Thanksgiving 2011

Our Thanksgiving weekend in a few short words:

**The BEST Thanksgiving dinner. Seriously, we have good cooks in our family.

**Pumpkin pie and homemade whip cream (and repeat, and repeat, and repeat)

**Family

**Laughing

**Shooting practice (our family likes guns)

**Snacking, snacking, snacking

**Visiting with relatives at my grandparents house

**Horse drawn carriage ride through the Hermiston fair grounds all lit up for Christmas

**Seeing Santa

**Fudrucker's (or as Morgan calls it, Funnyrucker's)

**Play time with cousins and lots of loud fun being had

**Night at the movies with my mom and little sis

**Getting all the Christmas decorations out

**Putting up our Christmas tree

**Hearts full of thankfulness for all of our many blessings.

Turning 2

There is so much happiness in my heart when I look at those little faces. Sometimes I think back to that fateful day when my doctor discovered two heart beats instead of one. It always felt scary, but I also always felt comfort in my heart that it was right. Cooper and Kale have grown so much this last year. They are busy. They are smart. They are happy. They are mischievous. They are hilarious. They are strong willed. They are learning to be friends with each other. We have tender moments together that I try to hold onto and keep in my heart for those cranky and tired days where there doesn't seem to be enough patience to go around. I am so thankful for all I have been able to learn from raising them. There are nights when the house is quiet and all of the children are asleep that I mention to Riley how I would love so much to be able to turn back the clock for a few hours, just to be able to hold and rock their sweet and snuggly little new born baby bodies once more.  

Their personalities are becoming more and more defined each day. Cooper is competitive and determined to always find a way to do something. Kale is a more soft tempered and a cuddly guy, but also has a quiet determination about him. I think they strike a good balance. At this age they are loving to color, pretend to cook with pots and pans, help their dad, throw temper tantrums, play catch, jump on the trampoline, take messy baths, read books, climb, wrestle, and give high fives. They make us laugh every day and that is such a blessing in a life that can often be hectic and stressful. They give us the ability to slow down and enjoy the little things so much more. Nothing that money can buy is a better compliment to our home than the sound of their laughter.

Cooper and Kale - we love you so much and wish much happiness and joy for you both this second year of your lives. Happy birthday boys!

Great Season

We are officially done with soccer until the spring. Well, minus the end of the season pizza party that is happening tomorrow night. This was Kendle's best soccer experience yet. She came out this year with a new determination and desire that we haven't seen before. She was the teams main goal keeper, but was also a powerful scorer and defender. Riley would usually  have her play keeper for the first half and then send her out to go score some goals in the second half. It will be interesting to see in the future where she wants to end up playing the most. She was only scored on twice during the season. It was a fun experience for the girls to go undefeated and I think Riley was able to teach each of the girls some valuable skills. He did an awesome job as their coach and I can honestly say that even their least skilled player drastically improved by their last game. 


I think I will always remember this year in particular, as the one where I really saw Kendle become an athlete and get a fire inside of her where she was determined to win. Some switch just got turned on and it didn't shut off. I noticed a new confidence about her that wasn't there before. She can analyze the game and talk strategy. She will even sit down with her dad and watch professional soccer and has posters of her favorite players. We have been lucky to be able to expose her to some great soccer and have awesome high school girls playing that she can look up to and even came and watched some of her games. She loves going to watch the high school games and gets totally enthralled - even knowing when to yell at the reff for not making good calls. (Ha, ha. Ok, maybe I shouldn't think that is funny but I do.) She was thrilled to be able to be a ball girl at Southridge's state playoff game last night, she didn't even care that she was freezing cold and had to sit out on the track by herself. Now that is love for the game.

And you can be pretty sure that while she was out there running as fast as she possibly could to go chase down stray soccer balls, she was telling herself that one day not far from now, that was going to be her out there playing.

This girl is tough. This girl is determined. This girl makes me want to be her biggest fan.

November

Source: google.com via Jesse on Pinterest

Today I:

*Bid October farewell and said a hearty hello to November

*Packed up all the Halloween decorations

*Said goodbye to our jack o' lantern's

*Watched my three precious boys jump on the trampoline in the autumn sunshine

*Ran farther than I thought I could......and now I KNOW I can do more. It felt awesome.

*Lovingly folded laundry and put it away for my sweet children.

*Snuck in some reading from a spooky book. I love a good spooky book this time of year.

*Watched my two year old do a surprisingly good job of sweeping the floor.

*Listened to Morgan and his friend laugh and yell and have a great time playing outside. They kept calling each other "bud" and "buddy".

*Started working on some Christmas lists and thinking about Thanksgiving.


Welcome November! I'm so glad you are here.

Trick or Treaters

These were the best pictures I could snap before our kids headed out the door with their cousins for trick or treating last night. To say they were excited would be the understatement of the year.

Mo was a princess

Morgan was a super hero

Maelin was a lady bug

Kendle was Katniss from the Hunger Games

and Zack was Frankenstein

(Cooper and Kale refused to be photographed, but let me assure you they were the cutest little super hero's around)

They all had an awesome time and came home with loads and loads of candy. It was a super fantastic Halloween!

P.S. I am pretty proud of myself that I handmade a faux leather arrow sheaf with strap for Kendle to carry her arrows in on her back. It looked awesome.