Thanksgiving

We spent the day at the Caspers' house...it was a wonderful day with lots of delicious food, good wine, lots of dancing and then lounging, and RAIN!! It was overcast, cool and heavenly.

Here's Grace holding one of her most favorite little girls and looking out the back door at the strange thing we call rain...

Atleast I can do SOMETHING right on Thanksgiving...this jalepeno cranberry relish is always a hit...I think I'll stick to that and forget the turkey!

Always great to hang out with the girls...

Had to burn off those calories somehow!

Ended the evening with lots of lounging and reading!

Random pictures around the house...you get lots of those when Granny is here! :)

Notice the crown molding that David is putting up, he's done a fantastic job of it, I'm so impressed!

More pictures taken by Grace the photographer!

Here's Grace hanging out with Granny while we were gone on our date...

Our overnight date...God Bless Granny :)

Every year, Granny comes for Thanksgiving and graciously watches Grace overnight so David and I can go out and more importantly, SLEEP IN, the next morning :) We stayed at the New York, New York on the strip and had tickets to see Zumanity ("The Sensual Side of Cirque Du Soleil") Yeah, yeah, you all wish you had the guts to go see it ;) Hey, we're not big show people so if we're gonna do it, we're gonna do it big! No really, it was a great show...lots of crazy acrobatic performances, some comedy, and yes, lots of boobies, but NOTHING else! :) Other than the freaky devil guy running around the stage on his hands and knees, in LIGHTNING speed, it was awesome!

A couple of pre-show pictures...this dude was GROWLING in my ear, he was really scary!!!! Afterwards, David won $17!

After we picked up Grace from school last Monday, we headed to the local library...

Notice in the background of the school lunch picture, I've got my hands on my hips and am listening intently to Ms. Becky who is telling me that Grace had a hard time listening that morning and using her words, as did all the kids...something about a holiday week :) But we did have a talk, the munchkin and me....

Granny is here!!!

Lunch at Lucille's...yummmm....

Daddy's last soccer game of the season...

Granny and Grace watching the game...well, Granny's watching, Grace is playing :)

She had a blast playing with a new friend...

"Sit, Gracie, sit!"

What a day

Emily can tell you, when she dropped off Ellie this morning, I was a little harried. Trying to get sunscreen and shoes on, and 3 kiddos out the door and safely tucked in the wagon can be a challenge sometimes. Especially if one of those kiddos is dishing out a little attitude and defiance throughout the day. We did make it out the door and had a glorious walk in the never changing sunny weather here. And although I was exhausted by the time all 3 girls were asleep for their afternoon nap, I wouldn't trade these days/moments for anything. Ellie toddles around here with the cutest mannerisms and habits (she is a riot) and Ava's smile lights up a room. And watching Grace practice being a big sister to these girls warms my heart, shows me she's ready for the real thing! I'm in love with these girls, we're blessed to have such good friends in the absence of our families.

Grace the babysitter

So I know I know...the babies are too big for this swing. We keep it up though for Grace to push her baby dolls in and this morning after Ava's nap, Grace begged to push Ava in it...I thought what the heck, let's just see if she fits...she just barely did and loved it. Then she got fussy and I sat back and watched Grace find this old binky of hers (it was clean, tucked away in a pocket on the changing table, I swear!) popped it in her mouth, handed her Pooh, pulled over her chair and got out a book to read to her. Sooooo cute! My little mama...

Again, no judgements, but these moments are just too cute to pass up!

Ava and Grace are really into each other these days...Ava really seems to want to impress Grace and 7:00 a.m. around here is Madeline time...you know the show with the little french girl, Grace LOVES it. I put Ava next to her to see what she'd do and she watched Grace watching the show, then she'd watch the TV, watch Grace some more, point to the TV and try to have this big girl conversation about what was going on, it was precious. So don't worry, I don't plop the babies on the couch for TV veg time, just for photo ops ;)

"These boots are made for walkin'..."

Yesterday was the day for making homemade food and beverages :)

David and Matt brewed beer all afternoon while Sally and I made homemade pizza (complete with their family's homemade pizza sauce mmmmmmmmmm sooo good) Christian and baby Ellie joined us and although it was a bit chaotic at times (the kitchen is big and open but not THAT big) it sure was alot of fun!