I Saw Santa . . .

Have you been naughty or nice?

Santa knows when you are sleeping and knows when you're awake. (Brooke informed me today that that's a bit creepy).

What are you going to ask Santa for this year?

At the ward party, Ashlyn asked for a make up set,

and Christian asked for police gear.

Very simple.

Very innocent.

From two darling innocent children who are certainly on Santa's nice list this year.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving is about giving thanks!

We are thankful

We are grateful

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving complete with a fun day with family and a wonderful feast shared.

We started out the day seeing HUGO at the movie theater. We are big fans of the book and were excited to see it come to the screen; we were not disappointed.

Then home to enjoy the day and prepare the meal.

And we were sure to save room for dessert!

Perfect pecan cheescake pie, silky smooth chocolate pie, See's English toffee, delectable deep dish apple pie, and a classic creamy pumpkin pie.

Don't you with this was scratch and sniff?

Getting Ready for Thanksgiving . . . Kindergarten Style

Every year the kindergarten puts on a Thanksgiving Show which is totally adorable. All of my children have participated in it, and Ashlyn is no exception. Except that she is the last of my children to be in it! No more cute Thanksgiving show for us after this, which I don't know if I'll ever be able to wrap my brain around.

All the little Injuns sung their hearts out, and Ashlyn got to do a dance as well which just cracked us up the whole time. She never let on at home that she was doing this as it was a 'surprise' and we really had no idea. She knows how to keep a secret!

After the show, we headed over to the Middle School where Madison was participating in a 5K. We staked out a location and waited for her to pass. Luckily it was a beautiful, crisp, cool day - perfect for a nice long run. My parents came out for the show and after all this, we went to lunch. Ashlyn never did take off her Indian shirt or headband the whole day.

Two days until Thanksgiving . . . let the baking begin! I started with a deep dish apple pie.

So far, so good! You'll have to wait until Thanksgiving to find out how it tasted!

Sunday Storm

A very cold and rainy storm blew through on Sunday creating a gorgeous rainbow on the way to church.

It also created the perfect reason to build a fire

and cuddle up with hot cocoa and read together.

One of the benefits of always having 9:00 church is having the afternoon totally free to enjoy Sunday.

I want a hot cup of cocoa

with a marshmallow or two

I want a hot cup of liquid love

only the chocolate kind will do

Soccer is NOT over!

Even though the season has ended and we went to three team parties, received three new trophies, presented three coach's gifts . . . it's still not over.

Because, Madison's team, The Cookie Monsters,

are number ONE!!

That means they go to the playoffs! Yeah! So, instead of having four different teams to to watch at two different parks, we only have three games to go to, at one park because the playoffs are all weekend long. They play three games on Saturday and Sunday each (she'll miss the latter).

Go Cookies!!

We Were Flocked

One morning we awoke to find a flock of flamingos taking over our territory!

That was a shocker . . . and a fun high school fundraiser. There are some creative peeps out there!

The best part is that the flock disappears at night, without the homeowner having to clean anything up.

Service and Newspaper

Madison is in a magnet school - part of the middle school - called Discover. One of the components is that the students need to complete 5 hours of community service per trimester. Last Saturday, she volunteered at the YMCA to put together Thanksgiving baskets. Then she (we) spent 2 hours cleaning windows and scouring the kitchen at the Y.

When we first arrived, there was a reporter from the Ventura County Star who interviewed us. Lo and behold, we made the paper!

It's not the best picture; I inconspicuously snapped it with my phone.