Thanksgiving

We racked a piddly pile of leaves at our house the day before Thanksgiving and the girls thought it was great.  It was a very very small pile, but the girls jumped in it anyway.  Little did they know that Grandpa would have a much bigger pile at his house the next day.

We had a lovely Thanksgiving at Hector's parents' house.  It is so nice to have family close by.  Thanksgiving is one of those holidays that does not feel like you have celebrated unless you are with family.  The food was great and the kids had fun playing together.  The weather was beautiful, so Grandpa and Andy racked a huge pile of leaves and my girls had more fun than they would have had at Disney world. 

The girls were brave and loved to be thrown into the leaves.  Since the pile was so big we were able to chuck them high.  When they landed in the pile they would totally disappear in the leaves.  Sometimes you could only see a little foot stick out, sometimes nothing at all.  Natalia would pop up, but we would have to dig Sienna out, but she never wiped that smile off her face.  She would run to the leaves and plop herself into them and start giggling.  It was so much fun to watch.  Some of the adults were inspired and started doing belly flops into the pile as well. 

Over all it was a wonderful weekend.  We spent a few days with the family.  It was relaxing and warm.  We are grateful for the lives we lead.  It is nice to have so many freedoms.  We really live a rather worry free life and I am grateful for that .  It is nice to have such a loving family.  Hector and I always talk about how great it is to have two supporting families.  Our kids are blessed with four loving grandparents and so many aunts and uncles and cousins that are all setting a good example to our children.  I love Thanksgiving.

Pre-Thanksgiving Fun

I have been trying to teach the girls about Thanksgiving for the past couple of weeks.  It is very much a work in progress; everytime I ask Natalia what holiday we celebrate next she says, "Christmas or I do not know."  Tonight for family home evening we talked about the first Thanksgivings and made Turkeys.  They loved their turkeys so I had to get some pictures. 

Behind Natalia is the Thankful tree we made last week.  They girls got to think of things they are thankful for and then put leaves on the tree.  They came up with some good ideas.  Once Natalia had covered the more obvious ones (mom, dad, grandma, grandpa, toys, etc.) she started just looking around the room (chairs, floors, paper, you get the picture) but they were really cute coming up with ideas.  I just love my little ladies and it really is more fun to celebrate holidays with kids. 

Sleepover

Our friends were out of town for the weekend so their son, Ethan, got to spend the weekend at our house.  Both my girls really like Ethan and they were extra excited that he got to be at our house for Friday Movie Night.  The kids got in their jammies, we ate pizza and headed to the basement for a movie.  They did not want to sit on the couches, but rather they had me put our little bench in front of the TV and they squeezed their three little bums...plus blankets on the bench.  I promise it was all their idea.  They looked really cute.

Sienna has decided that she likes the camera.  She starts saying cheese as soon as we pull it out.

April 28

I finally have an official date for the arrival of baby number three; April 28th.  Odds are not in favor of me ever actually making it to that date, as both my girls where early, but I think we can assume it will happen sometime in April.  This is what I have been planning on.  Here are the first pictures of the newest edition.  I should know sometime in December if it is a boy or a girl.

Bad picture, but I promise there is a baby in there.

She is just too practical

Natalia is my practical girl.  She has always been an observer and a thinker.  Yesterday we were talking about winter which lead to a discussion about Christmas.  She informed me that Santa cannot really come down chimneys because he is too big and he would not fit.  I told her he could use the door and she informed that this also would not work because we lock the door.  I told her we could leave it unlocked for one night.  When I suggested that we could leave some cookies for him, she just laughed and said that dad would eat them all.  

Happy Halloween

Natalia the Tiger

Sienna the Lady Bug

Sienna and Eli

Getting Ready for Trick or Treating

Natalia's best Tiger Roar

Sienna getting ready for Trick or Treating

Eli the Oompa Loompa



The cutest Trick or Treaters I have ever seen.

I was excited because this year I did not have a volleyball game on Halloween and then Sandy the hurricane hit and our games got delayed and we ended up playing on Halloween.  Hector took the girls down to Grandma and Grandpa's house for trick or treating.  It sounds like they had a great time.  Natalia loved all the candy she got and she ran from house to house.  She would give some good roars after she got candy.  She really liked picking her own candy too.  Apparantly she would ask if she could pick if they tried to hand her one.  They had a great time and I had fun looking at pictures when I got home.  What cute kids.  The girls just love their cousin Eli.