Turkey Day 2009!

Thanksgiving finally arrived and there was so much excitement in the air! Mostly because the guys wanted to play in their annual Turkey Bowl though! LOL! As people arrived we had them write what they were thankful for on paper leaves and then we made a tree out of it. It was really neat to see all the things we are grateful for!

We served 35 for dinner this year, so it was a bit on the crazy side, but the food was all fantastic and there was a lot of it too! We had 2 – 22lb. turkeys and we had a little bit leftover for the next day. The weather was perfect outside and many ate dinner out there. After we ate, we took the kids to the park and let them play for a while. Then we sang to Adam for his birthday and ate pie, ice cream, ice cream cake and tons of whipped cream!

For evening entertainment we played the newspaper game. This is a great one for a big group! Cut newspaper into long strips and then have races seeing who can tear it in half from top to bottom without going off the edge. First person done wins. We raced 3 at a time and it was hilarious. We had kids beating adults and and grandparents trying to beat their kids and grandkids. I laughed when Cason ripped one from top to bottom without stopping and beat everyone. He was ecstatic. It was hilarious. It was probably the noisiest game we’ve ever played in this house with all the cheering that was going on, but it was so fun!

What a great Thanksgiving! It was so wonderful to have all of Bob’s family here and Dacia and her 4 kids and the Eyre’s and their 4 kids. Such a blast! I’m just sad it’s all over…

We LOVE the Science Center!

So we spent many, many days at the Science Center this year and no matter how many times we go, my kids never get bored and they always want to stay longer when I tell them that it’s time to go.  The day before Thanksgiving, this is where we were with the Eyres and the Grays.  The kids had a great time just playing and exploring.  We didn’t do everything but we did a lot!  We ate a sack lunch in the cafeteria.  Adam rode the bike on the tightrope and seriously freaked the workers out as he almost tipped that thing off of it.  Luckily it really is made to stay on that wire!  I wish I had pictures of it, but I have video that will scare the heck out of you!  The kids loved the weather exhibit – Forces of nature. That’s always fun!  So a good time was had by all and we were beat by the end of the day!

That night the adults + Willyerds escaped to Macaroni Grill while we had 2 babysitters take on the 10 kid challenge!  1 was assigned to Spencer and the rest to the other sitter.  Worked out great!  Spencer was asleep when we came home as were a few others.  The adults had a great night talking and celebrating Adams birthday (Thanksgiving day).  So thanks to the Flores girls!  Awesome babysitters!

 

Playing at the Park on Tuesday!

Kimberly, Dacia, Suzie and I took the kiddos to the park on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving (minus Channing and Cameron who were at school). Nothing like taking 12 kids to go play!

Run, run, run. Slide, slide, slide. Swing, swing, swing. Jump, jump, jump…in mud puddles (Gavin). LOL!

Then we got SUPER ambitious and I picked up Channing and Cameron at school and we took them all to the mall (minus Suzie who knew that this would NOT be the best idea we ever had)! Hahaha! Ya, what were we thinking! Somehow I managed to buy Channing a suit for his baptism, some matching shirts for the boys at Gymboree and Kimberly managed to get Adam a few presents for his birthday (all in about an hour)! You have to be impressed with that! Then we went home and had haystacks for dinner! What a crazy, but fun Tuesday!

Thanksgiving Week Festivities – Sat. - Mon.

Our fun began on Saturday night after Kimberly arrived with the kids (after a 2-day drive). Bless her heart for having the guts to do it alone! Mother-of-the-Year Award right there! They arrived around 9 or 9:30pm. I was gone to see Phantom of the Opera at Gammage but Bob and the kids were home. My boys were already in bed so they didn’t get to see the Eyre’s until the morning, but it was the cutest and happiest sound when they all awoke and saw each other. They were so excited and they screamed and laughed with delight! They wasted no time getting down to business…..playing! They played trains, Connect Four, Stratego and Zingo. They ran around the house and the backyard. We watched movies and kid shows and ate popcorn.

On Sunday we all attended church together and it was almost laughable trying to keep 7 excited children quiet (ya, I’m pretty sure we failed, but hey, at least we tried really hard). We had a fun taco dinner that night and the kids played some more.

My sister, Dacia, drove on Monday with her 4 kids from Utah (one being newborn, Addison). She did it all by herself too (another Mother-of-the-Year Award). Her kids meshed right in and joined the fray. Everyone played pretty happily together. There was the occasional tiff (Cason “the stubborn 3 yr. old” vs. everyone else), but overall things were pretty good … noisy but good!

We had a crazy time trying to watch Spencer, the master artist/curious toddler extraordinaire. He loved to paint (carpet with pink lipgloss), go swimming (in a sink full of water while fully dressed), clean up the kitchen (pie sprayed with Fantastic), explore the great outdoors (escape out the front door and run to the park unaccompanied), add embellishment to his mother’s diaper bag (desitin wiped all over the black bag). Yes…. we had quite a time keeping up with this one! Cute as can be, but into EVERYTHING! At least he loved trains (of which we have a lot)!

Channing and Cameron had school on Mon. and Tues. so they didn’t get to play quite as much with all their friends and cousins, but they seemed to be ok with it. Monday I did a lot of the shopping for Thanksgiving while Kimberly watched the kiddos. On Monday night we had a quick (super quick) family night. We each named one thing we were grateful for and wrote it on a leaf. On Thanksgiving we had everyone add their leaves and we made a tree out of them.

Fun times folks….fun times!

Nearing black belt

Yet another successful rank promotion for the boys and I.  Channing now holds his red belt and is only 2 away from black.  He’s very excited and has been working hard to reach his goal.  Cameron is now a blue belt and is in the same class as Channing.  I’m a green belt and am on my own in the kids class.  (At least there’s another kid in that class that’s as tall as I am).  This time around was really difficult.  We all learned the hardest form in our set and had less time than ever to do it with our vacation to South Carolina taking away some much needed practice time.  Still, we were all able to pull it together in the end.  Even Cameron knew his form completely which is really saying something for that little guy because it was HARD (and I know because I was doing the same form and I really struggled)!  I sparred for the first time (no contact because I lacked gear) but it was pretty fun and I don’t think I did too bad.  So yay! We did it!

  

Sparring Night

One of the fun things about having Chris and J’Nett live close-by is that they are into sparring.  Ignore the fact that it sounds like the house is going to fall apart as everyone bounces around and hopefully no one goes over the rail……  Fun times people, fun times.  Ari even did it in a dress!  You go girl!

Flour and Sugar and Cocoa oh my!!! Ward Canning Party – Nov. 2009!

If you missed the canning party this time around, you missed a lot of fun!  It was wild and crazy as always.  You’ll love some of the pictures below!  Let’s just say some of the kids had a really good time canning flour……and Cason had fun with the leftover flour on the table!  The Hot Cocoa smelled divine and the breaking the spaghetti was a pain but we finished!  We canned nearly 700 cans this time and had no major errors or snafus!  Thanks to everyone who participated and helped…from picking up the food and the cans, to organizing and wiping out the cans to canning all the food and labeling everything!  We had so many awesome people over here!  What a great ward we have!  If you missed it, start saving your pennies! We hope to see you next time! :)

 

Trick or Treat!

I love that Halloween was on a Saturday this year!  It made it so much easier to get ready!  We even got to eat at the Spaghetti Factory for a late lunch/early dinner and the kids ate free because they wore their costumes! Yummy!

This year Channing was a ninja, Cameron was Harry Potter and Cason was a Jedi.  The weather was perfect for trick-or-treating and after going to 2 neighborhoods we had tons of candy!  Cason gave up early this year and he was done after 45 min.  So he stayed with Bob while I took Channing, Cameron and McKay Osborne to another neighborhood that had more people giving out candy than ours.  We carved 3 pumpkins this year.  The Jack Skellington one was the one that won 1st place at the ward party Friday night.  I carved Sally and Zero on Sat.  I think they turned out pretty good.

        

Ward Halloween Party

The ward Halloween party was a big hit as usual!  The food was great, the games were fun, the rooms were decorated unbelievably awesome and I won the best jack-o-lantern contest! :)   Bob almost won the pumpkin pie eating contest, but after eating 6 pieces he lost by 1 second!  It was close though!  Look at some of the pictures! you might see yourself!

Harry Potter…errr, I mean….Channing’s 8th Birthday!!!

For Channing’s 8th birthday we turned our house into Hogwarts! It was great fun watching the kids get sorted into houses and then going to Gringotts Bank to get coins to buy their school supplies. They then visited Flourish and Blotts to buy a cauldron, feather pen, paper, a Harry Potter bookmark and a pet (remember those 80s slap bracelets we used to have…. they're back! With little stuffed animals attached)! After getting their school supplies, they visited Ollivander’s to get their wand (glowstick). During dinner each kid worked on Transfiguration class by putting little capsules into water and seeing what they would transform into. :) For dinner Channing chose to have pesto with penne pasta, garlic bread and salad (yay – easy for me). I made fresh pesto with basil from the garden and we served a vege platter for Herbology class. Potions class consisted of 4 different kinds of kool-aid that the kids could mix together and then top off with pop rocks. It was a big hit and I think Cason only drank for dinner. I don’t think he ate any food! My kids have never had kool-aid before.

After dinner we had a treasure hunt for the kids. We turned off all the lights and they had to find their way with their glow stick wands and a small flashlight. I had made up several maps leading all over the house. They had to follow the footprints drawn on each Marauder's map to the next map. Their treasure consisted of ring pops and lots of coins that they got to use at Honeyduke Sweet’s shop where they could buy all sorts of creepy candy.

We had friends and family here to celebrate. Nate was in town for a conference, so he got to come. J’Nett came with Jacob and Ari (Chris later joined us). Our friends Seth, Arya and Lila came with their mother Maria and Suzie came with Austin, Colton and Gavin. It was an all inclusive age party! Suzie made the huge castle cake that took 5 cake mixes! It was awesome! No party would be complete without an awesome cake!

After the treasure hunt we ate cake and ice cream and then Channing opened his presents. He got a few Harry Potter books, some karate gear, money, clothes and a remote controlled airplane. He loved everything! Channing is so excited to be 8 and he is excited to be baptized at the end of November! He’s a really good kid and we love him to pieces! Happy Birthday Channing!