Thanksgiving 2012

We didn't take any pictures on Thanksgiving Day, but I promise we had a nice, traditional dinner with my parents.  So, instead, I'll talk about some things to be grateful for this November.

 Danny took a basketball class on Wednesday mornings with the same teachers as his soccer class earlier.  Michelle and I had the privilege of taking him and watching him all 4 times.  With soccer he had insisted that Grandma, Grandpa, Daddy, & Mommy all have a turn.  (:  I let Kaelah play hooky from preschool once so she could watch too.  Danny's favorite part of the class was throwing the basketball to hit a target hung on the wall.

 Michelle can now buckle herself into her 5-point harness and is even happier than I am about it.  The children often have contests to see who can get strapped in first.  Makes my life more fun too!

 I adored Kaelah's "How to Cook a Turkey" from Stacey's Preschool.  I think it is the perfect combination to show how intelligent yet how young she is.  She even remembered you need to put oven mitts on before you take something out!

 It was our turn to teach the co-op preschool the two weeks before Thanksgiving.  And what luck, we had the letter P one of those weeks.  P is for pilgrim!  Here is a picture of Danny with one of the Pilgrim crafts Grandma Karyl did with the children.  We mailed a set off to Grandma's Aunt Hope and she said she really liked them.  Above are all the children dressed up as pirates and princesses during P week as well.  The best smelling part of that week was the pumpkin pie play dough.  Too much fun.

 Michelle finished her fall semester of her Terrific Two's class at the end of November.  My mother took both Kaelah and Danny to the same class when they were 2 years old and loved it, but somehow Michelle convinced my mother & I that I had to be the one to take her.  Michelle has informed me that she likes having me be the teacher and doesn't want to go to high school.  Ah hem.

 Kaelah was so proud to come home with this craft from Stacey's Preschool as well.  We all liked having it on our refrigerator to help decorate for the season.

 The day after Thanksgiving my parents & our family piled into the mini van and headed to the Denver Museum of Nature and Science.  My parents and Dan & I took turns with the children while the other couple went to see the traveling exhibit about Pompeii.  I don't think I learned a whole lot, but if I was the crying type, the molds of the victims totally would have made me bawl.  It was so easy to put yourself in their shoes after seeing all those artifacts.

Here's the part my children were super excited about.  After the museum and eating lunch at Cafe Rio (yum!) we visited Hammond's Candy Factory for the first time and were so happy to have Marie's and Lisa's families join us!  We slowly watched the original Charlie and the Chocolate Factory movie in preparation, so if you ask Kaelah about it, she'll tell you all sorts of things about the chocolate factory she visited.  Can you tell in this picture how tall she remains to be for her age?  She has grown out of all her size 5 clothes and isn't even 5 and a half yet.  We have a feeling she'll be the tallest in her kindergarten class, just like my husband was.

This picture makes me laugh.  Michelle wanted the P. boys and our family to stand in front of the truck.  She was outnumbered, but didn't budge.  Her sweet nature usually covers up the fact she can be stubborn just like the rest of us.  Love her to pieces.

And just in case a member of my husband's family reads my blog, here is how we remembered his siblings and their families this Thanksgiving.  The children had a blast helping me make it and gathering leaves for it.  I also realized Danny & Michelle have pretty much no clue who anyone is except for the ones we went to Disneyland with in October.  With 7 aunts, 6 uncles, and 17 cousins to keep tracks of, I can't blame them.  And there are 2 more cousins on the way in the first half of 2013!