Christmas (part 1)

 Grandpa and Grandma came out in early December to celebrate Christmas with us since it was our year to stay home. We had a nice relaxing visit.

 New outfit from Uncle Kyle

 His Bears jersey from Uncle Kyle and tools from Uncle Jerry and Aunt Lana were a huge hit

 The kids of course enjoyed opening presents, but really they just loving having their Grandpa and Grandma around. Their visits just go by too fast. I have a feeling it will get harder and harder on the kids to say goodbye each time.

Thanksgiving

We hosted Thanksgiving this year. We had my family (minus Brian in MS and Kels and Josh and Liam who were in NC) and some friends.

 We had seven kids this year and decided that was enough to warrant a separate kids table. I saw this cute snack idea on Pinterest. Thank goodness for that site, it's so great for someone like me who has no creative vision. My table decor was also Pinterest inspired.

 "helping" Nana make whip cream

 Have no idea what she was doing here...

 Kole worked hard on the turkey, he put it in a brine, stuffed it and baked it. It turned out perfect!

 

 We had quite the spread, everyone contributed which made it a lot more enjoyable for us.

 I forgot to snap a picture of the desserts before we dug into them, there were plenty to choose from!

It was a wonderful meal shared with family and friends and the kids had a total ball playing with the extra company around. I don't really remember, but I think the weather was ok. I love being home and hosting, but I also look forward to the years where we just show up :)

Halloween

 Yep, Halloween, I am that far behind. Oh well. Halloween was fun this year, the weather cooperated for the most part. The holidays were especially fun this year since Payton is old enough to understand and anticipate what's coming and Grant just follows her lead. We carved pumpkins with my family at Aunt Kelsey's house, the kids like the finished product, but still aren't really into the carving part.

 I don't know why that picture is sideways... Payton's little preschool had a Halloween party and little parade for the kids. It was pretty cute, she loves her school and I am really happy we chose this one.

 With her little classmates, only 7 in her class this year

 Grant dressed as a monkey thanks to Eli's hand-me-downs and Payton insisted on dressing as Rapunzel again. I tried for a while to talk her into dressing up as something different than last year, but then realized we already had everything and why did I care if she wanted to be the same thing two years in a row? We did get her a wig which was a fun, but annoying addition to the costume.

We continued on our tradition from the last couple years of trick-or-treating with our neighbors/friends. It was pretty windy which sucked, but it didn't slow the kids down. They would have gone all night, Payton loved getting the candy and Grant got pretty excited each time there was a dog at the door, you would think we didn't have two of our own at home... He was pretty funny, he would not let us carry him or his bucket nor would he ride in the stroller, he insisted on walking on his own to every house, it was a slow journey but he made it. He had to be wiped out when we got home.