Thanksgiving--I am thankful for family

This was our year to spend Thanksgiving Day with my family the Jeppson's.  But we ended up having dinner at Dan and Brandee's house with the Wilson's and my Mom and Dad joined us there.  None of my siblings were in town this year for Thanksgiving.  Mom had knee replacement surgery just a few weeks before Thanksgiving and I didn't want to make Thanksgiving dinner just for that little group.  So Brandee generously invited us to join them.  Brandee is an amazing hostess.  First of all, Dan and Jack were gone to Mexico the week and day of Thanksgiving with Builders without Borders.  She works full-time and still managed to put on a BEAUTIFUL dinner.  It is obvious that Brandee loves Thanksgiving and loves to make the tables and her home so lovely and inviting.  Of course we all pitched in with different parts of the dinner, but Brandee orchestrated it all.  I loved having my parents there to share the day with them as well.  Brandee had assigned seating for all of us and they were seated with Russ and Linda, and Brandee's parents Kathy and Terry.  The kids spent most of the day playing.  They are finally old enough that I don't have to entertain them the whole time.  Brandee had some nice cards and invited us all to record a favorite Thanksgiving memory.  It was nice to hear some of those.  I'm not sure how it happened but everyone left and I still wanted to play games.  All Brandee's kids went with Kathy and Terry to spend the night there.  So we were able to spend some quality time with Brandee playing a game, visiting, and enjoying some dessert.

After dinner we grabbed Nikki to come outside into the frigid air and take some pictures of us.  It is so difficult to get a decent picture with little kids.  Also, I don't know why we didn't take any pictures of the dinner or others.

 A little editing and this pose could work.

I love Thanksgiving because it is a day that allows me to focus on and voice what I am grateful for.  I do feel gratitude each day for all the people that show me so much service in my life.  But I do think it is nice to have a day devoted specifically to being grateful.  I love my little family.  Eric and Rubie are the greatest blessings to me.  I feel blessed to have such good children with cute personalities.  They constantly delight me with the things they say and do.  I am so grateful to have a husband that loves me and our children so much.  He is a great provider and works so hard for us.  We are blessed with our situation.  We are blessed to live in such a beautiful area.  We have fantastic neighbors and so many friends in our life.  Thank you Heavenly Father for all these blessings.  All of these things come from thee.

Knuffle Bunny

A group from the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. brought their play, Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Tale, to Provo.  I really like the Knuffle Bunny children story books by Mo Williams, so we took Eric and Rubie.  This was Eric's 2nd play and Rubie's 1st.  The play was fantastic.  It was well written, the songs were fun, and the actors were very entertaining.  It was 50 minutes and the kids and Scott and I totally enjoyed it.

Preschool Pilgrims

Just before Thanksgiving preschool was at our house.  Our letter was "H".  So we made pilgrim hats.

The hats turned out pretty cute and the kids really liked them.

Hannah, Kambri, Rubie, Emily, Eric

A visit with Jessica, Jared, Chantel, Dolce and Gabana

The first part of November, Jessica, Jared, and Chantel and their dogs came for a visit.  Jessica came for a week and was able to be here shortly after Mom had knee surgery and Dad went on a business trip.  Jared and Chantel came a few days later to be here when Chantel's brother went on his mission.

We were all able to get together for dinner and a visit at Mom and Dad's house.

Eric and Rubie with Aunt Chantel and Dolce.

Jared, Chantel, Dolce, Gabe, Eric and Rubie.

With Aunt Jessica, who is always doing twerpy things.

Daddy's tired.

Eric imitating Scott.

Mom dishing up dessert.  She just had a knee replaced?

Grandpa Jeppson.

Eric saw the dogs scratching their ears with their hind legs.  "Hey, I can do that too."  he said.

I can even scratch my nose.

Jared, let's see if you can do it.

The snitch

One morning Scott was preparing bags of shredded sweet potatoes to put in the freezer to be used as hash browns.  He stepped away from where is was shredding for a few moments and Rubie swooped in.  She loves raw sweet potatoes and yams.  Whenever we are preparing them she wants to help so that she can eat some.

Pink Running Shoes

Since I did a post earlier about Rubie's run around the block and asking for pink running shoes, I thought I would show you her shoes.  Scott took her shopping one evening and she came home with the cutest pink and white puma's.  She loves them.  When I'm getting ready to go for a run she must put on her shoes.  Sometimes she insists on running with me.  Still 10-15 minutes is her run time, then she is ready to go home.

Who will Eric be today?

Eric loves to dress up.  You have already seen him in previous posts as a fire fighter with an authentic outfit.  You have seen him as a knight, as Buzz Lightyear, and as the Red Power Ranger.  Eric also asks me every day to make a costume for him.  Sometimes he is happy with the costumes, sometimes the costumes do not work out so well.  

Eric and Rubie as tigers.  Grrr!

Tigers must have striped tails.

I'm a jumping tiger.

Mom, I need to be a robot.

I want to be T-Rex with claws.  Eric came up with the idea of the little pieces of paper taped to his fingers and toes as claws.

I have also made Eric a mask that works as Batman, or Mr. Incredible.  He has an old T-shirt cut to be a cape that can go along with almost any super hero.  Right after we got home from seeing the movie "Alpha and Omega" he wanted a wolf costume.  I used a head band to put the ears and wolf mane on.  Eric also has an outfit that is his Diego outfit, and add a few items like a bandanna and hook (wire hanger and cup) and wallah, we have pirate Diego. I love his creative imagination.

Halloween Fun

We had a lot of fun with Halloween this year.  Eric and Rubie, like most kids, love to dress up and love candy.  What else is Halloween about?

We loved decorating pumpkins.  Instead of carving pumpkins we made Mr. Pumpkin Head pirate and Mr. Pumpkin Head skeleton.

Two goofy boys.

This type of decorating was a good way for the kids to be involved.

Eric was also able to draw some designs on his pumpkins.

Our porch was very decorated with pumpkins.  I made a really cool one with a glittery spider web and pearl drops.  Eric and Rubie even painted more pumpkins at a party with their friends.

The Little Gym hosted a very fun Halloween party.  Our friends Reid and Link were able to come.  Also, Fay and Kimball happened to be here and were able to come with us.

Little Bo Peep and Buzz Light Year.

There were lots of games that the kids could do to win candy.

Buzz found his best friend Woody.

The kids also just climb and jump and play.

Ready for take-off.  To infinity....

...and beyond!!

Are witches supposed to be so pretty.

Carlee came one day prepared to make sugar cookies Halloween style.  The kids loved decorating them.

...and tasting them.

These kids love to dress up.  To their neighborhood party tonight they went as Sleeping Beauty and the Red Power Ranger.

 On the night of the kids neighborhood party at the Kuhni's, Scott and I had our own party to go to.  We got Arianna Taylor to take the kids to their party and stay with them.  We participated in the 3rd annual Halloween Road Rally.  The theme this year was Alice in Wonderland.  The new Johnny Depp version.  People had AMAZING costumes of all the characters in the film.  Our team went as the card army.  I spent way too much time on our costumes.  People came up with much easier ways to become a card.  The cards in the movie are actually red, but everyone was a white playing card.  Anyway, the event was so well-done and very fun.  We went all over Orem and Provo chasing the clues and performing a challenge from the movie at each clue.  Our team started out in the lead but got caught up on one simple clue that we just couldn't get.  We put in a good effort but didn't come out in first.  Though Dan really wanted the win, I didn't because the prize for the winners is being in charge of the event the next year.  At the end our group went to Good Wood for some good food and then over to Stephanie and Brady's to socialize.

We also were able to celebrate Lloyd's birthday.  We invited their friend Albert.  We had a nice dinner with cake and ice-cream.  All enjoyed the celebration.

 Besides participating in all these activities we also attended a MarketStar company party at the Fairgrounds in Farmington.  We took a Buzz and Little Bo Peep to that party.  We also were able to stop and visit Grandma Jeppson who had just had her knee replaced.  She was happy to see her little characters and their parents.  We also attended Scott's office Halloween party.  They really go all out and make it a great event for the families of the employees.  The kids got lots of candy.  We took a Sleeping Beauty and a Red Power Ranger to that party.  The day before Halloween, Little Bo Peep and Buzz Lightyear, attended the ward Halloween party.  It actually turned out to be a 3 ward event, trunk-or-treat and dinner.  But it poured rain and so the event was moved inside.  It was super crowded.  Though those in charge did the best they could with organization, it wasn't real trick-or-treating.  The kids took one step, stood in front of someone in a chair with a bowl of candy, got some candy, moved to the next chair, one step away, got more candy, and on and on, snaking around the gym multiple times.  By half way through my kids were done.  They had more than enough candy anyways.  So we sat and finished handing out our candy and went one home.