Thanksgiving 2010

We had a fabulous Thanksgiving this year (just like every other year!).  This was the first year since we've been married that we had Thanksgiving at our house.  Up until this year, we had always gone up to Rochester to hang out with my parents and my brother and his family.  Well, this year, they all came to US!  It was awesome!!!  My brother, Mike and his wife, Crystal and family had never been down to our new house, so it was especially fun to have them here too.  They have 5 kids who kept our 2 kids entertained ALL weekend...it was great!  The kiddos LOVED jumping on the trampoline, playing dress-up, watching movies, and just having fun together.  The adults had a great time eating yummy food, talking, playing games, shopping, and just being together.  It was such a great weekend, no one wanted it to end!  Here are a bunch of pictures from our time together (many of them are courtesy of my dad...thanks!)

Bryn did a little photoshoot with my dad in her Guitar Dress

 

                               Sweet, smiling Gavin...this baby is so easy to make smile!!

 The kids did LOTS of jumping on the trampoline!!!  Here's Brooke with some crazy hair!

 Crazy cousins!

 Seth and Carson wrestling on the trampoline

 We went to a humongous playground and the kids loved it! 

 Go Brooke!

Carson at the playground

 Sweet Tyler at the playgound.  I think him and Bryn have matching freckles...so cute!

 We also went to the Air & Space Museum.  Here is Mike's whole family in front on the space shuttle.

Carson and Brooke on the tire swing

 Grandma Simmons peeling potatoes...with a little help from Bryn and Tyler. 

 The Turkey...so delicious!!

 Some of our feast...check out the 7-layer jello...so good!

 Another one of my favorites...homemade rolls!

 Our Thanksgiving Feast!

 Carson loved the turkey and gravy!

 Movie night with all the cousins...and yard-long licorice!

I am so thankful for my fun family and so many other things!!!  Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Phish

So, we decided to get the kids a fish tank.  We tried having fish a few years ago, but we didn't do all that great.  Carson really wanted a pet, so we thought we would try again.  After getting our tank all set up and letting the kids pick out the rocks, plants, and decorations for it, we finally got some fish to add to the tank.  We started with 4 fishies and after 2 days ended up with 2 fishies.  Yep, two of them died within the first two days!  The night Carson discovered one of the neon tetras, named Ollie, sucked up against the filter, he was devastated!  He cried for quite a long time and just couldn't seem to get over the loss of his little fish.  He's so sweet and sensitive.  He had deep questions about why Ollie had to die and where he was, etc.  I was shocked at all the questions he had and how sincerely saddened he was that the fish had died.  I felt so bad for him, I just layed in bed with him and tried to help him get through it..poor thing.  Dan and I went to bed hoping that no more fish would die, but as soon as Dan woke up the next morning, the other neon tetra, Callie, was dead too.  He quickly removed the dead fish while Carson was sleeping.  I just couldn't bare having Carson find another fish gone.  Later that day when Carson got home from school, we went to PetSmart to get a new fish.  This time we got a fish that was a little bit bigger, a beta named Skyler.  So far our three remaining fish, Black Fin, Bone, and Skyler are doing great.  Here's to hoping we can keep them alive!

One Proud Mama

I am just so proud of my Carson-man!  I have had some really good feedback from his teacher at school.  Last week we went for parent-teacher conference and got to talk with her and see how he is doing.  She said multiple times what a sweet boy Carson is and how caring and kind he is.  He is my sweet, sensitive boy, but it's just so nice to hear that from someone else (plus, I see the stinker side of him at home too).  She mentioned that he had been a bit homesick, but that it didn't last long.  I already knew this was happening, but was hoping he was okay once he got to school.  He says he really likes school, but doesn't like leaving his family.  His teacher also went through all of subjects they are working on and how he is doing.  He is doing great!  She showed us some drawings and writing samples and they were way better than I even knew he could do!  Which brings me to my next reason I am one proud mama.  I went to his school for an end-of-the-quarter awards ceremony and he got an award!  He was one of the Top Wildcat Writers for his class!  Two kids from each class were picked based on the teacher's evaluation.  At the awards ceremony, when Carson was called up with the other students getting an award, my heart just melted.  I was sooo proud!  I might have had a tear or two, which I quickly wiped away.  I was just so proud of my little boy doing so well at school!  Keep up the good work Carson-man!  We love you! 



Carson's Award

Carson's Kindergarten Picture.  What a handsome boy!

hair

One reason I love my baby girl is because she has HAIR!!  I'm not the best at doing hair (especially my own), but I do love trying new things with Brynlee's hair.  I have been asked several times how I get her to let me do her hair and my simple answer is...she has no choice!!!  I have been putting bows in her hair since the day she was born and I have no intention of stopping until she can do it herself!  When she was younger I would sit her in the bathroom sink and she would look at herself in the mirror and play with daddy's toothbrush (shhh, don't tell Dan!).  It was not always easy to get her to cooperate, but I persisted and now she does pretty good.  So, there is one superficial reason why I am thankful for my little girl...her hair!

Here is our latest "do"...this is the first time I've actually french braided her hair!

Sunday afternoon photoshoot

I wanted to get some pictures of these socks, so I took the kids outside for a little photo shoot. The kids were being so cute, I couldn't help but take tons of pictures!  Oh, and I can't seem to narrow any down for this blog either...so here they all are!

 Check out their twin cheesy smiles!

 That's better...now that's a real smile Carson!

 See?  They DO love each other...so sweet!

 And of course the kids wanted to take some pictures too...so we "posed" for them!