Elementary Thanksgiving Celebrations

 Ridge's class had a "Thanksgiving Feast" for a party.  Parents were invited and our feast consisted of lunchmeat, cheese, rolls, crackers, fruit, and treats.  Ridge showed off his five little turkey's book and each kid had made a turkey centerpiece that they could take home.

Kyleigh's class had a full on dinner with turkey, potatoes, gravy, rolls, and pie.  At the end her teacher filled the mouths of all the children with spray cool whip.  Ridge eyeballed that for a few minutes and finally worked up the courage to get in line for a spray.  One kid in her class ate more than a dozen of the rolls I brought.

National Brownie Day

Ridge and I happened to run to the Albertsons around the corner on National Brownie Day.  They had three table set up with 20+ types of brownies.  You could mix and match 9 brownies for something like $3.00.  We picked out 9 different kinds and surprised everyone else with a celebration.  Who doesn't love celebrating a holiday you stumbled on accidentally.  And, we ate them with forks out of the carton while most of us were on the top of the island.  Nobody wanted to be eaten out of their fair share.  Happy National Brownie Day!

Magnatiles

 There is something about building with magnetic blocks that is magical.  These are by far the best toy we have ever purchased.  Ridge never gets tired of them.  The rest of the family is always willing to join in.  Every kid that comes over goes straight to the closet to play with them.  There is no end to what they can become once you start sticking them together.

Decorating For Chrismas

 The most wonderful time of the year!  It was Katelyn's turn to top the tree.  I hope they're never too big to have Russ lift them up for that job.

Katelyn's Friend Party

 Katelyn wanted a candy themed birthday party.  We gathered up her friends with these cute invitations and planned a "sweet" party. While we were waiting to start the party the girls all got some time on Katelyn's monkey bars.  Once we got started games included...

-the candy ball game-candy wrapped up in strips of packing wrap that the kids race to pull apart, hoping for candy to pull out with the wrap.

- candy memory-two of each type of candy hiding under bowls.  Just like regular memory but when you get a match you get to eat the match.

-candy guessing game- everyone could feel a piece of candy in a bag, write down what they thought it was.  The person with the most correct was the winner.

The goody bags included a box of candy and a bath bomb wrapped up to look like a piece of candy (with a note that said, don't eat me!)

And as if that weren't enough sugar, at the end I gave them all a cupcake.  And-sent them home all "sweet" for their moms and dads.

Katelyn Turns 9

 As you can see from the pictures, Katelyn was excited to be the center of attention for her birthday.  We had pancake men for breakfast.  At lunch Ridge and I picked Katelyn up from school and took her out for the buffet at Idaho Pizza Company, which was her choice.  Dinner was dorito casserole with Italian sodas and an ice cream cake.  Mike, Holly, and the girls came over for dinner and presents.  We got her a new umbrella and a new gymnastics outfit.  She loved both of them.

That weekend we took Katelyn to do the cosmic ropes course at a place called Bodies in Motion.  It is the same place Russ and I went to do the couples ropes course (same course, different name).  We have known we wanted to take her since we went, but you have to be 9 to do the course.  Kyleigh also joined us.  We had a great time.  The girls both loved it and were amazing.  Katelyn didn't want to leave when it was time to go and has asked to go back since then.  We are raising the cutest little monkeys.

Letters from Katelyn to the Family