1st food!

I gave Juliet her first taste of rice cereal and when I got the spoon near her, she grabbed it and tried to bring it to her mouth. It was almost as if she was saying, "Finally! Something for me to eat!!" She's seemed interested in what I've been eating for a couple weeks. She downed her whole bowl of rice cereal and seemed pleased. She'll be 6 months in a couple of weeks and I just keep thinking, "Where did half a year go?" That's all for today!

Trees...

We cut Christmas trees on Friday and made a day trip out of it. (Merril had a teensy bit of work to do out there and we were only 20 minutes away.) So here's the picture of Merril and me. You can see the tree in the background.

We came home and Merril had to run something to a friend. The kids wanted the tree in the house soooo much that I decided to measure and cut the trunk to fit and get it in the house. So I measure off 8 feet, saw away and bring it in the house. As I stand it up, I realize we have 9 foot ceilings. I'd sawed about a foot off the bottom and now the tree was a foot short. Bummer. We got two trees so I made the other one work. Woopsy. I guess I'll measure a little better next time. Anyhoo, the rest of the pictures are of us at lunch and stuff. Merril took the picture of Max and Jack. It was cold! Only 26 degrees on the car thermometer. Brrrr!

FINALLY....drywall...

We've been working on the basement for what feels like forever and today, a huge weight was lifted. WE HAVE DRYWALL!! The drywallers (is that a word?) showed up at 7:45 a.m. and worked until 7:00 p.m. and it's all hung! I can't even imagine how long it would have taken us if we'd done it ourselves. I know it's a mess and I have no idea what's all over my lens. It looks like it's snowing. But I'm so excited to clean up and decorate a Thanksgiving table. Every time I go down there, I giggle and squeal with delight because it looks so good, so finished. I know I still have lots to do but there's something about walls that make it feel a WHOLE lot more done.

Happy Inspection Day!!!!

I felt like taking some pictures of the kids one day and set up a "studio" in the living room and these pictures are the result. Getting a good one of all three was an absolute joke, besides the fact that Maxine's hair is unbrushed and Jack has chocolate on his face. I was mainly trying to get a pictures of Jules and the others jumped in. Either way, I think the one of Jules is pretty cute. All in all, not too bad.

On a different note, we had an inspection for the basement today and were approved for drywall! The drywallers are coming on Monday and I hope they can knock out some good progress before Thanksgiving because my table's going to be set in the basement. Either way, we'll have some yummy turkey (Merril's deep frying) and pie. Oh, do I love pie!!! It's like a comfort food but it's also dessert. Throw in images of Americana and home-baked goodness and it's one of my most favorite things.

Merril's at a scout campout and the kids are in bed. I feel like attacking my dirty, silent house. Ahhhhh. Maybe I'll play some Christmas tunes! Happy Thanksgiving!

An offering...

Maxine's 5th birthday party was thrown together this year. I've never hosted a friend party before and thought it would be okay to have it on a weekend. Sunday afternoon, Maxine informed me that the party had to happen on her birthday, Monday. We quickly called a dozen friends and a cousin and asked if they could make it to a birthday party the next day. Everyone we called was able to make it and the highlight of the party was a piniata.

Maxine has been wanting and waiting for a piniata for a solid 9 months, maybe even 10 or 11. We purchased the piniata today and stuffed it full of candy, stickers, pencils and plastic rings. Everyone had a wack at it and Maxine had a couple of turns because it was her birthday. She was jumping around wildly while everyone else waited patiently behind a line we'd designated so no one would be hurt. Finally, Merril had to bust open the piniata and all the kids scrambled for the prizes. Maxine, who'd left her bag somewhere amidst all the jumping around, was late finding it and getting towards the spoils left on the floor. There wasn't much left when she got there and she burst into tears in traditional birthday girl style.

Merril and I tried to cheer her up by saying that we were going into the house to open the loads of presents she'd received. As she sobbed in the living room, one little girl (and I don't know which one but wish I did) offered one piece of candy from her bag. Without any prompting from any adults, the rest of the group joined in. Maxine stopped crying and I was overwhelmed with the feeling of generosity. Something's actually sinking in!! All the "say please" and "say thank you" that we've been pounding into our children's heads are actually becoming a part of them. These little girls did something that made a big difference and they did it on their own and I just wanted to say, "Thank YOU MOMs!!"

Happy Halloween!!

I love to carve pumpkins!! I purchased a powered pumpkin saw and it makes carving pumpkins so easy and fun. Intricate designs are now easy to accomplish!!! It makes me think back to the days when our parents would hand us huge, dull knives to carve our pumpkins. I'm amazed I still have all my fingers.

We had lots of fun on Halloween this year. Jacky didn't want to wear his Superman costume so he wore his space pajamas and the Superman cape! He was SuperJack and Maxine was Aurora from Sleeping Beauty. Juliet was a cheetah. She only dressed up for the ward trunk or treat party. She stayed home to hand out candy. Jacky did some trick or treating on our street and then came home to help mom. When the trick or treaters were leaving, he'd say, "Bye, see you later."

I can't believe how much candy the kids received. As a kid, it took 3 neighborhoods worth of work to accumulate the amount of candy they got in a ward party and one street. No wonder kids are so fat these days.

Merril and I had fun dressing up this year as well. I was a geisha and Merril was my sumo wrestler. His inflatable suit had a little fan on the side that kept him nice and plump. It took Jacky about 15 minutes before he'd let Merril hold him or take him anywhere.

Halloween was great and we had just the right amount of candy!! I almost ran out last year and didn't want to do that again.

I can't believe that Thanksgiving will be here in a matter of weeks!! I can feel Christmas right around the corner. I miss Halloween because I have so many cute Halloween decorations but not much for Thanksgiving. Loves to all!