Thanksgiving

This year we got to enjoy Thanksgiving day at the Millers, and what an enjoyable day it was! The kids had fun keeping things lively for all of us, it was great seeing how well Jill and Amelia still get along and how Wyatt cowers around Miss Mia. : )

Sorry, Lucas, this is the only picture that turned out of the kids table

(he wasn't so sure of Amelia cozying up to him for the picture!).

I crack up every time I look at this.

A brief moment of serenity.

Wyatt's favorite trick the rest of the weekend at Grandpa and

Grandma's. Bandit isn't really supposed to have human food... oh well!

Looks like Aunt Sara is a good shot with a snowball! ; )

Poor boy was a little top heavy and could hardly walk.

Hopefully the only time we'll see this ride with snow on it. From

now on we're going prepared with the four wheel drive in the winter!

blood donation = free fish

At the hospital where Kim works, they treat you right when you donate blood. Incentives include espresso drinks or various free tickets, and getting to sit in a comfortable chair uninterrupted by children while nice nurses bring you whatever you want (Drumstick or Dove Bar?). Not to mention Kim gets eight hours paid time off for up to four donations per year. I'm not into needles and blood, but I have big veins in my arms and I just don't look. Funny what things you look forward to after spending most of your time at home with kids. : )

Anyway, both Kim and I opted for Aquarium of the Pacific tickets the last time we donated. It was a fun day for all. Oh, and we pet a shark. Never thought I'd do that... but it was small and everyone else was doing it. ; )

Enjoying Goldfish crackers and people watching while the rest of us watched fish.

playground

The weather has been quite warm here until this weekend (rain, hooray!). So last weekend we took advantage of letting the kids run around for awhile. There was a catch, I wanted to take pictures of them together... Wyatt didn't cooperate very well for the 'togetherness' pictures, but I suppose thats all part of the fun. : )

October 23

This post is really more for me to keep record more than anything else. October 23, 2007 is the day I started babysitting Morgan and I have tried to take a picture of the girls every year right around that time. If you're interested in the first three years, click here for last years post.

in general

One week they're feeling the cool rain...

The next week it's in the 90's and they're frolicking fairys.

We hung a few things up on the walls last weekend,
it feels a little more homey now.

A playdate with Bridget and her overly due momma. ♥

New jammies from Grandma.

A feast on our toilet.

A feast on Wyatt's face.

the bride & the bee

For various reasons I am not that into Halloween. That being said, Amelia has been talking about being a bah-ride for the longest time and has been anticipating getting to dress up for quite awhile. Seeing her sheer excitement getting out of the car when we went down to our old neighborhood to say hello to a few friends was so fun. She pranced about and when people told her she looked so pretty, she exclaimed: "I know I do!" I suppose now it's time to work on proper etiquette, perhaps learning to just say, "thank you!" Wyatt was a good sport and even wore his hood for most of the time. : )

The getup, after the dress up:

A is for Autumn

We took our annual October trek to the mountains this past weekend. Kim and I took the kids up Thursday night and were so proud of ourselves for getting the pilot light on the heater started and then went and chatted by the fire. We discovered a few hours later that it had gone out and would NOT re-light when we went to bed. So space heaters and blankets it was, we survived to live another day. : ) With a phone call the next day, we figured out how to reset the thing and stay warm the rest of the weekend. I'm sure all you North Westerners are chuckling right now.

Saturday we headed over to Lake Arrowhead as we generally do. This year we decided to get pumpkins for the girls, which they enjoyed carving with their daddy's later that night. It was Octoberfest at Arrowhead Village, so we took in some good deals at the outlets and some lively polka music. The girls had so much fun "dancing" to the music, and as you can see, Kim and I prodded them along. A far cry from about 15-20 years ago when my dad used to blast German polka music from his garage stereo with both doors open and I would run for cover due to extreme embarrassment.