TEN KIDS : )

Last night we decorated for Christmas... of course we still need to cut our trees but the house is looking festive: ) What I love is having a staircase to decorate with a lit strip of greenery. Bart assembled a kids coloring castle from Hobby Lobby.. it holds two kids within: ) It sits by our fireplace and is awesome for pretend with all our nativity people and tons of our action figures. This should be a hit for awhile... only $14.99.

Today was nice to see all the kiddos back from their Thanksgiving break... they are such a great group!! Brea made some wonderful Thanksgiving Pilgrim Hat COOKIES... cute, easy, and delicious! Chocolate dipped marshmellow on upside down stripped cookie... I forget their name... AND you use the decorating gel to make a buckle: ) She is SUCH a great helper, friend for all the kids, and even TEACHES! Theo will be out of the country soon for about a month:( I wonder if he'll remember us when he returns!!!

Thanksgiving Day

CHECK OUT OUR OLD POSTS>>> I HAVE BEEN CATCHING UP: )
We spent our morning making a Tasty Green Bean Casserole and Ultimate Twice Baked Potatoes both off the internet. Neither were perfect both we would alter next year if we were asked to make them: ) Kira HAD to dress up in one of her Christmas dresses. She loved seeing all her distant Walker cousins and loved seeing them ride on all of Uncle Dean's racing creations outside. Aunt Suzanne and Aunt Nina set up a formal Thanksgiving that looks like the longest Last Supper table... I believe there was almost 40 in attendance and that was without all of Aunt Suzanne and Uncle Dean's boys and their families. We will forever miss having Dan Walker with us' I always liked to visit with him... so glad I had those years of cleaning at their home to get to know him.

Later at home we had a sweet message for Kira that Uncle Mark had made an ENTIRE GLUTEN-FREE meal and he would like to share some with her!!!! Mark is her HERO as usual here... even though they don't see each other that often she talks of him several times a day especially as she dreams of each item on our table being GLUTEN-FREE... she'll say, "MOMMA, UNCLE-MARK-TEACH-ME-HOW-TO-MAKE-IT."
YES, he may be hearing from MOMMA for years to come- asking for advice! Thanks for the beautiful food Uncle Mark even a couple desserts WHICH IS ALL SHE LOVES THESE DAYS!!!

OUR LITTLE COWBOY

This is Breck... he is finally getting easier to photo... terribly sweet and lovable!! Intrigued by shoes, loves sports, talks like a three year old, and loves camophlage and cowboy hats. He has been cutting some killer molars, potty training, and has developed quite a vocab! It seems like he is always one nap behind... because he loves to burn the midnight oil playing with his parents until late: ) We have the SAME issue with Kira. Breck keeps tabs on Bart for his parents and lets them know what he does and DOESN'T do! Kira loves and adores her little buddy... even tried to have him over to play today!

KIDS

SICK OF PICTURES... these poor parents have so many to sort through off our hard drives. I had a HUGE miracle yesterday when I was cleaning through my bathroom drawers and cabinets:) MY LOST MEMORY CARD was looking right at me! I am SOOOOO thankful... I felt sick loosing that especially because our camping trip was on there and Layla's first weeks of photos!! SOOO a bunch more photos to get on here once T. DAY is over.

DAYCARE TURKEY TIMES

On Wednesday we had Josh as well as Ben and Brea to join in on our Thanksgiving fun. We missed Ethan and Layla but sure will have EVERYONE on Monday to make some awesome memories. There is NOTHING like having all the kids back together... they actually are at their best ALL TOGETHER! Games and activities are more and more fun with the BIG schooler's around: ) Hope everyone enjoyed their family bonding... I am so thankful for these kids and for my family and friends!

LOVE IS IN THE AIR...

I will add a video clip to here super soon that will give you another glimpse of these love birds. Ever since Layla started coming here- Theo has held a special place in his heart for her! He always reaches out for what he wants... well every day as soon as he sees his Layla-- OUT goes that arm for her: ) She though MUST know how much he adores her because she can't keep her eyes off him whenever he is around! After my video clip she got a hold of his face with her hands on both of his cheeks and went to eat him up... she is SOOOO FUNNY!! Of course he lets her even pull his hair and grab his shirt: ) They have QUITE the friendship... we'll see how long this one lasts!! ;) In this last photo you can see the I WANT reach that he is doing for the dogs at the farm.

INEXPENSIVE Fall Crafts

After Halloween I scoped out Hobby Lobby clearance items finding plenty of fall and Thanksgiving items for the kids. The Dollar Store has a small craft area that varies during the year too. I usually grab their wood items for us to paint. We don't use special paints, often Crayola washable paints. I hate to rush Christmas before Thanksgiving is over... I have had to resist the urge to dig out our next decorations: ) I am hoping to get some new Christmas music this year... a few of my CD's are so scratched they are trash... maybe Bart will get us set up with some good tunes soon.