We had such a wonderful time at Thanksgiving with Kara, Alvin, and Nigel. Nigel was adorable. At first Abby and Oliver were a little shy around him, but they quickly warmed up and were sharing all of their toys with him. As soon as they realized that the first thing Nigel did was put toys in his mouth, they made sure to share their toys for a very brief moment!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner, mostly prepared by Kay, with spiral sliced honey ham, turkey breast with homemade cranberry sauce, asparagus with hollandaise sauce, sweet potato swirls, potatoes and gravy, rainbow jello, lettuce salad, and whole wheat rolls. Best of all, Kay made both apple pie and pumpkin pie! She is such an amazing cook, and a great hostess. Perhaps the biggest challenge of the day was getting Abby to come sit up at the table for dinner. We had brought our old high chair up for Nigel to use, but Abby decided that she had to sit in it herself. We tried to reason with her, but we finally decided to was better to let her eat Thanksgiving dinner in the high chair than to have the meal end up with everyone in tears.

After dinner we played “Toy Story” bingo and then I gave a short Thanksgiving lesson. I made pirate hats for all of the kids and we went on a treasure hunt looking for our blessings. Oliver loved following the treasure map that I made and he said that it was the best part of the day.

Kara and Alvin had to leave on Friday, so we only saw them for a couple of days, but it was great to have them here. We hope they come back soon!

We are so grateful for our family! Kara, Alvin, and Nigel came from New York to visit us today. We love having them here.

Baby Nigel is adorable!

Thank you Grandma Kotter for sending the fun Thanksgiving present. Oliver and Abby love the new Christmas shirts that you gave them.

I guess we really like Halloween because here’s yet another post. After lunch Halloween day we picked up Jas from the B-school and parked downtown to trick-or-treat at the stores on Main Street and Liberty. Then we trick-or-treated and painted pumpkins at Whole Foods and made crafts and ate doughnuts at the library. Jas and I brought stuff in the car to dress up as farm crops on the way home just so we could stop and get $2 burritos (normally $7) at Chipotle. We took a photo of us after we got home. Finally the kids had dinner too and we trick-or-treated up and down our street. There are smarties wrappers everywhere and we’re very happy.

For Preschool Oliver attends the St Paul Lutheran Early Childhood Center twice a week. It operates in a wing of the beautiful Lutheran chapel on Liberty.  I love all the activities they plan there and this Halloween party (Monday morning) did not disappoint. The kids trick or treated for stickers and cookies in the chapel offices and paraded to a parachute to hear a haunted house story (acting out parts) and then played and colored. Nabby had her face painted and made a necklace. Oliver made play dough shapes with Halloween cookie cutters and colored a picture of a bat. We had a great time. Nabby wanted to be the lion (Oliver’s old costume) for Halloween day. I didn’t argue because it provides a lot more warmth than the pink tutu dress. It was the start of a very fun, busy October 31st!

Saturday before Halloween we carved our pumpkins and taste tested chili and cornbread for the ward chili cook off and costume parade. We had an awesome time drinking cider and talking with friends. The kids had fun with their friends Steph and Chris in the parade and running around on the stage. Oliver wore the Knight costume I made for him this year, Nabby was a butterfly princess (in her own words), I had rubber mice in my hair (stuck with bobby pins in them) and Jas had an old shirt with plastic spiders glued on the back of it. Brother Magleby (Dean at BYU) is in our ward this year on sabbatical and his wife told Jason 3 times how much she liked his spider shirt. It was a creepy shirt.

On a recent Sunday afternoon we decided to take a walk around our neighborhood. It was a beautiful fall day and we enjoyed the changing leaves on the trees.

We found a house that had carved a couple of old stumps into “thrones”. Oliver and Abby had to try climbing and sitting on them.

I feel very blessed to have such a wonderful family.