Yay! Friends!

Some friends were in town for the Thanksgiving holiday and we were lucky enough to spend some time with them! We met at a park we all frequented when we were younger and had a great time playing soccer, walking a trail and following Paige and Owen on the playground. We went out to eat afterwards and made a waiter take our picture:) Paige fell asleep in about 5 minutes during our drive home (pretty rare for her!) and Owen thought it was hilarious.



Me, Pat, Owen, Alex, Brian, Zandra and Paige




Paige fell asleep! Owen was laughing so hard (as quietly as he could!)



Our Happy Thanksgiving!

Ah, Thanksgiving. Ours was really great, helped along by the wonderful weather and the fact that Pat and I got to spend it with both of our families! First, everybody spent a lot of time watching the parade while I recleaned what we had already cleaned and then messed up again. Then we got the turkey in the oven and I went out for my Turkey Trot (I missed the 5 mile run downtown so I did my own!). When I got back I checked on the turkey and realized the oven wasn't hot! The turkey hadn't been cooking! Ahhh! Pat had locked the oven thinking he was keeping the kids safe but it really it turned the heat off...we fixed it and *spoiler alert* the turkey cooked just fine and was delicious. Meanwhile, we  heard from my parents who locked themselves out of their house after coming back from the race downtown! They still made it to our house in a timely manner though. We played outside with Pat's family while we waited and then we hurriedly made the rest of the food and ate a ton. So. Fun. So much to be grateful for. Happy Thanksgiving!

Some of us watched the parade in mismatched pajamas, clutching a waffle. All morning.



I remember taking this picture because Pat was super pleased with himself for finding this casserole dish.
Good job Pat!




My favorite Owen smile of the day!




Group picture!




Proof that I was there too!



Thanksgiving Crafts!

Owen does many, many crafts at preschool but I still wanted to do a couple at home this week. The whole family was able to participate in the first one we did and then Owen and I worked on the second one.

I think it's pretty obvious how this one was put together...but in case it's hard to see...we traced all of our hands and then layered them to make turkey feathers. Saw this idea here.

Owen and I put together some napkin rings for the big meal tomorrow. We used his thumbprint for the body of the turkey, then I drew the face and Owen took care of the feathers. Then we glued them to strips we cut from a paper towel roll. They're all very...unique:)

Yum!

I know people that can make amazing homemade ravioli and sauce like it's no big deal (ok, everything they make is amazing...). I'm talking about you guys, Lisa and Alex. They invited us over to eat and then threw in some football and soccer to round out the evening.  

Pat helped





Paige was very excited too



Nature

I'm so dreading having to hide in the house when the snow comes that we are fully embracing every nice moment outside. Yesterday we ran outside before dinner even though it was about to storm because the temperature was nice. These pictures are from last week when we picked up Owen from preschool and went straight to the park. It was a part of the park that we've been to before but don't go to very often and I ended up carrying Paige up and down 135 stairs. Totally worth it.


This is a classic Paige face.




Run!






Chillin' in the nature center

Owen was trying to hug Paige for a picture but I think she thought she was being tackled:)

Visitors!

Pat and I have a lot of the same friends since we went to high school and college together but most of them don't live near us so we were really excited to have a small group of friends from college all visit at the same time! There were some kids that had been born since the last time we were together and it was fun to see how all seven kids interacted. Anytime we get the chance to see friends I wish we could do it more often and promise myself we will. Hopefully this time it happens!  

Paige gets up close and personal with Abram

Owen and Julianna were fast friends

I can't believe we got a picture this good with 15 people!

Silly picture!

Let's Revisit...

...Halloween! Sure, Halloween was 10 days ago but we never really "talked" about it. Paige was very protective of her bag and wouldn't let anyone help her hold it even though that meant dragging it through the leaves. Owen did not get sick this year (yay!) and was on a mission to get to every house as quickly as he could. The kids never got tired of trick-or-treating but we led them home anyway because they had plenty of candy.    

The family. Pat and I aren't dressed up so you can save your jokes about how scary we look :)



We had pancakes in Halloween shapes. That's Owen's crazy Halloween face.
Or he thought he was smiling normally. You decide. 





See? A bat.




Hugs.




Aww! Paige is cute! You can see Owen sporting this shirt back in 2008 by clicking here.




Another cute one! I messed with this one using the Instagram app.



Muffins!

I made these pineapple-pumpkin muffins awhile back and never put them on the blog. I highly recommend them but I like most things made with pumpkin. Especially when it's Fall. And it's for breakfast.