Happy Thanksgiving

On Wednesday after the zoo, Kenzers helped me make pies.  (We wound up making 7 total!)  She got a little carried away crushing the Oreos with the rolling pin.

Kenzie decorated the Oreo pie and was quite proud of how it turned out.  She did a lot of mixing and stirring and was eager to help, which was fun.

Thanksgiving, Round One, Caroline's house.  Parker had thirds!

Cameron didn't believe he was in the first picture, so he insisted I take one of just him.  He ate a bunch of olives and pickles, some rolls, Chex mix, and about two bites of turkey.  

An entire table covered in pies and also some sweet potato tarts, too.  

Thanksgiving dinner, Round Two.  Today we cooked our own turkey dinner because we love to eat the leftovers all weekend.

Parker made the Hollandaise sauce this year, and also meticulously brushed the rolls with butter.  He took full credit for the rolls because of that contribution, too, which was funny.  "These rolls sure are buttered to perfection!" was heard during dinner multiple times (from Parker!).

 Cameron was so excited for another night of pie.  He had chocolate pudding pie all over his face, neck, shirt, hands, the tablecloth, his pants, etc.  He was quite content. 

Zoo

Today the kiddos were off of school for Thanksgiving, so we headed to the zoo.  I personally love to go see the animals, so I'm glad they also are excited to go.  The Hogle Zoo is small enough that we can see everything in around two hours, which is about as long as the kids are willing to walk around anyways.

Parker checking out the bat-eared foxes.

McKenzie with the burrowing owl, who was being true to his name there in the sand.

Cameron liked the lions.  He had a great time, and waved and said hello to all the animals. 

 Mom and Parker with the elephants.

 This leopard was pacing back and forth.  When I went to take this picture, it stood still, and then resumed pacing again after we took the picture.  The timing was pretty funny, and the kids figured he stopped for his photo.

 They always like to take a picture with this seal statue.  

 Watching the sea lion swim by.  

Cameron was very amused by the polar bear, who was bobbing under the water for something and kept leaving his bum up above the water when doing so.  It was the funniest thing ever according to our 5 year old.

 

Speaking of funny, this wound up being everyone's favorite thing we saw - as we rode by on the train, we could see the lions sprawled out enjoying the sunshine (it really was a nice morning, and we left our coats in the car).

After the train, we headed towards home for lunch and to start making pies!  

Pinewood Derby

 

Wednesday Parker got to race his car in his first Pinewood Derby.  He was really excited.  Of course Chris had to do a lot of the work, but Parker did help with sanding, spray painted it gold and worked hard on applying some decals.

Daddy and Parker adding last minute weights to the car.  Parker was very concerned about his car not qualifying for any given reason, and he cheered just to realize he could race.  

A short clip of one of Parker's races (Parker and his car are on the right).  All the cars raced once in each lane, and the times were all kept on the computer. Parker won all three of his races, which made him happy enough.  He actually got 4th place overall (which was pretty impressive, considering there were a lot of boys to compete against and poor Chris was putting the wheels on after work so we could hurry up and get to the church to race the thing!).  Parker proudly hung his little certificate on his bedroom wall and said he had a great time.

Trick or Treat

Halloween always starts with a parade over at the elementary school.  It was a little weird to not see Kenzie go by this year, though!  Cameron had a big smile on his face to walk by.

Parker the robber with his money bag.

Kenzie told me some kids still dressed up at the middle school.  She still wanted to, so she wore her fox tail and ears all day.  Then she went trick-or-treating with her friends in the neighborhood.  

Officer Cameron was still happy to trick-or-treat with Mom and Parker, however.  Each time people asked if he was going to arrest Parker, he would take off his hat and say, "I'm just Cameron!"  

Parker thought it was funny to use the money bag for his candy instead of the pumpkin buckets.

The robber and the cop together.  We thought these costumes were funny because it's the opposite of their relationship sometimes.  Parker likes the rules.

Cameron cracked me up posing for some pictures before we headed out.  I didn't ask him to pose or anything, but the sunglasses inspired him to lean against the wall and be cool, I guess.

I texted this picture to several of our family members.  They all got such a kick out of Cameron.  He is one of the silliest kids!

Parker told me this morning, "I had a lot of fun on Halloween."  I'm glad another year was a success!