Wrapping up 2011

Halloween:

 Thanksgiving:

     
We hosted Thanksgiving at our house this year. It was fun to plan and decorate. Behind us is a "thankful tree"- everyone could write what they were thankful for on a leaf and tape it to the tree. It looked so pretty when it was filled with thankful leaves! We also celebrated James masters degree with a surprise graduation ceremony! We had a few great speeches and some good music. James was really surprised and it was a fun way to celebrate this huge accomplishment!

Thanksgiving football in the backyard:

 Christmas highlights:

Karissa, Kyle and James performed in a Christmas concert that our stake does with the Catholic church. They worked hard to learn their songs and did a great job.

 Tyler's preschool class (and siblings) sang at an elderly home for the residents there. 

Christmas eve bowling:

 Christmas morning:

Trip to the Emergency Room

Last Thursday, October 27th was a horrible day! Trevor and Tyler found a vice in the garage (if you don't know what that is, I didn't either- it's a big, heavy metal block). Trevor dropped it on his toes. OWWW! He came into the house crying and trailing blood. It looked pretty gory. We hurried to Urgent Care, where they put on a steri-strip (also known as a piece of tape) and sent us to the Emergency Room. There, they stitched him up- 3 stitches on the middle toe, and one on the toe next to it just to "tack it on." (It was hanging off on the end.)  He ended up getting two x-rays, several shots, and a couple of doses of painkillers. Poor guy! It was an all-day ordeal- 8am- 4pm. Tyler was a trooper since he waited for him to get fixed up that entire time with hardly any complaining. We were so happy to finally get home! Trevor took a while to forgive me for putting him through that and only wanted his daddy for the next couple of days.

Family Fun

The other day the kids and I went up to Oak Glen after school. The old schoolhouse was open, so we got to visit the museum and then play at the playground for a while. We found a little path and explored a little, and then made a final stop for apple cider and apple slice samples.

Last Friday night we took a trip out to Bogart Park as a family for some "cheater camping." We went for a late afternoon hike. The weather was perfect and the views were great. Kyle could have kept going forever, but eventually we had to head back to our campsite. James and Kyle built us a fire.

We told stories and sang campfire songs, looked at the stars and ate treats. 

Then, in true cheater-camping style, we went home and slept in our beds. I love cheater camping.

Our big 2 year old

Our little Trevor loves bananas, so to celebrate him turning two, we had a "banana day."  Banana muffins for breakfast, bananas for snacks, and a coconut-banana cream pie for his birthday dessert.

The Lego Mini-Build

Kyle is really into Legos right now. He loves to build all kinds of things. So when we heard there was a free mini build at the mall, he was so excited he could hardly stand it. The mall was out in Ontario, which wouldn't have been so bad, but since there was an accident on the way, it took us almost two hours to get there!! Then, once we got there, we waited in a long line to finally build their little vampire lego-men. We played games in line, and ended up having a lot of fun. A friend and I traded kids, so she had the little boys and I had her 7 year old.

 Here are the kids waiting in line. We played the game where you turn a squiggle into a drawing while we waited.

 Finally inside the Lego Store! Those are the cute vampires they built.

Pumpkin Patch!

Earlier this month we went to the Live Oak Pumpkin Patch. We had a great time. The kids rode a bunch of rides, and we all got to see the animals. 

Disneyland!

 Our family trip to Disneyland! They had just decorated for Halloween. Even the Haunted Mansion was different, with Nightmare before Christmas decorations. 

 On Splash Mountain, the ride was stopped, and we all had to get off and walk through the ride. It was fun to have a different view of the ride!

We spent some time in the petting zoo. 

The weather was great, the lines weren't too long, the kids were good-- a perfect Disneyland day!