves winter and snow and everything. 

 Last Friday L and J took  (her idea) them to the mall to ride the merry go round and see the Christmas train set up.  They were in heaven.

 All weekend he worked on a fort in our back woods, It is now complete with walls and a kitchen and stick weapon storage.  Getting to use the saw was his favorite.

 T totally rocked his first swim meet of the season.  OMG these things can be long. Subscribed to Next issue for the iPad which helps (love magazines)

I replaced my desktop computer last week and it is still a work in progress getting everything transferred over.  We are loving the MS office subscription service (office 365) with added storage on a cloud drive.Oh and this post totally cracked me up.  Love the 80s

 He loves his splash of  Chai tea and warm milk with cinnamon (calls it cinnamon milk), complete with multiplication.  He has a new found love for math now that they are doing something new and challenging.  He is either all in with great passion or he refuses to do it.  This time we are all in.

and a little angel brought me two containers bowls of homemade soup this week because she thought "I could use it"  So sweet! (what would I do without her!)  So nice to come home and have hot lunch already prepared, with tea for these cold early winter days :)  It is a crazy week with J traveling and 2 nights of lacrosse and teacher conferences and girl scouts and swimming and work and laundry!)  Life is full (and good!).  So looking forward to gathering with family and  the start of the holiday season next week!