oh Christmas tree, oh Christmas tree

Warning: 

potential blackmail pictures

 We put up our Christmas tree today & got to use the new tree skirt from Grandma Nala. The boys thought it made an excellent skirt to twirl in (who would've guessed that boys like to twirl too? I sure wouldn't have!)

We decorated the tree with hand me down decorations from their great-great grandma (Grandma P) & great grandma (Grandma J) mixed in with a few of our own creations.

Thanksgiving Highlights

#1. FAMILY!

We held Thanksgiving at our house this year, with Randy & Keri and Cedric & Kelsey. We played lots of games & had a great time. Then we headed up to spend a day in Driggs with Jarrod, Shelly & Grams. It was a nice holiday...so good to see the family!!

Drew, Grams, Jake, Lander, Jayden & Ava, decorating the Christmas tree in Driggs

Disc Golf with Jarrod

Josh & Jarrod at disc golf course

Josh throwing a disc

Laser Tag

I think a tradition has been started....let other people shop on Black Friday. We'll go play instead.

Josh, Dixie, Randy, Keri, Cedric, Kelsey

Superhero Nerf Battles

 a Thanksgiving highlight--the cousins playing superhero Nerf battles. It looks like Lander lost.

(Lander, Sydney & Jenna)

Game Time

Keri, Randy, Kelsey, Cedric, Dixie & Sydney enjoying games on Thanksgiving day

Lander's (almost) stitches

Got a phone call from the school today saying Lander fell down at recess and cracked open his head. Went to the school and was so relieved to see that although the cut is pretty deep ("It goes almost to my brain mom! Do I have to go to the hospital? I don't want to go to the hospital!!!--Lander), it was pretty small. It would've only taken 2-3 stitches.

Whew! We really lucked out on that one. A little super glue & a steri strip & we were done. No stitches. No hospital. I'm so glad I'm a nurse!

Lander felt that he should have his head wrapped so that it can heal better. Of course it will heal better. How could it not??

Carrots of UNUSUAL Size

We have started picking carrots from the garden, and this is what we are finding, freakishly large carrots of unusual size. Not quite sure what happened here, but were wondering if we could do the same thing with our pumpkins next year...

Raking Leaves

We all went to Driggs last weekend to take care of the leaves. And wow, were there a few! Lander raked a big pile for the boys to jump into. Jake & Lander are standing in the tree house getting ready to jump.

 

Expecto Patronum

Jake lived out his innermost dreams as Harry Potter for a school project last month. He put together a book report and this 3D map (with a lot of help from Mom & Dad) for the book Harry Potter and the Order of the Pheonix. He read the 800+ page book during the first 6 weeks of school but, like any procrastinator, he had more than 400 pages to read the last week alone, the week that we were in California. So every day we would be off to play & then Jake would have to spend a couple of hours reading at bedtime. It was a race to the end, and Jake finished reading the book at 11:30 pm the night before the assignment was due. Whew!

Jake wasn't the only one to learn something with this assignment. As his mom & dad, we learned a couple of invaluable parenting lessons:

(1) nagging actually does work!

(2) make sure kids pick a smaller--much smaller--book next time so that parents won't have to nag!

ground view of Hogwarts with Quidditch field and forest

Jake, casting yet another mean spell on his little brother (kidding, only kidding) before leaving for school in costume. His wooden wand was made by one of his good friends, Thomas R.