Thanksgiving Weekend Recap

We had a very fun and busy Thanksgiving weekend with my parents in Colorado this year! We arrived late on Wednesday night but the kids were so excited they were bouncing off the walls for a couple of hours before we could get them to bed.

Thursday: We got going on food early in the morning. Allen and Carter went to play in a turkey bowl with my cousin and his friends while we watched the parade and cooked at home. After they got home, I got busy with my kiddos making these turkeys for our favors. They were loads of fun to make and EASY. The kids also colored placemats for the kids table for everyone. We had a YUMMY dinner late in the afternoon with my cousin, his wife and 6 kids. Pathetically I did not take a single picture the rest of the day. It was a great time though.

Friday: Allen and I were up at 4:00 a.m. for some Black Friday shopping. We hit about 5 stores and were home by 6:30. We got everything we were looking for and had a really fun time together. The rest of the day was spent at the park, helping hang up Christmas lights, more shopping with my mom, grabbing a quick nap, etc. We had a babysitter for the kids (my cousin's daughter) and went to dinner with my parents at the White Chocolate grill. YUM!

Saturday: Another early morning as Al and I did an early morning session at the temple. After lunch my mom, Makenna and I headed to downtown Denver to attend the matinee performance of the Nutcracker. It was so, so, so fun. Makenna enjoyed every second of it. I'm so glad that I bought a simplified Nutcracker book a couple of weeks ago so she could be very familiar with the story. She knew exactly what was going on during the entire show.

After the show there were quite a few dancers down in the lobby and Kenna got to meet them all. She LOVED it and gabbed their ears off about their performances and costumes (she looooved the costumes)
Saturday night we were able to have dinner with our dear friends the Howell's. It was such a fun night. We talked and talked and finally parted ways after nearly 4 hours. We love getting together with them and only wish it were more often. Melissa and I know each other from my mission but we've thrown our husbands together on enough occasions that they enjoy getting together too. Good thing they both really like sports :)

Sunday: My birthday! Allen let me sleep as long as possible (7:30 a.m.) and then I was woken up by the kiddos and their cute homemade birthday greetings. We quickly packed our stuff and were out the door by about 8:45. We were able to stop by and see Allen's Aunt and cousins (who he lived with in Denver the summer we met/dated). We also drove out to the Denver Children's Hospital to visit with Allen's cousin Shaina who is at the hospital with her new baby Kimble. He was born 4 weeks ago with a severe heart defect but is doing MUCH better this week and gets to go home soon (check her blog for more details). Shaina and I have become blog/facebook buddies but had never met until yesterday! Allen and I even got to hold Kimble for a little while. I could have held that baby all day long, he was the sweetest thing ever! We're so grateful we got a chance to have a quick visit.

After the hospital we stopped by Panera bread to get some lunch and then got on the road home. We made it home just in time for bedtime. It was a wonderful weekend spent with so many people that we love so much!

Happy Birthday, Mommy/Better Half/Monique!

Since the rest of the world sees pictures of Carter, Makenna, Addison and Allen without Monique, I am taking full liberty on your Birthday to embarrass you.

What we love about Mommy (unedited, I promise):
Carter - That her birthday is on the Sabbath day, playing games with her, that she's our Mom, she does the laundry for us.
Makenna - Going to the grocery store with her, going to the Nutcracker with her, playing "sweetie & momma" with her.
Addison - Her theories on 18th century England heirarchy are really quite fascinating! (Okay, so I made this up). If Addie could speak I think she'd say, "I'm a picky eater, but Mommy puts up with my pickiness and makes a valiant effort to feed me healthy food."
Allen - List would be too long, so I'll summarize by thanking you for marrying me. I love you.

From My Turkeys to Yours.....

Happy Thanksgiving!

Makenna's Preschool Thanksgiving Program:

Thanksgiving Lunch at Carter's School:

RAINBOW Guest Room

So much for posting twice a week right? I've had a few things going on but I'm frankly mostly just enjoying the lull between Halloween and Christmas. Thank goodness for November! I have lots of holiday/vacation fun up my sleeve so I can hopefully get back to posting more often.

Ok, so it's about time I shared the pictures of my little guest room makeover. Let me preface by saying that I totally did it on the CHEAP. Just over $100 cheap, which is really good for me. Most of the money was spent on the bedding. Everything else was repurposed and pulled from other places in my house. I used lots and lots of spray paint too! There are still more things in the works/floating around in my brain, but I've put it on the back burner for now until I get through the holidays and finish redecorating the master bedroom (turning out beyond fantastic - I can't wait to share that with you).

I also have to give a disclaimer on the pictures. This room is pretty tiny so I had a hard time getting a snapshot of the entire room. Here you go:

Bedding:

Turquoise dresser (still debating if I think it's too bright. I might tone it down with some black stain):
Star wall:The entire room:

Doesn't my redone hope chest look super cute at the foot of the bed? I think so too ;0) Scroll down the page to see the lovely before shot of that piece.

This was a super fun room to put together. The bedding is from Target. I pulled my initial inspiration for the room from Meg Duerksen who has GREAT, funky style and takes amazing photos. I decided to go with the bright colors to counteract the blah white walls. In the opposite corner I have my upholstered rocking chair and a big blank wall.

Thanks for looking! Be back soon!

Happy Halloween!

We had a fun and busy Halloween season this year. As is our three year running tradition, my kids were sick the entire week. Carter was home from school M-Th and Makenna stayed home Friday. They have nothing more than fevers and a bit of a cough but with all the hysteria with the flu this year, I decided to keep them home the requisite 24 hours after the fever was gone. We were a little bit stir crazy (ok, we were a lot stir crazy) but we did get in a lot of Halloween crafting and baking during the week. I won't recap it all in pictures but we made and played with pumpkin pie playdoh (smells amazing), decorated cupcakes, make lots of pumkin-y treats, carved our pumpkins and decorated our spooky gingerbread house. It was fun to have a lot of downtime together this week.

Our carved pumpkins (the left one is supposed to be Yoda):

Friday Carter was able to go back to school. The schools have a no costume rule here (BOOO!!!) but they did have a fun pajama/crazy hair day at the school. I was able to go for the parade and help with the breakfast/party afterwards. Carter loved wearing his skeleton pjs to school!

Friday night was our ward Trunk or Treat and Halloween dance. The kids were so excited to dress up.

Carter as Harry Potter (who else?):

Allen's sister Laurie Jane knitted the Griffyndor scarf for Carter and it was the favorite part of the costume.

Kenna and Addie as Candy Corn princesses:

Kenna showing off the wand and matching treat bags I made for them:

(you can see Carter's HP bag in his picture - they turned out so cute and were cheap and easy - I see a new tradition here)

I wish I had gotten a better picture of the two of them together but Addie would not cooperate (tried both nights) and Kenna just did not feel very well. Their costumes were a HUGE hit though and we got compliments on them everywhere we went.

At the trunk or treat dance:

It was SO nice to have Halloween on Saturday this year. We were able to spend time together and we had a nice, traditional Halloween dinner (mummy dogs, dinner in a pumpkin, pumpkin dip with apples and gingersnaps, and goblin juice) and did not feel one bit rushed. The kids had a great time ToT our neighborhood and for once I actually ran out of candy!'

The loot:

Hope you had a wonderful and safe Halloween season. My kids are finally on the mend (crossing fingers that Addie doesn't get it) and I'm looking forward to getting back into my normal routine this week!