Lights!

For four years or so now (well, three for Aubrey) my parents have take the kids to the Festival of Lights. It's a drive thru thing where you see the lughths from your car. But in he past couple of years they've added a little carnival part too! So off the went last night!

I a man not quite sure why I find those two pictures so cute, but ack! I love them. Whenever the two of them are excited together, I love it!

And, bonus, they got to spend the night! They haven't spent the night since August, so they were ready! They even got to do crafts this morning. 

Thanks for braving the cold to make the magic happen grandma and PaPa F! 

Thanksgiving 2016

We had a wonderful day with our biggest crowd yet for Turkey Day! My parents and grandma plus mytwo cousins joined us and it was fabulous. I'm going to give the food a 90% rating - the broccoli rice casserole was too runny and I forgot to put the cheese on top of the corn casserole, but since it included cream cheese, butter, and milk already it was quite delicious still. The rest was super yummy! I actually really like cooking Thanksgiving dinner, because certain foods make it special for me. Not the turkey, I didn't even eat that yesterday!

Here's a look at our day!

Logan was super excited to play with Josh and Joey and it was a beautiful day for playing outside!

Here we are at dinner (I have no clue what Logan is doing...). 

Aubrey had to hold her calculator during dinner. Whatever it takes people. 

But she quite enjoyed the whipped cream dessert! 

Please note the pile of whipped cream on Logan's plate. 

The guys were great at entertaining the kids!

 

Look at our crew! 

Shhh, someone was quite tired after everybody left!

I think that must mean it was a hit! Many thanks to my parents for bringing the desserts, playing with children, and making gravy at the last minute! We are so thankful for so many things - and we hope you all had a great day yesterday too!

T-Day Eve!

So thankful for time to breathe. 

Love to have time to be silly. A five day break is good, good stuff. We had dinner with the Hua's last night and got this fabulous face painting done!Logan's didn't last too long - that was a lot of paint and it was itchy! But we paid $5 in a tip for them both, so no complaints. 

This is the adorable letter than Logan wrote to my cousins, who are coming for Thanksgiving. Though apparently I need to set another place for Jose (my cousin's name is Josh, so the note is extra cute!).

Lots of casseroles in the fridge and a turkey brining! Bring on the fun!

39...Again!

The next time my husband makes fun of me that my birthday lasts a week I'm showing him these posts! We had a great weekend celebrating Peter's birthday with Grandma and Grandpa K! I mean, she brought more carrot cake, does t get any more perfect than that? Oh, and we got to go to Chuys!

Clearly there was lots of happiness about that (okay, this picture is actually a little scary!)! But man oh man do we love Chuys!

Then we went to Dave and Busters where I can honestly say Aubrey and I totally were awesome. 1700 tickets people. Like 3 times what the boys had. We hit some crazy jackpots on silly games. Once again, no skill is the answer!

(PS, Logan is obsessed with the old Ghostbusters. We haven't decided whether or. It he's old enough to watch it, but he asks 4 times a day.)

See? More carrot cake! With 39 candles this time, I loved it! 

Well hello cutest picture ever! Awww!

We had a great visit and can't wait to see Grandma and Grandpa K again at Christmas! And while I think this is the last of the birthday celebrations for a while we'll let Peter celebrate all year as the gets  to the big 4-0! 

Guess Who is 39???

More celebrating today! A quick post because it's late, but I have to post about Peter's birthday of course!

Sakura and carrot cake (made by Aubrey and I, with Grandma K's recipe of course!) were his requests. Presents this morning, dinner tonight, and a visit with Grandma and Grandpa K this weekend - good times for the birthday guy!

Do you know what comes after 39?!?!

Happy Birthday Peter! We love you (he never reads the blog, FYI!)!

Saturday Celebrations

Remember how we really like Fall festivals? Well, apparently we really like celebrating birthdays too. But I mean, who wouldn't? We were supposed to celebrate Logan with the Rs and As a few weeks ago, but sickness struck. So the mama's and kiddos celebrated Logan and the men folk went out to dinner and a movie to celebrate Peter!

I think the ladies and kids clearly had the BEST time!

Silliness with turkey glasses!

For real, too much cuteness. 

There was of course, pizza and cake! 

Chocolate chocolate, the birthday boy's request! 

He got super spoiled with a magic kit and spy gear, both of while we're huge hits!

He is not a giant. Shh. He weighs 6 pounds. In my head anyway. 

It was a much needed chance to chill and decompress. Much needed. There was venting and laughing and just - being. 

She's got the chillin' part down! 

Look at these cuties! 

I mean really. How did that happen? 5 children? 

Thanks friends for always being there - we are the luckiest!

Weekend Adventure #1

Wr had a great long weekend! We started with what I think was our fifth fall festival. Seriously people, they wanted to give us more of the free small pumpkins and my mom and I conveniently forgot to take them with us. We apparently have been all about the fall fun this year!

This one was a little wild because it was past Halloween, its intended target, but still super fun! A group of people from school and the church where Aubrey's preschool went together, and we pretty much had the place to ourselves.

There was of course a bouncy pillow. Because, that's what you do at fall festivals!

Love this one. It is the first one I've been on! The woman who does our yearly family photos was on the trip too so she sent me a few special ones. 

And, our 43rd wagon ride for he season! Logan seems as though he's over these now! 

Look who came with us! Great grandma kept saying what a great time she had as we were driving home. She has some crazy adventures thanks to my mama!

We also fed goats for the 97th time. But these goats eat bamboo! How wild is that?

We had a great time at Ticonderoga, and will definitely be keeping it in the rotation for next year!

I've Got Nothing

Tuesday I sat with Aubrey on my lap and had her hold the pen while I filled in my ballot. I very seriously thought I would be able to tell her all about how we elected the first woman president.

My feelings on this aren't a secret. I was very pro-Hillary, for a variety of reasons. It was important to me that the kids know it wasn't just because she is a woman. I am a social issue voter, no doubt about it. I vote pro-choice, pro-marriage equality, and pro-gun control. I believe in helping others and a lot of "universal" things. I really probably should live in Canada or Sweden. But I've also seen republicans win when I've voted before, and I wasn't this profoundly sad. Because we just put a man in the White House who I would never want my son to model in any way. NONE.

And you know what? I was also proud as hell that a strong female role model would be at the top.

So pretty much what I'm left with now is this: I am determined to be positive. I am determined to speak up. I am determined to be that strong female role model.

The truth is I'm pretty safe in my white, upper-middle class world. But I was my children to learn to look for those who aren't and help them feel safe too. We can do hard things, as Glennon says.

I've felt all the feels today. Tomorrow I'll still feel plenty, but  also determined to add one extra act of kindness and a few doses of positivity. Because otherwise hate really does win. And it hasn't no place here.

I really, really thought Aubrey was on the mend. We went to dance! And soccer! Played outside! Went to the grocery store!

Then she woke up at 9pm tonight screaming because her ear hurt. Patient First closes at 10pm, so I hustled her into the car. She was diagnosed with a double ear infection and bronchitis.

Mom FAIL. I mean seriously, it just blew me away.

And now I sit outside of a sketchy pharmacy waiting for meds because the Augmentin at Patient First isn't flavored and the doc said not to even try it.

This week is starting off with a BANG! With parent conferences and the election the next two days it only has one option of where to go from here, seriously.

Thankful on Thursday

I have so slacked on these lately!

- Super thankful this one isn't looking quite so pitiful anymore...

She has had some sort of crazy virus with coughing, throwing up, and even a little fever. So hard to see her so sad! 

-Along those lines I'm super thankful for Peter and my parents doing the sick daytime duty this week. I've done the nights, which have been fun too, no doubt!

- Snuggles, however I get them, are always appreciated. 

- One of my special kiddos has been out for 2 days and while the circumstances are sad, I am thankful for a bit of a break. 

- My other special kiddo had as good of a day as we're going to get today. I'll take it! 

- I did not cry when I read the last 2 chapters of Charlotte's Web to my class. Always touch and go there.

- We got a special visit from Grandpa K today! And a very Happy Birthday to Grandma K, we are so thankful for you! 

- My wonderful girlfriends, who are the best listeners ever. 

- In the next 6 weekdays I only see students twice. Yes. I approve. We all need some breathing room. 

- Chocolate peanut butter candy.  I know I shouldn't be thankful for it, but I so am. 

Happy Almost Friday!