Thanksgiving 2011

Thanksgiving day 2011. The girls love any reason to get dressed up. As soon as I put Evie's hairbow on, she went straight to the fireplace to get her picture taken. So I decided we could do a few pictures. She didn't want the other girls in the picture, and kept shoving them out of the way. Ben went to play football early n the morning, and the girls were excited for him to get home and see they were dressed up and ready for the day. When Ben's brother Jason, and his wife Lisa arrived, the girls were going crazy. Kara came upstairs and shouted, "I'm... so... EXCITED!". It was pretty funny. Evie took a few minutes to warm up to them.The big girls didn't get to stand on the fireplace to get their pictures taken, because Evie was going crazy if they were there without her, and I was seriously afraid someone would get hurt.

I tried to talk Kiersten into a dress, but she really wanted to wear her fuzzy vest with a skirt.

Evie Pie. She is so funny about getting her picture taken in that spot. Last night Kara came upstairs and saw me on the couch holding the 2 other girls, and said, "what a cute picture." Evie immediately got up and went over to her picture spot to start cheesing it up. Kara wore this same dress for thanksgiving in 2006. It was too big on her though. This year it was the perfect size for Evie.

I made the girls these fruit turkeys while we were waiting for dinner to cook. They thought it was so funny. I liked it because, other than a slice of pie after dinner, they didn't have any sweet snacks the rest of the day, since they had these sitting around to snack on instead. nobody ate the limes, though.

Sitting down to our thanksgiving ham dinner.

just a cute picture of our rootbeer floats last night after dinner. I love the look on Evie's face. I hadn't made her one, and she was upset, so I made her a very small one, and we let her sit at the table, so she loved that. We decided to get rid of the highchair. Ben got her a booster seat, so she will be happier during meal time. She is always upset not to be at the table with the rest of us.

thanksgiving and zoolights

We decided to have our thanksgiving dinner on saturday this year, so we could have it when Ben's dad was here. So thursday, we just relaxed. Ben had wednesday and thursday off, so he was able to help with the girls and other things around the house. thursday night, Kiersten went to bed early, so Kara got to help make a biscuit wreath. I saw something similar on food network, so I just did a simplified, more kid friendly version. Ben helped us get started. Here she is cutting out the leaves with cookie cutters.

the finished wreath.

the girls were able to easily rip up the vinyl I used to cover the stools. so I bought some fabric for outdoor funriture. It is not rippable, but still washable, so hopefully this will last longer.

Ben worked friday, and took Kara with him, so Kiersten got to spend the day helping me get things ready. Ben needed to leave by 9, so I had to get all the christmas shopping done by 8. I got most of what we needed. So I will have lots of wrapping to keep me busy. Here is kiersten after eating a treat she got for being so helpful with cleaning.

She loved helping me bake. Here she is smashing crackers for a cheesecake crust.

and here she is helping me with pumpkin pie.

smelling the baked pie. When she woke up this morning she asked if she could have some for breakfast.

Ben picked up Kerry from the airport on his way home from work. The girls have been having so much fun with their Papa. Here they are doing a puzzle together.

getting ready for dinner. We like to eat ham for thanksgiving, so someone has to dress like a turkey.

the crew ready to eat. Karalee set the table. I helped her roll the napkins.

Kara and I made these place cards from ice cream cones. I wanted to fill them with candy corn, but couldn't find any, so I used runts instead. It's hard to think of ideas that will be cute, but that the kids can help with. This one was pretty successful.

full of rice cereal, and ready for a nap.

Even papa wore the turkey hat!

After dinner, we went to see the zoolights at PDZA. I love Kara's pose in this picture.

Ben spoiled the girls with these glow batons.

Kerry rode this camel with the girls. It was pretty exciting for everyone!

This tree is always purple and green. I like seeing it every year.

thanksgiving weekend

Ben's mom, Vicky, and his siblings, Jason and Katie drove out to our house for Thanksgiving dinner. Kara was so proud to be able to set the table. She loved counting out 7 of each item to be set. She went around to count the people a few times to make sure 7 was the right amount. She set out the place cards and everything. I especially love how she put the silverware on the plates. She also set one piece of celery on each plate, but it didn't make it into the picture. I'll have to put her in charge of setting the table more often. Kiersten with her aunt Katie.

we played lots of games. Here is Kiersten hanging out at the game table in her warm jammies. Look how long her hair is getting.

friday after shopping the sales, and after Ben came home from work, we went to see the zoolights at point defiance zoo. The girls loved it and so did the adults.

We always spend a lot of time inside the aquarium. I love how Kiersten waves to the fish and giggles at them.

both of the girls had glow batons. of course, the first thing they did with them was sword fight.

if was lots of fun, even though it was pretty cold.