Thanksgiving

We had a very nice Thanksgiving this year! All of Philip's side of the family was able to get together, and as always, the cousins had a wonderful time playing together. Rachel didn't get one bit of attention (ha!). The grown-ups shared the responsibility of making the meal and it was so yummy this year! Philip fried a turkey and we had bunches of sides and desserts too. While the men enjoyed the football game, the kids played games outside and even went for a swim in the spa. It was an absolutely gorgeous day! Aunt Tamara gave the kids their traditional matching Christmas pajamas and we took lots of cute pictures. It was a sweet time with family, and a great reminder of all we have to be thankful for!

On the Sunday after Thanksgiving we loaded up and drove out to my Aunt Cindy and Uncle Mark's house where almost all of my Dad's family was getting together for a fish fry. We shared a delicious meal and had a lot of fun watching all 13 great-grandkids play. This was the first time for the family to meet the newest arrivals. My cousin Kevin was visiting from where he and his family live in Mexico, so it was fun to meet his son Liam. There were lots of little babies too, since we added 3 babies this summer. Having a large family makes for lots of fun and love to share!

L-R, back to front: Ezra, Liam, Joel, Asher, Nora, Ephraim, Levi, Rachel, Ella Bennett, Nathan, Cooper and Boone

Soccer!

Levi and Joel just wrapped up a fun season of soccer! They both joined new teams this year and we were blessed with great coaches and parents on each team. Levi played for Dynomite and Joel played for the Rowdies. It was a blast watching Levi play this year because things were really clicking for him and his teammates. They figured out how to pass the ball and use more of the field, and Levi scored several goals. Joel is also fun to watch play because he is so scrappy and keeps up even thought he is usually one of the smallest on the field. He had several games where he dribbled the ball nearly the full length of the field. Each of them had a laid back end of season party where we met at a restaurant and the boys were given trophies. They were super excited and are proudly displaying their awards in their room!

 

Halloween!

We had another fun filled Halloween, this time as a family of Angry Birds characters :). Levi and Joel came up with the theme and were pretty pleased with the result. I wasn't up to the task of sewing/making costumes for all of us this year, and my sewing machine has been acting up, so we decided to buy the costumes. I found costumes for $10 each on Amazon for the boys, which was a great deal (cheaper that I could make them)! I decided to make shirts with faces for Rachel, Philip and I instead of buying our costumes, which were much more expensive.  On the Sunday before Halloween we carved pumpkins (Nate was not a fan of the "guts" but was hilarious when choosing the face for his pumpkin). We then spent the evening at our church's trunk or treat. It was huge this year and the boys had a blast going from car to car to get candy as well as visiting the petting zoo and eating a hot dog dinner. I was working on Halloween (since it fell on a Monday, and I always work Mondays) so Philip and my parents took the boys trick or treating and I met them for the last few minutes. The boys costumes are now in our dress up box and will provide hours of fun I'm sure!

 

 

Love watching these 2 grow in their annual trunk or treat pictures (Gracie and Levi, 7 and 3 months old, age 4 and age 7)