Times of Thanksgiving

We had a fun time celebrating Thanksgiving this year!

Although this wasn't a Thanksgiving dinner, we had dinner over at the Travers, some work friends of Jason. Jason plays basketball with Mark and Kevin most weeks and we all have kids similar ages so it's fun to get together.

 Ethan's preschool had a Thanksgiving feast, and it was fun to see him trying out some "new" foods. :)

For our real Thanksgiving Feast, we drove to South Beloit, IL to be with family. We got to be with Andy and Kimra and their family, Mike and Chelsey and their two little ones, and Grandma and Grandpa Burningham. We had a good time together. Of course we had the traditional turkey, mashed potatoes with gravy, green bean casserole, stuffing, rolls and orange rolls, and pies. I brought cranberry marshmallow salad which is a tradition in my family. And the pumpkin, chocolate, and banana creme pies were also delicious!

Lydia was so cute and felt right at home with Chelsey, Kimra, and Grandma. She wanted them to hold her so she could give hugs and it was super adorable.

Lydia and Maisy giving each other high fives

 Besides eating good food, we had fun playing lots of game and talking.

Mik and Lydia "sharing" some toys

Lydia loved Samara and kept wanting to give her toys and put her pacifier in her mouth for her. :)

These three cousins - Mik, Lydia, and Maisy were all born within three days, and this is the best picture I got of all three. Let's just say they didn't sit still much during the time we were there.

Grandpa and Lydia

Playing "Do you love your neighbor?" and the milk cap game

Lydia eating her turkey and grapes for Thanksgiving. :)

 The day after Thanksgiving we went to the church building to play more games and then went to Edwards Orchard in the afternoon for playing tag outside and tasting the apple cider donuts. The weather so pretty warm for late November so it was nice to be outside.

Lydia and Maisy about to battle it out

Lydia loved watching the goats at the orchard and didn't want to leave them.

Mack was such a good buddy for Ethan

All of us at the apple orchard store

Lydia is munching on the yummy apple samples they have there. It was fun to try some new varieties of apples.

These three cousins were so good to Ethan! He loved being with them and never complained about them not sharing or being mean. He was watching them closely and wants to be just like them.

All girls!

Eight of the 21 grandkids

 This year we decided to do a Thankful Tree. Each night we all tried to name something different we were grateful for and add it to our tree. I think it really helped us to count our blessings this month.

Speaking of trees, we had a church activity for the women where one of the members who is an artist gave us a painting lesson. It was really well done and I had a lot of fun doing something I wouldn't normally take time to do. This is how mine turned out. :)

October 2017

October seems like a really long time ago now, but here are some highlights.

General Conference Weekend

We asked a young women from our church to help us take some quick family pictures. Ethan and Lydia were almost cooperative, but here a few pictures from that photo shoot at a local park near where we live.

Ethan tackling Dad

Playing with Mommy's necklace

 Ethan's preschool had a family field trip to Kinman farms. The weather was nice that day and the three of us really enjoyed it!

This was on a hay ride at Kinman Farms. Both Lydia and Ethan got their faces painted.

Every once in a while I capture him sleeping. :)

Lydia playing at the park

 Ethan participated in the Primary Children's Sacrament Meeting Program this month. It was his first program and he did great. He had his part memorized and confidently went up to the mic and said his part loudly and pretty clearly. It was cute to see him! We invited our next door neighbors and they surprised us by coming to see Ethan in the program and stayed for the rest of church with us. That was a fun surprise! I meant to get a picture of Ethan looking so handsome in his tie that day, but for some reason I only have this picture of Lydia and me. So now you know this picture represents Ethan in his Primary Program. ;)

Mom and Lydia one day after church

Our church had a Fall Festival activity at our church building. Ethan dressed up as a fireman.

Lydia was a dinosaur for Halloween

Halloween morning we ate ghost pancakes!

Ethan dressed up for Halloween.

Fun Halloween clothes

Ethan's preschool Fall Festival party with his teach Ms. Rhonda

Ethan and his goodies at his party

All ready for trick-or-treating!

September Trials and Blessings

So much has happened this month that it's hard to believe we somehow fit it all into the same month! Labor Day Weekend consisted of Jason's doing service as the Elder's Quorum President mixed with a little bit of car shopping. Jason eventually shaved his face again after the split upper lip incident, but of course we had to take a couple family pictures before he did. :)

Daddy's playtime with Ethan and Lydia

Family Pics with Daddy's beard :)

Our silly picture

 The day after Labor Day Ethan started preschool at Crossroads Preschool which is run by the Hebron Baptist Church. It is a great little preschool and I know several other mom's that have their children attend there as well. Ethan goes three days a week in the afternoon which is also when Lydia takes her nap, so that gives me a little break a few times a week. Ethan really likes preschool but it was still an adjustment for both of us. Now that he has settled into the routine and has started making friends he is enjoying it more and more. We carpool with another 4-year-old girl from our church that lives in our neighborhood and that has been really nice as well.

Ethan loves to pile every blanket we have on the glider. I love what their faces tell you about how they feel about their sitting arrangement.:)

We enjoyed two amazing visits to the zoo where we enjoyed perfect weather and had fun seeing the animals be more active.

Riding the train at the zoo thanks to some friends

Visiting the elephants

 Another day we took a nice walk at a nearby park and Ethan and Lydia had fun doing their "exercises" on the circuit course. And of course, Lydia tries to do everything Ethan does. :)

Peaceful sleeping

Saturday chores--you can't see it but Ethan has a water bottle that he uses to chase after Dad to get him wet. :)

Yummy greek yogurt--it's too bad she's doesn't tolerate it better so she could enjoy it more often

Ethan the super-hero :)

It's a good thing we have enough capes for everyone

On Monday night in the middle of September Ethan started limping and it only got worse the next day. There wasn't a specific incident to tie it to, and Ethan never complained about it, he just looked so sad as he could hardly get around. I took him to his pediatrician who said that Ethan must have sprained a ligament in his knee, probably from jumping off things and landing on it just right. After a week of limping around it finally healed, but it seemed like a long week wondering if something more serious was wrong.

There is just something adorable about goggles

Monthly trip to the temple

Running through the sprinklers in 90 degree weather on one of the last days of September

Another zoo day with a friend named Claire

Snuggling on the couch with her milk cup

Our New Car

We spent a good chunk of time every weekend of September looking for a new car to replace Jason's 2005 Hyundai Elantra. We started having major problems with the Elantra at the beginning of the summer and despite spending a lot of time and money trying to keep the car alive through the summer, we decided that it was time to move on. We spent September earnestly looking for something within our budget to replace it. After several disappointing and discouraging trips we traded in the Elantra for a 2009 Toyota Corolla S with 84,000 miles that will hopefully take us at least another 100,000 miles with minimal problems.

Jason's new ride