Thanksgiving Break

Last week the kids had the week off for Thanksgiving and Chris had Thursday and Friday off. I can't tell you how much we all needed a break from our usual routine! The past few months have been busy and so it was nice for us all to slow down a bit for a few days We spent Thanksgiving day with some friends Jenny and Ian and their two children Malcolm and Myla. The kids LOVE going to their house and we love spending time with them. We all stuffed ourselves on too much turkey, stuffing, potatoes, beans, bread and pies for desert. Here a a few photos from the day...

Jenny reading a story while the kids wait for their food. We made sure that they were really hungry!


The day after Thanksgiving we went for a bike ride. It was the first time we have all been for a ride together. I must have looked pretty funny cruising around 8 months pregnant on my bike! It really wasn't too bad, I just wish that I had a bigger, softer seat! In the afternoon we went swimming. We hadn't been for a swim since September when our neighborhood pool closed and so it was fun to see everyone back in the water again. Elliott was very cautious, but it didn't take him long to find his swimming legs again.

On Saturday we took the kids to the science center in the morning. Here are a few pictures from out trip...

Happy 5th Birthday Ella!!

On November 15th Ella turned 5. I can't believe she is five already and turning into a big girl! She was counting down the number of sleeps until her birthday all last week and was so excited. The night before her birthday we told the kids that they could get up at 6:30am so that Ella would have time to open her presents before school. So here are a few pictures of us up bright and early for Ella's birthday opening ceremony. Owen and Sam even bought presents for her with their allowance. Sam gave her tiny lady bug clip earrings and Owen picked out a necklace. Ella loves everything pretty and girly and the boys are happy to help her with that!

Sam "helping" Ella open her present from Oma..

Ella with her loot...

Ella showing off one of her new birthday outfits. This one I made using one of my cousin Toni's awesome patterns..

Earlier this year Ella went to "Build-a-Bear" with school and made a bear. She named her Amy and she has been in need of some clothes and so I made Amy a matching dress...
Oma sent Ella pjs with a matching set for Amy. So cute!
Yesterday we had Ella's birthday party. Between church, school and neighborhood friends Ella had 12 girls ages 3-5 at her party. We managed to keep everyone busy for 90 minutes with cupcake decorating, beading, food and some games. Ella requested a pavlova for her party and the mums that stayed loved it so much that they all went home with the recipe!

Making a bead necklaces...


Playing pass-the-parcel....


10 things we love about Ella...
- How she loves everything girly, despite having 3 brothers (soon to be 4 brothers!)
- How considerate she is. For example, if she has been asked to say a prayer and Owen wants to, she will often let him have a turn instead because it makes him happy.
- How much she loves fruit of all kinds
- Her willingness to try new foods
- How she loves to dress-up and look pretty
- Her love of learning. She is starting to read and daily asks me how to spell different words so that she can make up sentences. She is so excited to start kindergarten next year.
- Her creativity. She loves to draw and color.
- Her smile
- Her hugs - she gives great hugs and can't go to sleep without one.
- Her singing. Ella loves to sing and has learned lots of songs from church and school that she likes to sing when she is in the car or playing.

School Carnival

On Saturday, November 13th Sam's school held a carnival / fundraiser. Chris was unable to come with us and so Mary, one of our friends from church, came with us to help me out. Chris has been very busy this year and so I often end up going places with the kids on my own. It was so nice to have Mary's company and help for the morning. Mary also helps me with the kids during Sacrament Meeting each Sunday because Chris has to sit up on the stand. She also watched them some of the time when I went home to Australia in May for Nan Triffitt's funeral. The kids love her and she has become like an adopted Grandma to them. Even Elliott went with her during church today for a while. He usually screams even if Chris tries to take him, but he didn't complain at all when Mary took him out during church today. I certainly appreciate her help! Anyway, here are some pictures from the carnival...


Listening to a story.

Sam made it all the way to the top of this climbing wall and was not scared one bit!

Ella showing her butterfly face paint..

Fall Fun

The weather has finally cooled off here in Georgia and it definitely feels like fall now. During September and October the weather was still warm to hot, but that didn't stop us having some fun going to a farm / pumpkin patch and starting to do more things outside. Here are few pictures from the past couple of months.

Our neighborhood held a fall festival in mid-October that included a petting zoo, face painting, cake walk (a game where kids win a cupcake or cake), jumping castle and other fun activities. The kids had a great time.

Ella with rainbow face paint.

Owen showing his sword face paint and the cupcake he won in the cake walk.

Ella and Sam filling bottles with colored sand.


In October I also went to Steed's Dairy. First with Sam and the 6 kindergarten classes at his school. And then a few days later with Ella and Owen and our playgroup from church. Unfortunately I forgot my camera the day I went with Sam.




A couple of random shots from around the house. With the weather cooling off the kids have been spending a lot of time in the backyard and for 2 or 3 weeks we started eating dinner outside. The kids loved it and less mess to clean up afterward!

Owen building the tallest Lego tower ever! It really doesn't reach to the ceiling, but Owen did put most of the blocks on himself by climbing onto the Lego box to add some height.

Halloween Festivities

We have made it through Halloween and have more candy than we know what to do with! Because Halloween was on Sunday this year, we decided to try and fit in as many opportunities as we could for the kids to get to dressed-up in their costumes and go trick-or-treating. By the time Halloween did come around we had fit in a special Halloween story time at the library, Halloween day at preschool for Ella and Owen, trick-or-treat at a local county fundraiser, a Ward trunk-or-treat and trick-or-treating at the local supermarket. We were officially over Halloween by Saturday night and the kids did not mind at all that we did not go trick-or-treating around the neighborhood on Sunday evening.

Below are some pictures of the kids in their costumes. Ella had to be Cinderella because in the version of Cinderella we have been reading this year Cinderella's real name is "Ella", but her friends call her Cinderella because of all the cinders she gets on her clothes from cleaning for her stepmother and stepsisters. Chris has been making up stories for the kids at bedtime over the past few months. In those stories Owen is either a Green or Silver Knight and so I made a costume for him that is the reversible so that he could choose to be either. So far the green Knight has been the more popular choice. Owen also decided to be Batman on a couple of occasions. Sam was an "army guy" and Elliott the cutest clown I've seen (not that I'm biased!) - costumes I picked up on sale after Halloween last year!