Happy Thanksgiving!

It was another wonderful Thanksgiving this year!  We spent a great day with family and I had so much to be thankful for this year!

The kids loved seeing the cousins and catching up!

Claire and Lauren loved being silly together!

Leah, Claire, and Lauren.  Claire looks just like her Daddy but she somehow looks exactly like my cousin Leah!

Leah and Stephen got engaged!  We are all so excited to welcome Stephen into our crazy family!

Oliver loved wearing the "Turkey Hat".

Claire loved showing off her centerpiece that she made at school.

We all enjoyed delicious food and saying what we are thankful for.

My mother did a great job making a delicious meal!

Susie worked hard all night helping out in the kitchen.

Oliver spent most of his night yelling down the chute to Papa.  He loves to talk to Papa through the chute.

We gave it our usual try at a family photo.  I think we did pretty well this year!  Thanks Erin for taking a great picture!

Then we got some pictures of me and Mark.

And then Mark was trying to get fresh with me :)

Then we actually got a nice picture of just the two of us.

Then of course, Brian, Erin, and Owen got a great family shot.  They take the best pictures!  Owen is getting so big!  Oliver loved chasing him around.  I really love seeing the kids play together!  Owen calls Claire Sissy now because Oliver does, it is so sweet!

Oliver loved playing with Owen's truck.  He had a blast showing it to Grandma.

I have so much to be thankful for this year.  I have the most amazing children, the best husband, the perfect family (immediate and in laws), the most incredible friends, a perfect job that brings me joy everyday, and I work with awesome people that make everyday fun.  What else could a girl ask for?!?! I am TRULY blessed!

Catch-Up

We have been really busy around here lately.  I have a lot of stuff to blog about so I am just going to do one big post.

Two weekends ago we had a great family dinner for Great Grandma's birthday.  The kids had a blast playing and we all enjoyed spending time together and celebrating Great Grandma's birthday.

Then it was time for us to vote.  Claire was very excited to go vote.  They have been talking about the election at school so Claire really felt that she was a part of the voting process.  Then there is Oliver.  I told him that we were going to go vote and his response was "We are going on a boat?!"  He was convinced that we were going on a boat.  After we left Oliver just kept yelling "Where da boat?!  I fought we go see a boat?!"

 To start our weekend off we went to dinner with our neighbors, the Pendyalas.  Mark has recently sold their house and they are moving to Florida.  This is really sad for us because in this short time they have become like family.  The kids adore them and we love spending time with them.  I am really sad that we didn't get to know them more in the 4 years that we have lived here!

Last weekend the weather was beautiful!  Mark was busy working on our rental property so I took the kids to the zoo.  My kids LOVE the zoo.  Going to the zoo is the most relaxing trip for us.   Here are the kids waiting weirdly patiently to get into the zoo.  They were so patient while we were waiting to get into the zoo.  Other kids were crying and flipping out and my kids just hung out and chatted away while we waited for our turn.

We had the most perfect day.  My kids would sit at each exhibit and watch the animals for like 20 minutes at a time.  Then we would talk about what we saw for a while.  The sun was shining and I was with the two most perfect children in the world.  It was perfect.  Simply perfect.

After a nice nap we headed over to Grandma and Grandpa's for dinner.  Then Grandma took the kids in the hot tub.  This was HEAVEN for the kids.  They had a blast in the hot tub.  Here is Oliver "relaxing" in the hot tub.  He kept saying "No talk a me.  I relaxin."

Claire was also relaxing.  Claire told me when I put her to bed "Today was the best day ever." As a mother there is nothing else that I would rather hear!

Then we had Monday off for Veteran's day.  The weather was still nice so we played outside all day.  Claire and Oliver were so cute playing in the driveway all morning.  At one point they pulled up two chairs and sat and chatted away.  It was adorable. I love watching them play and learn from each other.

They would chat away and then they would burst out laughing.  At one point they were laughing and Claire threw her arm around Oliver.  It was so sweet.  I love these kids so much it is ridiculous.  This weekend was perfect.  I loved every second of being with them and watching them just be together.  There are times as a mother that you just watch your kids and your heart swells and you think "I did something right in this world." And I didn't just do something right with these babies, I did something great!

Lastly, due to the new Twilight movie coming out on Friday I was given a challenge of dressing Oliver up as a different character from the movie each day.  Today he was dressed as Edward.  He loved it!  He kept saying "I Edward!"  So here is Oliver as Edward Cullen.

Happy Halloween

Another Halloween has come and gone.  We had another great time Trick or Treating!!

 This year Aunt Jacqie came over right after school to braid Claire's hair for her.  Claire was THRILLED and it came out super cute.  It was the perfect hair do for her costume and for trick or treating.

Then of course, Oliver wanted his hair done too.

The Cappelli family came to join us for Trick or Treating again this year.  After a nice pizza dinner it was time to get our costumes on and head out!  Here is Nicholas in his costume.  He was the perfect little hot dog.

Then the other three suited up and we were ready.  I think we had the cutest Thomas The Train, Ariel, and Leonardo in the world.

Then we tried to get a picture of all the kids.  Nicholas wasn't to happy but he will learn soon enough that Aunt Natalie takes a lot of pictures.

Then it was time to head out!!  Even though it was chilly and a little drizzley we were ready!

And of course Uncle Nick starts the night out right with the huge candy bars that he buys for the kids.

The girls wanted to walk by themselves this year.

They are getting so big!!

When we got home Claire couldn't wait to hold baby Nicholas.  She had been asking the whole night and she finally got her turn.

I can't believe another Halloween is already over!  Now onto Thanksgiving and then CHRISTMAS!!!  I can't wait!!!!!!!