Candy Land fun!

Do you remember when it was fun to play games as a family? Cooper needed an activity to practice his colors, so we decided for family night to play "CandyLand." Cooper was in charge of telling us the colors of the squares and how many. He would get so excited when one of the "candy" cards came up. At first, Logan thought every card was blue, two blue. Then he would repeat the color after Cooper. It was alot of fun for about 8 minutes. Then Cooper got bored, and would only come back to the table after every other turn. Thankfully it was a quick game, but I think we'll continue to repeat this one to help with his color recognition.

Our Charlie Brown Christmas Tree!

When James and I were first married my mom gave us this little tree, for our even smaller apartment. I let my wonderful mother-in-law use it after we got our big tree. (I prefer artifical to real). Last year I didn't want to put up a Christmas tree. Logan was crawling and I was going to through a claustrophobic stage with our apartment. It would have cluttered our living room. The thought of having it in our apartment again this year, made me cringe. No, I'm not a Grinch, I just don't have any room. So this year my mother said, "You have two little boys, you need a tree." Fortunately, Grama Nina still had this one and let me have it back. It's the right size and it already has lights on! Today, mom asked me if I put up our tree. I responded by saying,

"Yup, it's sitting on my dining room table."

I had forgotton the joys of a tree. Especially to children. The minute I put the tree on the table and plugged it in, Logan's little eyes lit up, and Cooper was beaming ear to ear. I wasn't able to take any pictures of the decorating, but Cooper and Logan were my big helpers and they did an awesome job.

When James came home from hunting he was thrilled to see a Christmas tree for the first time in 2 years.

ABC's of Thanksgiving

America. Autumn.

Brother. Blogs. Bed time.

Cooper. Candy.

Dad. Daisies.

Earth. Electricity. Everyone!

Family. Friends. Faith.

Grandparents. Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Health. Happieness. Home.

In-Laws. ICECREAM!!

James. Jokes. Jen. Julie.

Kids. Kindness of others. King size bed.

Logan. Laughter. Life. Love.

My Mommy. Music.Memories. Mashed potatoes.

Nieces.Nephews. Nap time.

Oppertunities.

Parents. Pre-School Teachers. President Monson.

Quiet.

Reality. Reflection.

Savior's Sacrifice. Sunshine. Sisters. Sleep.

Tulips. Temples.

Unity. Underwear. (o:

Van. Veterans.

Water, Wonder Woman. Websters.

xerophile. xerophilous

Yo-yo's ?
Zoos?

I got this idea from another blog, thought it would be appropriate for today.

To Mom & Dad

Happy Anniversary!

Thanksgiving Hat

Today was the last day of school before Thanksgiving break, and my little man displayed his new hat he made at school. I just love his brown eyes!

Happy Pilgram man.

Thanksgiving Crafting Week

The Twiddy Turkey.Tonight for Family Night we finished Cooper's Turkey that we started on Halloween. It was a group effort. Cooper provided his foot, and 2 sets of hands, Logan sat mostly still to provide 1 set of hands, I provided 1 set of hands, and James just one hand. He did do the hard work of tracing Logan's hands while I tried to keep them still, and he did lift Cooper up on the table so I could trace his foot. After that, it was mostly me cutting and putting it all together.

This year MacKenzie was our master crafter. Above, Mac's Rainbow Turkey's, and Below, her T.P. Roll Pilgram. She did most of this project on her own...

Last week Cooper brought home a featherless turkey. He didn't get a chance to finish it with his class, because he had to go to Speech Therapy. So, we had the chance to finish it at home. I knew storing feathers in my craft bag would come in handy one day.I asked Cooper's teacher if they any extra, so that MacKenzie could make one too.
She made sure that she had at least 1 feather of every color on her turkey.
Cooper brought home another unfinished turkey to trace and color.
Logan decided that he wanted to color it for him.

Finally, last but not least, a cornucopia from school. I can only appreciate the process this must have taken to get 15 kids to complete. We love the artwork Cooper brings home.

Thank you Cooper's wonderful teachers!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thankgiving Social...

Today we went to a Thanksgiving Potluck w/ Cooper's class @ school. We got to see the Turkey with all the family feathers on it. It was so cool. Cooper's feather is in the top right corner.

Below is a closer view.

We were also able to enjoy a yummy Thanksgiving lunch with all the trimmings. Here's a picture of all us mid-mouthfull.
Afterwards we had time to talk with the other parents, while the kids played with the toys.
LJ found the books and a little couch to sit and relax.
Cooper had fun with all the musical instruments...at one point, he was playing marching band with a few of his friends.
The Smith family used to have a tradition of the men doing the dishes after a holiday meal, I didn't have to ask Cooper, he just started doing them on his own...good boy!

We had lots of fun at this month's get together. Thank you, Ms.Deanna, Ms. Erin & Ms. Karlan.

Honoring our Veteran's...

To all our Veterans, this one's for you! Past & Present, Old and New,

Thank you for defending our RED, WHITE & BLUE!

Happy Veteran's Day!

LJ & JT

LJ was playing with the basket as usual, next thing I know Daddy was on the ground with him... Spinning him around and around and around...LJ was laughing and laughing and...

spinning and spinning...

until he got so dizzy that he slumped over. At which point JT would stop and...

help him try and stand up...

LJ was laughing the whole time, then once he got his bearings back...

"Again, Daddy!"

James only did it once more...Good Times!

Our Little Acrobat!!

Little man is out of control. For weeks now he's been bending over, head on the ground, bum in the air, we thought he was just playing around. However, he's been trying to copy his cousin, Mac! She likes to practice her gymnastics occasionally around the house. Well, today he's done it! LJ did his first somersault, then his second, then his third...laughing the whole time and so well pleased with himself. This is the only action shot I could get out of him. WTG LJ!!

Shoo fly....

The following is a short story as told by Ms. Deanna, Cooper's Pre-K teacher....

The preschoolers are singing "Shoo fly, don't bother me. Shoo fly, don't bother me, shoo fly, don't bother me. I'll tell you want I want to be." All the kids are motioning shooing the fly. Then the song continues "I crawl, I crawl, I crawl like a bear." All the preschoolers except Cooper get on the ground and start crawling around. Cooper is still standing, but now he is holding something very imaginary, but oh so very treasured to him. I asked him what he is holding. "The fly. I caught him." Cooper continued to proudly hold the fly until the song was over. When we started the next song, he wanted to put the fly in his pocket so it would be safe. We helped him open his pocket and carefully, I mean CAREFULLY, put the fly inside. All day I kept thinking what is Sunny going to think when Cooper gets home and carefully takes an imaginary fly out of his pocket.

Thank you Ms. Deanna! I did wonder why he was saying "shoo" to me...now I know.

Homework for Family night

Cooper brought home an assignment for our family to decorate a feather for a school project. At school they are discussing families, so we were supposed to decorate the feather with things that we do together and things that we like. The directions specifically said to get our preschooler involved as much as possible. Naturally, Cooper wasn't to into helping, but I did manage to get him to stick on some stickers and glue a picture or two on. The major theme of our feather was Cars, since Cooper still really likes them, and I found a picture of a shark to use. All of us as a family loved watching Shark Week on the Discovery Channel, especially Cooper. Logan had a picture of Thomas the Tank, I chose a sticker of Goofy, and James found a picture of some deer to use. I think I had more fun with this than anyone. Oh well.

Art Gallery

Cooper's Artwork from School... I'm guessing a farm theme..

...and yes those are the spiders from Halloween, I just can't bring myself to take them down.

Trick-Or-Treat!

Finally, after weeks of decorating and partying, the time has come to get the goods! Every year I get the boys dressed up and loaded into the van to do our trick-or-treating. This is a very involved and strategical process. You see, I drive the boys to Aunt Garnett and Uncle Dan's house.

This is always a treat, as Aunt Garnett spoils us with her famous sugar cookies and candy bars. My little monkey loves cookies!
Then it's back in the van towards Grampa Jim & Grama Nina's house across the valley and up the hill, through the woods. Grampa had lots of choices for us this year. Naturally my boys chose the chocolate bar and the cookie. Do we see a pattern here?

Logan and Cooper were such good sports, and it was much easier hauling them around this year, as my friend Kati came with me. So, over the river and through the woods, across the valley and up the hill to Grama Pam's house we went. We were supposed to go trick-or-treating with Lexie and Camyrn, but Aunty Tia had to work so they weren't at home.

This was Logan's first year trick-or-treating. It didn't take long for him to realize what was going on...he's a smart little monkey. At almost every house, we'd hear a "He's so cute!" as they opened the door. He would say trick-or-treat, they would give him some candy, then he'd look up at them and say "more please." You guessed it, 9 times out of 10 they'd give him more. And he'd say, "Tank you."

Cooper was a pro this year. He knew not to run into the street, and he stayed with Kati or myself the whole time. Of course, he was a big helper showing his little bro the ropes.

About half way through our adventure, Daddy showed up! He came home early from hunting just so he could be with the boys on Halloween. I was grateful for the chance to let him takeover.
Back at Grama Pam's house we posed for one last door picture. This is our very first family Halloween picture. And yes, I wore pigtails.

While visiting with Grama we had a little visit from a space monkey and a recital from a monkey pianist.Thank you everyone for all the treats and goodies! See you next year!