Happy Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is the day to be thankful and this year I am so thankful for my family. We had our feast at our house this year. Mana and Papa came over and helped out with the food. It was a stressful morning, but by the afternoon things were falling into place. The food was ready about 2:30 as planned and we all stuffed ourselves for the rest of the day.

This is my Dad and I am so thankful for him. He's the sweetest, kindest person. The best dad ever!

In this picture is my youngest brother Jacob, my parents and of course myself.

My mom and Dad.

Here's Jeremy and one of his brothers, Ben. It was nice having him over. He hadn't been to our new place yet.

Not a very good picture (forgot the flash), but here's Mana playing Mario Cart with Taryn and Tamara. This was Mana's first time playing so I'm sure that the girls put it on the hardest course to pass.

Later after everyone left Yvonne and Dominick came over with their kids for a little while to visit. We played some more Mario Cart. They had never played it on the Wii, but I was still the big loser! I let Tamara take over for me for the last race.I made the girls pause their game and take a picture with their dad.

Tomorrow we get have another turkey dinner at Grandma Tami's house and visit with Jeremy's family.

Getting Ready for Turkey Day

I am so thankful for Thanksgiving this year. I think this is the first year that Jeremy and I have all of the kids home for dinner. My kids are usually at their dad's house and the girls are usually with their mom. Our place was volunteered for the feast this year, which I am very excited about. Today I get to do all the cleaning and prepping for dinner.

Yesterday after school it was pouring down rain so the kids didn't get to play outside. I thought what a great time for the kids to get their rooms cleaned up. Oh my gosh! You would think that with all the bickering and arguments that I heard that I had asked them to give up their lives. The boys share a room and the girls share a room. Rachael went up stairs and got to work. Sometimes she enjoys cleaning her room. Now the boys are a whole other story. Cody never makes a mess and Dylan always has to clean the room by himself (coming from the boys, of course). I literally have to send them in one at a time and one thing at a time. So I sent Dylan in with a garbage bag to pick up the garbage. Next I asked Cody to pick up the dirty clothes that were everywhere. You should hear this kid throw at fit! So Dylan went in to pick up the dirty clothes. Now, all that should be left is the toys, right? Cody threw the biggest crying fit because he's not the one that plays with his toys. It's Dylan and Rachael that play with his toys.

Needless to say, the boys' room is still a mess today. They think that cramming everything under the table, under the beds and into the closet is cleaning their room. I give up. At least the rest of the house will be clean.

Inside From the Rain

The girls were over this last weekend and for the most part we all got along. Friday night we had Pizza. Saturday morning the kids made thank you pictures for Great Grandma Smith for sending them Halloween goodies and cards. After lunch we went and had Family Pictures done finally after a couple of missing years. The pictures are gonna be great. We can pick them up any time after noon on Saturday. I told the lady that did our pictures that we wanted "Fun Pictures" because I really didn't care for the ones we had done last time. The person who did them had no imagination for a seven person photo.
After pictures we went and had ice cream at Baskin Robins and then walked around the mall for a little while. We walked by the Pet Store like we always do when we're there to see the pets in the window and to say hi to Rocky. Rocky is a talking bird that says hi back to you. After the mall we went and had dinner and then rented some movies for a Family Movie Night. We watched Get Smart. It was pretty funny.
Sunday the kids were up way too early! Before eight o'clock. We have a rule in house that if you wake up before eight o'clock on the weekends then you need to lay back down and try to go back to sleep. This and the fact that it was raining all day made for a really fun day for everyone.

Halloween Night

Here we are. All ready to go Trick or Treating. The kids got tons of candy this year. They started out on Wednesday going to a Boo Bash in down town Camas (a small town just east of here). The Boo Bash is when all the local businesses pass out candy, business cards and coupons.
Tonight, we started at Mana and Papa's house, then with Papa to his church for Trunk or Treating and after that they went around our apartment community with their dad.

Taryn, Tamara and their little sister stopped by to show off their costumes and to get some candy of course. What a happy bunch of kids. They just wanted to go and get candy.