Thanksgiving in New Mexico

Jeremy and Trisha just moved from Michigan to New Mexico. So we made the drive out to their new house to spend Thanksgiving with their family.

The weather was so nice Thanksgiving morning that we went to the park and played while the turkey was cooking.

Then it was off to the kitchen to finish getting everything ready. Jeremy cooked a yummy turkey, Scott and Geri were in charge of the potatoes, I made some yummy homemade rolls and Trish made some tasty pies. We were sufficiently stuffed.

The next morning we went to Bandelier National Monument and went for a hike around the cliff dwellings.

The whole gang

The kids had so much fun climbing up the ladders into the little cave dwellings.

Josh was a champion little hiking buddy.

Emily and Annie had fun making piles of leaves and grass to jump into.

At the end of the hike there’s 3 or 4 really tall ladders that you have to climb up. This can be a bit unnerving when you are hiking with little ones. One slip and you are gone. Allie and Josh were in the Kelty packs which made it nice so we didn’t have to worry about them. Emily was a champion and did great, of course there was always someone holding on to her tightly as she made her way up and down.

Crampa and Lily making their way up the ladders.

We had a great time down in New Mexico full of good food, game playing til the wee hours of the morning, hiking and spending time with family. I am thankful for our great family and for the good times that we had with them this week.

Smarty Pants

Emily gets homework in preschool every Thusday. About 1.5 months ago she had a DVD to watch. The DVD was one that taught a few sight words that kids learn in kindergarten and 1st grade. Oh man, the movie was dreadful. The word would pop up on the tv screen and then the word was repeated 100 times over the next 30 seconds, okay maybe not that many times. The word would be written in normal type and then it would be changed into some sort of cartoon. For example the word MY would be a whale. Anyway, Allie sat down and watched the video with Emily. After it went through once Allie started saying the word as soon as it showed up on the screen before they even said it. I thought it was just a freak thing. About a week later I wrote some of the words down on a piece of paper and asked her what they said. She got them right. I wrote words that were similar to the words that she knew to see if she would say the wrong word, she didn't she just told me that she didn't know that word.

I finally took the time to record her reading (recognizing) these words. There are a few more words that she knows but these are the only ones that I had flash cards for.

As you can tell she still has the normal 2 year old attention span and can't sit still for very long. She is such a smart little girl.

Josh 4 Months Old

It is hard to believe that my little guy is 4 months old already. He is such a happy little guy.

He loves playing with his toes, chewing on his fingers and playing with his toys. He loves playing peek-a-boo especially with his sisters.

He went in for his 4 month checkup and everything looks good. Here are his measurements

Weight: 13lbs 15 oz- 28%

Length: 25.6 inches- 73%

I Am A Child Of God by Allie

As we were having FHE tonight Allie started singing "I am a Child of God". I love to hear the girls sing their primary songs but apparently Allie thought the words of this song needed to be changed. Here's how her version goes.

I am a Child of God
And He has sent me here.
Has given me an earthly home,
With parents kind and dear  KIND OF SCARED!

SERIOUSLY?!? Tyler and I were laughing so hard.

Halloween 2009

Emily and Allie LOVE LOVE LOVE Dr. Seuss books. They really like The Cat in the Hat. So we decided to have a Cat in the Hat themed Halloween this year. I looked at costumes online and it was going to cost about $80-90 to do costumes for all 3 kiddos. I felt like that was a lot of money for one night and didn't think it would be too hard to make their costumes for a lot less. So I gave it a go.

Emily and Allie were Thing 1 and Thing 2.

Joshua was The Cat In The Hat.

I think that their costumes all turned out great and I spent $15 instead of $90. Wahoo.

One last photo op before heading out for a night of fun.

Tyler was gone out of town for work so it was me and the kiddos. The girls were so good and held hands as they walked down the sidewalk. It made it nice and easy to keep track of them.

The Cat In The Hat looking on as Thing 1 and Thing 2 go up to a door to get some more candy.

Me and Josh out Trick-or-Treating.

The loot. Emily and Allie got so much candy.

Emily and Allie loved their costumes. They loved walking down the sidewalk and having kids yell out "Look, Mom, it's Thing 1 and Thing 2". It was fun. Joshua was a champ the whole time and didn't even fuss. We had a great night.