A Day to Say Thanks

My Sister Sue invited the family for Thanksgiving dinner.

Greg helped carve the birds.  The food was great and

it was good to be together.  It was our mom's first

Thanksgiving in MN for over 25 years.  The only

disappointment for the kids was that they couldn't

go swimming.  Isn't that why Sue lives on a lake?

 Six of the nine Minnesota little ones were present:

Everleigh, Andrew, Briggs, Ethan, Max and Claire.

(along with their parents, Scott & Ami, Jesse & Ben, Josh & Whitney)

There was some dancing.

There was a project.

GG read some stories.

And there were plenty of smiles.

Lots to be thankful for....

Visitin'

The kids have been doing some "visitin".  First

on a weekend getaway for Scott & Ami I was

in charge of Briggs & Everleigh so they came to

Grandma Bunny's for "visitin" with GA Sue, Julie

and GG.

GG joined a game of hide and seek.

Everleigh was hiding in the closet.  Good spot!

Then, on a recent day, second cousin Silas

came to visit us.  Here Ethan and Silas, who

are about 2 weeks apart age-wise, check

out the Percy flashlight.

Here's Grandma Rynda (is that the official title?)

with Silas.

We got four out of five of the kids together

for a photo.

Ethan-20 mos, Everleigh-4 yrs, Briggs-2 yrs, Silas 20 mos

GG was also with us that day and after Silas left

we snuggled in to watch a movie. Andrew is

snuggling with GG.

Then it was Andrew's turn for a trip to Grandma Bunny's.

Five minutes in, he already had all these toys out.

And no trip is complete to Grandma Bunny's without

a bath....not sure why because they have tubs

at home..but who knows about these things?

Just One Day....

Toddlers can change direction every 5 minutes so when

all 4 of these kids are together activities change fast.

Ben made a puppet theater/castle/dog house/stable/you get the idea

out of a cardboard box.  Here a pirate invades the

princess and the puppy in the castle.

GG was with me on this day and she is helping

Ethan with stickers here.

Meanwhile, Andrew & Everleigh were playing a favorite

....puppy and mommy.  Sometimes Andrew is

the puppy and Everleigh is the mommy.

Briggs does pretty well on his own and favors colors,

play dough or paints.

Ev's pose here reminds me of her mom.  They love

the big swivel rocker as it turns 360 degrees and rocks!

Andrew & Ev ended the morning with a dance.

I didn't get any photos of the afternoon which included

a craft project, storytime(multiples), snacks, a tea party...

and a nap....whew!

Ghosts of Halloween Past

So...Halloween is not my favorite holiday.  My creative juices
just don't work that way.  Here are a couple of pictures of
Halloweens of long ago.  In the bottom photo, Chad is a Dallas
Cowboy, Jesse is Strawberry Shortcake and Scott is...
maybe a hippie?  I was dressed as a french waiter I think because
we were hosting a neighborhood bonfire.
In the top picture, Jesse is a clown.
And these were my Best Efforts!  One year poor Jesse
went as a ladybug (a black leotard with red felt spots)
 and Scott was a door to door salesman...
I'm not kidding.  I think Chad had given up on me.
Of course, there weren't many costumes for purchase then.
Everyone made their own costumes from stuff that
they had around the house.  So we had lots of
ghosts, witches, hobos and farmers.  And most
adults didn't dress up unless they were teachers(and just
a few of those) or some of the store clerks.  The only
Halloween tv show was "The Great Pumpkin" with
Charlie Brown.  There were very few decorations.
I guess Halloween is more entertaining now and
probably more fun....but I still don't quite get it.
I'm just glad I don't have to create any more costumes.