Thanksgiving

I know it's been almost a month since Thanksgiving, but I've been meaning to update so here it is. (mom this is for you)
We went to NC to visit our cousins for Thanksgiving and had such a wonderful time.  Our kids all have a cousin their age to play with, and they all get along so well, so it was actually a nice relaxing time for everyone.

Priya was my kitchen helper.  She was very fascinated with cleaning and prepping the turkey. 

All the kids at the park.  You think with this many kids it might get a little wild, but they all got along so well.  It was just fun, fun, fun all weekend long.

 

We had some nice family time too

 

Like I said it was very relaxing... I even got a few naps in :)

This week

Last week was beautiful weather and we were out everyday enjoying the sunshine. 

you can't tell in this picture but his "spots" are all over his hands, arms, and back too.  Poor little guy.

This week we have been trapped indoors with sick kids.  I am used to being trapped inside with kids, but not when the sun is shinning and the weather is nice.  It really makes it that much harder. 

Thankfully this girl has still been healthy and gone to school everyday.  Here is a picture of her Turkey that she had to disguise for school.  Meet Cinderella peacock-turkey 

 I had to post these cute school pictures.  I thought they turned out really good.

BYU vs Georgia Tech

 A few weeks ago we drove to Georgia to see my baby brother Danny.  The kids were beyond excited to see him and immediately jumped all over him, hung on tight and wouldn't let go.  When it was time for him to leave Molly burst into tears.   



Friday night at the devotional



Game Day:  Played hide-n-seek with uncle Danny at his hotel in downtown Atlanta, walked around the city, Ethan lost a tooth on the playground, got to ride the train to the game.

We were lucky to get to go to such a fun exciting game.  We had great seats, and got to watch uncle Danny get an interception.

 

Mitch and Molly are obsessed with Cosmo Cougar now.  We probably went down 10 times to give him a high five.

 

 

We had such a fun weekend in Georgia with Danny. Go Cougs!

Halloween

 

It was quite the procces to pick the perfect pumpkin that everyone was happy with this year, but we did and his name was Frank.

carving up Frank

Mitch at the fun community Halloween carnival.  He loved the pony ride with Mr. Smartie pants

Angry bird, Ariel, & Shark

This is who Ethan dressed-up as.  Not "super duck" which is what a few people thought he was.

 

Trick-or-treating with friends

Happy Halloween.  It was so nice to not be layered with winter clothes for once

family pics

 A few weeks ago my friend took some family pictures for us in beautiful downtown Charleston.  I LOVE the way they turned out and minus me having a bad hair day, molly up all night throwing-up, sleeping in, canceling and then re-booking the shoot, she did a FABULOUS job.   Charleston is really the most beautiful city.  I absolutely love going downtown. There is so much to look at and so much history.  We are having such a great time here and I'm so glad we got these pictures done so we can always remember our year in South Carolina. 

 

 

 

 

 Scott says this one is going on the Christmas card.

Here are the out-takes from Scott's phone.  Thankfully my friend was taking pictures, because this is what it looks like when we try. 

Greenie

Today the kids caught a frog and it was quite exciting for them.  We have tried a few other times this summer to catch frogs, toads and lizards, but they are always too fast for us.  I think this little guy may have been injured and so he was easier to catch.  Isn't he a pretty little frog.  His name is Greenie and after being handled way too much we gave him some water to splash in which revived him right up and he hopped away. He sure was cute.
 

 

We LOVE Charleston

We went to the waterfront park in downtown Charleston in between Confrence sessions on Sunday.  It was a beautiful day and the kids loved seeing the big cruise ship up close.  They asked if they could go by the fountains and we said sure but "only get your feet wet." 
Yeah right! It is not physically possible for our kids to be near water and not get in, so they of course got soaked.

 

Endless Summer

Even though we have been back to school for almost 2 months now, it has still felt like summer.  We still go swimming and hang out at the beach.  Really the only difference is that now we can actually PLAY at the park, something we didn't do in the summer because it was way way too HOT.  But the weather has been gorgeous lately and so we are enjoying it.
 

 

One Sunday we went for a walk around this lake.  It wasn't until we made it almost all the way around that I noticed ALLIGATORS live in this water.  Had I know this at the beginning, my kids would not have been right next to the water throwing pebbles.

Scott and I had a nice little weekend get-a-way to Washington.  It was relaxing and fabulous, and even though it "technically" wasn't a vacation, we were alone so it counts.  This is a picture of us in beautiful Coure d'Alene ID. 

Our up-stairs neighbors "gave" us some hamsters.  I say "gave" because I didn't really want them so they still live with the neighbors.  But to the kids they are our families new pets named Josh and Clara 

 
The kids Love watching the BYU and SUU football games and Mitch thinks he is so cool in his jersey. (uncle Brad may need to send him a t-bird one)

There are so many fun parks in Charleston. We find a new one every week.  Every where we go we see people fishing and our kids want to do it sooo badly, especially Ethan.  It is getting to the point where I think Scott needs to break down and invest in some rods.  On this day we were walking past as someone caught an eel.  Since Ethan is fascinated with all things that live in the sea I had to snap a picture.

 

One of the other things I love about Charleston is there are millions of butterflies.  They are EVERYWHERE!!!  Mitch is kind of obsessed with them and he is determined to catch one.  Although he hasn't caught one yet it is pretty cute watching him try.

Dr. Daddy

Ethan has been going to the Eye Doctor for 3 years now.  We all really liked our Dr in Cleveland and so it has always been a fun thing for Ethan to go and get his eyes checked.  Well now that we live in SC the kids have a new Eye Doctor, Dr Yeates.

Ethan need new glasses so after school on Thursday we headed downtown to visit dad at work.  He has a really nice office, with a much better movie selection, so the kids really liked it.  But even though Dad is always looking/checking their eyes at home, this was the first time he has done a real exam on our kids.  They had a hard time sitting still for their exams and wanted to climb-on and touch everything.  Let's just say that having a hard time listening at home translated to Dad's office as well.

Finally I said "You need to listen to Dr. Yeates so he can check your eyes." 

Molly quickly responded... "He's not Dr. Yeates! He's Dr. Daddy!" 

 

 

Despite being a little wiggly, they were all pretty good for the exam.  And best of all they got bouncy balls and extra stickers.  Plus it's always fun to visit Daddy at work.

Pre-K

Finally after patiently waiting for 2 weeks Molly had her first day.  To say she was excited would be an understatement.   She had a great time and was disappointed when it was time to come home.  She said that it wasn't long enough and that she wished she could go all day.  She made lots of new friends on the first day and even though she didn't remember very many names, she could describe with great detail what every little girl was wearing. 

Mitch has really enjoyed being King of the house for a few short hours each day, and although I don't get quite the free time I had last year, it's still nice to get some one on one time with that funny little guy.