First visit with Santa

We took the kids down to Bass Pro Shops to visit Santa last week.

 

 Will was SO  excited to see Santa!



I think Cora wasn't terribly scared, but was curious about his beard. 

They also have a pretty cool carousel there.

 

They also had a couple of shooting games.  I think Will was in heaven.

Since we were right by the Bolingbrook Promenade, we went and checked out their Christmas tree and watched the light show.

And enjoyed a pretzel.

Here's to a happy holiday season!

Thanksgiving and a birthday

I am thankful for so many things.  Most of all I am thankful for my family-those near and far, that my mom's surgery went well (more of that to come later) and for great friends.

It's a little hard to see, but Will is thankful for turkey, his Mom, Dad and his Dog.  When I asked him if he said he was thankful for Cora, he said,"No, I'm not thankful for her."  I'm sure that will change.

This is Cora "helping" me get things set up for Thanksgiving.  We were able to have some friends come over and help us feast on Jeremy's annual Turducken.

Isn't she a beauty?  In case you are wondering, a Turducken is a chicken, inside a duck, inside a turkey with layers of stuffing in between.  And even more amazing, Jeremy has to make it gluten free each year so I can eat it too.  It was absolutely delicious!

 This is the only picture I got of Cora's first Thanksgiving.  You can see her way back in the right hand corner.  We had a lot of fun and the kiddos played together well enough that we were even able to play a few rounds of Ligretto after gorging ourselves on some tasty food.

Friday was my birthday.  Yea!  Jeremy pampered me by letting me read almost all day, we hung out and watched the Utah game, ordered some pizza (gluten free of course!) and then went to see "Argo" (thanks our friends for watching the kiddos!). I couldn't have asked for a more perfect birthday, well, except maybe my wallet not getting stolen at the movie. 

Harvest Dance

Last month our ward put on a Harvest Dance.  It was all I could do to get Jeremy to get dressed up to go, but he finally agreed because they had provided babysitters (thanks to the singles ward) for the evening.  He mentioned that if he did become an ER doctor, he would not have to dress up ever again, except for church. Good luck with that honey.  Anyway, we (yes even Jeremy) had a great time and it was so nice to hang out with some of our ward friends without the kiddos.

10 months

Cora is now walking and starting to say a few words, and pretty proud of herself for being able to do so.

She says "mama", "dada" and "baba".  She also loves going through all of the cupboards in the house and exploring their contents.  She is clapping and waving and loves to play "Pat-a-cake".   Her favorite foods are cantaloupe and avacado, oh and of course goldfish. Cora has her two bottom teeth in and she continues to be a pretty good eater even though it looks like she has 4 more teeth coming in all at once.  Her personality is starting to really come through and it is fun to see the similarities and differences between her and Will.  For instance, Cora knows what she wants and when she wants it.  Sometimes at night or at naptime she will start to climb the stairs to go find her bed.  Will avoids his room at all costs when he is tired.  They are both determined but still overall pretty good kids.  Pretty darn cute too.

Happy Halloween

Midwestern's Halloween Event

At our ward's "trunk-or-treat".  Not Will's best picture, but I love that Megan is doing a princess pose.

Our good friends the Robinettes.

After going around our neighborhood.  Will kept exclaiming,"This is the funnest thing ever!" while we were trick-or-treating.  He is already counting down the days until next year.

This little one was just happy to have some candy.

Big Pile of...

Leaves!

Remember me watching it "rain" leaves last week?  Well this is what my driveway looked like afterward:

There is a sidewalk, driveway and the beginning of the street somewhere in there.

 After a few days of cleaning up leaves anytime anyone came into the house, I decided it was time for Will and I to clean up at least the driveway and the sidewalks while Cora slept.  Will worked pretty hard and was very happy when he finally got to jump into the leaves.