Thanksgiving 2017

Just a few days until Christmas and I'm finally getting around to posting about Thanksgiving!

We had a great Thanksgiving with the family in Indianapolis. We had a whole group - 17 of us in all complete with the kids' great grandmas and cousins. It was the most delicious meal that Judy cooked up for us...and that I ate for breakfast every day for the rest of the trip!

The kid table:

The grown-up table:

We decided to get some pictures of the whole group because, how often do you get 4 generations all together at once?

We took another one later in the day when cousin Eric had arrived and Mimi was with all 4 of her grandkids and 2 of her great-grandkids!

Then it was time for the Annual Turkey Day Games! Judy had asked if I wouldn't mind hosting the games since I do them every year and I was STOKED to introduce my in-loves to them!

There were a handful of games, each with their own point value. They ranged from the pretty tame (tossing a stuffed turkey into a bow, or guessing the weight of a pumpkin) to the extreme.

Here's June in the paper airplane toss:

My favorite game was Cheeseball Head, which involves one partner throwing cheese puffs onto the head of the other partner, which is covered with a shower cap and shaving cream.

Judy and Fred were the winners of this game! They obviously practice this all the time.

The last game was "Who Cut the Flour?" which involves a quarter placed on a packed mound of flour, and people take turns cutting some away until the quarter falls. Whoever makes it fall loses AND has to retrieve the quarter in the flour.

Michael's turn was right before mine and announced that he was going to make an extreme cut to set me up for a difficult turn. Karma is quick, though, and the quarter fell and I laughed so hard I thought I might be sick.

So Michael got to live out the alternate name for this game, which is "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" due to it ending with someone looking like Santa Claus.

The winner of the games was....LAUREN! She got first place and we all shouted "YOU'RE THE BEST, YOU'RE THE BEST" as a prize because the Turkey Day Games don't actually have prizes (yet?).

It was such a fun nigh that ended with some more rounds of leg wrestling, and bed times, and glasses of wine. We love making memories with the fam!

2017 Halloween

This was our first Halloween in Seattle! 

We had a bit of a funny day - the kids' dentist appointments had to be rescheduled and the only date they had available was Halloween, so the kids ended up at the dentist at 2:30 that day! I took Bennett with me to pick up June at school so he got to participate in her little class party that was open to siblings.

Bennett went as Darth Vader, or as he calls it, "Dark Vader."

June went as a Halloween fairy. Kind of a long story. Basically I made myself a Halloween-inspired circle skirt this year and June asked for one too. So I bought her a yard of fabric and whipped up a skirt. Well it ended up being her favorite thing on the planet, she wore it to school as often as I'd let her, and then she decided she wanted to wear it for Halloween too. I kept asking if she was SURE she didn't want a different costume, but she did not. So we got her some wings and a little headband with bats on it and she became a Halloween fairy. Even asked Bennett to trade pumpkin buckets so she'd get the one that matched her.

After the dentist we went to the little business trick-or-treating in the little 'village' of our neighborhood. It's really sweet and quaint - or would feel quaint if it weren't for the thousands upon thousands of people there. We went early and I was so glad we did, because it was fun while we were there but after a little bit I was over the crowds and ready to leave.

All of the businesses along the little main street open their doors and hand out candy to all the kids. Neighboring businesses come out and set up a booth to hand out candy. This is definitely where the kids did the bulk of their trick-or-treating. It was really fun - we saw a ton of the kids' friends, got to visit a lot of spots we frequent, etc.

Then we headed home and had a quiet dinner. Afterward, we went trick-or-treating at a few houses on our street. I have to say, I'm a little disappointed in our street! It was really dark and quiet - lots of people had their lights off, and we only saw 3 or 4 other groups of trick-or-treaters out there. I was bummed since we live so close to the school that I thought we'd have tons of kids. But I also hear that most of our neighborhood heads over to this one street that goes all-out with decorations, so maybe that's it. (This is actually EXACTLY the same situation that we had in Sacramento.)

But the kids had a great time, got tons of candy, some of which they were willing to share with Michael and me! :)

The Farm at Swan's Trail Pumpkin Patch

We just barely squeezed in a pumpkin patch this year. These weeks just fly by, right? It was mid-October and I was texting with my friend Amy about our plans. She mentioned going to a pumpkin patch the next day and I just kind of thought, "Oh yeah, that!" We weren't going to be able to go the following weekend, so I was suddenly looking at our last chance to go. So I soooooorta crashed Amy and Erik's pumpkin patch plans!

Well - the kids and I did, I should say. Michael couldn't make it because he was working that afternoon. :(

We drove a bit out of the city to get to a really great farm - The Farm at Swan's Trail. They had so many fun activities and we didn't even get around to a lot of it! (I'm really glad that our whole group - Amy, Erik, Duncan and Kiera ... and Ryan, Jessica and Riley - were all on the same page. I am SO DONE with corn mazes and we were all good with skipping it this year! Phew!)

The kids were great. I always get a little anxious having both kids out in a crowded space when Michael's not there to help with man-on-man defense. But they were great, and I was there with such awesome people who helped watch the kids.

One of the things my kids loved the most were these giant inflated balloon-things that the kids jumped on. There was one for big kids and one for little ones, which is nice so the little ones don't get trampled.

Let's get a close-up on that hand-holding, shall we?

The kids all wanted to ride on this barrel tractor ride. June loves baby Kiera and loves taking care of her. She was so excited and proud to be asked to sit with Kiera in a barrel. Bennett also felt very grown-up to be able to sit by himself!

We had already bought a few pumpkins, so we just picked up one for the family. Poor Bennett was really upset in these pictures because a bee kept bothering him. He was eating strawberries and I think the bees were really attracted to the sweetness. But for some reason I find him even more adorable? And I just keep remembering his despair and how sweet and cute he was when the bee would not stop landing on him! Poor guy.

Ryan had been pushing the little kids around in the wheelbarrow and gave June and Bennett a ride afterward, which really cheered him up. But poor Ryan was exhausted afterward because not only do my kids weigh a lot more than the little ones, but they also were egging him on to go faster and faster for quite some time - ha!

The Polar Express

We went to the Polar Express with some friends - and Grammy! It was a fun night and the kids were thrilled to be going on a real train.

Picture courtesy of June:

Like the Polar Express movie, there's a part where servers come dancing down the aisle handing out hot chocolate and cookies. I took this picture exactly at a moment when a server did a high kick and it's basically the best photo ever taken:

That's Santa you can see through the window...

We even made it home in time to watch the MLS final game end in PKs!

Old Sacramento Festival of Lights

As part of the activity advent calendar, I took the kids to Old Sacramento for dinner, lights and a carriage ride. We might have snuck in a beignet or two - but hey, that's what happens when I'm running solo with the kids and also have no self-restraint.

 

This is basically how June was the whole time...she wanted to be able to watch the horse!

I hadn't planned on staying for the lights show since it was a little long last year and I didn't think the kids had been that into it. But it was starting right as our carriage ride was done, so we stuck around. At first I thought the kids wouldn't like it because they couldn't see through the crowds and I could only lift one on my shoulders. But a kindly gent next to me suggested I ask if my kids could go up in the VIP wagon that had an elevated view. I took his advice and the people manning the wagon let us in! So we got a wonderful view and a spot where the kids could sit and watch.

Definitely one of my favorite nights of the activity advent calendar so far!