Caramel Apples Plus!

I have been trying to come up with our own fun family traditions. I have discovered that most of my ideas revolve around food. Sunday, we pulled together as a team and created delicious caramel apples.

McKenna washed the apples (a few times to have an excuse to play in the water).

Hunter and I helped take the wrappers off the caramels to put into daddy's special caramel sauce.

RJ double coated the apples with caramel

I drizzled them with chocolate, reces pieces and broken snicker bars. This is the way to eat an apple!

Amanda Comes for Thanksgiving!

We found out a couple weeks ago that Aunt Amanda would be joining us for Thanksgiving. We were very excited to have family. She was so excited that she decided to drive straight through the night by herself from Kentucky. It was a crazy thing to do but we are glad that she made it.

The kids took full advantage of Amanda's willingness to play with them, read to them and watch them do all of their "tricks". Hunter was also very excited about the wii she brought along.

McKenna is bowling and waiting patiently for her ball to knock down some pins. As you can see, it's taking a while for the ball to get there.

Hunter got pretty good at bowling. He renewed my resolve to not have video games as permanent fixtures in my home. We had a hard time pulling him away from the silly thing for a few days. I'm glad that he enjoyed it while it lasted though. It's fun to do new things.


Thanksgiving was a great day thanks to RJ! He took the kids with him to the anual turkey bowl. He knew I was nervous about the turkey so he took care of that, the potatoes and candied yams. What a man! We invited the Cleavenger's to join us and enjoyed a wonderful meal.

Our first turkey turned out great.

I had the kids color pictures of turkey and we taped them to paper cups. We had a fun turkey shoot.

The kids and I made these Indian headbands and pilgrim hats.

I thought half of us could wear headbands while the others wore hats just like the first thanksgiving. As I was researching the first thanksgiving though, I began to feel like Joseph Smith. There were so many different accounts, I didn't know which one to believe (the cordial feast shared between the Indians and pilgrims at plymouth rock in 1621 or the feast celebrated by the pilgrims after slaughtering the Wampanoag Indians)? I didn't care enough to pray about it so I decided to forgo the lecture about the first thanksgiving.

The Cleavengers

I drew this turkey and Pam colored it for me when she was here. We used it for a "pin the feather on the turkey" activity as well as a bean bag toss.

Hunter and McKenna were very close

RJ... not so much.

I made these bean bags for the toss.

Hunter had quite the aim

Here he is revelling in his victory (all four bags)!

RJ and I made a pumpkin and pecan pie wednesday night. They were yummy and quite easy to make.

Maren and Mike brought a pumpkin pie and apple pie (which we gobbled up like pigs it was so good).

After letting our pie digest, we sat down for a good ole game of Ticket to Ride. It was a really fun day.

We Love Sister, She Loves Us

Hunter and McKenna love Reagan.

They fight over who gets to hold her which I'm not happy about. However, I'm glad they like her.
My precious girls in pink

The great big brother watching over his sister

Chubby Cheeks!

Daddy's girl already

The First Snow Fall

Our plan was to go the the Mall of America but when we woke up on Saturday, the ground was covered in snow! The kids didn't miss a beat.

McKenna is gearing up. It appears that she is missing a few essential items of clothing.

Hunter's ready

There we go. Now we are ready for some serious snow play.

The kids with the snow slinger

We have the perfect size hill in the backyard. RJ blew up the big innertube and Hunter heaved it up the hill.

RJ got out there and pushed them down the hill. He was a trooper and spent at least 2 hours rolling around in the snow with the kids. What a good dad!

I joined the family to build a snowman. The kids faces were bright red because they had been eating the snow. I warned them the second day that our backyard is also the neighborhood potty for the neighborhood dogs. I hope that deters them from eating it!

Grandma Reeve's Visit

I didn't think I would be up and moving a week after Reagan was born so we asked Pam to come help me out since RJ would have to go back to work. I recovered so much faster than I anticipated (and the ward helped out more than any ward I have ever been in). I worried that Pam would feel like she wasted her visit. We are so glad she came though!

RJ was cute enough to take her some flowers when he picked her up at the airport.

She read books to the kids constantly. Hunter loved doing I Spy with her. McKenna loved a book called "Go Dog Go." She read it so many times that McKenna just about memorized the 30 some odd page book.

Pam bought some big "Cars" coloring pages. They all spent a lot of time sitting at the table coloring together.

She made her special hot wings recipe for RJ and spoiled him too.

McKenna sure loved having Grandma here

Hunter took advantage of her willingness to play games and they played and played and played.

I think I can speak for all of us when I say that we sure missed her when we woke up Tuesday morning and she was gone.

Reagan's Amatuer Photo Shoot

So, I was really kicking myself for not getting the professional baby pictures offered while we were in the hospital. I figured I would try to capture some myself and failed quite miserably. She was wide awake (no sleeping naked baby pics) for most of the pictures on the day I decided to shoot. Her eyes were wandering and she was pulling all kinds of funky faces. Consistant with all true mothers, I still think she's cute!

We love our boppy and McKenna loves to say the word "boppy"

RJ is so frustrated that he can't get her to smile. He thinks that Hunter and McKenna both smiled at him coming out of the womb.

Our neighbor in Albany made this outfit and blanket for Reagan. I think she looks pretty cute all wrapped up in yarn.

Grandma Morrison made this white blanket. She finished it while she was here and tore out the edging at these four times. I hope she is happy with the final product. We are.

This is a rose from the boquet RJ gave me.

I love these cute little booties Beth gave me.

The Grandma's of Maple Grove make hats and give them to the hospital. We picked out this one.

Maren crocheted this adorable hat. She even made up the pattern. It has a crocheted flower on it.

I bought the pattern for this blanket for mom for Christmas last year. I loved this blanket. I think it is so beautiful!