Thanksgiving 2011

We had a great Thanksgiving going home to Houston. It was our first Thanksgiving there in 4 years! Great food, awesome Texas football game, fun Black Friday shopping, and so much to be thankful for!!! Here are just some of the photos taken during our holiday break:

Bath time at my mom's house can be pretty fun - Drake loves to splash as you can see.

Watering plants is also fun at my mom's house, especially with a little girl that eventually strips down to nothing!

Drew and my mom making the cherry pie...

...and the fruit salad - Drew was pretty proud of himself!

David at the kids' table for Thanksgiving keeping them entertained until the food was ready!

David volunteered to carve the turkey this year and did a great job!

My dad with the kiddos

Me and David on Thanksgiving day

Uncle Lars and Drake

After all the festivities, we drove through the north side of Houston to see David's grandmother. The kids call her "Gigi" because Drew could never say 'grandma,' and she always has yummy chocolate milk in the fridge for them. It is nice for the kids to see their great-grandmother. Drake was meeting Gigi for the first time and he's a year old!

Thanksgiving Feast

Drew had a choice to dress up as a Pilgrim or a Native American for his Thanksgiving Feast at school. He chose to be a Pilgrim and we made his costume for the occasion. The costume included making his hat, cuffs and bib, making belt buckles for his shoes and Drew wearing all black with long white socks. We put it all together and it turned out great! The only thing was that I told Drew to turn his shirt inside out so his clothes were all black when it was time to get dressed. But he didn't want to and ended up kind of being a skeleton pilgrim! :)

Dilan and I attended Drew's feast and we were the only family there besides the two class moms. The teacher even made a comment to me about it. She said that when her children were young (they are both teenagers now), there were only a few kids without parents at school functions. Now there are only a few kids with parents actually there. I felt very fortunate that I could be there for Drew and enjoy his 1st grade Thanksgiving feast!

My Pilgrim

Dilan was a guest who also got served a meal

Drew's official Pilgrim outfit

Drew and me at the feast

Dilan and Drew, the pilgrim.

Drew's School Fun Run

Drew's school did a Fun Run* as a fundraiser this year, and Drew was so excited to participate. We emphasized him running because it is fun, good exercise, and a great experience to set a goal and accomplish it. If you know Drew, he loves to run! In this Fun Run, the kids could run up to 36 laps (2.25 miles) in 30 minutes, and Drew finished well before the time was up. He was so excited - the kid never slowed down, kept a steady pace, and when all the other kids were walking, he was running his heart out. All in all, it was a very fun time, and I was so proud of him!

Drew and me after the race was over

Drew before the race began

On the back of his t-shirt, there were 36 numbers and you had to stop and get a mark every time you finished a lap.

Drew running his heart out

Drinking some water and running at the same time

Go Drew!

After his 36th lap!

Drew and his friend/neighbor, Belle

*Side note about the fundraiser: I did not agree with the spirit behind this fundraiser. I do not like the idea of begging people for money per lap, getting prizes depending on how much you raised as it's a materialistic motivator, getting those prizes even before you run the laps so it promoted you doing nothing but asking for $ to earn the prize, and finally those prizes being handed out in front of other kids in your class so everyone would know how much you did or did not raise. Not to mention that a first grader thinks he has to run 40 laps to get the ultimate prize, an Ipod, and does not understand that he actually has to raise $40/lap, which computes to over $1000 for the Ipod.

I've been at odds whether to let the school know how I feel because it was a lot of fun for the kids, but I think it can be done in a better way. We had some tears and major disappointment at our house because I did not let Drew ask people for money (pledge so much money per lap he ran) so he could get some cheap toy - instead I told him how proud of him we would be if he set a goal for how many laps he could run and he then achieved them. You should have seen his face when he completed all of his laps. It was not because of some ridiculous toy but because he truly accomplished something for himself.

Josh's Graduation (5 months later)

So, what happens when you finally download the pictures on your smaller camera that you never use? You find pictures from your nephew's graduation that your husband took! It was great to see the pictures of the special event that David was able to attend in Utah with his family (I stayed home with the kids). Josh is our oldest nephew and he graduated from high school back in June. He also earned his Eagle Scout award, and we are so proud of him! Pretty soon in the next few months, we will be hearing where he is off to serve his mission. :)

David, two of his sisters, and David's mom

David and his oldest nephew, Joshua, on his graduation day.

Halloween 2011

For Halloween night, we went to a friend's house in our ward to trick or treat in their neighborhood with a few other families. David dressed up as a pirate (His group at SWA chose to dress as pirates this year), I dressed as a strawberry in for Strawberry Shortcake's (Dilan) strawberry patch, and of course, we had our big Thomas the train (Drew) and our little Thomas (Drake). The kids loved going trick or treating with their friends and Drew was so fast that Dilan chose to take her time, hang back with Dad, and hit each house methodically. It was a great Halloween, lots of candy, lots of fun, and staying up way too late. Still my favorite part of Halloween is hearing my sweet kids say "thank you" enthusiastically when they get candy from people. And I'm glad David and I chose to dress up this year - the kids really liked it.

My little Thomas the train (the hat didn't make the pictures)

My beautiful Strawberry Shortcake

Dilan loved the hat with this costume!

Strawberry and Little Thomas

Strawberry Shortcake, big Thomas and little Thomas

My big Thomas the train - he has worn this costume since he was 3

Little Thomas and Pirate Daddy

Drew and his 1st grade teacher, Mrs. Baker

Let the trick or treating begin!

"thank you..."

Dilan taking her time with Daddy and Drake

Drake just relaxed in the stroller

Drew excited about the candy

Waiting for the person to open the door

Entering a "haunted house" in someone's garage

Strawberry Shortcake and Strawberry

and finally, some creepy mask guy that Dilan didn't even freak out about. She just got her candy, said, "Thank you," and moved on.