Thanksgiving 2012!

Happy Thanksgiving to all a few days late. This year we had the joy of the Renick family visiting us for thanksgiving on their way back from a NC mountain vacation. Unfortunately, Todd ended up with a bad case of the flu during their visit. We made the best of it though. We still enjoyed a wonderful smoked turkey thanks to the green egg, some yummy sides and desserts.   Friday Amanda and I were able to get away for a little while to do some black friday shopping, then we came back and entertained the kids for the afternoon.

As always, Gracie, Hannah and Lauren all had a great time together. Hannah had been counting down the days for their arrival, and it was a big surprise for Gracie and Lauren until they pulled into our driveway!! So fun!!!

Gracie was like a big sister to Drew all weekend. She entertained him and was Drew's buddy. We are thankful for Gracie keeping Drew out of trouble this weekend!!

Thanks Renick's for a fun visit. Now we just hope everyone stays healthy while Todd is quarantined in our basement until he is better.

Fall Clean up and festivities!

I am getting behind on updates again, which I guess goes to show how chaotic our lives have been. Sunday night, I finally sit down to relax with peace and quite for the first time all weekend. We have been busy around here. Cleaning on leaves, a lot of leaves that just keep on falling. Drew loves being daddy's helper, and does a decent job of it too!

Drew went to Home Depot with Todd to pick out a new rake. Was that ever a big hit?!?

While the boys were cleaning outside, Hannah and I went to work inside. She spent a long time organizing all her art supplies which were a huge mess. I was proud of her for coming to terms with the fact it was time to say good-bye to some of her drawings, scrap pieces of paper, broken pencils etc.  I felt good to clean up and she did the good majority of it!

And this last week, Todd and I went to Hannah's school to see her Thanksgiving program. There were pilgrims and indians, and Hannah was an indian, and a cute one. The kids sang songs while the parents watched.

I got a picture with my little kindergartner

Then all the pilgrims and indians got to eat popcorn, pumpkin pie and raisins for their little treates. They were cute and excited!


And finally, we are getting ready for Thanksgiving this week. We are having somewhat last minute vistors, the Renick family which we couldn't be more thrilled about. Beats spending Thanksgiving by ourselves. We are excited to see them and Hannah is counting the days until she sees Gracie and Lauren. It should be fun.Wish Todd luck this Thanksgiving as he smokes his first turkey on the egg!

Weekend Fun

After a Halloween party and post candy consumption recovery, we had ourselves a quiet weekend. Friday night Todd and I got a babysitter and went out to dinner withe some friends, which was so nice to get away for a little while. The kids had our next door neighbor babysit, and we think it was a hit as they keep asking when she is coming back.   Drew was full of his silly self playing with his Marty the Zebra afro wig from Madagascar movie.

He kept himself full of silly as I tried to get pictures of my two little Buckeyes yesterday. The angel and the devil aka, Hannah and Drew.

And today, Hannah had her little friend Maddie over to play. I love when Hannah has playdates as they seem to go in her room and play dolls and barbies, you don't really hear a peep from them. Todd took Drew with him to run errands, we so we had a pretty quiet house today. Hannah and Maddie played outside for a little while emjoying every moment of the infamous Barbie jeep that our entire neighborhood has come to enjoy.   Who knew a little jeep that goes 2 mph could be such fun.

They are just the cutest little friends, Hannah and Maddie. We had a great time with them today.

And this week, poor Todd gets left again, I am off the CA later this week for work, and some big presentations at work this week to go along with it. I am already looking forward to next weekend when I can put this week ahead behind me!

Happy Halloween 2012!

Happy Halloween everyone!  Hannah and Drew went as Batman and Batgirl this year! I think they made quite the cute little pair. You can't see it well in this picture, but I think Hannah's favorite part was the pink hair spray in her hair:)

Family Photo before all the Ashebrooke Neighborhood activities begun! We started out at one of the 3 fire pit parties happening in the neighborhood. There was one each end, and one in the middle where everyone gets together for a potluck dinner before hand, brings some yummy adult drinks and all the kids play for a little while and eat dinner.

Here are Hannah and her little friends. Kate, Camden, Hannah and Alexandra

here are the kids at party #1  They were so excited to go and get their candy. They were a cut bunch and Drew had fun playing football with the big kids while Hannah did cartwheels in the yard with the little girls. Moms and Dad, we just drank :)

And the next party we hit... Tons of fun and good times this Halloween. Hannah and Drew had a blast, as we did too. Our family and two other families walked around together all night while the kids ran/ sprinted from house to house from party to party. The loved every minute of it. We got back to the house around 9:30pm where Hannah crashed pretty hard and Drew was all hyped up full of sugar.   It was a bit of a long night with Drew :)

Can't wait to see what next Halloween will bring as this one might be hard to top. At the end of the night I asked Hannah what her favorite part of Halloween was and she said " just hanging out with all my new friends" and Drew's response, " I like running after the girls" :)

Hope everyone had a safe and fun Halloween!!