Rachel and Adam had their "Holiday" program at school. I think the preschoolers mentioned Christmas in one of their songs, but none of the other classes did. Booooo hisssssssssss.
On a happy note, Adam was VERY excited when he saw me in the crowd. He said, "There's my Mommy!!!" It made me so happy I wanted to cry.


Anna loves to write. She makes delicate little marks on the paper.


Amanda stopped in with her precious bundle the other day. Tommy just couldn't get enough of her!


The other night Tommy crawled under here and fell asleep. Anna snuggled up next to him.


Casey came home last night with this remote control tarantula. Adam thought it was awesome. Anna kept backing away in total fear.

As usual, I got lots of help baking today.

10 Years

We celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary on Dec. 4. It was so great. The past 3 years we have started our fun day out the same way- lunch at the Golden Dragon in Bay City, then on to downtown where you'll find the antique mall and other fun stops... come along!


Ahhh, the Fabric Fair. Expensive beautiful fabulous fabric. I bought just one yard of this fabric with the trucks, I am making a little blanket for Tommy. I'll post a pic when it's done. I am famous for starting projects and not finishing them, but I do so solemnly swear to finish this if it kills me.


Just like a kid in a candy store! You knew I was going to say that, didn't you.


No he didn't buy it.


This was the cutest old pop-up book ever! One vendor had a ton of these, I could've sat there all day.


And then back to the old grind. Here is Adam plugging away at spelling. For some reason this week's words have been a breeze to practice, but last week included other, mother, brother, and wow were those tough for him. But he only got one wrong!


Monkey see, monkey do!

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!

My fourth born

Abby got a little hair cut a few nights ago. I couldn't believe how blond that old hair was!


We have been experiencing nap rebellion around here. Thankfully she has been doing a little better this week. This picture was taken after Rachel read a book to her before bed the other night. Rachel is still talking about how cute Abby was that night. :)

I have been in the bonnet making mood ever since our trip to the River of Time. I found this tutorial on how to make one, it was perfect for Abby, who is almost 3. I need to enlarge the pattern to make one for Rachel now.

Abby has a heap of blankets that she moves from location to location. Here they have settled on our bed for a little story time. It's nice that the older kids do this with the younger ones. It really does get easier the older they get.


Um, this is my skirt. My son is in my skirt, along with every toy that he could possibly stuff in there. I'm at a loss for words.


Rachel had to make sure that Anna had a toothbrush for the picture, too.


Yesterday I went with Adam's first grade class to the pumpkin farm. It was cold, but everyone had a great time as usual.

Your Opinion Matters

I would LOVE to make some caramel apples-it would be a new adventure for me.

So I'm taking a poll...

*How do like your caramel apples- just caramel, or fun stuff added likes nuts and/or sprinkles? Maybe some chocolate drizzled on?
*What kind of apples do you think make the best caramel apples?

*Do you like homemade caramel or prefer to use the Kraft caramels?

The Usual

Somebody has decided that they are through with naps. Hmmm who could that be??? Here she is "watching" Jeopardy, so it's about 7:30 pm. At least she sleeps 12 hrs at night.


It's that time of year again! My frozen stash of applesauce ran out months ago, so I am soooo happy that the fresh apples are here!


I don't know what she's yelling about. Casey took this picture, she was probably afraid he was going to take her broom away.


Even though they are 5 years apart, Rachel and Abby really like to play together.


We watched our nephew Liam for a few hours on Friday. If there was ever a perfect child, this would be it. I love him. He followed Tommy around all afternoon, they were so cute.


My son cleaned his room today after school. Shocking. He was very proud to show me when I got home.
He didn't do so hot on his spelling test last week (60%), but this week he seems to know most of the words- yell tell mall call, you get the picture.