Krispy Trains

This year I couldn’t skimp on doing Trains… We did them 2 years ago with Kiel’s entire family and trying to teach everyone how to construct the “Miller's” Cookie trains was a little time consuming.. fun but a little tough.. so this year I saw in Sam’s Club this Kit to make Rice Krispy Treat Trains.. it came with everything we needed and great Reusable Molds!! They were fun and the construction part was quick and the kids had fun helping us adults create our Masterpieces. It was a great night… we made a big sugary mess, ate dinner together and enjoyed each other’s company. We planned on visiting the temple to see the lights but we were rained in… so we made due entertaining ourselves. It was a full house but a happy house!! The holidays are special and there isn’t anything I would rather be doing or anywhere else I would rather be than with family. So without further ado here are our creations!!

Alan and his Beautiful Girlfriend Courtney’s Train!!

Sean & Michelle’s train/city!! so cute.

Our silly train…. its’ for sure not my best work… but hey… it’s not that… bad.. Connor made a small one for his teacher… he’ll give it to her tomorrow… he’s proud of it…

Marc and Mikia’s Train/Zoo  : ) They “Supposedly” Won first prize….. yea yea yea…. that’s alright.. I sorta spoiled her big announcement… I predicted she was pregnant and I was right!! Congrats again!!! Another Wendelschafer on the way!!

And last but not least Mark and Theresa’s Train…

It was a fun night and something we will do every year… it’s a great tradition and it’s just fun to get the kids involved… Love Christmas time!!!

“Scout” the Elf.

My cute Mom called a week or 2 ago and told me all about this “elf on the Shelf” thing… I had seen it here and there.. but wasn’t too invested in it.. but she saw Monte and Hayley doing this with their kids and thought we were missing out… so now we have “Scout” our little red elf. After carrying him around the first day and playing with him the kids liked him a lot.. then that night I read them the story and told them about the “Magic” Scout had… only if they didn’t touch him. He would loose all his Christmas magic if they touched him… Connor wasn’t having it. He got upset and told me that it was just a silly toy “Mom” … but after awhile I convinced them.. and ever since they have loved coming downstairs and finding Scout. It’s the first thing they want to do! It’s been fun. So I just wanted to post some of the random places Scout has been seen.

Hanging from the lights…

Chillin’ in the Candy Jar…. (Had to explain that elves only eat sugar…)

swinging on our “Kisseltoe”

Making Funny faces on the kids… one of my favorites… Connor wanted to put Scout in timeout for this one…. I thought it was funny and perfectly described our children… especially Chloe :/

Making Hot Cocoa

Making his own countdown Chain… 17 more days!!!! (yesterday)

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And then tonight… I took some of the kids toys and took some “group shots” of Scout and his new friends. and then printed them out and framed them…so tomorrow morning the kids will come downstairs and see Scout with his new pictures!! pretty cute..

obviously not every day I am this detailed.. but it’s been fun getting creative. This will be a fun tradition for years to come.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

This year we thought it was just going to be our little family like the past 2 years.. but then Erin decided to drive down from Las Vegas to join with us and then our 5 turned into 6 then slowly but surely Kiel’s family joined in on the action… so our 6 quickly turned into 19!!! It was a Great holiday. We had delicious food and great company. The weather has been gorgeous so just set up shop outside on our deck and it was perfect. The kids ran around and enjoyed being crazy and the all the adults sat around and laughed as the boys told crazy stories from when they were younger. It’s always nice being with family during the holidays. There is nothing better than eating pie, laughing and listening to kids run around being crazy in the background!

Marc (holding Dylann and Curtis), Alan and Mikia (holding Stetson) all 3 babies 6 weeks apart!

Erin and Me and baby Dylann (Sean and Michelle’s Youngest)

oh the food…… oh the food……. everyone went home with a half pan full to the brim with leftovers!!

The kids table, Cori, Gideon, Chloe, Caleb (Connor’s missing…. shocking!) and Taylor

Theresa and Alan….

Kiel and his little one…

Baby Stetson (Marc and Mikia’s)

We had all the kids color their thanksgiving Day picture and the winner got the first piece of pie! Cori Won!!!

Crazy Chloe!

Baby Love, Stetson and Dylann… Curtis was on the other side of the deck…. :(

At the end of the night everyone was wiped out and ready for Bed. It was a great holiday! I hope everyone else had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Later that night Erin and I were brave enough to go out and do a little Black Friday shopping at Target… It wasn’t too crazy but it was fun and we got some great deals!! So it truly was a great holiday!!! Now on to Christmas *

Gilbert Days Parade

Every year we have gone down to see the Gilbert Days Parade… we’re lucky it’s right down the street and we just walk.. but it’s been fun going to what started out as just Connor and then Chloe and now Curtis… The kids really enjoy the parade and this year they discovered all the “goodies” they hand out… I think we came home with 3 hand towels (Kia Dealership), 1 Hat (Berge Ford), a couple of flowers, thanks to the flower shop and some candy. it was a fun morning. One of my favorite things to do in November!!

 

A just a couple of cute pictures.. I couldn’t resist… Curtis desperately wants to be a “big kid” he gets all excited when he gets to do things with Connor and Chloe. He is walking around all the time now and trying to keep up!!

Curtis walking!!!

Curtis turned 10 Months on Monday (Happy Birthday Monte**) and for the past couple of weeks Curtis has been “experimenting” with this whole walking thing.. but this week he’s become more and more brave. It’s begun. He loves his freedom! Connor was walking at the same age… Curtis will be able to keep up with Connor and Chloe before they know it!! 

Curtis Walking at 10 Months

He’s so proud of himself its cute to watch. I’m sure he loves all the extra attention from everyone as well. He has the best fans!!! Can’t believe it.. my baby is walking  : ( bitter, sweet. Love you Curtis!!!

Soccer Ends with a Bang!

Friday night had our last Soccer practice with Coach Fred as the Fire Sharks. They all ganged up on Coach and played a scrimmage and then after we had a pizza party! I think the best part for Connor was his trophy!! Coach Fred said he had improved so much!

Saturday morning we went out to the fields ready to go!!! Connor was pumped and ready to Win! It was a beautiful day… Perfect Soccer weather!!

Connor and Chloe waiting for our game to start!

All Curtis wants to do is get down and run around!

Compliments of Connor.

Connor and Coach Fred….

Connor played the first quarter as the goalie… he loves playing goalie but it’s a little stressful for me… either Kiel or I stand by the goal to help coach him but I always pray that the ball doesn’t come near him… but he did well.. 2 saves!

The finally in the last 2 minutes of the game Connor scored his FRIST Goal!!! He was right where he needed to be and was ready to go! I wasn’t ready with my camera but he came out of the goal with both arms up in the arm saying boo yea!! Such a stud..

in the car as we were leaving the fields Connor said, “Mom, I’m proud of myself for scoring a goal.” He just melts my heart… A perfect way to end the season… and I’m sure there are more goals to come next season!

Happy Halloween!!!

It all started on Saturday we as a family had a pumpkin party!!! We had pizza outside and then got started on decorating our pumpkins. The Kids painted their pumpkins and Kiel and I carved. 

I have to admit I am getting better… well it helped that we put the kids down to bed and then Kiel and I had a date on the patio finishing our pumpkins up!!! They turned out pretty cute.

 

From left to right: Red Angry Bird, Hello Kitty Witch, and Devil Donald Duck

This week I offered to paint Chloe’s nails again.. this time we did little Frankensteins… pretty scary!

This year the kids were pretty persistent on what they wanted to be for Halloween so I gave up the fight to try to coordinate anything…but low and behold we found Chloe’s little pink Spider”girl” dress and then it became our thing…. We found the Black Spiderman costume for Connor and then SpiderBaby for Curtis. So here are My spider kids!!!

 

We had our Trunk or Treat party last night and it’s been nice to have it all done and over with in 2 nights.

 

It was a little odd this year to have our ward party on a Tuesday night but it worked out great for Kiel.. Tuesdays are usually our Date night/family night.. so it was nice having Kiel there with us!!

such Cute boys… and below this is Curtis passed out during the Trunk or Treating… He stayed asleep all night… good little baby!!!

Wednesday morning I signed up to go help in Connor’s class with their Halloween Party!! It was so fun to see Connor and meet all these friends he tells about at home all the time! We love his teacher and he’s doing really well and is really enjoying school.

 

*just a quick update on Connor… I met with Mrs. Giannetta for parent/teacher conferences.. and she had nothing but great things to say about Connor. She said that he’s the only one that tells her Thank you on a daily basis… She has told that to me and Kiel individually, which just melts my heart to hear. He really enjoys school and is doing really well!! We are impressed that he is reading and now writing sentences. So proud of you little guy!! 

Now it’s finally time for…..

TRICK OR TREATING!!!!

Kiel needed to get to bed so we ate dinner, he helped me get the kids ready to go and we went off to our friend’s neighborhood and went crazy!!! We once again have SpiderGirl, Red Spiderman (he needed to switch it up..), SpiderBaby, our friends were a Red Princess and BatMan!! They had a good time running around… I think my kids could have gone all night running around. But once their bags were too heavy to carry we ended the night! 

Curtis didn’t get much loot : ( but he had fun seeing all the fun lights and keeping up with the kids.

We met the Real Thor!!! The boys kinda got it.. but in the end I was just holding them up for getting more candy… .. sheesh sorry guys *

 

The end of the night.. They were tired and ready to get home and see their candy!

you can tell in this picture Chloe has this brown sack.. I brought this with me in case their bags got to heavy for them to carry to unload.. so I offered this to Chloe, But she DID NOT want to part from her candy so she lugged her brown sack around… tough little girl! like I said before Connor and Chloe would have gone all night.. they are getting pretty quick!

Hope everyone had a happy and safe Halloween!!!!