Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving was a blast this year! Pat had an ear infection but he was feeling much better than the previous day and weather was so nice that I wore shorts and a t-shirt on my run and Paige was able to join me on her bike! As per tradition, the turkey was ready an hour early and somehow the sweet potatoes were frozen (oops!) but other than that the food and desserts were great! After dinner we played a Pictionary-ish game on the WiiU that was a big hit!

Multi-tasking-Everyone watched the parade while Pat soothed his ear, Owen ate an apple and Paige worked on some place cards for the table!

The whole group minus my dad and Paige who was hiding behind Jamie.

The whole group minus me!

Something was hilarious here...maybe some tickling?

I made everyone pose again:)

My mom and I had a great team picture for the game!

So Thankful!

I have some catching up to do so I'll be posting once a day until I get it done! We continued the tradition of our thankful turkey this year. We started late and forgot to write our answers down a couple days but we still managed to get a lot of feathers up there. Just having this up is a good reminder to think about what we're thankful for even when we forget to put it up! We had some traditional answers (God, family, food, house) and some new answers too (Laney and Zsa Zsa, Community workers, Mrs. Blatnica, Sidney).

Visitors!

I was just talking about not having as much time to visit with friends as we would like in the last post and now I'm posting about some friends who made the trip up to see us! We get to see them about once a year and we're always glad when we do! The kids fall right into play-mode and emerge every once in awhile for food while the adults all get to catch up. It's never a long visit so we really concentrate on hanging out and staying close to home to minimize travel and maximize visiting time!

Friendsgiving!

With the kids and their friends getting older and busier we don't have as many opportunities to visit with friends but it's always nice when we figure out a way to make it happen. The week before Thanksgiving we made plans for dinner and playtime with one of our favorite families and the kids had a blast (adults too!). Here are some pictures of the kids enjoying a potty-words driven Mad Libs.

Paige's Day

While Pat and Owen were cheering on the Cavs...Paige, Jamie, my mom and I were getting all fancy for a tea lunch! I don't think it totally made up for missing the game but I know she loved it. She just wishes she could have done both:) We got some yummy tea, little sandwiches and super cute tiny desserts. Paige's favorite part was eating the desserts (ok, probably mine too!)! Afterward, my dad gave her a mini trumpet lesson!

Owen's Day

Pat and Owen had the opportunity to attend a Cavs game as part of a Father/Son Day through the elementary school. Paige was pretty devastated that she couldn't also attend but I planned a special day for her too (see the post tomorrow!). Their seats were in the last row of the arena but Owen got to go down on the court and hi-5 the players before the game! I'm pretty sure that made up for the poor seats.

On the court!

Try to find Pat and Owen hanging out in the group! Yes, turns out some people did bring their daughters...

Pat and Owen took a selfie in their seats!

Canopy Walk

A few weeks ago we checked out a canopy walk and "emergent tower" at a local arboretum. It was the only day we could get there and the last day to go before they closed for the season. Luckily, it was a beautiful day to be outside! The canopy walk was great, although a little shaky! And the emergent tower was fun but very, very high! It was a little disconcerting to lean over and look down but it didn't seem to bother the kids.

Glasses!

50s Day

The kindergartners at Paige's celebrated the 50th day of school with a nod to the 1950s! They had the option of wearing 1950s attire and Paige asked if I would make her a poodle skirt. I was up for the challenge and I think it came out pretty well (if you don't look too closely!). I volunteered to help so I got a lot of fun pictures at their mini sock hop, where they learned the hand jive, the twist and the bunny hop. They also got to try root beer floats. Paige loved hers!

Ready for school!

Paige and her teacher

Trying the root beer float!

Working on their dance moves!

Halloween Night

Finally, the trick-or-treating post! We had some friends over for pizza and then got the kids ready to go. We had awesome weather so the kids had no problem making the most of the 2 hours of treat-getting and people were very generous! Paige had snuck her cowboy boots on before we left so she slowed down near the end of the night but persevered!

Posing with the jack-o-lanterns

Kids in-character

The group!

The adults!

Halloween group selfie! See last year here

Halloween Day

Halloween was filled with fun activities because it landed on a Saturday this year. Both kids had soccer in the morning (Owen's first indoor game of the season-they won!) and then after a quick lunch we went to their school carnival before meeting up with some friends for trick or treating!

Paige's "costume" and Owen ready for his game  

All of the kids in their costumes!

Four funny faces for lunch!

Getting ready to head into the school carnival

One of our favorite traditions-doughnuts and cider!

Class Parties

Halloween parties at school! Always exciting! I have more pictures of Paige because I helped out in her classroom this time (hopefully I'll be in Owen's room for Christmas!). I heard a lot of the kindergartners saying things like, "This is the best party ever!" so I will remember the strategy of costumes+candy for our next shindig.

Paige and a friend

Lining up for the parade!

All the girls received fun hair pieces and helped each other put them in! So cute!

Owen's teacher took this picture of him and some friends!

Dance-Soccer-Dress Up

Paige had a lot of activities the week before Halloween and they all wanted her to dress up in costume! She wasn't super pleased about it so we kind of compromised and went halfway with a cat-ear headband and pumpkin shirt. To be honest, it's pretty difficult to play soccer in most costumes so I'm not really sure why they told the kids to wear them!

Ready for some soccer!!

Dancing to the Monster Mash!

Pumpkin Carving

There are a lot of Halloween-themed blog posts coming up! First up-pumpkin carving! The kids planned out their designs and Pat and I assisted with our adulty knife skills. We all helped scoop out the pumpkin guts. You'll see the finished pumpkins in a later post!

Tournament #2

Another soccer tournament!? Yep. Another team asked Owen to join them in Michigan and he happily accepted. And then changed his mind. And then we had to remind him that it was too late to change his mind...Anyway, on to the fun stuff! They had two games on Saturday and won both! He was done playing by 1pm so we got some lunch, went swimming and then had some time to explore. We went to the River Raisin National Battlefield Park and then to the beach for some space to run around! The next morning Owen had a game at 8am so we were up before the sun. Unfortunately they lost and were knocked out of the tournament but they all played well. It was rough to see how dejected our team was as they crossed the field back to the parents. We got to head home early and we found out later that a team that had a couple of Owen's friends on it won their division!

Trying to stay calm before the first game!

Owen got a headache for a little bit in the first game but was able to join the game soon after he had time to calm down. He ended up scoring 3 goals throughout the tournament. 

Paige was wiped out after watching two games and fell asleep on the way to lunch!

There was a lot to learn about the battle. "Remember the Raisin!"

Fun at the beach!

This crazy frog was just hanging out on the beach and letting the water wash over him. 

Owen was not ready to wake up for his Sunday morning game! He got dressed and went back to sleep.