boys at bedtime

Aren't my boys adorable.  I love watching Colin be a big brother.  He is very good at it.  Colin likes to watch Caden for me as I finish getting the girls to bed or brush my teeth or whatever I need to do.  It is very helpful.  In these pictures they are working on cracking a code in the November Friend magazine.  The light was off and they were working by lamp light so I took one picture with the flash and one without.  It was very cozy looking in the dark.  

Lucky Socks

These are my brand new lucky socks.  Randy bought them for me at Fred Meyer's after Thanksgiving sale.   I love Randy and I love lucky socks, especially these.  They are very soft.  

"What makes them lucky socks?", You ask.  Well, I don't exactly know.  I've just always had a pair of not plain old white socks that I call my lucky socks.  With lucky socks on and a Ticonderoga pencil, I could pass any test given to me in high school.  Now there are no specific tests to take, but I still like a good pair of lucky socks.  :)

Happy Thanksgiving!

We have had a fabulous Thanksgiving.  We had Randy's parents, grandma, two brothers (Chris/Jack, and Jeremy), and sister Shelly and her family over for a lunch feast.  My turkey turned out very well and there was plenty of food to go with it.  Shelly out did herself with the pies bringing five different kinds and a pretzel salad.  Grandma's rolls were delicious and she did great with the sweet potatoes.  Great Grandma brought a yummy green bean casserole.  

We have been married eight Thanksgivings now and we are finally getting the hang of being adults.  I even had center pieces on the tables.  I am going to have to keep trying though - I forgot to turn the turkey drippings into gravy.  I am considering this year a great success even with the forgotten gravy.  Success being measured by the fact that the smoke alarm did not go off even once during the entire cooking process.  Wahoo!  Two years ago when we had Thanksgiving at my house, all the guests were waiting for the Turkey to be ready and as I slipped it back into the oven after checking it for about the tenth time, I spilled some drippings in the oven and we had to open all the windows and crank up all the fans to get the smoke out of the house.  Not pretty!  This year I had a meat thermometer so there was "no turkey tampering."  

I finished this hat while we were visiting.  It is so great to have children to inspire you to try new things.  

I wanted it to be my hat, but it is a little tight.  It fits Colin fabulously.  I will try again and we can have matching hats.

So Cute!

Goodness, I love these boys!

Crafty Kids

Robyn has been knitting on a spool this weekend.  She started this scarf yesterday afternoon and finished it this morning.  It turned out really cute.  Colin was inspired by her work and he is now working on one too.  I was inspired by her work so I went to Walmart and bought some knifty knitters so we could make hats too.  How fun!

Christmas Songs

The kids got Christmas songs today at their fiddle lesson!  Time sure does fly.  It seems like just yesterday that I was planting the garden.  

I can't wait for them to get good at the songs.  It is really fun to have a real talent to share at Great Grandma's Christmas party.  Ok, so I don't personally have any fun real talents, but I think it is alright to live vicariously through your children sometimes.  :)  

Country Harvest Hoedown

We haven't slept much and the kids and I have been sick so I am not at my blogging best right now, but I wanted to brag on the kids a bit anyway. 

We had a very fun, busy weekend!  The kids did three fiddle shows, one on Friday and two on Saturday.  They did SO GOOD!  I loved being their mommy!  My Parents and Keri came up to visit and of course we loved that.  We always love it when family comes to visit.  We got tickets for both sets of grandparents, great grandma Reeder, Uncle Jeremy, and Aunt Keri to see Saturday night's show.  It was very fun to have that much support.  The show was very good too.  

We didn't get many really good pictures.  I am hoping that maybe one of the Grandmas got better ones and that they will share them with me.  If you look really close in this one, you can see Colin's nose and one eye behind the girl standing next to Robyn.  He was one handsome cowboy!  This picture does almost show how cute Robyn and Grace were in their outfits.  

Kiddos in a Pumpkin

We carved pumpkins last night with the neighbors for family night. Grandpa Byron brought us three HUGE pumpkins when he was up to visit last time. We had a lot of fun turning them into jack o' lanterns.

Happy Birthday to Me!

I have a fabulous family! They made my birthday just wonderful this year. Randy and Colin made me breakfast while Robyn played "Happy Birthday" and a host of other songs for me on her fiddle as I got ready for the day.

Randy baked the cake. Grace frosted it. Robyn candled it. And Colin put the customary candy pumpkins on it. (I cannot have a birthday cake without candy pumpkins - it just wouldn't be my birthday without them.) It was delicious!
Randy got me the lovely sweater that I am wearing, the roses and two boxes of candy. The kids were extra happy all day, just for me because, like my mother, all I want for presents is happy children. They know that "When I choose to obey, I'll be happy all day." (It really does work out that way, even for Mommies, but that is another post in itself. Like should I get up and shower before the kids need me or sleep in and should I do the dishes right after dinner or let them pile up for a while.)
We spent the whole day just hanging 'round the house. It rained all morning so Randy and I worked on our goals for the year (I don't have much time left to get everything-I-am-going-to-do-before-I'm-thirty done.) Then, when it quit raining, the girls and I planted the spring flower bulbs and the garlic in the garden. Fun Stuff!

Mini Golf

We did mini golf for PE today. It was a fun course. The kids loved it. There are about eight families in our PE group and we get together once a week for something new. We have done soccer, basketball, softball, and hiking so far this year.