Trevor's Thanksgiving Turkey

The turkey was made using pastels and water. Trevor was so excited to tell me about the process. I love the bright colors! Attached to the turkey was the "I am thankful:" list. I love his creative spelling!

I'm Thankful for Happy Children

For some reason, the kids love to pile into this green chair that is over 30 years old. Trevor and Tyson, from the time they were little, have always loved being in this chair together. The other day they were sitting in it and said, "Mom. This is a cute picture. Get the camera!" I came around the corner to see Trevor and Tyson sitting there being nice to each other. I remembered a picture of them in that same chair 4 years earlier so ran for the camera. When I got back, BriAnn was part of the picture, too. (She lives in her pjs these days, by her choice.) They wanted her to be part too so there they are. A moment of sharing, love, happiness and kindness captured on camera. We live for those!

Puget Sound Symphony Orchestra

Jason and I are now season ticket holders to the Puget Sound Symphony Orchestra where Alison, Adam and Emily are musicians. We really enjoy going to the concerts!

Kid Sayings:

"Thanks" - BriAnn

"Do you know what my favorite thing about the rain is? You can drink it!" -Tyson

"Mrs. Gary is the best principal ever. In fact, I think she is one of my best friends!"

-Trevor

Stake Baptisms and a Bazaar

November 7th was the first Stake Baptisms I was in charge of coordinating. It was also the first Stake Baptism with 5 children from 5 different wards getting baptized on the same day in over 3 years. Keeping everyone reverent and the flow moving was a bit challenging, but it all went ok. Glad to have the first one done!

Saturday was also my first and only Bazaar for the 2009 Holiday season. I'm a bit sad, but reality is, there just isn't time to do more! My sales for Saturday were $157 so I am happy. As Jason and I discussed, I am making just enough to support my hobby. It has also paid for 10+ baby gifts this year.

I will continue sewing for my etsy shop (kristiannskozies.etsy.com) and I have a few follow-up calls to make. People wanted gender-specific Kozies so are waiting to find out what they are having. In preparation, I purchased a bunch more fleece and am in love with it all. I am adding ones for the Huskies, Mariners and Seahawks. I've also added some Debbie Mum fleece (didn't even know it existed until this week and I love Debbie Mum!!!). I'll post some pictures as I get more done and have live models that are willing and ready for a photo shoot.

Tyson's Birthday

Pin the Rank on the Soldier

BriAnn, Trevor, Luke, Daisy, Emma, Trevor, Addie, Jordan

Doing P.T.-Physical Training
At the end of the Land Navigation Course
Shawn, Olivia, Addie, Emma, Luke, Trevor, Daisy, Tyson, BriAnn, Jordan

Singing Happy Birthday to the birthday boy

For some reason, they all wanted to salute the cake.

Tyson invited 5 friends to his birthday party (one for each year of age he is) and we had some extra helpers, as well. Physical Training consisted of jumping jacks (Side Straddle Hops in army lingo), windmills, push ups, sit ups, running in place and a couple other items. BriAnn got quite involved in everything, as well and was absolutely adorable. The land navigation course included handing out Oriental Trading compases and helmets along with home made maps of our house with numbers in certain locations. They had to follow the map to find the numbers where a treat was located to put in their goodie bags. It was a lot of fun and I think a big success. The newest saying around our house: "Attention! Exercise!"

Halloween

Prep work before carving pumpkins

The actual carving of them.
The finished product

All dressed up for Trunk-or-Treat at the Church

At the Church after getting the loot and some hot cocoa or spiced cider

Notice Trevor is always standing at attention in the pics. That was part of his costume, so he said. Halloween morning started with Trevor being a scarecrow and Tyson being the army man. As the day wore on, they changed their minds several times and this is what the final decision was: Trevor the army guy and Tyson the frog. He has been the frog several years in a row and it was about 4 inches too short and a bit snug in the back, but he decided he just had to wear it one more year.

Cute Stuff

You can't really tell from the pic, but this is BriAnn asleep in her closet. I heard her banging around in her room when she was suppose to be taking a nap. When it was time to pick Trevor up from school, I opened her door carefully as she is usually asleep right in front of it. She wasn't there. She wasn't on her bed. The closet door was closed so I slowly opened it and this is what I found.

The other day we were coming home from picking up the day-old bread and were stopped at a light. There was a homeless man standing there so I reached into the baskets of bread and handed him a loaf. He was grateful! I couldn't help but let tears of gratitude fall as I realized just how blessed we are. We have a warm home to keep us dry from the rain. We have food, clothing, each other, love, a job...the blessings are endless. The kids picked up on the tears and asked what was wrong. So, I explained to them. Tyson's response was: "But mommy, he can come live with us." We read Matthew 25:40 "If ye have done it unto the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me" for family night that night and talked about helping and serving others. It was one of the best family nights we have had in a long time. The kids were actually listening and Jason was playing an active role as mediator between the kids instead of instigator. Tyson also kept calling the homeless man the "hopeless man". May we never lose hope in these times of trials!

SPEEA day at the Museum of Flight

We took the kids to SPEEA day at the Museum of Flight. Jason and I decided it would be much more fun if we went on a date without kids. They wanted to go as fast as they could through the museum. We would get to a part that we wanted to read and actually learn new facts and the kids would say, "We are tired of waiting. This is boring." So, thankfully we didn't pay to get in but we did enjoy the outing out.