We spent Thanksgiving at my parent's house. Casey had to work as usual. I'm trying not to be bitter. After all, our anniversary is coming up next weekend and he took Friday off. Wooo hooooooooooo!


I can't believe my kid is reading my old books already! She found this on grandma's shelf and read it in 2 days. I'm pretty sure she reads faster than I do.


The perfect Thanksgiving afternoon. Anna was in awe of grandpa's blanket. Actually it was Becca's, and Becca promptly snatched it off as soon as she saw it there.


So we were watching the Rockette's (I think that's who they were) on PBS and the girls got very excited. Anna loves to dance around, Rachel tends to get her all riled up. I guess that's what siblings are for.


This is totally off the subject (do I ever have a subject?), but Tommy and Abby were playing this afternoon and I heard Tommy say, "Yeah, I've been to Egypt lots of times. I take my mail truck."
I chuckle every time I think about it!

This costume is two sizes too small, but it sure is good for a laugh.


Abby is really starting to get into coloring. I love her little body.


Adam's new hobby is sharpening. Crayons, pencils, pens if I don't catch him soon enough...


It finally came out. Last night I had to put Rachel in a head lock to get her nasty loose snaggletooth out of there. Even her best friend at school told her it was gross. Now that's an honest friend. So after a slightly tearful extraction, my relationship with my daughter was restored after a couple bucks were handed over. Now look at that smile. Then she wanted her other tooth out. What does she think- I'm made out of money???

Birthday Girl

Abby turned 3 years old shortly after midnight last night! I love her with all my heart. She loves to play with her siblings and run around in her underwear. It's great to be 3!
Casey's family came over on Saturday, so that's when we had the cake and present ceremony. :)


Abby got a little help from Adam when it came time to blowing out the candles.


Abby got some books and cute jammies for her birthday.
I love this picture because Tommy is just being... Tommy.


Grandma Maude made Abby this nice cozy flannel quilt. It's heavy, but she still wants to cart it around the house. :)


Today Casey and I took Abby shopping- no other kids along! She picked out this Playschool vacuum cleaner. She has been sharing quite nicely with Tommy. We heard them in the boys room say, "OK, lets go suck up some bad guys!"
Go get 'em, kids.

Rocks, Gems, and Minerals

I had seen an advertisement in the paper for this rock and mineral show and just KNEW that my Adam must attend! But when you enter this sort of room with a double stroller and 5 kids in tow, people become very... frightened. We didn't stay long, and they were only told once (by someone running a table) that the goods were "fragile" and should be careful. It was a good day. Now if only Abby could get over her psychotic fits life would be near perfect.


Cool! This is way better than anything he finds in Grandma Thompson's driveway.


Look at that selection. It was so tempting to touch every one.


God made this!


Yay for the one lady in the building that likes children! The kids each got to pick a stone (actually it was glass) with eyes glued on it- for free! They were ecstatic.

Tricks and Treats

In honor of the Halloween season, here are some of Anna's tricks...


Why? Because she can.

x
She's just checking to see when her next appointment is.


We had a cold but fun time going around our neighborhood. My friend Barb went with us, I really appreciated the helping hand!


And here are the treats! Kit Kat seemed to be the treat of choice to pass out tonight, and I'm not complaining.

Hope you all had a safe and fun Halloween!

Yum

Last week I made caramel apples for the first time. Here's how it went...


I had to go with Steph A.'s suggestion to use Granny Smith apples. The sour with the sweet? I'm drooling just thinking about it!


Oooooo. Just look at that bubbly caramel goodness. I bought a candy thermometer years ago and this was the first time I used it. It went extremely well. No one was injured in the caramel-making process.
This was the recipe I used. You really can't go wrong when butter, brown sugar, sweetened condensed milk, and (look away Jenny M!) corn syrup are all boiled together.


Eeek! Look at those warty bubbles! I figured a smattering of white and dark chocolate should help to cover those up. It did help.
I would definitely make this caramel again. It was deeee- lish.
However, does anyone have any suggestions to keep it from totally sticking to the waxed paper? I liberally buttered the paper like the recipe said, but it really didn't help AT ALL.

Pumpkin Carving

Look at my man go! Don't hurt yourself, honey!


Rachel is going to lose a top front tooth ANY day- she is so excited!


I prefer my pumpkin cooked, but to each his own.


I helped Tommy with his pumpkin. Tommy has been the only one sick around here, which we are very thankful for. I am so SICK of hearing about H1N1 I could scream.


The finished products!