Return of Eddie Buddy

  The day after Thanksgiving, our mischievous little elf. Eddie Buddy showed up.  Ashlyn found him in his usual box on the back steps.  The kids were jumping for joy when they saw him.  As usual, he has been creating a lot of mischief around our house.  We all have such a good time waking up every morning to see what our elf has done.  I will update closer to Christmas with the rest of his antics.  

So happy to have her elf back

Checking out the box

Reading the note from Santa

Sisters cuddling

Decorating the tree with the elf watching from up high

Can you guess which ornament is Dawson's?

Loves his ornaments

Gracie loved decorating the tree

One night the elf left magic seeds.  The kids were instructed to plant them in this pot with sugar.  The next morning, they were so delighted to see that they had grown into cookies!

He really liked the tree.  This day he brought all the kids advent calendars.  

Thanksgiving Week

    We had wonderful Thanksgiving.  We had fun getting in the spirit in the days leading up to Thanksgiving.  We bought a gingerbread turkey kit at Trader Joe's.  The kids and I had a great time constructing and decorating a turkey.  The rest of the week was spent relaxing and enjoying not having to worry about work or school.  We needed a week of rest!  Oh, I guess it also included a lot of shopping for me as well.
     We spent Thanksgiving at my parent's house.  The weather was not good at all this year.  In fact it even snowed for the first time in quite a while.  I did not run the Turkey Trot and we weren't able to drive out to Buena Vista.  It was quite different having such a snowy and gloomy Thanksgiving.
    Despite the cold weather outside, it was warm inside and we had a good day spent with family.  My mom and I cooked the meal and while it was a lot of work, everything turned out really good.  We spent the day watching the parade, eating, and hanging out with one another.  My mom, sister, and I ended the day with some shopping.  Yes, we braved the crowds and got some good deals.
   It was a perfect Thanksgiving and such a reminder of how much we have to be thankful for.

So excited for the gingerbread turkey

Ready for some fun

It was quite the messy project that's for sure

She is so meticulous

Our finished turkey

Sister time

Such sweet sisters

Ashlyn pitched in this year and helped peel potatoes.  Too bad she did such a good job and that will be her permanent job.  

Like a pro

Gracie entertained herself for hours with a food scale and a ball of homemade bread dough

Weighing her dough

Future cook in the maaking

The fun appetizer we made

Papa and Gracie

Fresh out of the bath, and ready for daddy snuggles

the table all set 

Messy eater 

My grandma makes the world's best cherry pie.  It was my favorite as a girl, and my kids have inherited my love for it.  Apparently Gracie liked it too!

Pie time

Joey and I 

Snow Day and Random Pictures

   A few weeks ago, Ashlyn and I got a surprise snow day!  On Monday night it started snowing pretty hard and we had our fingers crossed for a snow day.  Both of our districts called it that night so we got to sleep in!  I usually tutor all day on Tuesdays, so Dawson and Gracie still went to daycare.  Ashlyn and I got the rare treat of getting to spend an entire day just the two of us.  We read books, baked cookies, watched Christmas movies, and played a lot of rounds of Mall Madness.  Ashlyn finished the day with some play time in the snow.  It was a perfect snow day!
    I also attached some random pictures from the last few weeks that were on the camera.

Look at all that snow!

Snow angel time!

She had a blast!

Gracie girl being silly girl

Gracie and Mommy

Ashlyn trying to be serious

While I was work, Joey was home with Gracie.  He found her on the couch like this.  

Lunch time.  She loves her hummus.  

Best buds

Fun with stickers

She loves sidewalk chalk

Movie time with the cousins

Ashlyn's Party

    Ashlyn's birthday pretty much lasted all weekend.  On Saturday morning, she had her birthday party with her friends from school.  Saturday afternoon, Uncle Steven took her to Build a Bear at the mall and she got to build a special cat.  On Saturday night, we went and saw the Peanuts movie which we all enjoyed.  On Sunday morning, Papa DeLorme drove down and took Ashlyn to lunch and shopping just the two of them.  What a weekend she had!  She is one lucky girl for sure.
    For Ashlyn's friend party, she decided to have her party at Itz.  It is a big arcade type place with lots of games, rides, etc.  The party was a lot of fun.  She invited four of her best girlfriends.  They got to eat pizza and cake and then they got to go play.  They had so much fun.  All of her guests kept commenting how much fun they were having.  It was definitely a success of a party.  When we got in the car, Ashlyn declared it the best party she had ever been to.  What a great time!

Ashlyn's cake.  I wish I could say I made it, but I paid someone to make it.  It turned out great and was so tasty.  

Silly brother

The party guests

Crazy boys

She got to pick what ride they got to ride first.  She picked the bumper cars.  Those girls giggled and laughed the entire time.  

Ashlyn got to go into the ticket blaster.  It looked like a lot of fun.  

Grabbing tickets

Lined up ready to race to lunch 

There they go

Time to eat

Present time

She got to pick out of the treasure box

Cake time

Ready to go play

Rock wall they climbed 

Dawson about died of excitement when he saw this game.  He played it pretty much the entire time.

They even had special areas for Gracie to play in.

Another fun ride

Mams kisses

Bounce house time!

Such sweet girls

Crazy Ella

The boys really liked this ride.