Happy Turkey Day

Turkey Fruit Gobbler

This year for Thanksgiving, we were blessed to have all of our families together for Thanksgiving. Nanny, Opa, Grandma, Papa, Grandma & Grandpa by the Water, Aunt Christina, Uncle Wayne, Hayley, Lilyanne and Brayden (cousins), Uncle Charlie, Uncle Matt & Amber, Mama, Dada, Alyssa and Jaden; all together for a wonderful holiday feast!

Prior to going over to Grandma's house for Thanksgiving dinner, we spent the morning making a few special holiday treats. Alyssa had been so excited all week to make the Thanksgiving treats, however when it finally came time, she lost her patience after the first one. We made turkey cookies, first, and as for Alyssa's help, I guess I can't expect much more from a 3 year old! She spent the whole time eating the various candies and cookies we were using to make the treats. She was, however, a great help when it came time to unwrap all the chocolates! I think Amber and I had more fun making all these little turkey surprises! For a little appetizer, we then made a Turkey Fruit Gobbler. It was adorable! We poked cheese and grapes into a squash to form a turkey.

After the treats were done, we headed over to Grandma's house to begin the festivities. Daddy and Opa grilled one turkey and Grandma cooked a traditional turkey in the oven. Aunt Christina made a ham with a wonderful sauteed pineapple sauce on top! And of course, all the fixings ~ stuffing, mashed potatoes, corn casserole, home-ade macaroni and cheese, sweet potatoes, green beans, rolls, zucchini casserole, cranberry sauce and asparagus. Delicious!! For dessert we had pumpkin pie, home-ade apple pie, lemon meringue pie and an assortment of cakes thanks to Grandma by the Water. What a feast!

The day concluded with a little football watching, lounging and the kids enjoying playing with each other!

We are so thankful and blessed to have so much family near us and that we are able to spend the holidays together!

Daddy and Opa grilling turkey

Turkey cookies

Santa Claus is coming to town.....

So, I must say my blogging has lacked over the last month! There are a multitude of reasons, to include the fact I've been picking up a few extra shifts at the hospital, the family has been sick so we haven't been doing much, and my children are having moments where they absolutely protest having their pictures taken. My camera doesn't capture pictures well with kids running away!

We did have a very exciting Sunday this week. Our local Bass Pro Shops has a Christmas Wonderland set up to start the holiday season. We spent 2 hours playing games, climbing in and out of boats, playing in pretend snow and most exciting, seeing Santa. Alyssa was absolutely thrilled to talk to Santa and sit on his lap! It's the first year in her existence that she didn't scream at the sight of the man in the big red suit! She jumped right up into his lap and said, "Santa, do you want to come over to my house for milk and cookies?" So precious! I'm pleased that she didn't go into the million toys she is already asking for out of the numerous toy catalogs I've received!

Jaden, on the other hand, wanted nothing to do with Santa. He was memorised by the fake, glittery snow and the toy train set up. He was happy as can be to walk around and touch the snow! From the likes of Alyssa, he may have a few more years until he'll be sitting on Santa's lap!

Alyssa on one of the ATV's

Jaden loving the snow!

One year milestones

We have reached that One Year Milestone with our dear boy Jaden! Boy has this last year flown by and we watched him grow up from a content and laid back newborn to a happy, smiley energizer bunny of a toddler! I thought I would share a few "stats" about Jaden as of now~

*weighs in at 23 pounds & 10 ounces (50-75% on the growth chart)
*31.5 inches tall (greater than the 95%)
*head measures in at 18.25 inches (50%)

*eats all table food and when I say all, I mean ALL! Jaden is an exceptional eater! He will pretty much eat anything I put down in front of him at mealtime. He does, however, have some favorites: pancakes, blueberries, strawberries, grapes, crackers, cheese, yogurt, peas/carrots -- just to name a few!

*is walking, running and climbing on everything! Jaden has a very hard time sitting down and playing with toys. He is very busy all the time and just prefers to pick up various toys and walk around with them.

*one of his favorite things to do is to pick up things and hide them inside of other things. For example, we watched him pick up toys and throw them away in the garbage can. We're not sure how long he has been doing this before we actually saw him, so some of the toys that we think are else where in the house, just might be at the local garbage dump by now! :) He also likes to hide things in drawers, bins.

*he is absolutely by far and outside boy. He jumps at the chance, which is very frequent, to be outside. He loves playing in the backyard, throwing rocks and going to the park.

*he has great pincher grasp reflexes and tremendous hand eye coordination. He can throw a ball overhead as is he's been playing baseball for years!

*I think because he is so physically active, he has lacked the vocabulary that Alyssa had by now. He can say "mama," "more," "uh-oh," and a slew of babble

Keep up the good work Jaden! We love you so much and are so blessed to have you in our lives!

Pumpkin Patch

Here are few pictures from our trip out to the pumpkin patch, or as Alyssa says, "Halloween festibal."

everything is a ball to Jaden

Alyssa high in the sky on the bungee jumping ride

Halloween

Lilyanne, Alyssa & Hayley

So there's absolutely no way to try to 're-create' or catch up on my blogging from the Halloween weekend, but here are a few photos. In short, we drove to Ft. Irwin, California for Halloween this year to spend the weekend with Aunt Christina, Uncle Wayne and the cousins. The weekend consisted of 2 Halloween costume parades at the girls' schools, a Halloween party at the house, Trick or treating, making Halloween treats, carving pumpkins and making a few Thanksgiving crafts. It was a busy and exhausting weekend, but we all had a great time!

Jaden loved the talking candy monster!

Watching football with Daddy

Jaden the dragon

Princess Cinderella