Thanksgiving and Leaves

 

For Family Night we made thankful turkeys who have feathers with things we're thankful for. Jacob really got into it and decorated his face as well. Michael took good care of the turkeys and when we had a fire in the fireplace he put them all right in front of it to keep them warm.

 

Michael and Jacob had Thanksgiving Feasts in preschool, which was interesting for me to try to attend both since Jim had patients. Michael's class sang several songs and it was wonderful to hear him singing and doing the movements, happy as can be. I feel like he is right where he needs to be for starting Kindergarten next year and his teacher spoke so highly of him.

 

His place setting was a pumpkin with his handprints for leaves and they had his picture as the sail of a pilgrim boat.

 

I raced over with Diana to Jacob's class as soon as I got Mike settled with some food and Jake's class was just starting their prayer song. Jake was darling, trying to sing the song while working his very hardest to keep his eyes shut.

 

He had a handprint turkey for a placemat and a cute turkey he'd colored. His teacher said she wishes her whole class was full of Jacobs he is so obedient and sweet. She said during chapel time they were singing "You are my sunshine" and he was just singing with all of his heart and so sweetly that it made her cry. Love my Jake Jake! I got him some food and went back to check on Michael.

 

Mike had discovered the desert table! I got Mike more food and had him say goodbye to his teachers and friends and took him and Diana into Jake's class so I could enjoy talking with both of them about their special day. They both felt so special! Michael drank 4 juice boxes, I think he loved that Mike from Monsters was on the front of the boxes.

 

When I let them pick a desert, Jake went straight for a "birthday" and picked out a chocolate one of course. He is my chocolate man!

 

 

Nicole's teacher sent us this cute picture of Nicole. They did some fun games but no big celebration (thank goodness because there was no way I could attend 3 parties!)

 

We had a "quiet" Thanksgiving this year with just our four bedlamites. The kid devoured the rolls, loved the turkey, discovered the joy of Jell-O, guzzled A&W and kept blowing out the special occasion candles. They were not fans of the potatoes and gravy, but if you know me I didn't mind a bit!

 

Our trees dumped a ton of their leaves so Jim brought the recycling trash can out back. While two of the kids helped Jim shovel leaves into it, another one would stomp the leaves down. They LOVED getting in the trash can.

 

When it was time to take the leaves to the street, they all got in for a "ride." This was the highlight of their week!

 

The day after Thanksgiving, we set up our Christmas decorations. This was the funnest year because we put D down for a nap and then all of the kids helped- the boys helped Jim with the outdoor lights and Nicole helped me with the indoor décor and the tree. Then they all came inside to put on the glass ornaments, all while we listened to Christmas music and got into the holiday spirit. The kids were thrilled to have scripture study that night in front of the Christmas tree! Diana's hair is growing out slowly and looks hilarious a lot of the time these days. I love her in this picture!

Baby Ultrasound, 75 lbs of Fudge and Other Fun

 

I'll start with the most exciting news first- we're having a baby GIRL!! She is very active already and the nurse couldn't get all of the pictures she wanted to (of course that could be since Mike, Jake and Diana were also in the room since Jim couldn't be there). I was amazed at how clearly you can see her and I love her cute little nose, looks like a Del Bianco to me :)

 

 

Diana is in the climbing stage. Climbing the outside of the stairs, any chair or table possible... any place high is her happy place, regardless of the heart attack it gives me. She also loves anything the big kids have or do, from Nicole's Barbie to Mike's bike helmet.

 

Tis the season! After testing the idea out last year, we're doing the full fudge factory this year for Jim's business. Here's the boxes all ready to go!

And the ingredients that over the next 4 weeks will turn out 75 lbs of fudge! I love, love, love making holiday goodies so it is awesome that I can make all of this stuff, can't eat a bit of it because of allergies, yet get a good deal of the holiday goodie craze out of my system. I could use a good taste tester though since my kids are bound to like anything with so much sugar in it!

 

I ordered the boxes and trays, created coordinating holiday cards and stickers, and got bows to top it off! Jim will have an opportunity to talk with his many referral sources, thanking them for their business as well as keep in touch with everyone. For me, I'm glad to be a part of helping Jim's business in such a fun way. Not to mention how amazing the house will smell...

 

Jim decided Jake should be the "family drummer" and was extolling his sense of rhythm to me until Jake came down with his toy drum and sang some tribal sounding song about ghosts and jingle bells.

Last BIG hurrah before #5

We took a mini-vacation to enjoy family time before I get humongous. We drove up to Greensboro to see their science center which is a museum/small zoo and also just opened an aquarium a few months ago. The "sciquarium" was the highlight of the place by far.

These cute little penguins had just been fed.

 

An otter observatory (the otters weren't there though!)

 

We got to watch a keeper feeding the turtle in a tank.

 

The kids favorite part was getting to touch the sting rays. Mike was SO patient and tried so hard to reach down to touch the rays you can see his sleeve PAST his elbow was wet. I had to hold on to him several times so he didn't take a swim.

 

Jake's little arm was just too short so Jim would lift him up so he could reach down. Jake finally got to touch one but wasn't too happy because Jim had accidentally dipped Jake's mouth in the water to get him low enough to reach! Jake was not too happy about that!

 

The shark tank! We got to watch two divers in the tank and hear all about the tank. The viewing panel is made of hard plastic instead of glass so the viewing was not distorted (in either direction!) and the sharks definitely liked making passes in front of the kids!

 

The museum was probably the least favorite for the kids, there were a few interesting exhibits, but the layout was a lot of small rooms with a few things in each. For example the "'Bone Room" sounded cool, but had a handful of skeletons displayed with very little about them and the kids walked right through the room without realizing they were missing an exhibit! So it was sometimes interesting, but not very engaging.

This was awesome- a two headed turtle named "Jim and I" (like Gemini which means twins)

There was also a few play areas for the kids which was cool, even if they didn't have much to do with science! We played here until a staff member asked us to get Diana off the table. If you know Diana, nothing short of removing the chairs from the room would stop her from getting back on. So we moved on.

 

Michael loved putting groceries away the most! He and Jake got as much as they could, only Nicole was selective in getting the tasty pretend food.

 

I really liked this alligator named Frank, it was cool to see a small gator looking right at you!

 

Huge lobster

 

The zoo was missing the tigers, meercats and big gators which was so sad! But the petting zoo totally made it worth it! The kids played with these goats and some sheep for a while.

 

Diana LOVED touching the goat!

 

They even had brushes so the kids could brush the goats. Jake made sure to go to each goat and give it one brush.

 

Some animal statues. The kids loved this outdoors stuff!

Nicole hiding in her turtle shell. Once again she is wearing all black hoping to be fast like a ninja :-)

 

Jake wrestling the alligator and Nicole trying to pretend she's getting eaten.

 

Mike was so proud of himself for spotting one of the wandering peacocks!

The lemurs were our favorite animals outside, we sat and watched them play for a long time. I think the reason so many animals were gone was due to the cold weather and they were also redoing some habitats. So the zoo was small, but there was plenty to see. The kids liked the wolves we saw, and it smelled like skunks over there bigtime. Apparently that is the smell of wolves marking their territory!

 

That night we stayed in a hotel with a pool, so we went swimming, had Chickfila for dinner and then watched a movie and had popcorn as a family. The hotel had breakfast the next day and the kids (and Jim and I) ate a lot of food. Mike had 5 servings of eggs alone, not to mention everything else he ate. (I have to insert that I got this hotel room with 2 queen beds for $62 including tax- wohoo!) I picked a hotel close to Mt Airy, where the Andy Griffith town of Mayberry was based on. Their ice cream shop Nicole loves was closed since it was before 11 but we visited this incredible sweet shop and each of us picked out an enormous and decadent dessert which cost us a total of $12. Incredible bakery at a great price!

Had to get a picture with Barn.

 

We drove from Mt. Airy to Pilot Mountain State Park. We had some incredible views of the fall foliage! We told the kids specifically not to throw anything over the edge or try to climb the fence, etc. Of course Mike had to grab a handful of dry dirt and try to throw it over, which happened to be directly in the face of the wind so us and everyone around us got a nice big faceful of dirt. We decided to retreat to the trails at that point. Michael really knows how to keep things lively!

 

 Here's everyone with their goodies. I love how Jacob chose the brownie titled "Death By Chocolate." So proud of my son :) Mike wanted the M&M brownie (because it has M&Ms and brownies- 2 in 1!!) and Nicole chose what was labeled a "big cookie" because who doesn't want a big cookie?

 

We climbed rocks and raced around since I didn't feel like hiking a lot. (We had a long drive and meeting ahead of us!)

Kings of the mountain!

 

We drove back home so we could be back in time for Stake Conference. For the adult session we brought the kids and had them in a room where we could hear the speakers. It was a wonderful session, we had two general authorities visiting to reorganize our stake. At one point I looked over and Nicole had put on my gloves on her feet. We told her she looked like a monkey and so she made the motions and sounds to go along with it. Silly girl.

The kids played with Legos while we listened and Diana ran around with the lego box on her head. It was amazing how quietly the kids played so we could listen and a great blessing to us.

Getting ready for conference this morning- they each got to pick out a hot wheels car at the toy story in Mt Airy so they have been playing with their beloved cars and racing them around everywhere. We had a wonderful time as a family with a bunch of small fun things together on our vacation that added up to some fun memories.

Whew!

 

We've had quite a busy week! Grandma Kathryn flew in from Utah and we took her to Pullen Park (what the boys call the "train park") They have an old refurbished train for the kids to explore along with several other playgrounds for different ages.

 

Just this week the fall colors have exploded everywhere, this is one of my favorite times of the year! The weather has been incredible. We had some cold days last week, but most days hit 70 this week and I love keeping the windows open all day.

 

 

The park has a several rides for a dollar. This is a restored carousel that is pretty old. Jake was holding on with all his might to the pole.

 

Michael kept saying "faster! giddyap! don't stop the ride!" as loud as he could. Funny kid. He also looked up at the gears working as the horses went up and down, trying to figure it out. He has such an interest in mechanical process.

 

On the train! I think the kids were grinning the WHOLE ride.

 

The boys loved digging in the sand and since it wasn't crowded (weekday) we could just sit and watch the kids play in the sand. Nicole was at school this day so it was just the boys and their tagalong D.

 

My Spidermen climbing the web!

 

Jake was very proud of himself for making it to the top!

 

The water misters were still on and Kathryn held the button so the kids could have continuous spray. What an awesome Grandma!

The ultimate web challenge was a big tougher for Mike, but he has enough upper body strength that when his feet dangled when he was too short, he could still pull himself up.

 

Jacob kept giving glares to the big boys who shook the web as they jumped off. He was just sure if they would stop shaking the rope he could make it!

 

For some reason these swings were the ones my boys went for. They were a LOT heavier to push than regular swings!

 

 

Kathryn made this pirate quilt for Michael and he loves it!

 

At a downtown seafood store "Earp's Seafood" Jim and Kathryn found tons of delicious seafood including soft shell blue claw crabs! Jim and Kathryn loved these crabs! However, I can't handle my food looking at me :)

 

Our ward had a trunk or treat the night before Halloween. When I put on this wig a few weeks ago to test it out, Nicole said "You look like Grandma!" it was pretty funny. The only downside of a wig is that a lot of people didn't recognize me and all of Nicole's friends thought I was some weird friendly person. :)

 

Here's our crew. Jim and the boys as the toy soldiers from Toy Story, Nicole as Batgirl and Diana as a spider. These pics aren't completely in order, but the next night the kids had a great time trick or treating. It was 70 degrees that night, SOOOO much better than some of the frigid rainy ones we've had. We trekked to our next door neighbors, down the street to some friends and back up that street to our house. Jake was exhausted at the end of this two block experience and the kids all loved looking at their candy. We let them eat whatever until we get home and settled. Then we let them save 4 pieces to eat the next day. After they'd picked their pieces we dumped the rest into the cauldron of candy we were passing out. Jim and I usually eat a lot of the kids candy so it felt great to get it out of the house!

 

We kept Nicole home from school on Halloween (figured the kids wouldn't be doing much anyways since the school doesn't do Halloween celebrations of any kind) and she took a trip to the Raleigh Farmers Market with Kathryn and Jim.

 

 

I asked her to take pictures and she took a lot! I was amazed at all they have at the market. Tons of flowers.

 

Pumpkins...

 

Squash...

 

I love the "House Divided" sign.

Nicole took pictures of gourmet chocolate for me. That's my girl!

 

They had tons of fruit-bearing trees for sale at great prices.

 

Some of the sellers have been there for five generations, pretty incredible.

 

And they made another stop at Earp's to buy this fish!

 

Nicole is almost done with level 2 bastien and is in love with this song. This is the first song where she really "gets it" and has told me she likes to play the piano. Such a great feeling! I am looking forward to her learning the last song in her book since it is an Ostler family favorite when we were learning.... "The Entertainer" by Scott Joplin.

 

The next day we went to the Museum of Natural Sciences. This is the same museum that had the Halloween stuff last Saturday. I got an email telling me that Diana had won first place and Jake had won second place in the "Creepy Crawly" category of their costume contest. We were pretty surprised and when we went today it turns out we got $20 for Diana and $15 for Jake to use in their gift shop. So I got to do some early Christmas present shopping, it was a great blessing! We only see about a third of the museum each time we go, but we always go to the huge dino exhibit where they have this big Acro dinosaur (looks like a T-Rex), and there are only 3 partial skeletons of this kind of dinosaur in the world, so it's pretty rare and cool to be able to see that. The boys watched this little video about how the Acro attacks a brontosaurus (also in this dino area)  3 times before I had to drag them away.

 

Today Jim and Kathryn went to the beach. I have a tough time with long distance driving while prego, so the kids and I kicked it at home. Well, sort of. We started the day at Home Depot nailing together ships and painting them as well as playing a game to get these whistles (note: never give children loud whistles if you want to be friends with their parents :) The kids were so patient waiting for me to help each of them and Nicole hardly needed any direction at all. Jake only hit my hand once :)  We love these free craft days and the kids love hammers and painting! I asked them what kind of ship they made, and apparently there is only one kind of ship- a PIRATE ship!

We went grocery shopping which is always an adventure with four and then drove over to the cultural arts center in our downtown to do their free kids crafts event and look at the art exhibits they had up. The kids made lots of drawings and a paper tissue flower- all based off the Mexican holiday Dia de los Muertos. Nicole got a Treehouse adventure book from Grandma that has ninjas in it and decided she wanted to wear all black today and see if it made her faster.

 

We came home and had lunch and I put D down for a nap. I was so grateful the kids were as exhausted from our morning as I was so I could rest while they watched "The Bugs Bunny Roadrunner Movie" which is their new favorite. Nothing quite as funny as Michael saying with just the right expression "Ehh... what's up doc?" My dad would have a good time laughing with the kids as they watch the movie.

 

What a week we've had! It gets crazier each year to do the whole Halloween thing- a quick dinner, cleanup and costume prep in time for the fun, then corralling the kids for an hour or two in time to come home, get sugar-high kids to bed and clean up the mess that all makes. To do it two days in a row was so fun but tiring. It was extra special to have Grandma here to celebrate the holiday with us, we're so glad she can be here!