Our Weekend

Diana has found her feet! She is constantly trying to get them to her mouth!

At the ward Christmas party, Nicole sang Away in a Manger with six other girls that are kindergartners. She took a picture of herself in costume before everything started...

Here are my kids all seated so obediently...because they each have a plate loaded with treats! Jake went for everything chocolate. That's my boy!

Mike and Nicole had back to back games on Saturday so they got to cheer each other on. I told them to take pictures and I got lots of blurry photos but it kept them busy :) This is Michael's team (he's in the orange shorts) as I get them ready to practice shooting. In his game, Michael got some rebounds and even tried shooting the ball! In her game, Nicole made a basket for the first time and has really learned how to do defense a lot better. Her long arms and legs help her do a great job!

Here's another bright smile from our little sunshine. 6 months old already!

Nicole also played a duet of Jingle Bells at the party- she on piano and her friend on the guitar. I didn't get a spot where you can hear the guitar from the speakers, but I figure it's good enough. Nicole was SO nervous and when they did a run through she was petrified. But for the real thing, she did great! Watch her on the blog http://delbifamily.blogspot.com

The Joys of the Written Word

Nicole has never asked for a gift for bdays or Christmas before. But she's seen this pillow pet over the last 6 months and every time we go to Walmart she runs to that aisle and holds it for a minute. When I showed her how much it cost, she got all teary-eyed (despite the fact that I was about to say we could probably get it for her) and said she would ask Santa since it cost a whole twenty dollars. So here is Nicole's letter to Santa. She is such a cute, sweet girl.

 

Then at school in her journal, I can tell she is anticipating Christmas so much it is like she already has the pillow pet! "I love my pillow pet because it is squishy!!!!" Note that the coloring on the pillow pet matches exactly to the real thing, even down to the pink tail.

In class they've been talking about "why" so Nicole wrote a very deep insight into why she loves rainbows. "I like rainbows because I love em."

 

Nicole made a gingerbread house at Kindergarten and the kids have enjoyed eating it bit by bit. Hansel and Gretel have nothing on the sweet tooth kids in our house!

Thanksgiving in North Carolina

 

The month has flown! Fall is an incredible time here, the fall foliage is so beautiful! Raking is a different story, but this year I had the help of Michael!! We spent a few hours raking last week and he stuck with me the whole time- helping rake, pulling the tarp of leaves to the street with me, putting the rakes away. He can really buckle down and get a job done!

 

 

Nicole and her friend Bianca

 

 

Nicole with her hat from her Thanksgiving Feast at Kindergarten.

 

 

Joe, Megan, Addie drove down from Ohio for Thanksgiving and Daniel flew in from the Y. The men went fishing one morning at a friend's pond and they all caught some fish!

 Daniel edited this photo, I love the coloring. Their pond is so beautiful, it's the same spot as where I caught a fish too. (my one and only fish I've caught in NC)

 

Michael loves to take pictures. Poor Diana is the star of the show!

 

 

Daniel was a favorite wrestle/jungle gym! All of the kids really love Daniel. We've prayed for him on his mission, watched his "shipwrecked" movie, and talked about him for two years and they were so happy to see him! Nicole especially loved tickling Daniel.

 

 

Tday morning the men played football and the kids played in the grass. I had them run across the field and back to work out some energy and then they used the soccer nets to make a train. Michael drove the train and Nicole shoveled coal. We're talking serious fun :)

Michael wanted Addie to join him in everything he did prettymuch the whole weekend. He was so sweet with her and keeps asking me if she can come play.

Walking over to play football...

Before our Tday feast, the kids played in the leaves (even though I'd raked them just the day before, a whole new bunch of leaves were already covering the ground!)

We are so thankful for family and the gift it was to have Daniel, Joe, Megan, and Addie be with us. Daniel made some amazing green bean casserole and stuffing, Megan and Joe made some tasty rolls that didn't last until the next day they were so good, Joe baked the turkey and did gravy, I defrosted the punch (hard manual labor there!), and I think Joe and Jim did potatoes- the kitchen was getting a little crazy then. It was a delicious dinner and we topped it off with pies for dessert. Jim got his cherry pie, and we had pumpkin and lemon meringue too.

Working off the stuffing by wrestling the stuffing out of each other. Jake is usually the instigator, but Michael will happily wrestle with his small fry brother!

Diana all tired out from her first Thanksgiving. I love this sweet cuddy girl. She gained 2 1/2 pounds this last month and has jumped right back on the growth curve. Hooray!

The day after Thanksgiving everyone went to the beach (I stayed home with Nicole and Diana who were napping). The lake beach, not ocean. But the kids didn't know the difference and a plus was that the adults took turns kayaking!

The water was chilly, but I knew there was not a chance that Michael wouldn't get absolutely soaked.

 

 Hiding behind the couch playing with Addie!

Oh it was Joe and Jim peeling. And now we know.

Daniel starting the green bean casserole. It was a new recipe, and he did a great job!

Taking pics of the dinner before it disappears in 20 minutes.

Addie is really growing up and she totally fit in with the other kids. She is really sweet and communicates very well for her age. I kept thinking she was the same age as Jake since they're like the same size too :)

Chillin' on the porch.

 

After the kids went to bed, we played Yahtzee and had so much fun. Joe and Megan smashed the rest of us! We watched the BYU vs UNC womens final 8 soccer game. While the guys rooted for BYU, I rooted for UNC just for fun and it about drove them crazy :) The game was really good and could have easily gone either way, UNC had this incredible save. My favorite part was when they announced they would have two 10 minutes periods of sudden death. And someone said "So how long is sudden death anyways?" hehe.

 

Daniel got the "lucky" seat in back whenever we were driving and my kids couldn't be happier about it!

Jake studying black friday ads. I was thrilled that Kohls black friday stuff was available on Wednesday, so I was able to get everything on Wednesday by using gift cards we earned through credit card points. It made the weekend so much easier to not face any crowds!

Playing in the backyard! Looks like Addie was testing out the climbing dome.

 

On Tday, we skyped with Mom and Dad and played games together for a while. This game has an elephant that shoots "bugs" out of his nose and the kids try to catch them with their nets. They were going wild!

 

When everyone left Saturday morning, Jim and I started putting Christmas lights up. The kids dragged all of their blankets out front and waved at people driving by.

 

The weather was so nice and they had fun relaxing. I think they just wanted to see if Joe and Megan were going to drive back. :)

Day at a Farm and "The Magic of a Moment"

Over the summer at the beach we met a lady staying there with her grandkid and family. She invited us to this free festival they and their friends in the area put on at their farm for friends and family. They all pitch in, helping the kids with pony rides, bringing AMAZING desserts to go along with the Carolina barbecue, and other fun that you'll see. The kids loved the cow train and rode at least three times!

Nicole was so tall that she went straight through the hay maze without taking a wrong turn!

Jake got a toy water gun out of their prize bin and wouldn't let go!

Climbing piles of hay...

The kids rode ponies for the first time! All of the families were so kind and some of the kids were helping on the pony rides. Jake just enjoyed sitting still on his pony.

Mike was thrilled, grinning ear to ear. He was also stiff as a board and kept slowly tipping to one side and the lady helping had to push him upright.

Nicole was loving her ride! She couldn't figure out how to get on and swing her leg all of the way over, but she'll get it :)

The kids and I kept making sheep sounds to lure the sheep over for a pet, but apparently my "baa" was not authentic enough to get more than a strange look from the sheep. Jim and I decided we want our kids to have pet sheep someday. Not sure how, but we want to have that happen.

The kids got some feed for the donkeys and they sure liked eating it! Jake fed the donkeys the food piece by piece, enjoying all of the attention.

Then we took a ride on one of the wagons they had running out to the fields. Our cowboy looked just like Santa :)

We got into the wagon and as we rode into the fields we got to meet some new friends and everyone knew each other and usually related somehow. Jim and I enjoyed being a part of a big southern family for the day.

They had these huge draft horses brought out to till the land and give the demonstration on how things were done long ago. These horses were as tall as we were even as we sat in the wagon. Pictures don't do justice to how beautiful and magnificent they were.

Sitting behind those horses had to be one dusty job!

 

Some of the girls were riding their horses around in the corn fields.

 

More beautiful horses!

The cow train...again :)

There was a big "do not pet" on this stall. Wonder why? :)

 

We took this  pic of one end of the area set up with tables and food. Hundreds of people were served the barbecue and desserts. There were tables full of the most amazing dessert collection I have ever seen. I could have spent all day just sampling the amazing cake, pie, cookies, brownies... Local musicians entertained with bluegrass and folk music and some square dancers even performed. We had such a fun time!

 

Nicole is all into "bff"s right now. She made this card for me at church telling me I was her BFF. I put it on my mirror as one of my sweetest treasures.

Here's the final product of Nicole's entry. The theme of the competition is The Magic of a Moment, so for Nicole in her mind there is no magical moment to compare with being able to pet a unicorn (she is convinced they exist).