Thanksgiving Weekend 2010

Thanksgiving weekend was fun and relaxing this year!  On Thursday morning, we had Grandma and Grandpa S over for a big brunch.  We set a pretty table and made the food while the kids wrestled with Grandpa and played games with Grandma.

In the afternoon, we went to Auntie's house to have Thanksgiving dinner with the K side of the family.  The kids decorated Auntie's tree while we were there and we had wine and good food!

Friday we decorated the house for Christmas!  The kids have their own little tree they got to decorate and they helped with the family tree.  We also set out all our other decorations and even wrapped some presents to put out!  Note the stockings for the kitties and the tiny little stocking for Freddie the Ferret.  That night we had movie night and watched 'The Karate Kid.'

On Saturday we did some Christmas shopping and some Christmas crafts, including these ornaments that Aurora made for each one of our pets.  We also watched 'Elf.'  Love that movie!  When it got dark, we loaded the kids up in their jammies and drove around to look at Christmas lights.  Then we topped the night off with some hot cocoa!

Sunday we went to the Natural History Museum, which was free for our county in November.  It was kind of a bust because half of the exhibits were closed or broken...but at least we didn't have to pay!  Then th rest of the day we just relaxed and then prepared for the week!  Overall it was a nice break and some quality family time!

Christmas Preparations

We've been busy around here, getting ready for the holidays!  So far we've:

Picked out our ornaments for this year...

Alex's (Toy Story 3) 

Aurora's (Lady and the Tramp)

Visited Santa (before the lines get too crazy)

Alex was so excited to see Santa.  He told him he wanted some cars.  Aurora told him she wanted Moon Sand.  Please Santa, don't bring Moon Sand! 

We made our lists for Santa...

Aurora and I made a new wreath for the front door...

We've been wrapping presents....

And Alex has been practicing for his Christmas program!

Disney on Ice!

Friday night Megan and I took the kids to see Disney on Ice for the first time!  The kids were super excited to go and talked about it the whole week up to it.  This was our first time going to any kind of event like this, so when we got to the event center, it was pretty crazy!  Vendor booths every where selling Disney stuff, "photo spots" for taking pictures with the scenery, etc.  I let the kids pick out one toy each and one snack.  Alex picked out a plastic Stitch doll and Aurora picked out a little stuffed Simba.  Then they both got popcorn with Stitch hats.  They wore those hats the entire time!

We lucked out and got great seats too!  We were on the second level in the front row so we had a perfect view.  The look on the kids' faces when the characters came out made it so worth it.  Aurora's at a stage right now where she's 'too cool' to admit that she likes something so when I saw her face light up it was awesome!

They did The Lion King, Little Mermaid, Lilo and Stitch, and Peter Pan.  The kids watched the whole thing with excitement, waved at the characters, clapped with the songs, and were fully involved in the entire show.  It was a fantastic night.  The kids are STILL talking about it!  We will definitely try to do more events like this!  Oh, and I wonder if I can find that Ursula costume for Halloween next year?!?

Halloween 2010

We had a great Halloween this year!  Friday night after school, we went with Grandma S to a little pumpkin patch near our house to pick out pumpkins to carve on Halloween.  Aurora and Alex took turns pulling the wagon around and looked for just the right pumpkins to decorate.

On Saturday, we had two Halloween parties...a kids' one in the day for Aurora's little boyfriend KJ's birthday, and then we dropped the kids off at Grandma and Grandpa K's and went to an adult one!  At the kids' one they had lots of yummy treats and a cool Frankenstein cake and they played Halloween games!  

This year Alex decided to dress up as.....Buzz Lightyear!  Yeah, no surprise...Buzz Lightyear for the second year in a row.

Aurora, being slightly obsessed with the new Alice in Wonderland movie, found a Mad Hatter costume that she liked.  Since it was the first somewhat girly costume she has ever picked out, I jumped at the chance to buy it!  I think she looked so cool!!!!

Sunday afternoon we went to Grandma S' and decorated pumpkins!  After scooping out the 'pumpkin guts,' I carved one with a bat and the kids used Mr. Potato-head-like pieces on theirs.

Aurora's

Alex's

I think the hardest part of Halloween is waiting for it to get dark!  Finally, the time arrived and we headed out to Trick or Treat.  Daddy and I wore the costumes we had worn to the adult party - his jester costume from last year and I went as a Renaissance queen.  

The kids made it down several streets.  Aurora was reluctant to go into the spooky houses, but Alex was letting nothing stop him from getting his candy!  He marched right up there!  At one house, he was rewarded by a very scarily dressed guy who loaded him up!  Unfortunately, at one of the other houses, they weren't so considerate of young children and chased Aurora down the driveway, leaving her in tears.  But she quickly got over it and still had a good night.

And look at all the loot they ended up with!