while watching "The Polar Express".
And decorating a gingerbread sleigh with rock hard frosting,
then eating the decorations right away,
and doing it all with someone you love!
Dear Santa-
My dear sweet daughter... I love her to pieces! She always knows exactly what she wants, and when she makes her mind up about something she doesn't change it. We explained to her that she can only ask Santa for one thing because he has lots of boys and girls to make presents for. She thought long and hard on this. She looked through every toy magazine and browsed the stores, and she finally decided on a binki and bottle for her baby. I told her it would be okay to ask for a new baby with a binki and bottle and maybe even one that talks.... no way! She doesn't want a new baby because she loves her baby Crystann (named after the little girl next door). 
Brad's sister Lisa got married December 2nd, and it has taken me this long to post the pictures. It was fun day, and Brad and I are very grateful we were able to be apart of the whole thing. Thank you to all of you who helped out with the kids. I have the best mom in the world- she ended up having to take the entire day off work to watch Tanner and my neighbors taxied Ashlyn around all day so she could still go to school. In the meantime Brad and I got all dressed up and were able to enjoy the ceremony, visiting with family and friends, and then had a yummy lunch at the Lion House. Ashlyn couldn't wait for the reception... the wedding party that kids were finally invited to! Here are a few pictures of the day.
Lisa with the little kids. 
The beautiful bride with Ashlyn and Tanner.
Brad and me 
Dancing with my handsome little dude!
Lisa dancing with Kelsey and Ashlyn running circles around them.
Brad and I tearing it up on the dance floor!
Our little ballerina.
Our little family.
Tanner, Kelsey and Ashlyn
Did you know you can leave your carrots in the ground through the winter and they stay nice and fresh? It is kind of fun to go dig out a carrot in the snow! It is also nice to have something in the garden last because everything else seems to harvest at the same time and I always wish I could spread it out over the year.
The kids favorite place to play now is in the garden... a huge mud fest! This is Ashlyn and her best friend Afton after they dug a carrot up themselves while playing in the garden. They were so proud of themselves. 
I washed the dirt off for the picture to show how big the carrot was and never dreamed they planned on eating it. They just dug right it.
I convinced them to let me peel it, and then I just cut it down the middle. Afton didn't care for it much, but Ashlyn is a little rabbit. She worked on her carrot all afternoon. Her faced was stained orange from eating it. 
As much as I wish for snow for the season, I have loved the mild weather this past month. I never thought the kids would still be playing outside the end of November and into December (without snow gear). It is kind of nice!
I was thinking today about the significance of Veterans Day, and how lucky we are to live in a country where people are willing to give their life to make others lives better. With everything that has gone on lately with the election and the financial turmoil, we still have life so much better than so many others. I think we have the veterans of our country to thank for that.
I was also thinking how sad it is that people know so little about the veterans of our country and the things they have been through. For some it is just a day that the mail doesn't come or a day for a "big sale" so I thought maybe some of you would like a little history lesson on how Veterans Day came to be.
In November 1919, President Wilson proclaimed November 11 as the first commemoration of Armistice Day with the following words: "To us in America, the reflections of Armistice Day will be filled with solemn pride in the heroism of thosewho died in the country’s service and with gratitude for the victory, both because of the thing from which it has freed us and because of the opportunity it has given America to show her sympathy with peace and justice in the councils of the nations…"
An Act (52 Stat. 351; 5 U. S. Code, Sec. 87a) approved May 13, 1938, made the 11th of November in each year a legal holiday - - a day to be dedicated to the cause of world peace and to be thereafter celebrated and known as "Armistice Day." Armistice Day was primarily a day set aside to honor veterans of World War I, but in 1954, after World War II had required the greatest mobilization of soldiers, sailors, Marines and airmen in the Nation’s history; after American forces had fought aggression in Korea, the 83rd Congress, at the urging of the veterans service organizations, amended the Act of 1938 by striking out the word "Armistice" and inserting in its place the word "Veterans." With the approval of this legislation (Public Law 380) on June 1, 1954, November 11th became a day to honor American veterans of all wars.
So to all the veterans out there (especially my dad) I honor you today. Happy Veterans Day.
I always intended when I started our blog to make it private, and then never got around to doing it. But now is the time. In the next week I will make our blog private. Those of you I know that check out our blog from time to time I'll send you an invite. Anyone else that might peek in every once in awhile, but don't leave comments (I'm one of those people) leave me a comment and I'll send you an invite also.
We had a great October and were able to do lots of fun things. Here are a few...
We went trick-or-treating with the little neighbor girl Crystann. We got the wagon to pull the two little kids around, and it ended up the two little ones pulling Ashlyn around.
Look at those cool wings! 
Ashlyn, Crystann, and Tanner after a long, hard night of trick-or-treating.
For family night right before Halloween we painted pumpkins. It was nice it was so warm that we could do it outside in shorts.
Once we got the carving tools out Tanner was right on that. He would have nothing to do with a paint brush after that. I don't know what it is about guys and their tools.
We also made Halloween sugar cookies...yummy!
And that is the end of our Halloween fun!
This was a last minute idea after church on Sunday so we weren't really prepared with your typical picnic food. Here I am with our smorgasboard meal. Quesadillas with very little cheddar cheese (we were running low) so I supplemented with string cheese, deli turkey, gogurts, and apples! What a meal!
Tanner loving the fact that I gave him an entire apple to himself and didn't cut it up for him to share with his sister.
Loving our apples. Ashlyn loves telling her friends when they are over eating the apples with her that they are from her Grandma and Grandpa's tree.
Ashlyn loved taking us exploring and playing follow the leader. She would also let us know when we needed to hide from pretend skunks. She knows that skunks live in the bushes so she is skeptical of going near any bush that looks suspicious. 
The un-even ground posed a little bit of a challenge to Tanner at first, but he quickly got the hang of it!
We made the mistake of stopping to see the Lake. Brad literally had to hold Tanner's upperbody so he didn't go in head first and his lowerbody so he didn't just walk into the Lake. Needless to say we only stayed at the Lake for 2 min.
Ashlyn asks every Tues. night when I leave for young women's if she can come with me. It is torture for her to know I am with all her favorite babysitters doing fun things and she can't be there. This last week we finally had an activity that she could come too. All the girls brought a little sister or friend with them to make candy haunted houses. Ashlyn was in heaven. She looked forward to it all day.
The YW playing duck-duck- goose with the girls. They were such good sports!
Ashlyn also got to go to the Firestation with her preschool class. 
Her whole class. (They weren't too happy to take the picture because they were looking right into the sun.)
The last fieldtrip Ashlyn had to the Dinosaur Museum I wasn't able to go, and she was so distraught about it afterward. She kept asking me why other kids mom's were there and why I wasn't. So I made sure I made this fieldtrip. She was so funny though because she didn't want to leave my side the entire time. Her teacher was laughing because this was so out of character for Ashlyn. I guess I should take it while I can that she wants to be seen with her mom when she's with her friends. I know the day will come too soon that she'll hope I don't come on the fieldtrips or anything she is doing with friends. Every October I get together with two of my lifelong friends, Alex and Carly, to take our kids to see the witches at Gardner Village. This year we just happened to go on the COLDEST day of the year. I was so cold I didn't really want to stop and take the time to take pictures!
Cute little Tanner. He loved being out of the stroller and free to wander. The only problem is he kept running off and would run into different stores that had their doors open. I need a leash for this kid! 
All the cute little girls. 
The girls favorite upside down witch. They think this witch is so silly and will just giggle the whole time they look at her.
If you know Brad, then you know he is happiest when he has a project going. His latest project has been building a shed in the backyard so we can have a clean "non-cluttered" garage. When he started building the shed I asked him if he knew what he was doing. He said of coarse. I asked him if he'd ever built one before, he said no. This is what is amazing to me. He didn't buy a kit with directions or anything. He just made his own plans and built the thing (with his dad's help). This is something that always amazes me about him. He loves to figure things out, and he always figures them out to perfection.
Tanner helping get the first wall up. Tanner is obsessed with Brad's tools. He loves to help out with any project that involves tools. 
I remember awhile back I was complaining to my dad about Tanner being such a mama's boy. And my dad just laughed and said enjoy it while it lasts because pretty soon he is going to want to be with his dad all the time working and doing projects. I see Tanner doing just that. He seems to prefer Brad over me a lot more lately, and while it is nice to have a little space, it is also a little sad. 
