Thanksgiving

We had a great Thanksgiving this year.  The kids had each picked something out that they would like to have from Grandpa Ron and Grandma Sheri a couple weeks earlier so they got those when we arrived for the day.  Adam got a Hot wheels Razor style scooter.  Even though he has been asking for one for months and months he was a little hesitant and scared when actually faced with riding it.  Once he finally did he had a blast though and really got the hang of it quickly (we do require him to ALWAYS wear a helmet though!!).  Noelle picked out a really neat remote control car that flips over when it hits something and just keeps on going.  It only has 2 buttons and is made from a squishy material so it's perfect for an almost 3 year old.  They both had lots of fun playing with their new toys and old ones, not to count their Aunt, Uncles, and Grandparents!.

The kids got this Jeep Power Wheels a couple months ago and they love it.  Adam just have to have his squirt gun though!!

This was actually Noelle's first time being allowed to drive the Jeep, it goes pretty fast.  Unfortunately a couple Turkeys were not the only catastrophes that day!

That must have been SOME Turkey!!  Notice how she still has her cup of Sparkling Grape Juice though, she would NOT let us take it away.

That must have been SOME Turkey!! (video)

Hmmm..I'm not sure about Uncle Merle teaching her this one.  Aside from the fact that it was her second bowl of ice cream anyway.

She cuddled right up on her sleeping Uncle Merle.

Noelle and Uncle Merle (video)

Dinner was great!  Just don't ask Adam or Noelle.  Adam whined/cried through the whole thing - he says he wasn't hungry despite the fact it was 3pm and he had only had a few chips since breakfast!  And Noelle didn't get too far before she fell asleep.  We had a traditional oven baked Turkey as well as a deep fried one that Merle cooked up.  Both were very tasty!!  And of course, my very favorite, frog-eye salad!!  I don't think it's fair that it only gets made once a year for Thanksgiving.  We had a very fun day visiting and joking with my family!!

I picked up a 20 pound Turkey on sale yesterday and we cooked it up today.  It will provide us with lots of lunch meat and meat for Turkey Noodles and Turkey Pot Pie.  I LOVE that I won't have to buy processed lunch meat for a while.  Now I just have to find space in the freezer!  LOL

A few videos of the kids

I just can't get Blogger to let me upload videos directly onto the blog so I will be linking to them on Facebook for now.  Enjoy!

Adam counting backwards

Shake, Shadow, Shake

Bouncy Noelle

Check back soon for Thanksgiving pics and a great video of Noelle!!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Noelle's World

Noelle really seemed to enjoy Halloween this year.  And she actually wanted to dress up!!  She made an adorable little witch.  Justin kept asking her if she was a good witch or a bad witch, her answer changed daily.  It took her a little while to figure out the trick or treating thing on Halloween morning, but once she did she was having a blast!  She was pulling me along if I got too slow walking to the next candy station at Southlands Mall.

We didn't think allowing Noelle anywere near a sharp object was a good idea, so she did a Princess Pumpkin Head this year.  She also got to help me clean out my pumpkin.  She liked it as much this year as she did her very first Halloween in 2007!

Noelle LOVES to play in the snow and sled around the neighboorhood and in the backyard.  Fortunately for her we have had several feet of snow over the last month or so.

What's Halloween without glow in the dark vampire teeth!?!

Noelle always runs lots of errands with me, but a couple weeks ago I was asking a really lot of her.  Archiver's had special deals and FREEBIES going on two Fridays in a row and I took Noelle with me both times.  She did such a great job in Archiver's and then Ross that I got her this Dora bouncing ball.  Do you think she likes it??

Last week we went to the Museum of Nature and Science with one of my friends and her two youngest children.  We had 5 children 2 and under between us!!  Noelle had so much fun playing in the Discovery Zone, seeing the Dinosaurs, and pretending to be an Astronaut!  I'm sure we will be going back real soon.  The first pic has Audrey(2), Noelle(2), Declan(1), and then Zane(2).  I also had Lexie who is just 3 months old.

Silly girl!

She came to me this morning and told me she had her cape on.  LOL  She has jeans and a t-shirt on, then the flower pj's, then the blue pj's as her "cape".

Noelle got her hair cut this last weekend.  We needed it shorter, even though it was not very long, because it is SOOO thick that it's impossible to keep it combed easily.  She never wants me to do anything with it either.  Before it was cut it was a great length for getting dirty from her food or mouth.  Now when she leans forward her hair doesn't reach her mouth or drag in her food!!  It's perfect and looks very cute on her!

I have some very sweet video of her but am having trouble uploading any videos to blogger.  I will pry end up loading the videos to facebook and then just linking them in another post.

What has Adam been doing?

Adam had a very fun Halloween!  We went to Malara Gardens in Arvada with my MOPS group to pick out pumpkins.  They also had a small hay bale maze that Adam really enjoyed.  He gets along really well with my friend Trish's 2 boys, Joshua and Jayden, so they had a blast, all 3 dressed up as some sort of Superhero, going through the maze again and again together.  The kids all got little pumpkins from the MOPS group to color and put stickers on.  We also purchased our regular pumpkins there.  Adam picked the biggest pumpkin of us all!  The total price for mine, J's, and Noelle's pumpkins didn't even add up to the $20 cost of Adam's!!

We spent Halloween morning at the Southlands Mall trick or treat event.  We had fun, but there were a lot of people!  Then we headed over to our friend's house for a little party and more pumpkin carving!  As per our normal Halloween routine we then headed up to the Cordova house for a Chili dinner with cinnamon rolls and then trick or treating.  Adam had a great time trick or treating with Jae, Justice, and Noelle.  (Not to count the 6 adults following along!)

Aside from trick or treating Adam's favorite part of Halloween has always been carving pumpkins.

He picked Iron Man for his pumpkin design.  Unfortunately the design was so intricate that J had to do the actual carving.  He did help to carve a second pumpkin at a party later on.

We have had a LOT of snow in the last month!  This storm dropped over 18 inches and caused a snow day for the whole family.

Even though he is in the PM Kindi class he attends Kindi Enrichment in the morning.  I joke that he spends 4 hours every school day doing arts and crafts (not that there is anything wrong with that!!).  He brings home a LOT of artwork though!! 

Because he is so advanced his teacher requires him to write a sentence on his artwork instead of just a one word label like the other kids do.

We actually did this leaf print at home over his 3 week school break in October.  He really enjoyed it!!

Adam's parent teacher conference was last week.  We have seen some odd speech patterns recently so we requested the speech therapist also attend.  Turns out that what we are noticing is pretty normal for HIM at this stage.  They are working really hard on R sounds while still reinforcing the s and z sounds..  He really struggles with the word "girl" in particular.  I guess the r-l combo is very hard.  His comes out more like "grul", but she said not to worry about it.  He had also been saying "say" and "said" weird, but of course said them perfectly when I had him read them at the conference.  I forgot to ask about about "saw", which he says as "sow".  His teacher had rave reviews of him and says she will be sending home extra work for him, especially in math.  She is allways having to find him new books to read as it is.  He can read a level 2 book pretty easily so we are working on the fluency of his reading now.  Check back soon to here about Adam's first "report" for school.  Hint - he picked "Bull".

Getting back to normal

I am starting to feel normal again instead of all out of sorts and useless.  3 months at home, only working 1 day a week on the weekend, was NOT good for my soul.  I just don't like not being busy and have no ambition to do housework and that kind of stuff while at home.  I LOVE working!  And even though my work is taking care of children it is not the same as staying at my home all day taking care of my kids.  When I am at work there are expectations and things I need/want to do.  At work I actually WANT to sit on the floor to read books and play blocks.  But not at home.  At home I am a useless blob, there is just no other way to say it.  I sit and do nothing for hours on end and after about 2 months of that I was really not feeling myself anymore.  Definetely not the me I project to potential families I want to work for!

I went back to work 2 weeks ago but only ended up working one day because of the 2 feet of snow we got that next day.  I was able to work 2 days last week, plus a job Saturday morning/afternoon and another one Saturday night (today).  I will also be working Sunday all day.  It feels so great to finally be doing something again.  I have a purpose and am being usefull and it has gone a long way toward making me feel happier and more like myself.  This next week I will be back on my normal schedule of 3 days during the week, usually, and 1 day each weekend.

I might actually have the time and ambition to get the rest of out October pics and happenings up here this next Wednesday or Friday.  But for now it's off to work I go!!  I will be taking care of a 3 month old for nearly 6 hours tonight, I am so excited!

A story and drawing...

by Adam

One of the many things we are doing with him at home is practicing writing and phonetic spelling.  Could you figure out what his story said without looking ahead at J's??