Thanksgiving and Christmas stuff

It's been a month since I posted, yet I feel like it's only been a week! We have slammed into the holidays like a tornado. Thanksgiving was fun--so fun I don't have any pictures. Not a single one. However, I do have several of putting up the Christmas tree. It's always so much fun to go through our ornaments from each year and relive the memories...especially my Jon ornament! Sigh.

As I looked through these pictures, I realize I forgot another momentous occasion. Cooper got glasses!

He was happy to get them, and even happier when he could start reading signs, numbers, and words from further than 4 feet away! Isn't he just handsome?!

In other non-picture accompanied news, the first trimester is over and report cards were sent home. I have brilliant children! I'm hoping some of that brilliance rubs off on me as I finish up this semester....if I make it!

I'll post soon about the Nutcracker performance.....like tomorrow, since it's tonight. Stay tuned!

Programs and Recitals

Saturday night Amelia had her first violin recital. She did a wonderful job, and didn't even need any music! She has progressed so much in just two months of lessons, and I'm very proud of her! I think she was a little humbled however, after watching what the students who had 6+ years could play. It was good that she could see what's possible, and hopefully her practicing time will increase a bit. :-)

I didn't get the first measure of her song because my phone froze, but you can still see plenty of her excellent skill:

                                    

Sunday was our primary presentation. It was a little bittersweet for Amelia because it was her last one. She'll be going into Young Women's in March. She gave a beautiful talk, and Cooper nailed his part. Here's a picture of the two superstars before we went to church:

                                                         

 

 

Next up--Thanksgiving!

Halloween 2015

Whew! What a weekend! It all started Friday with Cooper's (aka Hawkeye) classroom Halloween party:

Amelia (aka Evie) had a party as well, but because sixth graders are soooooooooo mature, no parent volunteers were needed:

 On Halloween, we went to Hocus Pocus at Hemming village. They had face painting, cider and donuts, trick-or-treating from Star Wars and Disney characters, hay rides, and these little train rides:

As the train starting moving, Cooper noticed the wind-chill lowered the temperature drastically and solved that problem:

Of course, no Halloween is complete without a Headless Horseman

Or Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker:

We were ALL nervous until Cooper relinquished the light saber.

We came home for a few hours, went to Fat Cats trunk-or-treat then came home and binged on candy before I could stop them:

Yes, Amelia has less candy. Due to her spacers, Cooper inherited about 1/3 of her stash.

Now, there's a chance my OCD tendencies have maybe, possibly, could-have been passed to my children......look at that beautiful organization of candy! Brings a tear to my eye. And before you think, "Wow, we used to get a lot more than that when we were kids"--first off, it's enough to have Cooper bouncing off walls at 8:30pm at night. Second, mom always threw away half of our candy on Thanksgiving, anyway. 

 
 Happy Halloween!

Jack o' Lanterns!

This weekend we carved out pumpkins. Cooper still doesn't want to touch any of the pumpkins innards, while Amelia revels in it! They were both really creative this year. Amelia even did a "bedazzled" one. By the time we had finished theirs, I was so pooped I just did a classic design. Halloween is only 3 days away!

In other news, Cooper had an eye appointment today and..............needs glasses! Here's a quick picture of the frames he choose:

He won't get them for another two weeks. I think he looks dashing!

Moving the Camper

The four brothers all trying to have the "best" idea to move the camper (turn up your speakers):

Dad watching the whole thing giggling:

 Finally, the women stepped in and using Jojo's idea got it done:

Cooper was having a rough day and needed to blow off some steam crushing cans:

Semi-annual Call Clean-Up and Pumpkin Pickin'!

We had another clean up at my parent's house last weekend. They are getting ready to move into a new home, so we are slowly but steadily going through the house, garage, and outside so it won't be such a mess when they move. Cooper was a great help with the wheelbarrow and crushing bags of cans, and Amelia made sure all the cousins were taken care of!

Andy and Courtney, awaiting orders.

Just chillin'/

Grabbing some food.

Before.....

After!!

Coltman and his daddy.

 

Conagher was not in the mood to be photographed.

Matthew was!

Taking a short lunch break.

Dirt!

In a different post, I'm going to post the video of loading the camper. It's really funny to listen to four brothers try and figure out how to load a camper....especially since dad used to do it by himself!

They figured it out soon enough...after the women jumped in!


We also squeezed in getting our pumpkins also. This year is so busy with activities, lessons, and commitments we're having a hard time fitting out traditions in! Might be time to re prioritize our life, eh? We hit our pumpkin patch in the early evening instead of the morning and there was a slight difference from the other years:

It was PACKED! This picture just shows one view. The wagons were all being used, and people were everywhere. It was quite different from our other years. We found our pumpkins (I'll get a picture of them up soon), went through the straw maze, grabbed some cotton candy, and headed home.

Got through the straw maze!

Looking for the perfect pumpkin. Apparently "perfect" means huge.

Amelia resting while searching. Cooper wasn't feeling great, so he was not excited to be in pictures.

That's it! We'll carve them.......sometime before Halloween, and I'll post those pictures. Now we're on to parent teacher conferences, Halloween, and sugar overload!

Straw Maze

As I looked at our schedule from now until Christmas, I realized we have only 2 weekends when something isn't planned, or we have an activity or engagement. So to fit in the things we want to do, we decided to go to the straw maze last night. Now, if you look at the weather report, last night was the only rainy night we've had in a month. Luckily, the heaviest downpour came right before we went in and right as we were getting out (well, as Cooper and I were waiting for Amelia and her friend to come out). :-)  Here's a few pictures:

Cooper in one of the slides.

Jumping off the bales of straw.

Ready to get lost!

Cooper, Amelia and her friend Sara. Who's a year younger. But two inches taller. :-)

After I took that picture, we split up into two teams--racing to see who would get out first.

Inside the maze was a bus! We had to walk through it and even though it was still daylight, it was creepy.

This is looking back into the bus.

In a little more than 35 minutes--a new record--Cooper found the exit and we beat the girls out!

The triumphant winners!

 Sadly, twenty minutes later Amelia and Sarah emerged from the maze.....at the entrance.

By then it was starting to pour, so we raced back to the car. After stopping off for donuts and hot chocolate, dropping Sarah at home, we came home to snuggle up and watch a movie. Pretty good ending to a fantastic day!