{ I'm So Glad...It's Fall }

Welcome Sweater Weather, Apple Cider, Pumpkin Spice, Beautiful Color Changing Leaves, Holidays, Thankfulness... 

I'm So Glad It's Fall!

{Family Visits, Thanksgiving WA, Baby I, Our Kitties: November 2014}

In November, we had a visit from my Sister Angela, her Husband Grant, and their 6 girls.  We always have a blast visiting with them.  Mark and Grant have known each other since they were babies, so they have a special friendship; and are the reason why Mark and I met each other.

 The kids always enjoy playing with their cousins.

We are loving having more room, for our kids to play; in our new house!

 My big sis Angela and I {I'm 6 months pregnant {in these pictures} with our Baby #6}. {Thanks Ang for taking these pics of me!}

I love when my kiddos play together.  So sweet.

The Kids playing in the snow.  Little man C and Baby H sharing an adorable, sweet kiss.

Here is the Story of how we got our 3 Kittens:  When we were driving up to Washington to spend time with my side of the family for Thanksgiving {we had a great time taking my brother Tom up with us, from BYU}, there were 3 Ginger kittens that were abandoned at my in-laws house in Oregon {we stopped there on the way up from Idaho}.  They are the sweetest kittens ever and are so great with our kids.  The kids loved playing with and petting them.

We thought for sure that these adorable kittens would be gone when we came back from Washington, but when we came back they were still at Mark's parent's house!  Mark's Dad is severely allergic to all animals {but especially cats}, so they were going to have to take them to the animal shelter.

I love Cats, and the kids having been asking for Cats for years, and the kittens were So adorable and So Sweet, that we had to rescue them, and take them home with us to our new house.  

When we arrived up in Washington, we got to see my sister Celestia's adorable new baby girl I.  Our Baby H was so excited to see her, and loved her right away.  She even named her baby doll after her, when we got back home to Idaho.

The Kids were all So Excited to meet their new baby cousin I.  She is a beautiful little baby.

The kids had so much fun playing with their cousins.  I love this picture of Baby H, kissing Grandpa {my Dad}.  So precious and sweet.

Little Miss K loved playing with Cousin A, and Little Man C had so much fun with Cousin C.  Mark holding his new niece Baby I.

The kids enjoyed the Delicious Thanksgiving Food, with Grandpa, Grandma, Aunts, Uncles and many cousins.

 Baby H, liked playing with her Cousin S.  Mark and I enjoyed helping make Thanksgiving Dinner and then eating it together.

We had fun celebrating my brother Tommy's birthday together, with our family.

The Kids had fun having Sleepovers with their Cousins.

The Kids loved meeting new sweet Baby Girl Cousin I, and it made them even more excited to meet their new baby brother in a few months.

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving up in Washington with Family.  We had a great November.

{Camping, Mark's Birthday, Halloween: October 2014}

As a Family we went Camping at Lake Cleveland.  We setup our tent, we started a fire, we cooked our food over the fire, and we made s'mores over the fire.

 We walked around the area, enjoyed the beautiful scenery of the outdoors and the beautiful lake.

  We enjoyed our special time camping together.  Being 5 months pregnant, I was glad that my morning sickness was over, so I could enjoy our adventure fully. :) 

 We sang songs together, talked, and slept in our large 3 room family tent together.

 The kids enjoyed going fishing with their Daddy.

Mark taught the kids how to fish.

We all enjoyed the beautiful scenery around us.

We had a party for Mark's birthday, and we all had a wonderful time, celebrating the birth of our awesome father and husband.  We love him!  {I made him a special breakfast in the morning.  I made Mark a special lunch to take to school.  Then after school, I made him a special dinner for his birthday: Grilled Salmon, Fried Potatoes, and Green Beans.  It was delicious.  He enjoyed the dinner very much.  We made him a cake, with Blue Frosting, and sang to him "Happy Birthday", and then he blew out the candles, and ate the first bite.  We gave him presents, and handmade cards.}

We have a tradition in our family, when our kiddos are 1 year olds, they wear Daddy's klompen shoes {for a picture}, that he got from his mission for our church to the Netherlands.  So it was Baby H's turn to celebrate this tradition.  Click here, to view all of our other kids when they did this too!  I have always loved "The Wizard of Oz" since I was a child, so I have a tradition of taking a picture with my girls, in these ruby red slippers.  We have them in all different sizes, for the girls.  :) Baby H is starting to really enjoy drawing and coloring.

We love our kiddos.  Our son E and Mark had a lot of fun together, camping in a tent, together, on his Webelos Scouts Campout.  Little man C lost his first tooth!  Our kids have ALL started losing their teeth at age 4.  Super early.  He was really excited, to have the Tooth Fairy come too!  Baby H enjoying Daddy's Birthday cake. :)

   {While E and Daddy were on their camp out:} The rest of the kids and I enjoyed making Halloween Haunted Houses, out of Graham Crackers, Frosting and Candy.  

 We had a lot of fun decorating them, and making them special and creative.  We also watched Halloween movies together.  One that we love is "Charlie Brown Halloween".  We had a great time! {E made one the next day too.}

 We went to K's Halloween Party in her Kindergarten Class at school.  They had lots of games and activities, put together by their "room mom".  They had a photo booth, a huge pumpkin, that they threw bean bags through, large tin can bowling, with different halloween creatures painted onto each of the tin cans, and crafts for the kids to do. 

 They also did a cupcake walk game, and K had fun doing that.  The parents brought in many, many treats, and goodies, snacks, and desserts for the kids to enjoy.  Little miss K loved her Kindergarten party, and we all enjoyed being there to share in her special Halloween Kindergarten party.  The Kindergarteners paraded around their classroom with their costumes on.  K was dressed as a Princess Cat.  It was such a fun event. :)

We went and watched the Halloween Parade at school, with the different classes parading around in their costumes.  Mark was a forest spirit, E was a Ninja, and R was a Hogwarts student.  Then later, Mark, R and E had their Halloween Class Parties. 

E also went on a field trip with his class that day.  They had a lot of fun.  All of their Halloween parties were fun.  K, C and H enjoyed going to the different parties, but stayed mostly in their Daddy's classroom.  

 On Halloween, the kids had No School, so we went Trick or Treating together.  Our son E went as a Ninja, our daughter R went as a Hogwart's student, our daughter K went as a Princess Cat, and our son C went as a Power Ranger.

Our Baby H went as Princess Snow White.  We walked around to nearby neighborhoods to go Trick or Treating.  As always, the kids got way too much candy!  But we had a total blast together!  The last picture is of the kids after their Primary Program, in Sacrament Meeting {at church}.  Little Miss K did her part first, which was singing the first verse of "The Family is of God" with her class.  Little Man C did his part next, which was {the teacher says, 'I feel happiest in my family when'} then C says, "When my Family sings together" (he came up with his own part).  Then our son E did his part, which is: "Jesus Christ showed us, through His example, how we can return to Heavenly Father.  Jesus loves me so much that he paid the ultimate price for my sins".  E sang with his class, the second verse of "I Stand all Amazed".  Our daughter R's next part that she did was, singing the 1st verse with her class, the song, "Baptism".  R's next part was singing a solo in the song "Scripture Power".  She sings, "I'm reading His instructions, I'm following His plan".  R's next part was singing "I Will Shine" song, with the Activity Day Girls.  The Kids also sang all of the songs with the Primary.  They did wonderfully preforming their parts.  I held up (cue cards) the words and pictures, to help the (primary) kids with their songs.  The kids did amazing on their speaking parts, songs, solos, and songs with the primary.  We were so proud of them!  They all did so wonderfully. 

{Family Adventures: Nov. 2013}

In November, we had fun spending time together.  I love it when the leaves change colors.  So beautiful.

 Our girls Love to dance!  Here they are dancing on the stage at the park.

Spiderman catching a nap and Mama reading "Turkey Trouble" to the kiddos.  We have a Holiday collection of books; that we love to read at all of the different holidays.

Carving our Pumpkins.  Even though we didn't do this fun tradition before Halloween, our kids still wanted to do it.  We had a blast!

 Daddy snuggling with our sweet Baby.

Baby's first taste of a lolly pop.  She didn't want to let it go!  Then she helped with Laundry.

Zucchini processing time.  They work great as a fashion statement too.  Little monkeys helping with washing the dishes.

 Fun at the park, and snuggling and feeding Baby.