Happy Thanksgiving

What a wonderful Thanksgiving we had! We stayed home, just the 4 of us, it was very relaxing and the FOOD was YUMMY!

Cole with his place mat from is school Thanksgiving feast.Daddy, Cole and I had a special Thanksgiving lunch with Kate at her school. It was a pre-Turkey Day lunch with all the traditional fixin's Thanksgiving morning we started the day by doing some crafts and thinking about what we are thankful for. Cole was thankful for race cars, his friends, Mommy, Daddy, Kate and food.
Kate was thankful for her family, friends, her teacher, Mimi, Arnie the Elf, and Jesus.

The Kiddo's sitting down for our fabulous meal! Kate made the napkin rings the day before. Very cute!

Here they are saying TURKEEEEEEEY!

And a bit later...Pie.

We chose to have a chocolate cream pie this year, but Kate insisted she wanted Pumpkin Pie. Neither Oliver nor I are big fans, so I found a teeney tiny pumpkin pie so Kate could have the traditional pie of Thanksgiving.

Cole ended up eating his little slice of the pumpkin pie, and Kate had one bite (sure glad I didn't make a big one). They both enjoyed a FULL slice of the chocolate pie though...

We hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving as well. Hopefully sometime in the future we will be closer to family so we can be together--it would have been nice to have you all here to share with us. There are LOTS of leftovers in this house now!

Happy Veteran's Day

"Good morning Daddy! Thank you for serving our country!" This is how our day started. These words came from Kate, A wonderful way to start the day I think!

Today is Veteran's Day. In a town Like Leavenworth this is a VERY big deal. Leavenworth is the oldest town in Kansas, and the Veteran's Day Parade is the biggest and oldest in Kansas. This year Kate joined the girl scouts, and she is a Daisy. (If anyone wants cookies let me know;-))Along with this comes the privilege of walking in the parade. Kate was so excited about this. Actually, she had been looking forward to this since before Halloween.

In preparation for the parade Kate's Daisy troop has been learning patriotic songs, practicing their formation, and they have been talking about what it means to be a Veteran. All of the girls made a sign with photos of their family members who have served in the armed forces, to carry in the parade. Kate was VERY proud to have so many Veteran's in her family. (I thank all of you who sent photos!! We couldn't have done it without you!)

Kate showing off all of HER Veteran's before leaving to the parade.

Cole and Daddy waiting for the parade to start. Burrrr it's COLD!Daddy went to the little store to get us some gloves and hats. Now Cole is enjoying the parade!He LOVED the emergency vehicles and told us what all of them were called.This was interesting....Here is Kate's troop!!Another view of Kate and her Daisy's One last pose before heading home...

My PROUD Daisy!

I have never seen so many JROTC cadets, Patriot Guard Motorcycles, VFW representatives and boy and girl scouts in my life, but it was a wonderful parade. A very heart warming tribute to our past and present folks in uniform.

I want to wish a very Happy Veteran's Day to all Veteran's, especially my FAVORITE Veteran, who I am so very proud to call my husband and the father of my children!

Oliver, in the words of your beautiful daughter, "thank you for serving our country!"

Halloween 2010

Kate and Cole had a great time this year trick or treating! The post actually had trick or treating on Saturday instead of Sunday. Kate was Belle from Beauty and the Beast. She was the "town Belle not the castle Belle" as she would tell everyone. Many people didn't know what she was, we heard Little House on the Prairie, a pilgrim and an Amish girl... They must have been parents of boys. Haha. I thought she was the perfect Belle, and looked beautiful! Cole was a pirate. He actually wore the same costume as last year. I was super excited it still fit, because it is really cute and my great friend made it for him. He looked like quite a scoundrel, but he made sure to tell everyone he was a nice pirate.

Kate and Cole are ready to go!My Beautiful Belle!My little scoundrel! And they are off!!After trick or treating they wanted to hand out candy...

Well, another fun Halloween has past. Kate is already trying to figure out what she will be next year. I wonder if the pirate will last yet another year... I doubt it.

Hope everyone had a fun and safe Halloween!

This week was Red Ribbon Week at Kate's school. Everyday had a different theme, and Kate had a BLAST with all of it!

Monday-Wear red. Tuesday- Shades
Wednesday- Camouflage Day

Thursday Pajama Day!

Friday- Book Character day.

Kate will be Belle (from Beauty and the Beast) for Halloween, but the school was encouraging them to not do cartoon characters, but Book characters. We looked through all of Kate's books, and came up with Cowgirl Kate. She already had the name, the clothes were easy to wear throughout the day at school, and she looks so stinkin' cute as a little cowgirl.

All of the students paraded around the school for us to see them-- there are some creative people out there.

We are all super excited about about trick or treating coming up. Check back soon to see Kate as Provincial Belle, and Cole as a Pirate...

Cole's Fieldtrip to the Pumpkin Patch

On Friday Cole and I went with his pre-school class to a little local pumpkin patch. It is a VERY little pumpkin patch, but perfect for kiddo's his age. There were sheep, donkeys, turkeys, pigs and cows. They rode a tractor drawn barrel train to the pumpkins and chose their very own little pumpkin. They had a little snack, played on a big hay pile and in a giant sand box. They tried out saddles and swings and did a fun craft. It was a busy 2 hours and we all had a great time. It was nice to be able to attend this event with my sweet boy!

Cole standing by the BIG pumpkins The piggies and turkeys...
More pumpkins...

Cole and Mommy being silly. Cowboy Cole

Cole found his way through the hay maze. He is VERY proud!

Cole and his class

on the barrel train.

He chose a pumpkin.

swinging...

showing off his craft.

What a fun time this was! I am so blessed to be able to have these moments with my kiddos!

The Pumpkin Patch

Today was a perfect crisp and cool fall day, so we make out annual trip to a local pumpkin patch. There are actually quite a few around the area, but we chose the Red Barn Farm. There was a lot to do and we all had a great time!

The Red Barn Farm

Sitting by the pre-cut pumpkins There were cute baby piggies in this pen. Some white geese.

Cole VERY happy to be on his pony ride.

Kate loving her pony ride.

Standing by a scarecrow on a tractor.

Showing of a couple of the MANY varieties of pumpkins.

on the Hay Ride.

Heading to the Pumpkin Patch to pick our pumpkin.

There were LOTS of pumpkins to choose from.

Kate chose her favorite.

Cole chose one he could lift.

These are the 4 we chose...

Perfect weather, the perfect place and perfect pumpkins made for a PERFECT family outing!