Thanksgiving

We had the Mattox family for dinner. Watched the parade on live camera on the computer. Put the tree up after dinner. Pie party the night before was a huge success...about 55 guests this year. Got some Black Friday deals on everyone's new sleeping bag for Christmas.

Both boys had Thanksgiving parties with their classes. And Matthias, Hannah, and I made a Thanksgiving feast with Legos...Harry Potter, Voldemort, Qui Gon Jinn, Hagrid, Kai, skeletons and more were all in attendance.

Pumpkin Pie Time!

It's about 80 out, slight breeze, leaves blowing and we just finished gutting our pumpkins to bake for pie. And pumpkin power bars. And probably cookies. Mmm. I love fall. It's a beautiful thing.

Pedernales Falls

We went camping this past week and it was so lovely. I have really been needing a quick get away to relax and recharge. We had so much fun spending a couple days as a family...exploring, walking, hiking, throwing rocks, laughing, just being together without any distractions. No computers, no housework, no paper for the boys to draw endlessly and ignore the rest of the world. =] It was super fun.

We did 4 different hikes, learned to skip rocks. We also saw deer, a raccoon (in a trap), cardinals, lots of other birds, tons of fish, a turtle, a crocodile (a piece of drift wood the boys thought was a crocodile).

Lucky for us we picked the coldest night we've had since February, there was water frozen when we woke up in the morning so it was really cold. All the other nights in the past week have been between 45-60 for the low so we really got the coldest night by far. But we borrowed some mummy bags for the boys and we all crammed in the 3 man tent with about 9 quilts, 4 sleeping bags, and 4 mats so everyone seemed to stay pretty warm except Taylor. I was super toasty with my beanie and snuggled in the middle.

We all had at least 4 layers and the first few hours we were awake it was really chilly. We went to bed at 8:00 because it was dark and cold and we still have a fire ban. Didn't get out of the tent until 8 am so we missed most of the coldness bundled in bed. By noon it was getting pretty toasty and we were all in short sleeves by the time we left for home at 4.

Love camping...the kids enjoy it so much, and I find it so peaceful and relaxing.

Colder Weather

calls for warmer clothing. we freeze at 70 here.

Halloween

We were invited to 4 parties, attended just 2, plus Matthias' school party, made cookies, pumpkin bread bowls, minimal candy consumption.

Applesauce

Bought a case of apples and made some yummy sauce.

Best Friends

Yesterday I was telling everyone we were having quiet time (we just banned Hannah from napping because it has been really hard for her to fall asleep both during the day and at night). I said, "Hannah you need to go in your room and play kitchen or read a book, I'm going in my room to read (I really ended up sewing)."

At this point James looked at me on the verge of tears, he had a hard time keeping his voice steady and said, "You cannot separate me and Matt. We can't be apart."

So they had quiet time together. Like they do most of the time. I love that my boys are best friends.