December 2011

Since this month really only consisted of a few days (that's what it seemed like at least) It will probably be a post mainly of pictures taken throughout the month.

The past few years I have done an advent calendar with different activities each day. This year those activities were planned but very few were carried out - much to the dismay of myself and my children. We just didn't have time :( The HUGE disadvantage of working full-time and not getting home until 5:30 each day. We did manage to squeeze in a few things but I wish it would have been more. It seemed like we seldom had a night as a family during this month. It was fun, but rushed, always rushed! I will definately have to revamp my expectations for the advent season for next year. We did manage to wrap up all of our Christmas books and the kids were able to each open a Christmas book before bedtime to read. They LOVE this tradition! And I do too! (And yes, I do have enough Christmas books for both of them to open one each night all the way up until Christmas - did you doubt that I wouldn't?)

Books weren't read this month (Finished The Hobbit early this month) except if you count Christmas children's books because in that case - a lot were read! Some of our Christmas favorites are:

New recipes tried:

Peppermint Oreo Popcorn - It was good but not quite as good as Peppermint popcorn.

This wasn't exactly a recipe but it was the first time we tried them and they were a yummy treat during the holidays!

These were yummy too! Peppermint kisses melted between pretzels!

Events and Activities!

Christmas Day at Grandma and Grandpa Franklins

He has joined the dark side! Guess we know what he is going to be for Halloween!

Christmas family picture

Christmas morning at home!

Christmas Eve at Mimi and Bapa's (Mom and Dad Wilson)

Addie's 7th birthday party (Dr. Suess)

 Birthday sleepover with four of her best friends!

Christmas work party for Jeremy!

It was a fun-filled, event-packed holiday season! Looking forward to the new year and it's many wonderful experiences!

November 2011

Don't quite remember what happened in November of this year! Jeremy was in Guatemala for the first part of it and the kids and I just kept busy with the normal every day activities. When Jeremy returned we enjoyed family time together and many fun stories about Guatemala. Then came Thanksgiving with family time and good food! And of course black friday shopping - Christmas purchases were made and lines were waited in  - we scored on a new washer and dryer for half price and we even got them in bright red - so much fun to do laundry now! It was a fun month that went way too fast!

Books read

The Hobbit - In anticipation of the movie coming out in December 2012. If I was going to choose to be a fanatic about any movie series it would without a doubt be "The Lord of the Rings".

New Recipes tried - Peppermint popcorn (a new fav)

So easy - 2 bags microwave popcorn, 4 cubes of melted almond bark and about 6 or 7 crushed candycanes. sprinkle crushed candycanes over popcorn, then pour melted almond bark over popcorn and stir. Set out on tinfoil to harden (doesn't take long) and enjoy!!! Sooooo Yummmmy!

Apparently didn't take many pictures during November - bummer!

Guatemala

Wish I could have accompanied Jeremy on this mission trip. It sounded like they touched many lives, had many fun experiences and enjoyed meeting new people.

Happy Thanksgiving

October 2011

October - 2011

It's strange but like all of the other months this year - it went by too quickly! Go figure! Here are a few things that happened this month!

Books Read

Strong-Willed Child by James Dobson

The Boy by Roald Dahl

Mathilda by Roald Dahl

Rhett's bday

Rhett wanted a Winnie the Pooh birthday this year. He loves watching Winnie the Pooh and he reminds me of Tigger with all of his energy. So we celebrated at the church with a barbeque with family and friends. We had a great time celebrating Rhett's third birthday party!

The birthday table

The birthday boy

The birthday friends

The birthday party favors (my friends loved me for them :)

funny moment!

Movies:

We went to got see Courageous with our friends Rusty and Therese. It was a great movie - especially for father's. A must see for every family!

recipes

I enjoy cooking this time of year and it's fun to do some fun seasonal things for dinner. I made these hamburger calzones for Jeremy and the kids for a Halloween themed dinner.

October is not complete without the purchase of these seasonal cereals. They were a fun treat to give the kids (no - not for breakfast, except for maybe one Saturday :)) but for fun when they wanted a snack!

Other Activities

Family outing to Linder Farms!

Playing on the hay bales

feeding the animals at the petting zoo

playing in some corn

finding out way through the corn maze (At first the kids loved it and by the end they hated it :)

Annual pumpkin carving contest

Every year we get together with my family and Jeremy's family and have a pumpkin carving contest. We each pick a theme and put it in a bucket. We also have to put in $5 in the kitty and then we choose a theme, carve out pumpkins and the winner gets the money. Jeremy and I won last year but this year we came up a bit short. The theme was Star Wars and we made our pumpkin into the death star. We thought it was pretty cool, but Aaron and Katie decided to get all fancy on us an did some sort of monogram thing - it was neat and creative and they took the prize! The kids each get to paint their own pumpkins!

CD Release concert

My brother-in-law Derek has a band. They are amazing and it's exciting to see them going places and having concerts and creating a fan base. They tour often and they know some of the right people so we are hoping that they can create a big enough fan base to be able to tour more often. They had their CD release concert at CFC church in Nampa and it was so much fun! We are so proud of them!

Not the best picture but that is them up front!

Fun Day at Jabbers!

I have never been to Jabbers and I had some passes that I bought way back in June and one of my Friday's off I decided that it might be fun to check it out. I had to get a lot of grading done and thought that the kids could play while I graded papers. It worked out nicely! The kids enjoyed playing and I was able to complete my grading while we were there. What a fun place!

Halloween

Halloween this year was a little different! Jeremy wasn't here - he was in Guatemala! So - we trick-or-treated in my parent's neighborhood which was quite nice. There was not much traffic so the kids got special attention from the neighbors. They even received a full-size candybar! It was low key and fun! Then we went home and handed out our own candy for about 45 min. before I shut off our light (don't appreciate the teenagers that show up at 9:00 for candy).

Rhett was a giraffe

My "Bride of Frankenstein" hair

Addie was Minnie Mouse

Us

Trick-or-treat

I also dressed up this year for Halloween - I haven't done that in awhile. I decided to be the Bride of Frankenstein for Halloween so that my students could call me Mrs. Franklinstein for the day. I even changed my picture on my school ID so that it would say Mrs. Franklinstein and there was a picture of her. It was a little darker than I like to go but it was fun and the kids enjoyed it.