Thanksgiving Card and Poetry

Midge wrote this cute little poem for Thanksgiving I wanted to post:

Turkey, Turkey on the plate in the fridge and by the gate. Yummy yummy nice and plumpy. But when it comes to pumpkin pie then I’ll just go high, high, high.

Oh turkey turkey on the plate. Now it’s time to find your date. But then your date is late, late, late, but you just ate.

Oh turkey turkey nice and sweet I got a poem for you to meet.

Being Thankful

We are back from a quick trip to Corvallis for Thanksgiving. My parents hosted and we had a lot of good food.

Ken's mom was able to travel over from Sunriver and join us. It was the first time she has seen my parent's house.

Here are some of the family photos we took of the big day.

Little Miss said Patch for the first time on this trip.

Little Miss loves Grandma Mimi's dog Sophie. She also loves her dog bed. She would pull it around and sit in it.

I got my mom to snap a photo so you can see how much our baby boy is growing.

happy thanks picture by Midge

1. little midgie, buddy leo and little miss were

having pictures taken. and little miss was crazy.
little miss would reafuse to do it

and she I am telling you she did not do it.

But cooperated the next time.

Family Photos

I have been meaning to post these photos for some time now. In August my parents had Shonda Barlow come and take some family pictures. The last time we had done it was at my sister's wedding 5 years ago so needless to say we have had a few additions since then.

Little Miss was a bit of a stinker when it came to smiling during the group photos, but she was grinning big in this one. I can't imagine it had anything to do with what she was holding in her hands.

I love this picture of Ken and I because he always makes me laugh.

Midge has always been photogenic.

I love the below photo for everything it represents. It is great to have my brother in my life again. I had the photo blown up and framed for my house so I can see it everyday.

This photo cracks me up. It came at the end of the entire session. It was a ton of work to get all these little ones smiling and looking at the camera. This was a well deserved treat.

The final chosen shot of the entire group. Who knows what this group

will look like in another five years.

Choosing your Battles

Ken is usually the one who is charge of dressing Liam on Sundays, or at least is supposed to direct him in the picking out of clothes. Of course considering that my husband's favorite attire is sweats and a holy sweatshirt this may not be the best idea. A friend of mine and I actually had to give Ken a dress code when we invited him on a date back when we were dating (no sweats or flannel.) As a result I realized this past Sunday I may have to rethink this plan as having Ken being Leo's fashion guide. We were rushing to get to church (how does the happen when we have 1:00 church?) Any way I really didn't look at what my son was wearing until he stepped out of the side of the van as we were going into the building. I tried not to stare as I noticed he was wearing a blue button down shirt, a different color blue shorts with beagles on them, and red and black argyle socks with black dress shoes. He had the socks pulled all the way up. I said to him, "So Leo that is some outfit you have on." His reply, "Yep I picked it out all by myself." When I met Ken's gaze from across the van he said, "He thinks he looks good." When it gets right down to it who am I to tell him any different. If the kid wants to look like a retired old man from Florida who has just gotten off of the golf course and is going to stop by a few tourist shops why not. If the kid thinks he looks good who am I, and my little reputation as a mother to say different.

Our Amazing Kiddos

One of the most difficult things about my pregnancies is that for my last pregnancy I was diagnosed with borderline gestational diabetes. As a result for this pregnancy my OB said to go on a sugar free diet right from the beginning. One of the things that helped was that sugar actually made me sick for a lot of the first part of this pregnancy. At this point I am over the sickness part of the pregnancy. Of course now I am going into the "sugar season". I was begging my husband to eat as much of the kid's Halloween candy as possible just to get it out of the house.

My major weakness though is baked goods, especially cinnamon rolls. Midge has been begging me to make some. So finally this past weekend I made some. I always have to "healthify" the recipe so I put in some whole wheat flour and flax seed, but kids don't care. I love this recipe. Midge was such a great helper.

I was such a good girl too, I only had one with no frosting.

I can't say the same for the kids.

The big news today was that Leo got his first award at the school's recognition ceremony. Leo got an award for teamwork. Ken and I were able to be there and see him go up on stage and get his award.

What a great kid.

While Leo was getting his award Midge's teacher came up to us and said, "Do you realize that Midge is getting a huge award right now?" We rushed back to the cafeteria and had missed the whole thing - thanks school for letting us know. Turns out Midge read the most out of all the kids in the entire school for the month of October. (This was the month that she was sick and ended up reading several hours a day just to pass the time). The principal called her up in front of the school and asked her what her favorite book was. She responded that she loves Calvin and Hobbes. The principal then asked her why she liked it and she said because it is funny and Calvin always had a lot of emotion. The principal then gave her the very first stuffed animal she was ever given as a principal by another teacher.

Looks like Kermit is the newest addition to our family. We think he will fit right in. Midge wanted to take him back to her class to show her friends. Ken had to pick her up from school with the van so she could get him home.

Midge with her teacher.

I have been meaning to blog about Ken's birthday for awhile now, and here it is November. The girls insisted that daddy wear a birthday crown. Being the wonderful father that he is wore it the entire time.

Ken loves pumpkin pie (and I really don't care for it). Last year I made two pies and forgot to put sugar in them so I figured I owed him a good pie for his birthday.

Ken is absolutely my best friend. He is an amazing father. He teaches the kids how to play and have fun and how to enjoy life. I need to learn more from his example and not let life and schedules get me too set in the routine. He brings so much laughter into our home. Most of the creativity our kids express is a direct tribute to him. Ken is a very hard worker. He is loyal and extremely intelligent. Ken has got a knack for memorization. We are closer now more than we have ever been and I love being married to my perfect companion.

Halloween Pictures are Finally Here

So here's the whole gang. Midge was a ninja, Leo was a pirate and Little Miss was a bee.

My mom made the kids these great trick or treating bags. The kids loved them because they could hold so much loot.

This picture cracks me up because Little Miss did not initially like her costume. Ken literally had to hold her down to get her dressed (yes my husband is amazing) I came up the stairs finding her trying to rip it off and screaming her head off. This picture is taken about 2 minutes later and she has discovered that if you smile Leo will give you candy. After that she gladly got in her costume.

Midge took this picture to show you how baby #4 is coming along.

On Friday night we went to the ward Trunk or Treat. We had to get there early to prepare the food so the kids were able to run around and try out all of the booths without a lot of booths. The highlight was the bounce house, although Little Miss was terrified of it.

I love this shot because she would look back at me and hold her pose to make sure I took a picture and got the shot.

It was so hard to get photos of the older kids because they were always running around with their friends. At one point it freaked me out because someone pulled the fire alarm, and I wasn't sure where exactly they were. Needless to say we had a little bit of what to do when the fire alarm goes off and you aren't near mom or dad.