Thanksgiving 2011

I happily didn't have to work on Thanksgiving this year, so we made a trek up to Humboldt to celebrate the holiday with the Grause family.  I made the girls matching turkey dresses and turkey hair clips, working till late the night before we left, because I always seem to wait until the very last minute to finish any project!  I was happy with how they turned out though, so cute!

The weather on Thanksgiving day was unbelievable beautiful for November, so after a big lunch everyone went outside to play a little game of football.

The kids had so much fun running around and playing together.

And once the big kids got too rough for the little kids, they had a nice view of the game from the deck.

It was such a beautiful family filled day,  The thing I hate the most about my job is missing out on all the family occasions that happen on holidays when I have to work.  I guess it makes me try to soak up and enjoy the holidays I do get off even more!

Pumpkin Carving 2011

The girls spent a lot of time during our last trip to the pumpkin patch searching for a pumpkin that was just right! Hannah was especially choosy but was able to find one she deemed perfect.

Claire wasn't super picky, but was really excited to have a pumpkin of her own!

Friday night we all carved our pumpkins in preparation for Halloween night.

Hannah wanted to do hers all on her own this year-

Claire was a little unsure what it was all about, but was willing to give it a try-

She was trying to carve her Mickey free-hand here-

The finished pumpkins.  Matt carved a spider in web, I made the cat, Claire's is the Mickey (with a little help from me) and Hannah made the rose-

Hannah insisted on carving her own pumpkin all by herself, start to finish!  She did a great job and was so proud!

Apple orchard

A couple of weeks ago we were able to spend a family day at the Fall Festival held at our apple orchard. They were already out of apples for the year, but that didn't stop loads of people from coming out for the festival and having a great time.

There were tons of fun things for the kids to do, hay rack ride, face painting, pumpkin bowling, and a scavenger hunt in the orchard just to name a few!

Hannah loved this giant sling shot and flung a soaking wet ball to some huge pumpkins over and over again-

Claire watched from a safe distance-

Both girls wanted their face painted.  Claire looked over the options and chose a witches hat.  She sat quiet and still while they painted it on-

Hannah got some fun hearts and sparkles-

Last we did pumpkin bowling, both girls did great!

We even made it in the paper!-

http://www.press-citizen.com/article/20111015/NEWS01/310150018/1079/

Halloween- Minnie Mouse & Rosetta

Of course my Mickey Mouse obsessed little girl had to dress up as Minnie Mouse for Halloween!

Of course she was the cutest Minnie Mouse ever too!

And Hannah was Rosetta Fairy from the Tinkerbelle movie.

I made Hannah's dress with some help from my mom!  I'm so proud of how it turned out and how much she loved it!

We took the girls trick-or-treating at the mall-

Claire was a little nervous at first, she wanted me to carry her-

It didn't take her long to figure out what it was all about though, and jump down to follow Hannah-

We trick-or-treated around our neighborhood too!  Claire was really a pro by then and ran to keep up with the big kids.  She said "Turk or teet" and "tank ooo" at every house, and usually bye-bye too!  After over an hour of trick or treating we headed home for dinner and bed and Claire started crying when she realized we were approaching our house.  She didn't want to stop, it was so much fun!