Thanksgiving Weekend

We had a great Thanksgiving with friends, we have SO much to be thankful for! Our long weekend was spent pulling down our Christmas decorations, and making a super messy gingerbread house. Good times!





This photo is for you Grandpa!  We miss you!

QUESTION: Why don't my old jeans still fit me???
ANSWER: SEE BELOW! Yes this is what it looks like,, French Fries, covered in cheese "nacho style", then bacon bits, and hot peppers, Oh yeah, and Ranch Dressing... YUMMY!!!! We made a huge tray of this cardio nightmare on Saturday. Marc, Collin, and I were in our glutenous bliss. So sad, we had to eat them all ourselves because the little ones don't like hot peppers.


What little girl could resist bright pink cowboy boots. Kobi is going to have a hard time parting with these, Mina is looking forward to the "hand me down"
My little helpers, as always the little kids can't resist any chance to "HELP" ( I keep saying we need to redefine that word around here) anyhow Mina is NO exception.. The kids love this job, they each take turns, I think it takes them half an hour to "spin" the salad, we have very clean very dry salad around here. Not a bad thing?

The Purpose and the process of Christmas?

Something else I am thankful about with this bummer economy, my newfound clarity of what the holidays are all about. The purpose and the process, not the presents.... UMMMM question is , how do I pass on my new found clarity to 4 kiddos??? We have tons of holiday traditions, some of which I admit I do rush through, well not this year. I am going to savour making a Messy Gingerbread house, cutting down our Christmas tree, baking cookies and all that jazz... But anyone got any other ideas, how to get the kids on board so when I ask them, "Hey Kids, What is your favorite part about Christmas?" That their response in unison isn't "PRESENTS", screamed at the top of their collective lungs...
Any suggestions?????

Things to be Thankful for!!!

Today, I am thankful for many things, One of which is ..... Filling up my gas tank for $1.89 / gallon

The ranting that goes on in my head usually... I don't know why I feel the need to share it today..

Could it be true. I, no wait, not I, My 6 YR OLD DAUGHTER, just received a full color catalog from the above business( she also received a huge catalog for Amer** girl dolls, 2 catalogs in one day for a 6 yr old, c'mon people) . Walking back from the mailbox I paged through it to find panties for 6 year olds with suggestive sayings on them, it makes me ILL! I have taken my daughter into this store twice, once to get her ears pierced before she started kindergarten, and again to have one of them repeirced because they did such a lop-sided job the first time. The 2nd time I went in the store, my mother-in-law was with me and there was a birthday party going on... As my beautiful daughter watched these fragile little girls get caked with garish makeup, don feather boa's, and be chanted on by their parents to "work it" as they strutted the little cat-walk, I thought I was going to toss my cookies. My mother in law and I tried to hide my daughter in the back of the store, but her eyes were bugging out of her head with envy - and at that moment, I felt like the world's worst Mommy for subjecting my daughter to the scene.... I cringed as I saw the other little girls father bend down and tell his daughter how beautiful she looked and how proud he was of her. My heart aches for our collective daughters. Seriously, I could cry. Am I the only one. I truly want my daughters to be confident and proud young ladies, but this is so wrong on so many levels. I hope that my daughters never feel the need to work it or strut their stuff for their parents attention or for anyone else. What are we teaching our daughters? Well I came inside to look them up online, (I must say there online advertising is MUCH more tame than their catalog) it seems that there are online rumors that the store is CLOSING!!! Score one for the bad economy, I am just guessing that is why they would be closing, or maybe some corporate big-wig grew a conscience.  

We did our Christmas Card Photos the other day....my family usually hates this and it is usually really stressful, but it is the one time a year that I force my family collectively put themselves together and look in the same general direction,while sitting a little to close for comfort... .Collin even dubbed me with the horrible nickname "Adolf Picture" a few years back, during said Christmas card photo session... This year was actually not bad at all! Now my Mommy standards of the perfect family photo have seriously lowered in the past years, and I must admit- it is for the better. Nothing good has come of me trying to look like the Ralph Lauren cover family, that we are not, so I will just stop trying...This year we just went into the backyard and my girlfriend came over and for 15 minutes just kept clicking away... I think we got some great pictures.. and we tried this... Marc and I with each of the kids individually.. I really like it, now that we have 4 kids, it is nice for us to be able to have these individual photos.. I like them, OH-NO, a new family tradition added to Christmas photo day!!!


Also last weekend Kobi and Jack got a special day with Papa and Grandpa. They got to go to a NBA game. Kobi's soccer coach had picked her out of her soccer team as the player with the most "Christ Like" attitude, and for that she got to go down on the court with the players while the national anthem was sung, and take a shot after the game. She also got her baby brother in for the ride. I have to say that the thing I am most proud about my kids is their attitude, Just like Kobi's coach said, "she always was kind to the other players and she never complained, no matter what the coach was asking of her" That, right there, is the proverbial "paycheck" for a Stay-at-home- Mommy! As I say to my teenager, "I take my job VERY seriously" It is a lot of work, but it sure pays off.

FINALLY!!!

I finally bought a new camera last night!!!! Yeah, I'm excited to be taking photos of the kiddos again. Especially with the holidays coming up. Our weekends are starting to fill up with all the fun holiday stuff, and I couldn't go without a camera any longer! So I took a ton of photos this morning at the last soccer game of the season. Between Kobi & Jack's game we have an hour to kill so we took a little fall nature walk and I got to take more pictures. Here is some new cuteness.

Trick-or-Treat

So I am still seriously lacking in the picture department.  This old camera is NOT cutting it for me.  I am usually a camera stalking mommy, and it is very depressing for me to only have about 6 not so great photos from Halloween.  The kids did have a great time,  Mina was freaked out by all the kids in the costumes for all of about 10 seconds,  she screamed as we walked next door to our neighbors house, but as soon as she received her first piece of candy in her bag...she was good to go!  The kids walked up and down a few streets until their bags were to heavy to carry, we came home and they all got to dive in.  Good stuff.  So how many mini sized candy bars are equivalent to 1 normal size candy bar?  I can't remember the last time I sat an ate a whole candy bar...but for some reason when you put them in these little packages,,, I have downed about 10 today...  I feel a little ill.  It's just not fair that I am going to have to rid our house of my children's stash, because their Mama has no self control...  Poor kids, I will have to think of a good excuse.  Any ideas?