Christmas tree 2011

Mackenzie was a much more enthusiastic helper as we put up our tree this year. In previous years, she put up one or two ornaments and then went off to play with something else. This year, not only did she decorate our tree, but Grams' tree, too!

Putting up the tree was no easy feat. In fact, Mike and I both has scrapes and scratches after wrestling with the tree. First, there was the task of deciding where the tree should go this year. Our living room now doesn't have the obvious place to put a tree but after lots of rearranging of furniture, we finally discovered the perfect place. Then there was the issue of the lights. You see, we had a few blown out bulbs and , despite our desperate searching , were not able to find them. So the only choice left was to unlight our pre-light tree and add new lights. Mike did the majority of the de-lighting and salvaged our Christmas decorating mood!
Placing Grammy's angel:
The final product:
We had fun decorating the rest of the house and I couldn't wait for rest time to clean up all those " needles" and place the finishing touches!

Scratchy, shiney and screwy

Mackenzie discovered Mike's tool box last week which made for an exciting morning. She sorted each type of tool based on it's description- scratchy, shiney, screwy, broken....To be sure, the " screwy " pile was bigger than the rest.


While Mack played in the tools, I raked up the leaves in the front yard. The maple tree finally lost it's leaves, making for a big pile!

"Happy Thanksgiving Dinner day"

Or so Mack calls it! I guess that is what she hears most everyone talking about- how big is the turkey? What kind of pies? Discussion does tend to center around the food. No matter what you call it, we had a fun day!

Here are a few snapshots from our day:

Dad raised this years' turkey and , at dress weight ( no feathers or....insides ) it weighed in at 28 lbs!
Smoking a turkey is hard work. Dad sat outside turning the bird as needed and making sure it turned out just right:
Sitting outside for almost 6 hours while cooking the turkey could have been very lonely if not for Mack who learned plenty about turkey cooking and tire changing as Papa worked on the turkey and a flat tire. Here she is showing him how she can bounce from " My buns to my toes!" :
It wasn't long before there was more company!
Mike had to work but he came just in time for dinner and to enjoy the company:
The younger kids sat together at this table that Mom found at a craft fair! Kaleb really wanted to show his silly face. Everyone got a chuckle at Mackenzie's prayer " Dear Jesus. Thank you for our foods. Please bless it to your body and your body to your service. And please help Brooklyn be nice. Amen." For the record- Brooky wasn't being unkind, she just wasn't in the party spirit( you can tell by the picture):
We also celebrated Dad's birthday since it was just a few days later. Mack was very curious about what was in that wrapping paper:
Though we were missing Nikki from our motley crew, it was really great to have Clay and his family with us for Thanksgiving. This is my favorite picture of the day:
Anaka came home to spend the night with us since she and I had a movie date the next day. She read Mack her bed time stories, even when she picked a really long one!:

Thanksgiving

Teeny Tiny

We recently borrowed a book from the library called " Ruth and the ( not so) teeny tiny lie" . The main character of the book, Ruth, a little red fox, loves all things " teeny tiny" . She collects tiny toys and trouble comes when she finds a " lost" teeny tiny camera on the playground. Mackenzie loves this story so much that she , too, has started collecting " teeny tinies" as she calls them. Here she is today playing with her teeny tiny spoons. I hope she can stand to part with them by the time we need them for a certain little baby who's expected soon ( or by the next time I need that teaspoon!):

Mack with her teeny spoons:
And another one just because. Ellie is spending entirely too much time with the cats. Not only does she " bat" at things that she wants to play with like cats do, but she has a love for sunbeams!

More projects, please!

We sure do love our projects here! Where Mackenzie used to be content doing one project a day, she now asks for more ( " one HUNDRED projects today, Mommy!") . Here are some of the projects from one day last week:

These need to get in the mail box before Thanksgiving is over!







This little guy is made with a combination of shaving cream and glue. Messy AND gooey...a preschoolers dream!

Grammy's coming!

Just a few more days to go before Grammy's plane touches down. This is reason to dance ! Doing it with your tongue sticking out makes it even better!