Wildlights

Since tonight was supposed to be the warmest night of the week, we decided to see Wildlights at the Zoo.  We didn't really realize that everyone else would be thinking the same thing, so it was pretty crowded, but still very cool.  I don't remember this from year's past, but they decorated Jungle Jack's Landing like a little Christmas Village, which was very cool.  The lights around the pond are choreographed to music which plays every half hour.  That's my favorite part!  The "finale" was to Trans-Siberian Orchestra's "Carol of the Bells"...it was very cool!

AT&T Holiday Dinner

Brian needed to go into work this afternoon and into tonight, so we decided to bring dinner in to the office and eat in the conference room.  Very festive!

Walk to the Bus Stop

Only the "older" kids were home on Friday when it was time for Isabelle to get off the bus.  So, we dressed up, and braved the cold for the walk to the bus stop.  Anna and Mady did great, but Xavier couldn't seem to concentrate on the task at hand.  He's been having a lot of trouble with that, lately!  After we got back, I made hot chocolate.  I've never seen kids drink milk so fast!

Best Friends:

 Anna takes the lead:

 The girls try to get Xavier back on track:

 He caught up!

 Yummy hot chocolate!

 Drinks for everyone!

The First Snow!!!!

It's the first snow of the season and even Anna gets to go out and play this year!

Bread-Making and the Fire Station

On November 19, the Girl Scouts all came over to our house to make bread to give to the local firestation.  We had 5 girls and made banana bread, cinnamon swirl bread, pumpkin bread, and sour cream coffee cake.  After the bread had cooled, we made thank you cards to give to the firemen.  This was the November service project for the girls, so they were very sad that they didn't get to eat any of the bread!  When we delivered the bread, the firemen gave us a tour of the staion.  During the tour, they got called out on a run - very cool!!!!

Look at them waiting so paitently!

Pouring the batter like they've been doing it thier entire lives.

 Rachel giving the girls a bacteria lesson.  Do you see the sour cream cake in the background?

 The girls watching as the batter gets processed.

 Making the banana muffins.

The girls just presented the bread to the firemen.

The firemen giving us a "Jaws of Life" demonstration. 

I'm being a paparzzi as they drive away to the emergency!

Applesauce Making

Isabelle and I canned applesauce with the Girl Scouts on Saturday.  Caidyn's grandma came out from Cleveland and taught all of the girls how.  We canned 29 pints and ate some along the was as well!  It was lots of fun and tastes delicious!

The girls with Caidyn's grandma, Debbie. 

 The girls took out all of the stems while Caidyn's grandma cut the apples.

 Everyone got equal turns cranking, mashing, and scraping.

 After tasting, we put the applesauce in jars.

 Finished!

Halloween

I know, it's very late, but I just took these off the camera.  Here are the monkeys with all their loot:

The next day, they all wore their costumes down to the bus stop.

Pumpkin Patch and Carving

We decided to go to Circle S Farms Saturday afternoon for some Pumpkin Patch activites!  Everyone loved jumping around in Scarecrow Cave (a barn with tons of bales of straw), the hay ride, and picking out our pumpkins.  On Sunday afternoon, we carved our pumpkins.  Isabelle was in charge of hers and mine.  Anna and Xavier were very helpful digging out the guts!  Lots of fun!

Xavier and Isabelle in the Kiddie Corn Maze:

Anna decided to give it a try too...

Xavier on the slide in "Scarecrow Cave"

Family Pic in Scarecrow Cave

Hayride...

Our pumpkin loot!

Let the carving begin!

And finished!

Xavier's 3rd Birthday Party

Xavier's birthday party is over - he LOVED it, though.  He really understood that he was the "Birthday Boy" and that today was his day.  He was very excited about all of his gifts and all of the family that came to celebrate with him.  He's a very lucky boy!

OSU Gear

Here are a few pics of Anna and Xavier all decked out in their OSU gear!

Family Pictures

We finally got around to getting some family pictures as well as individual pictures taken tonight.  We went to Sears and hopefully the next time we get pictures, we plan better and can get something a little better.  I was pretty nervous about how the kids were going to act, but they did really well.  Here are some of the outtakes...