Nicholas the Elf

A few years ago, Santa started sending an elf to our house right after Thanksgiving.  It's hard to keep up with so many kids, so to help out, Santa sends some of his elves out to keep an eye on the good (and not so good) little girl's and boy's. 

Nicholas has been with us for about a week now, and I think he may be one of Santa's most mischevious elves.  Each night, he flies to the North Pole to inform Santa on our familie's naughty or nice status.  Then before we wake, he lands somewhere in our house, usually accompanied by some type of mischief.  We have loved finding his hiding place each morning and it is usually accompanied with laughter.

Here's some of our favorites:

Parading around with Barbie and Pals....he does travel in style

Right foot on red-who knew Elve's like Twister too?

Storytime with friends

Slurping my Tim Horton's Coffee

Coloring on our family photos? 

Real Nice, Nicholas. 

Oh Dear, poor Daddy.  Better shape up.  Nicholas is watching!

Thanksgiving 2012

We spent a full day at Nana and Grandpa's prepping for Thanksgiving.  Nana and Grandpa baked the most delicious turkey, stuffing and pies, and little sis Emily and I were in charge of the sides.  We had turkey, corn, mashed potatoes and gravy, 2 kinds of sweet potatoes, stuffing, rolls, cranberry sauce, and several types of pies.  Of course, to fuel up for the big day, Nana made some breakfast treats, and Jeremy went out for a Starbuck's run.  We spent our day cooking, watching the Macy's Thankgiving Day Parade, and enjoying some family time.

Cookin' it up!

Love these cuties!

What a bunch of turkeys!

Getting ready to dig in! (and sweet Liam is waiting for scraps)

(Nana even took Kenzie for a walk while Caleb napped earlier in the day, and taugh her how to knit...and within 15 minutes she had it down.  Amazing!).

And of course, Thanksgiving marks that time of year where our house turns into Winter Wonderland.  We finished decorating our 5 trees (yep, we're that family) and our Elf Nicholas made his appearance. 

...and of course if we didn't have enough to be thankful for, the weekend ended with an Ohio State win over Michigan AND a Brown's win over the Steelers, two rival teams.  Best Thanksgiving Ever!

Gettin' into the Game!

O-H!

 

   

Mackenzie's First Lost Tooth!

Well, it's finally happened!  Mackenzie has had a wiggly tooth for weeks now!  I have been itching to yank that sucker out, but she would have nothing to do with it.  The past few days, it has become an annoyance to her while trying to eat, and she actually talked to me about pulling it out last night.  Jeremy was out of town, so I convinced her to wait so Daddy wouldn't miss the big moment!  So...while Daddy was putting her to bed tonight, he convinced her to pull it out herself!  And she did! 


                                                                         TA DA!

She was SO proud!

 She has always had the sweetest smile, but it doesn't get better than this!

                 Safely tucking her tooth away in her tooth pillow!

...and making sure it's still there!  :)

Well, I guess you are officially growing up into a big kid! 

Fall Fun!

Fall is quickly passing and these days it feels more like Winter than Fall.  We did however, enjoy some Fall fun ealier this season when the weather was a bit nicer.  We hit our local pumpkin patch in town and let the kids enjoy a day of Fall activities: picking pumpkins, enjoying homeade glazed apple and pumpkin spice donuts, and playing in the "corn" box and inflatables.  The weather was beautiful and we had a blast!

Picking the perfect pumpkin is serious business!

My little pumpkins!

Ready, Set, GO!

Running through the hay maze! 

                                                                   In hay heaven!

Whee!

                                                                             Fun in the corn box!

So much better than a sand box!

Inflatables!  Jeremy &I even made my way through the haunted house a time or two...

I mean, who could resist this fun? 

                                                                   

I love thise one of the kids...totally their personalities right now!

And weeks later, the kids spent the weekend with Grandma and Grandpa Buzzard trick-or-treating, and pumpkin carving. Mackenzie especially loved helping pass out treats (and by treats, I mean handfuls (according to Grandpa) at the Buzzard Family Shoestore:).  Such a fun memory they will remember forever!

Pumpkin carving & trick-or-treating in Loudonville!

Another tradition that we have enjoyed the past two years is "Trunk or Treat" at the kid's school.  The kids parade around in their costumes and trunk or treat in the parking lot.  The big kids get to go to a local business near the school and trick or treat inside. After that, there are hot dogs, fruit salad, and endless sides to enjoy in their classrooms!

Caleb and his adorable teachers!

Class party!

My adorable little pirate!

Umm...can you say sugar high?

Ready to trunk-or-treat outside!

Posing with his buddies!

The girl's showing off their costumes!

The Kindergartener's lining up to trick or treat!

Trunk or treating back at school...Daddy was one of the candy passer outers. :)

Party back in the classroom!

And...some of my favorites.....on a get together with our good friend's Amanda and Anthony and their kids, we got these priceless shots of the kids playing in the leaves....