cream cheese pie

*This past weekend we celebrated Christmas with Chris' brother's family (and his parents) since we won't see them on the actual day. The kids had a blast together. Cameron was elated with the gift he received from his cousins...a gift card to REI. :)

*On Sunday we went to my parents' after church to hear about my dad's recent trip to India. Here we are watching the videos he took.

*One of the downsides to Netflix is that they can add and remove shows anytime they want. We are only in season three (out of seven) of West Wing and just found out they are removing all seasons on Dec. 24. :(

*Dear Walmart, I guess our nice new Black Friday dishes were just too good to be true. Two out of the three sets we ordered contained a broken dish and you are proving to make returning said dishes a pain in the rump. 

*I love that my husband is so funny. We can be anywhere and the comments he consistently comes up with are just too hilarious. Sometimes it's just us in the car and I can't stop laughing. :)

*My mom made this cream cheese pie on Sunday. She's made it several times over the years and it never disappoints. It is SO easy. It actually was the first time Chris and the kids tasted it and they all raved. :)

raking leaves in skates

*Last night Cam had a birthday party to attend. I had a headache and wasn't feeling that great, however we went and I'm SO glad we did. He had a blast and really needed it. He has been feeling extra overwhelmed lately (Chris and I are still working on figuring it all out). This party was small (which he commented several times on how much he liked that aspect) and all the kids were his own age. I LOVED seeing him enjoy himself so much.

His first experience with stuffed crust pizza!

*I've been having a couple of these each day. My coffee with creamer is good, but not as good as homemade hot chocolate with marshmallows. :)

*The Pokemon ship appears to have sailed, which I'm more than okay with. I just could never quite understand them and I think Legos are much more fun! I'm glad Cam has been back into them lately, putting together his Christmas set and adding more and more each day to the village he created. :)

*It's now been almost two years since we had cable. I've completely adjusted, however this time of year I really do miss my cheesy Hallmark movies. Netflix has a few, but not very many. :(

*Yesterday I paid the kids and the quads 50 cents to rake the leaves in our yard. Apparently raking is far easier in roller skates. ;)

*This week I've had one full day and two half day sub jobs. I love the half days because I can pick up the kids from school so it feels like I didn't really work. :)

christmas lights

*Saturday we went to Bass Pro Shop. We hadn't been in a while and it's always fun to see how they decorate for Christmas.

*Cameron really wanted to go to REI (since it was only a few blocks away), so we stopped there for some hiking book browsing.

*Hooray for Claim Jumper Happy Hour on Saturdays! The kids love the soft pretzel sticks (only $2!).

*Tonight was our second night walking around the neighborhood looking at lights. I haven't been overly impressed with the number of houses lit up and am hoping that number will increase the closer we get to Christmas. :)

advent

*So excited that the last season of Parenthood is coming to Netflix this month!

*Advent started in our house a few days ago. The kids were soooo excited. I had stocked up on 99 cent store stuff but this morning was Cameron's favorite so far. I left a note for them which read, "You are invited to a snowball breakfast in the living room". I gave them mini-powdered donuts (the "snowballs") for breakfast. 

While they ate, they watched "Winter Wonderland for Your Home" (on Netflix). It is basically different snowy scenes put to music (it's actually quite relaxing to watch!). They loved it. :)

*The BEST apples in the world are on sale now at Staters...Ambrosia.

*Thanks to numerous hikes pre-hiking boots, my tennis shoes had gone way downhill, to the point that the soles were very thin. :)  I was super excited last week to find a cute pair at Costco for only $24! It's nice to not feel every rock I step on anymore. :)

new dishes

*Chris and Cam went hiking last weekend while Kendall and I attended a birthday party.

*I spent a lot of time this past weekend putting up our outside lights, only to have them short out two nights later. I'm working on figuring out the rotten strands. They WILL get fixed because I didn't go to all that work for nothing!

*It's been a long time since Chris and I have had a sitcom we both enjoyed watching together. I think we've finally found one...The Grinder. It's very Parks and Rec humor (if you liked that show). :)

*Chris was up super early Thanksgiving morning in order to buy a Christmas present for Cameron during the pre-Black Friday online sale. He stumbled across these and decided to get a few sets as our Christmas present to one another. The colors go perfectly with our kitchen and I can't wait to get them!

universal studios...harry potter!!

*We celebrated the official day of Thanksgiving with my mom (my dad is still out of the country). The morning started out with the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. I enjoyed having it on in the background and Kendall seemed especially into it. Maybe it will be a tradition as I know it is for millions of people. :)

Cameron decided to make another train track around the table (he did this as well at my in-laws'). This one, however, was quite special in that one of the cargo trains held our butter. Every time someone needed some butter on their bread, the train was sent around the track. :)

Dessert was a new experiment and has now become a favorite of mine. It was awesome!!!

German Chocolate Upside-Down Cake

*Cameron is excited to announce that he has officially started his own blog. It's a hiking blog and I'm sure he would ADORE it if anyone wants to leave a comment. :)

Cameronshikingblog

*I got half way through putting our outside lights up yesterday. My numb hands drove me inside. :(

*I will find a way to make THIS happen!!

thanksgiving #1

This past weekend we celebrated Thanksgiving with Chris' parents. It was a quick trip, but fun none the less. :)

The kids helped a lot with the food prep. Here Kendall is getting her hands dirty by helping combine all the stuffing ingredients. 

Wayne got up at 4:00 a.m. to put the turkey on the smoker. Here the kids are helping him check on it soon before the meal.

The feast!

Being outdoors on their property is always a highlight. The kids and I went on a few bike rides around the country roads. Here Chris had taken the kids on an after Thanksgiving feast walk. 

IHOP for breakfast before we take off has been a tradition for a long time. :)

 This morning the kids were SUPER excited to start decorating our home for Christmas. This is one of my favorite days too. :)

p.s. This past weekend my friend, Jana, invited me to a clothing swap party. I come home with two great pairs of jeans (it amazes me that I found two pair when good fitting jeans can be so hard to find!) and several other items. Such an awesome feeling to get super cute clothes for free!!