Aaah, the Thanksgiving coma

 

Greetings, everyone.  I was chastised yesterday for not having blogged in a while.  Sorry  everyone , it has been a rather hectic time for me and my family.  Preparations for the holidays, birthdays and birthdays everywhere and my Mother being sick are some of my excuses.   So much for the mea culpa's.

I am sorry I have no pictures as I still have not found my camera.  Check Shelly's blog as she took pictures all day.  We had a very pleasant and yummy Thanksgiving yesterday.  Yes, we had Thanksgiving, gasp, on Friday!  It was more convenient and worked out well.  All of the kids are growing up and while it's fun to watch, it is also a little sad.  A couple of years ago I bought a supply of bicycles so that everyone could ride when they were here.  Fast forward a couple of years and I need to buy bigger bikes! 

It was fun to watch the kids outside playing football and swinging and riding bikes and playing with the scooter.  It is just hard to believe that Nathan and Cameron are big enough to play football and it honestly looks like football.  Cameron is almost as tall as I am and Nathan isn't too far behind.

Oh, one other major hurdle in Nathan's life.  On Wednesday, Shelly and kids, Nathan, Mandy and I and Asia and Aurora had a fun day.  We had lunch at Goodson's, invaded Walmart to buy some Christmas material for a Christmas craft we will be doing with Kathie, and then went to see the movie "Bolt".  By the way, it is a cute movie but rather confusing and I had to explain the movie on the way home.  Back to Nathan's hurdle - let's see, he had chicken fried steak, rolls and mashed potatoes with gravy for lunch, lots of popcorn at the movie and then as we headed for home he was "starving".  He ate his first quarter ponder with cheese and french fries and two fill ups of Sprite!  He now officially eats more than I do and he is seven.

Today Mandy and I are going to go with Asia and Aurora to Lowe's and buy 6 ceiling fans and then take them over to her new house to get them installed and then we are going to to to Joann's and check out the fabric sell.  We will try to avoid the obnoxious Christmas shoppers and arrive home safely.  Asia returns to Amarillo tonight and then will be packing up on the 8th and coming back. 

I am looking for a new camera as this week we have Mandy's Christmas dance recital and Jessi's baptism and then Nathan has a Christmas festival for his Christmas piano party.  If you have a camera you just love let me know. 

Have a great week everyone!

Our visit to Wisconsin

This past weekend the four of us traveled to Oshkosh to be with Bob and his family when Christopher was blessed.  Besides late planes and cold weather we had a great time.  On Saturday, we went to a indoor play place and all of the kids had fun.  On Sunday, Bob and his family, us and Bro. and Sister Newton took pictures right before Sacrament started.  

When the kids and I went to the airport our plane ended up with engine trouble and we were around 2 hours late.  Here we are waiting, sort of patiently to board the plane.  It reminded me of the time we spent 5 hours waiting for a plane in Jakarta.  The International airport had just opened and nothing went out that day!  There was no food or water and so it was so much fun to wait with all of the kids.  We ended up renting 2 taxis to take us back to our hotel and left the next day.  I know it was a different life and world away but the scene reminded  me vividly of that day.

 

Sitting around the table at Bob's eating cake he made for us.  Yum!

 

 

 

 

Riding the carousel - Thomas, Bob and Bethany and Mandy in the background.  Ethan on the bumper cars.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On the train, Bethany, Thomas and Bob

 

 

Mandy high above us.

 

 

 

 

Nathan in the ball pit.

Back at the apartment - Bob. Laura and sleeping Christopher

 

 

They were all painting pictures.

 

 

Laura, Bethany and Thomas - Boy, Thomas looks so much like Bob!

                   What a handsome family! Bethany, Bob with Thomas, Ethan,  and Laura with Christopher.

 

We had a great time, baby Christopher is adorable and it was nice to see Laura's parents, the Newton's again.

Texas vs Texas Tech

Asia was here during the big game between the University of Texas and Texas Tech and Asia and Daddy had a "date" in front of the TV to watch and celebrate whichever team won.  Glenn was dressed head to toe in orange and Aurora was decked out in Texas Tech colors.  For you fans that do not know - Texas lost!  Here are a few cute pictures.

Grandpa and Aurora in her black and red.

You can just see the football game in the background.  She has to be the cutest cheerleader ever!

Halloween was here!

Once again the ghosts and goblins were awakened and we joyfully joined them and had fun. Ben and Asia were here and Aurora had her first Halloween at Shelly's ward.  We had chili and hot dogs and the kids played games and won prizes.

Aurora was a Texas Tech cheerleader - her parent's alma mater.

 

 

Mandy and Nathan in front of Shelly's house.  Mandy was a pink fairy and Nathan was a ER Doctor, complete with stethoscope and ER badge.

Nathan and Elizabeth fishing.

 

 

Jason and Ben talked computers while the kids played.

 

 

Mandy trunk or treating. 

 

Nathan and Aurora at home before the fun.  Halloween was so much fun!

Renaissance Festival

Every fall the Renaissance Festival is held for 9 weeks.  It is about a mile from our house and they have a School day when area schools and home schoolers can enjoy and learn without the huge crowds and alcohol being served.  Last year Glenn was able to be home and join us but this year it was just Nathan, Mandy and I.  We enjoyed the day and hope to have Daddy with us next year.

 

 

A musician taught about Renaissance trumpets and other musical instruments. He was simply amazing.

 

 

 

A leather worker tried on the leather "caps" on the kids.  She said no self-respecting young man or maid would go outside without some kind of head gear.  They were well done and very costly.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We rode horses!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These three guys were wonderful.  They were Scottish and played everything.  The boy on the right danced the whole time.  He was not part of the group but just wanted to dance. 

We also really enjoyed the joust.  The kids finally just went to the fence and watched entranced.  Of course, Nathan was full of questions including was it real?

 

 

 

 

 

                     The German Knight

The English Knight

 

 

                      The Fight

As it turned out the German Knight - Sir Otto was a dirty fighter and won.

 

 

 

 

Nathan practiced his archery and actually shot one of the balloons.

While Mandy poised with lions.

 

 

We all had a great time.

Happy Birthday, Nathan

Yes, we have two birthday very close together.  Nathan had a big day yesterday!  He played a great game of soccer - he scored 4 goals and was the best goalie.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We then went home and prepared for our birthday party.  Transformers, transformers, everywhere.

Watching the transformer movie.  Not the PG 13 version!  We had popcorn and apples and drinks. Aurora and Joy had fun getting to know each other while the girls watched the movie.

We sat up an obstacle course in the back and Team Autobots (Nathan, Elijah and Mandy) beat Team Decepticons Hannah, Jessi and Becca by 2 seconds to win 1st prize!

1st step on the course.

 

   

 

 

 

Run, Mandy, run!

 

 

 

 

What a cool robot, thanks Hannah

Thanks, Asia.

Aurora enjoyed the packaging.

A transformer cake, how cool!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Happy, happy birthday, Nathan.   7 years old,  it can't be!

Happy Birthday, Mandy

Our little girl has turned a big 5 years old!  She is really getting big.  We actually celebrated her birthday 3 times so she celebrated plenty.  Her actual birthday on the 12th was right before the Hurricane and so we did presents from Mama, Daddy and Nathan.  The following weekend Shelly and family came over and we had a cake that was ordered and then canceled but the bakery didn't get the canceled part!  We had her birthday party on the 27th and everyone had a great time!  Mandy choose a Luau theme and we decorated the house with flowers and pineapples and played a game in the sand and did the Luau and played musical chairs to Pineapple Princess. Mandy's present from Cyndi. She loves her cooking set!

 

Elizabeth won the shell finding game in the sand.

Unwrapping presents is the best!

 

 

 

 

 

 

My cake had Nemo and Dora on it.  Happy 5th birthday, Mandy.

Doing the hula!  Shake those skirts, girls.  We had a wonderful time and our Mandy is now officially 5 years old!