The Christmas Tree

We put up the Christmas tree this afternoon. The kids get so excited to see all of the ornaments and to see the tree. It is starting to feel like Christmas we are all getting excited for all of the fun that comes with this time of year.

The big announcement

The other reason that we have been looking forward to Thanksgiving so much was because we were going to surprise my parents with the big announcement, which is that I am 18 weeks pregnant. The plan was to go to Thanksgiving dinner and see if anyone would notice or be brave enough to ask me. The surprise didn't quite make it until Thanksgiving my Dad was talking to Nicole the other day on the phone and she told him that her Mom had a baby in her tummy. The kids have been very excited about the whole thing so I guess she was excited to tell somebody. When I was about 10 weeks pregnant I decided that I wanted to tell the twins I wanted to tell them when the older kids weren't here because I wanted to see their reaction and I wasn't sure if I wanted to tell the older kids yet because I was afraid that they would tell everyone. When I told the twins they were so funny to watch they just stared at my belly and then later in the day Katie came over and started poking it you could tell that they were very intrigued with the idea that there could be a baby in my tummy. About a week later we were sitting around the living room and one of the twins I don't remember which one came in and said Mom do you still have that baby in your tummy. The older kids just looked at me so I told them, they were really excited as well, Kyle is sure that it is a boy. I should have an ultrasound soon to find out if it is a boy or girl we are all really excited to add a new member to the family.

Thanksgiving

We headed to my parents house Thursday morning. We have all been excited for the vacation and seeing everyone and all the good food. Leah and Joe and Naomi were there also and my Grandma and Grandpa were there for dinner as well as Daniel. The dinner was wonderful of course. The food was great and we enjoyed the company. After dinner My Grandpa brought in some games for everyone to play and passed out toys to the kids. The game was called feed the Hippo and he had made a wooden hippo mouth and the kids threw pieces of foam into the mouth. It was fun even all the men had fun trying it.My kids loved it the toys were so much fun and it is so neat that they have a toy that their Great Grandpa made for the them. He also brought a big box of blocks and it was fun watching him play with them with the kids. I think it is really neat that the are able to know their great Grandparents. We also had some wonderful pie and once we finally got the kids in bed the adults had fun playing games and talking. It was a really nice day. Friday morning the kids and Grandma and Grandpa went and cut down a Christmas tree, I think that they all enjoyed that experience we don't get to do that here we just have a fake tree. That night Leah and Joe took Marc and I to the movies we had a nice time. It was a really fun time with family and a nice time to reflect on all that we have to be thankful for.

Pre Thanksgiving

The week before Thanksgiving we spent talking about Thanksgiving and why we celebrate and we talked about the things that we are thankful for. I also got to go to a Thanksgiving feast in Haileys class she was so excited about it all week. It was a lot of fun we got to meet some of her friends and the class sang some of the songs that they have been learning. Also that week I finally finished my quilt that I have been working on it turned out really nice and it looks really good on our bed.

Parent Teacher Conferences

The week before Thanksgiving I had parent teacher conferences with Kyle and Haileys teachers. It was fun going and getting to know their teachers better and hearing about how the kids are doing. They are both doing really well. Haileys teacher says she is just a sweetheart and that she is always impressed with how she gets her work done really quickly. Kyles teacher says she really enjoys him and is always amazed with his vocabulary and with what a good reader he is. She says she loves hearing him read out loud because he reads with so much feeling and she says that is really rare for a kid that age especially a boy. I am so proud of both of them they are doing so well and they love school.

Playing in the leaves

My kids look forward to playing the leaves every fall. We usually go to Marcs parents house sometime in October and play but we didnt make it this year until Saturday. It was a little to late the leaves were pretty dry and it was too cold outside. I think that they still had fun but we didnt play for very long, next year we will have to make sure that we go sooner. The battery in my camera died after just a couple of pictures so I only got a few.

The Finished shed

Marc finally got his shed that he has been building all the way done. It turned out really nice. He is very happy with it, and I think it was a fun project for him.
Joe and Steve, Thanks for your help. -Marc

kyle the Cub Scout

We finally got Kyle a scout shirt. I had to take a picture, he looks really nice in it. He seems to really enjoy scouting I think it will be a fun thing for him to do.