Getting Ready

 It snowed just a little last night, so the kids were eager to get out into the snow.  Here's Cameron giving me a cheesy pose.

 Seconds later, here's Big Brother, armed with a snowball, about to ambush Little Brother. 

 After making a nice muddy pile at the back door, they were ready to decorate the tree!  I'm coming down with a cold, so it was nice to just open the box of decorations and let the kids go to work. 

 Cameron "helped" with some of the ornaments.  He's managed to break two already, too! 

Our tree is all decorated, thanks to the kiddos!

Thanksgiving

 This year Parker helped make the Chex mix.  There were a few, "Whoops!" moments as he measured, and the counter was quite messy, but he was proud.

 Kenzie saw a picture of Pumpkin Brownie Swirl Pie and wanted to make that, so she stirred and measured away yesterday.

This morning my friend Diane and I ran a 5K.  I had only done that once before in college.  I am a little sore now, but we made it! 

Dinner was at Torry and DianaLynn's this year.  Parker put the pretzels from the Chex mix he made to good use!

 A few goofy cousins at the corner table!

 Cameron was excited!  He ate a roll and drank some root beer, and then ran off to play!

 Kenzie wearing Camille's hot dog costume.

 Tatum, Parker, and Cameron playing blocks.

 Kenzie playing Carcassonne with her grandpa, uncle, and parents.  She almost won, too!

Zoo

 Today was a free day at the zoo.  This is our third year of going, and it's been worth the crowds to save quite a bit of money.  I thought this picture was funny.  Cameron didn't appreciate Kenzie holding him for a picture.  He wanted to climb on the seal by himself!

 Checking out the bears.  Daddy was a good sport to get up early, after working late the night before, to join us.

 My cute kiddos.  They enjoy the zoo.  Parker, as always, carried the map.  Kenzie was thrilled to see the barn owl.  Cameron loved everything, and even willingly got back in the stroller each time with the promise of seeing something new.

The best smile of the day from Parker came while riding the little train...

...I had to make a little video just for the expression on Parker's face!  Chris and I kind of felt like, "That was it?" when the short train ride ended, but Parker exclaimed, "That was wild!"  I got a kick out of that one.  I'm glad they were all so entertained by a small train ride around the zoo!  After this we headed home to start cooking for Thanksgiving!

Parker's Thanksgiving Program

 I loved this expression that Daddy captured!  Today Parker's second grade class held a little Thanksgiving program.  When Parker came in, I could see him scanning the crowd.  When he saw Mommy, Daddy, and Cameron there for him, he was all bashful and pleased.  It was so sweet.  

Here's a little video of the end of one of the poems they recited.  (It's the only video I can post right now, since the other files are too large and the program I use to re-size videos isn't working.)  They sang a few songs and then each kid stood and said what he or she was thankful for.  Parker stood up and quietly said he was thankful for his family.  We're pretty thankful for Parker in our family, too!

50 Years!

Thursday my cute in-laws celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary!  

 

 They have always given each other hedgehogs as a way to say, "I love you."  Apparently it started when they each had a little hedgehog pin, and they exchanged the pins.  I thought it would be cute to make hedgehogs for their cake.  After several failed attempts, my sweet husband took over and made the hedgehogs for me!  He even made 5 little ones to represent their kids.

Happy Anniversary Mom & Dad!

Panda Primary

Early this morning Cameron started coughing a croup-like cough, so since Daddy was working, the rest of us stayed home from church to keep the germs contained.  I expected Kenzie and Parker to be excited and to run off to watch a movie.  Instead, Parker said, "That's disappointing!" and then the two of them decided to set up "Panda Primary."  They lined all of Parker's stuffed pandas up along the couch, and then proceeded to teach them.  They held up pictures, read scriptures, said prayers, pretended the pandas were asking questions, and even read a lesson from the Friend magazine on choosing the right.

 

Cameron felt better already!  He was highly entertained, and sat right there holding a Book of Mormon.  I took these pictures because I thought they were so sweet.  We have good kids, and I'm pretty proud of them.

Trick or Treating

Here is right after they returned from trick-or-treating last night.  Parker immediately sorted all his candy.  Cameron, on the other hand, dumped out his bucket and got to work!  (In the picture, Cameron is pointing into his mouth to show us where the candy went!  He'd eaten three tootsie rolls in the time it took Parker to carefully categorize his candy!)  They all loved trick-or-treating.  At the very first house, Cameron ran to me, scared.  I said, "They have candy!"  He immediately said, "Okay!" and ran back to the door with his bucket.  After that, his little legs were going double time to keep up with Kenzie and Parker!  It was pretty cute to see his excitement.  All in all, a successful Halloween!