Handsomest

I just love Haylie's daily notes and pictures to all of us. Here is one for James from today - that first word is handsomest :). Such a sweet girl.

Thanksgiving at Home

This year we had a last minute change in our usual Thanksgiving trip to Southern CA. Instead we had the pleasure of hosting the family at our house for Thanksgiving. We aren't really equipped to have 20 people over for dinner since we chose to forego a dining room in favor of a computer / craft room instead. So - we converted the pool table into seating for everyone and pulled some tables out into the entry. Everyone fit nicely and it was fun not to have to travel this year and still get to visit with the extended family. Of course, that meant we had to actually cook this year, which we usually seem to get out of but it was a fun time...

My little pilgrim

"A long time ago my great great great great great great great great grandfather was a pilgrim." Ever since Grandpa told Haylie about her pilgrim ancestry she has been very excited to tell that story to everyone she knows. Plus she has really wanted to learn more about pilgrims and was even more excited to be one in her school performance:

Playing School

I used to love playing school when I was little. The kids have been having so much fun in "class."

Bringing crafty back

It's been a long time since we've done any house projects ourselves but Micah recently built this cute headboard for the guest room. I'm so excited about it! :)

Trading Places Day

For Halloween at Haylie's school they did a trading place day instead of regular costumes. They asked the kids to dress like their parents and anyone helping in the class to dress like their children. It was a pretty tough assignment to figure out how Haylie could dress like me so we opted for one of my old shirts which is pretty short on me now and some skinny jeans. Does she look like me?

While I was tryng to get a good photo of Haylie, Max decided he wanted to show his stuff in the photo as well!

And here's Mommy helping in Haylie's class, with my best attempt to dress like Haylie.

This was so cute - comparing costumes :

Around the block and back

This year for Halloween we set out for some trick or treating all together and along with some neighbors who Haylie and James like to play with. We left a bowl of candy on the porch but I was told by a neighbor it was emptied real fast. Bummer.

Here are some photos from our night of trick or treating. By the time we made it around our block the kids were very ready to go home. Half of our group continued on and the other half of us headed back to eat the candy before bedtime:

Harvest Carnival with friends

It's funny now that Haylie is getting a little older, she wants to bring a friend with her everywhere we go. We invited her best friend Allie to the harvest carnival at our church and the girls had a blast being silly from all that sugar they were scoring from the trunk or treat line. The kids also loved the super slide!

Raider and his girlfriend Jen: