~Thanksgiving~

I love our Thanksgiving day tradition.  We go to Thanksgiving lunch (switching off between my family and Dave's family), then we go see a movie (this year we saw Frozen), and then our family's Elf, Fred, comes to stay with us for the holidays.  It is such a fun day being with what I'm most thankful for, family.

Every Thanksgiving evening, Fred comes with presents for the whole family.  This year he brought egg nog, candy canes, Reeses Peanut Butter trees, chocolates, and our Christmas pajamas.

Garrett was not interested at all in opening a present, or getting pictures taken for that matter.  All he wanted was a Reeses Peanut Butter tree, lol.

I wanted to get a cute picture of the kids in their pj's, but Garrett was not cooperating.

 

Dave has had a very stressful Thanksgiving.  In fact, I was shocked to see him come out after awhile to see what Fred had brought the family.  He has been dealing with hackers to the company websites for the last 3 or so weeks.  He has worked morning and night, weekends, and yes holidays, trying to fix what they did, and keep them from getting back in.  I wanted to get a family picture, but by the time Dave came out, Garrett was already in bed.  I'm just glad he was able to take a break :)

So it's officially Christmastime.  The lights are on, Fred is back, and the Christmas tree is up.  I love this time of year!

~He's Growing Up~

Dave has been so busy with work and with church stuff lately, that Hunter has had to step up and start taking care of things that Dave would normally do.  When we had our first snow storm, Hunter had to go out and shovel the driveway and sidewalks.  I think this was a first for Hunter. To shovel without Dave or I out there telling him what to do.  He did a pretty good job.  I just can't believe he is old enough to shovel the driveway.  It actually was kind of nice, cause I didn't have to do it, lol.  I guess there are perks to having your kids get older.

~Believe, Dream, Inspire~

Mckell's 3-D Art for reflections went onto council level to be judged.  She was so excited and surprised to hear her name called at the Reflections assembly at school.  Way to Go Mckell!

Mckell with her project.  She used Salt Dough and paint as her medium.  How she tied it into the Reflections theme was: "I Believe the world can be a better place.  My Dream is everyone will be kind.  By doing nice things for others, I'll Inspire others to be kind too.
Mckell has participated in Relections 2 different times, and both times her artwork was chosen to move on to council level.  She was one of five kids whose art was chosen out of 20 others in the 3-D category to move on to council level.  Way to go Mckell!

~Hunter's Arrow of Light~

Hunter just earned his Arrow of Light in the scouting program.  I am kind of sad that he will only have 1 more pack meeting and then he moves out of cub scouts.  Where has the time gone?  He is growing up way to fast!

His Grandpa Wangsgard was able to come and present his arrow to him.  His arrow was hand made by a man in our ward building, named Norm Higgs.  He had carved/made each piece, even down to the arrow.  So cool!

I LOVE that he is not embarrassed to give his mom a hug.

Hunter with his Weblos leaders.  He has been lucky to have such great leaders over the years.  The cub scouting program has taught Hunter so many things.  From learning how to cook a meal, to shooting a gun and an arrow.  He has really had fun in scouts.

~Happy Halloween~

It was 1 year ago today, that we were moving into our new house, which made Halloween last year crazy!  It was nice to be able to relax and enjoy Halloween this year.  The kids had a ball!  Halloween started off with the school parade.

Hunter was a baby.

Mckell was a witch.

Garrett, Melyn, and Lexi.  Garrett was an alligator and Lexi was a witch.
After the school Halloween parade, Mckell had her 3rd grade program.  Her part for the program was a witch, which made choosing her costume this year easy :).  She did such a good job!  And it was fun to have her Grandma and Grandpa Wangsgard and her Grandma Ropelato there to see her program.

Lexi all dressed up for her Halloween party at preschool.

It was a fun party!  They decorated cookies, played games, heard stories, and made a cute mummy craft.

Garrett just wanted to play with the cars.

I didn't get a picture of all the kids together before they headed out Trick or Treating, because Hunter went home with a friend after school and got home right as everyone was ready to head out.

I was surprised to see Hunter come downstairs dressed in his suit to head out Trick or Treating.  I asked him why he wasn't dressed as a baby and he told me that he was being James Bond.  Lol, so this Halloween he was Rocky, a baby, then James Bond.  This kid can't make up his mind when it comes to Halloween costumes :)

Davis, Hunter, and Calvin

All ready to go trick or treating.

Garrett only made it to a few houses, but he was fine with that. He was more than happy with just one piece of candy.

As you can see, it was a very successful Halloween!