A Thanksgiving to be thankful for!

We are always reminded this time of year how truly blessed we are...mostly for our wonderful family and friends! We had Thanksgiving with the Foelker side of the family on Monday this year because Lacey and her family were leaving for Hawaii. Then we celebrated Thanksgiving on Thursday with the Snooks. We are so lucky to have so many of our great-grandparents to share these special times with. Ellie had a class project that required her to interview everyone in her family so we all learned a few things that we didn't already know. Ellie couldn't believe that Papa Ben had 5 brothers and sisters, Papa Bill flew solo in an airplane, and Grandma Elsa made a date over the phone with a boy named Bill thinking it was Grandpa but it was the wrong Bill that came to pick her up...she had called the wrong boy! It is always fun to talk about how life was when they were growing up. The day after Thanksgiving Papa Bill and Grandma Elsa took the kids shoe shopping and bought both the girls some Ugg boots and a beautiful Christmas dress. The girls even tried on the dresses and modeled them like Lacey and I used to do! Papa Bill kept saying, "I don't think there are many great-grandparents that get to do this"...and I agree...one of the many reasons we are so blessed!

Playing in the rain...

This is going to be a long winter! Jalen's favorite thing to do is play outside and now that the rains are here it's causing quite a problem in our house. So usually in the afternoon when he can't take another minute of being inside we head out to do what boys do best...get wet, messy and muddy! The only problem is he is too little to send out by himself to play...so you know what that means...I also have to brave the weather (and Mommy's do not like the rain half as much as little boys!) I dress him up with his raincoat, a hat and his rainboots (or sometimes he insists on his snow boots) and we walk around the yard picking up leaves, splashing in puddles, going down wet slides and swinging golf clubs and baseball bats at everything BUT balls! Most of the time by the time we are done some of his clothes if not all are off because he doesn't like wet clothes (I didn't think boys were supposed to mind things like that) and the boots are always off...he does like the feel of his feet sinking into the mud and grass. I guess I could have saved the money I spent on boots and coats but then what kind of mom would I look like when we were out in public? Regardless of how your child "likes" things there are sometimes where it is more important for us Mommy's to look good!

Lots and lots of treats...

I think the girls had more sweets before they were even out of school...and they hadn't even started trick or treating yet! It started with Lily's class party at 8:00 this morning, then went on to Ellie's at 10:00 and between donuts, cookies and candy they were wired! We met over at Nana and Papa's to do our trick or treating and Auntie Kim helped the girls get into costume. Ellie was a punk pirate and Lily was Dorothy (even though she's never seen the whole movie!) but I think the red shoes were the selling factor for her! Jalen was supposed to be a lion but he HATED the costume. He doesn't like things on his head and the costume had a hood with the mane attached and he wanted nothing to do with that. He lasted a whole 2 minutes before we decided it wasn't worth the hysterical crying and took it off. He still followed the girls to trick or treat but when he got to the bowl of candy he would put the old candy in the bowl before taking a new one...I guess that's his way of sharing! It was a fun night, but as with all holidays glad the chaos is over!

Pumpkin Patch

Some could call it a rut be we prefer to call it a tradition. We have gone to the same pumpkin patch now for 7 years despite the fact that the last two years most of the pumpkins were either green or had rotten polka dots all over them. It has the cool train and the small animals you can pet and of course the hay stack with the dark maze inside so really who cares about the pumpkins...at least according to the kids. Jalen actually had more fun pushing the wheelbarrow and trying to unscrew the tires than he did picking out pumpkins. We went on a Monday and we practically had the place to ourselves with the exception of one family. And it was sunny...cold but sunny! The days of the cute posed picture in the wheelbarrow or amongst the pumpkins is over for awhile...Jalen will not sit still for even a second. When we put him in the wheelbarrow with the girls all her tried to do the whole time was throw the pumpkins out. We each picked a pumpkin according to our size so Daddy got the biggest, then mine and so on. Lily picked a green one...I mean ALL green...dark green... which fits her little independent personality perfectly. We decided to paint them this year instead of carving them (Mommy HATES carving - but they loved the idea so I don't feel bad!) So we left with 5 little pumpkins, a grape crush soda (which you can only justify at places like the pumpkin patch!), some kettle corn and the next night had some pretty cute painted pumpkins on the porch!

Soccer Rocks!

...at least according to the girls! This is the first year they have played and they are both loving it! We finally found a sport that Lily likes (unlike softball...she only liked batting and picking flowers in the outfield). She has her dad's competitive spirit and there is nothing she likes better than pushing and bumping and kicking to get that ball away from the other girls! Her first game she scored 5 of the six goals...she has not learned the concept of passing yet (or if she has she chooses not to use it) so everytime she gets the ball she runs it down the entire field to score! Ellie is also enjoying it...although she seems to have more of my personality - she plays against lots of her friends from school and doesn't want to "take" the ball from her friends. I think she enjoys the social aspect of it more at this stage. Of course the part that Jamie and I love is the cold rainy EARLY mornings that we drag the whole family out of bed to stand and watch. And there is no bundling up with a hot coffee, blanket, and umbrella in that nice soft fold up chair that all the other parents have...oh no we have to chase around Jalen who thinks he can be part of the game too and runs onto the field every chance he gets or steals the balls from the boys playing next to us...or finds some big hill that he could roll down right into the busy parking lot. The joys of parenting! Go girls go!!

Everyday is Saturday!

Papa Bill celebrated his 86th birthday on September 11th...yet for him it wasn't too different than any other day...our favorite of his sayings is "everyday is Saturday"! We have been so blessed to have such a wonderful grandpa and for my kids "great" grandpa in our life! He has the most positive upbeat attitude and when you are around him you can't help but to have a good day! We love everything from shoe shopping (yes he braves it and takes all 5 of his great grandkids!) and of course Lacey and I still get shoes as well...it's a tradition that started when we were two so there's no stopping it now...to family breakfast on Sunday's at Cooperstown. We all got together for dinner to celebrate his birthday and managed to get everyone together for a picture...that doesn't happen often with the kids running in every different direction! We look forward to another good year and many more "saturday's"!

First day of school

The school year is officially underway...right at the perfect time...when you think you can't take another day! Whoever called it the "lazy days of summer" obviously does not have three kids! This was a big year for the girls since they were starting a new school. We went to the preview day at Stafford the week before school started and Ellie was pumped but Lily not so much. We got in the car afterwards and she said she would go back on Tuesday but only to get all the school supplies she left there because she was NOT going to that school. Of course we explained that is not her decision to make and YES she was going there and she would love it! So with a bit of coaxing on the first day she walked into that room like a big girl and came leaping off the school bus that afternoon happy as could be...she did in fact LOVE it! Her teachers name is Miss Addie which she thinks is pretty cool since that is her cousins name and she has made some good friends who also play on her soccer team. Ellie already knew 3 girls in her class from playing softball with them so she felt comfortable right away. The morning are not easy...they have to be at school at 7:40 so the alarm goes off at 6:15 and every morning it is a fight to get them out of bed...but hey I guess it's payback because I remember doing the exact same thing to my mom! I can only hope that the rest of the year goes as well as the first couple of weeks...we are off the a great start!