thanksgiving day

We had such a relaxing day at home. The two little ones and I crafted turkeys in the early hours, then we played in the snow all morning only to come into a delightful lunch - made by Eric. Then we had a quiet afternoon of naps and games. The kids went back outside in the late afternoon and built a huge snowman together. Eric pretty much made all of dinner. I only contributed the bread. He made ham, potatoes, and onions. William made cranberry sauce. And then for desert we had an awesome cheesecake made by Will. It was peaceful and all was calm. Just the way we like it. Thankful to be together.

making salad

Issabelle now has learned to use our cutter so she can help make dinner. This night she was making a salad with Landon, and was so proud of herself.

overnight changes

This weekend we had sunny summer weather turn to rain, turn to winter storm, ending with almost two feet of snow today.
Saturday while it was nice, Eric and the boys cleaned out the chimney to prepare for our fires. Issabelle was on standby to help with the drilling. By Sunday morning we were cold and had that fire blazing. It snowed all day Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. Issabelle can't even walk in the snow unless there is a path cleared. We got to try out our new to us snowblower since our old one we had for 15 years blew up when Eric was checking it out a few weeks ago.

The kids have spent hours out in our first big snowstorm of the season. Hopefully this is a sign of things to come.

dressing up

What fun the kids had getting dressed up for Halloween. Several days before there were many costume decisions and tryouts. Issabelle was a knight before she became a bee. She was toasty warm since she had so many layers on.
Trick or treating was fun.  Harkin especially thought it was awesome. He was so excited every time he got a piece of candy in his bag. William was  good sport. He took Issabelle up every time and she was a sweet sister as she shared her candy with him. He got a few pieces but many people felt he was a bit old I think to be trick or treating- he is so tall. He decided it would be his last year officially going out, but I am sure he will manage to get candy. The ninja was quiet and managed to get the most candy. He's a sneaky one:)

pumpkin carving

Everyone had a fun time carving pumpkins. William did his all by himself this year which he was so very proud of. Landon had a cool design and kept his seeds to roast.  Harkin thought the pumpkin insides were really neat and then Daddy made ears for his pumpkin which he just kept marveling at. Issabelle was so intrigued by the whole thing, especially when they lit up.  It really was fun to watch them all.

weekend work for the littlest

We have begun our cycle of splitting and stacking wood for the season. This time around everyone wants to help. It is a whole family affair, which takes just a little bit longer but the memories will last forever. They had such a good time and felt so proud to be helping  Daddy.

soccer season:came and went

The boys had a intense season. 8 weeks of soccer basically every day of the work week. Thankfully no weekends. It felt like it overtook our lives sometimes but we had fun watching them. They both played hard and well.

We have a short two week break and then William starts indoor soccer, but that is just one night a week, until practice begins mid-winter for spring soccer. Seems to me we are becoming quite the soccer family. Harkin asks more often than not when is he going to play again. Right now the back yard is fine for the littles as they have two great teachers- 3 including daddy:)