My 1st Thanksgiving

Kevin injecting his bird with flavoring-not pictured is my bird sitting in a 5 gallon bucket at Kevin's feet waiting to be drowned in the yummy brine I prepared

Conor with our turkey center piece he made

Our small gathering-Ryan, Conor, Grandpa, Kevin, Grandma, Lincoln and Josie

The title is a bit deceiving, what it should say is my 1st Thanksgiving meal that I hosted, which means I cooked a turkey and most of the fixins. We volunteered to host all of Kevin's family this year minus one sister and we were really excited about getting every one together. Unfortunately, as the big day got closer, siblings started dropping out for various reasons. In the end, our big family gathering ended up being a very small group, but no problem-more food for the rest of us. We had 2, 10 lb turkeys for 5 adults and 2 children. This equals a lot of left overs. Kevin and I had a little contest, he seasoned and cooked one and I seasoned and cooked one. The taste tests were pretty inconclusive, no matter what you do to a turkey it pretty much always tastes the same...a little bland. Thank goodness for cranberry sauce. We made some mashed potatoes that were to die for-make ahead and use your Bosch for perfection, I thought they were the best part. This year I learned how to make a pumpkin roll and it turned out yum yum. All said and done, I was very pleased with the results and I can proudly say I have cooked a turkey and I am completely confident I can do it again.

Thanks to Ryan who came all the way from Washington DC to try my first attempt at cooking a turkey. Ironically he had the farthest to travel and was the only sibling to make it.

On to Christmas-We are getting dumped on right no, so that makes Christmas prep extra fun. We are blessing Lincoln next week, so if your December isn't crazy enough all ready, come on out and join us.

Lincoln is finally smiling

I was starting to get a little worried that this little guy was going to be selfish with his smiles, but I guess he just wasn't ready to share yet. He still isn't really generous, but I can usually coax one out of him when his tummy is full. I love it when they start showing a little personality. Quick update on our little guy: Still sleeping through the night like a champ, Still sleeps a lot during the day! YEA! YEA! I take him to the gym with me every morning and he sleeps through all the loud music like a true sport, in fact he will usually wake up when the music stops. He is holding his head up really well and he loves to be in the middle of the action.

Happy cleaners

My fabulous bathroom maids

Conor asked if he could do the toilets-well of course!

I talked Josie and Conor into helping me with a little bathroom cleaning. Don't be alarmed, this is not a regular occurrence at our house, of course that would be wishful thinking on my part. Conor had to help out before he could go out to play, and Josie of course thought it was all fun since big brother Conor was in on it. Once we got started it was great fun, as you can see the mirrors needed a little touch up but all in all a great job was done and lots of cleaning products were happily sprayed all over. I had to take a picture to show them their happy faces in a few years when they will be grumbling.

SURPRISE!!!!

Last Friday my doorbell rang minutes after I came home from the gym. Guess who was on the other side? My sister Janet!!! I was shocked and confused for a minute, since Janet lives in Chicago and we see each other rarely. I babbled for a minute and got a little teary and then I just had a huge smile on my face, I was so excited. Janet and Kevin pulled off a great surprise, I never suspected anything. Kevin picked her up at the airport while I was at the gym and then dropped her off at home to wait for me. She watched for me then ran out the back door when I arrived so she could make her doorbell entrance. So cool. Kevin had called me while I was at the gym to see what my plan was for the day and I never suspected anything. The only weird thing was that when I came in the house I could tell the heat was on and that a few things (messes) weren't where I left them, but I just though Kevin must have come home. It is so fun when the pieces all click together, like why Janet asked me the night before what I was doing for the weekend, why Kevin even called to get an update on my schedule etc... Well, the rest of the weekend was fabulously fun and out of the ordinary. Janet got to meet Lincoln and become reacquainted with Josie and Conor. Conor showed her all of his precious treasures and pictures and things he is proud of. Josie took her time warming up, but was sad when she left, and I I got to spend the entire weekend just being with Janet and talking, talking and talking some more. Just reminds me how much I wish my sisters lived closer. Here are some pictures of the fun.

Janet with Lincoln-just after the initial surprise

Hanging out together after a leisurely breakfast on Saturday

Josie loved that Janet sat and watched some of Cinderella with her

Janet taught Conor to play Peter Peter Pumpkin Eater...We will remember her always as he polishes off his technique 15 times a day. We love you Janet!

On Sunday we gave Janet a watered down tour of Spokane, sadly it is easily done in a few hours.

It is always fun to chase the ducks and play in the leaves.

We took Janet to see our little Spokane temple and realized that it was the first time Conor and Josie had ever been there.

We played games on Sunday night and Smokie the otter joined us. Conor thought it was so cool to have him play-Janet has a great Smokie voice.

We were so sad to see her go on Monday morning, but extra grateful for the time she took to come visit us. We made a lot of fun memories and look forward to when she will return (hint hint.)

Halloween 2010

Our devil and princess

Annual pumpkin carving with the Willards-Conor's is on the far left and Kevin's is 2nd from the right.

Hmmm...What is inside these pumpkins

Kevin tasting his pumpkin/spaghetti squash. We decided our pumpkin cross pollenated with our squash. It was solid inside. Cool color though, and it glowed really neat

Halloween this year snuck up on me. The kids were lucky to get the costumes they did, but no one was complaining. We went to our ward trunk-or-treat and got a ton of candy. The fun part of the night was the dance they had after. We discovered that Josie is a dancer at heart. She danced to every single song and didn't want to leave. Josie really discovered Halloween this year. When I brought home her costume a few days before Halloween she kept saying she wanted to go to Halloween so she could wear the dress. We took the kids to a few houses in the neighborhood and she was picky about what door she would go to, if it was decorated scary she held back. I love it when they still want to hold your hand and let you protect them.

We carved pumpkins with the Willards this year and Conor did his pumpkin all by himself. He worked really hard on it and wanted to do another one when he finished. I am glad he is old enough to do it himself, so I don't have to. Thank goodness for the new pumpkin carving knives that are sort of kid friendly.

Josie pass-time

Cinderella, Josie's new favorite movie-can only be watched on mini DVD player

Chalk art on Josie's face

24 piece princess puzzle-lightning fast

Josie is blossoming into such a fun and smart little lady. Here are a few things she is interested in right now, and a few things she does that I always want to remember. She has had the DVD of Cinderella since last Christmas, but recently discovered how much she likes it. We have been watching it a few times a day and the best part about it is that she can only watch it on the mini DVD player because it is a boot leg copy from China-nice I know. Every time she watches it, I mean EVERY time, she gets very upset at the part where the mean stepsisters rip her dress. She calls to me and comes to get me to view the destruction. She calls Cinderella's prince charming her Daddy which I don't bother to correct. She recently got a 24 piece princess puzzle that she has completely mastered. She always starts in the exact same place and has gotten very quick at completing it. She has a very good memory and always remembers odds and ends from her day that she wants to tell Conor and her Dad about when they get home. She calls umbrella's bumbelellas. She likes to line up all her play dishes in one big long line across the room. She doesn't like to pick up her own messes with out help-she asks someone to help clean up with her always. Funny how she is so willing to share the chores of cleaning up, but not playing with her. We of course have our moments of independence that I could do with out, but that comes with the territory of being a willful 3 year old.

I almost forgot, her favorite song is Dynamite-Tao Cruz. She can recognize it from the first beat. She also requests Like a girl-Katy Perry. We listen to these over and over again in the car.