Thanksgiving - 2012

We decided to try something new and different this thanksgiving and stay home!  I wanted to actually cook thanksgiving dinner in my own kitchen.

Papa and GiGi were nice enough to come over and join us as GiGi had to supervise, okay assist, me cooking dinner.

Isla and Drew were sooooo excited to see GiGi:

Thanksgiving morning and I finally have a good reason to use my apron!  The girls hung out in the kitchen getting the food ready:

 Drew hung out with Papa:

 The finished product - doesn't look too bad if I say so myself:

 Isla helped with the green beans and rolls:

 Dinner is served!  Drew got to eat with the big kids.  He lasted about five minutes before he wanted to get down:

 Daddy and Drew:

 Drew loved his mashed potatoes:

We had a lot of visitors for the remainder of the weekend including Aunt Anna and Uncle Robert.  Cousin Erica even made an appearance as her flight flew in and out of Boise (she spent Thanksgiving in SV).  Erica was beyond excited to hang out with Isla and Drew. It didn't take long before she was their new best buddy.

Drew loved Erica so much he gave her a new nickname: Teacup.  No idea why he chooses to pronounce her name this way, but I think it just might stick (Sorry Erica!):

Past few weeks . .

We haven't been up to much these past few weeks.  Mostly hanging out around home, visiting with friends and family, and watching football.  I decided to do a phone dump to see what I was able to capture in the past two weeks and here is what I have:

As the mornings are now too cold to play outside we decided to go to an indoor park, or as Isla likes to call it, the "InDora" park.  Both kids ran around and tired themselves out before nap - well worth the $15:

The other morning Isla picked out this shirt to wear because it was "Hawk" day.  I don't know where she gets it (or the pose?) . . .

I somehow got a picture of both kids sitting together eating lunch.  It's difficult to get Drew to stay seated for more than two minutes:

Last night the kids decided to watch Dora in the the kitchen with books. This was right after Isla decided to get Drew dressed in his PJ's (or PG's as she calls them) by herself.  She is such a little mother and I really don't mind the help sometimes.  I was just amazed that Drew let her!

I didn't have too many pictures, but I promise to have more next week when Papa and GiGi come for Thanksgiving!

Halloween - 2012

We decided to brave Harrison again this year with our little monkey and beautiful Cinderella:

 Half way through our trick-or-treating, we met up with Belle (aka Payton):

These next two pictures are not an advertisement for Props 1,2 & 3.  I had no idea it was even in the picture until I glanced at them this morning:

 These two posed for this picture (double trouble, I tell ya):

 I couldn't help getting another one of my cute monkey boy.  I'm still shocked that he let us put this on him:

After running up and down Harrison we decided to go home around 7:00.  Isla also decided right then that she was going to have a MAJOR temper tantrum.  Yes, we were the parents with the hysterical child walking home from Harrison Blvd.  Sorry to anyone that had to witness that spectacle and I hope your eyes and ears have recovered.  I think we might just skip that whole mess next year and stick to the quiet streets.

A Visit from the Parker's

Aunt Anna and Uncle (!) Robert came down to Boise last weekend to get Anna a new car, return wedding gifts and spend their gift cards.  Isla and Drew were so happy to see them and get their undivided attention.

We said good-bye to Anna's old jeep:

  And hello to her new car:

Anna even remembered good ol' Hank and brought him a toy:

He was in seventh heaven!  While Anna and Robert were running their many errands and Ryan was at the BSU football game, I got to spend time with these two crazy kids:

Aren't they the cutest?  Drew was hamming it up all weekend.  If he wasn't spinning in circles to make himself fall over he was running around the house and doing stuff like this:

I guess he was just really excited to see his Aunt Anna and Uncle Robert.

Pile of Leaves

Isla came home last week in a bad mood.  Not sure what the problem was, but all we had to do to get her out of her funk was rake up a big pile of leaves and let her and Drew jump/walk/fall into them:

 I think they could have done this all night!  Another reason to love the fall season in Idaho.

Fall Festivities

We have had an easy going October so far - thank goodness!  My favorite time of year is upon us and we celebrated by taking the kids to the fall festival at the Idaho Botanical Gardens:

This may be my new favorite festival for the kids, mostly due to the fact that they have beer and wine for the adults.

Ryan and I made it to a Bronco football game (another fall favorite of mine!) this past weekend.  It was a beautiful day for football:

 While we were at the game, the kids hung out with Grandma Connie:

Thanks Grandma for watching the kids so we could go to the game!

Swiper the Horse

So my husband likes to think he is younger than he is and play flag football with the 20-year olds.  Well, actually his whole team is like that considering they are the oldest team in the league.  But I've got to hand it to them, they seem to win the league each year - how does that saying go again "Old age and treachery will overcome youth and skill every time"?  Anyways, back to my post (I promise flag football has something to do with it).  Last week I took the kids to one of Ryan's flag football games and the field he played at has a horse corral (only in Idaho).  I have been to many games at this field before, but this was the first time I actually saw a horse, make that two, using the corral.

My kids reaction to the horses are so telling - Isla stayed glued to our blanket by the football field while Drew took off running after them.  Thankfully one of the riders was nice and let some of the kids ride on her horse.  Isla watched the whole spectacle from her security blanket while Drew actually let me put him on the horse.  He giggled the entire ride!  I love this little guy and his no-fear attitude:

On another note, Drew kept calling the horse Swiper (the fox from Dora the Explorer).  I have no idea why.  I kept telling him "no, Drew, that's a horse" to which he would reply an enthusiastic "neigh!".  So I think he knew it was a horse? Anyways, I gave in and we called him Swiper.

After the horse left, Isla magically became unglued from her blanket and went back to playing with her brother:

I know her cautious personality will be something I appreciate in the future!