Family Traditions!!

Thanksgiving 2011!!

What a fun week of family traditions and the beginning of the Holiday season. This time of year is my absolute favorite. I catch a lot of grief for enjoying this time of year so much. The thing is I really enjoy spending time with the people I love and this time of year more than any we get extra time to enjoy family and friends. This is the reason I enjoy it so much. Christmas always makes me feel like a kid again. The 'spirit' of Christmas is so full of joy and laughter but most of all LOVE, and I love love!!

Our Thanksgiving celebration started off with Jase's Thanksgiving Day feast at his school.

Thanksgiving Day was hosted at my house which I enjoyed very much. This year was special to me because my brother, the oldest of us 5, joined us with his wife and 3 kids. I hadn't seen him in 5 years so it was really nice to have him and his family.

Jenny, my sister in law and Mommy to be!!

My brother Albert, dad, and oldest brother Victor.

Paul, my father in law, and of course Jase!

My sweet girl Chloe wanted to join in for the picture.

Jase and my nephew Austin

Andrew carving the Turkey. It was delish thanks to AllRecipes.

Ahhh. My adorable husband! What a handsome man!!

Our traditions continue on....

The Saturday after Thanksgiving every year we road trip to Trimble MO to a farm called Reindeer Lane. Its always a fun time and just about every time we get lost. I thought that since we now have a navigation system in our vehicle that it would prevent us from getting lost.....i was wrong....well we weren't completely lost the navigation just had us turned around. We had a fun time despite the freezing wind chill. We found the perfect tree after about the 20th "oh this is it" and then realizing its imperfections. So Andrew and his father cut it down and off to see Santa we went. Inside Santa awaits with hot chocolate and popcorn. Joel wasn't too keen of Santa but we still enjoyed it. After getting pics taken we took a carriage ride around the farm which Jase and Joel had the honors in riding up front which they truley enjoyed.

Finally, the weekend ended by taking a trip to Crown Center. Joel enjoyed squeezing inside the little house. It was a fun time seeing the trains and neat toy store.

That evening the boys and I decorated the tree and I have a feeling I will be decorating it all season long with Joel taking the ornaments off. Ha.

It was a fun week and Im really excited to that the Christmas Season has began!

Halloween 2011!!

Every year we have a Halloween party. In the past it was during the day for all Jases' friends aka my friends and their kiddos but the last 2 years we have done it on Halloween night which has turned out pretty well. We have lived in our house almost 4 years and do not know most of our neighbors we decided to invite the entire neighborhood as well. We had a great turnout and met some fabulous new friends. We had TONS and food, candy, and treats and the Chiefs won as well so it was a GREAT night. Jase was a Bakugan for the 2nd year in a row and Joel was a doggy. I was surprised that Joel allowed me to even paint his face. He loved trick or treating for the first time, which for him meant running and scream up and down the neighborhood with the older kiddos.

We were having so much fun at the party I didn't even get a chance to take any pics which I'm very sad about cause there were some cute costumes. I did happen to capture a few of the boys before the party started.....

Finally....time to blog!

Fall....I'm not going to say its my favorite time of year because every time the seasons change I say its my favorite season. What fall means to "us"....Carolyn's Pumpkin Patch, caramel apples, crisp evening walks, beautiful trees, and Halloween! This past weekend we made our annual trip to Carolyn's Pumpkin Patch in Liberty, MO. Jase and Joel had a blast! Here are a few of the days event.....

After our day at the pumpkin patch we joined our family for a birthday party where Andrew took Jase on his first ride on a motorcycle and Joel learned to swing on a big boy swing. We had fun celebrating Andrew's little sister Emily's 14 birthday.

Hopefully it wont be that long till my next post.