Happy Thanksgiving 2015!

 Sam and the Pikes came for Thanksgiving. It is always so good to have family during this holiday. Makes me even more grateful for my family. I did the turkey for the first time this year. Jason and Sam were hunting yesterday so Jason shared the honor with me :) I made a pecan pie from pecans from our tree. It is the best pecan pie I have ever had, so good! We also cut up Bert the enormous sweet potato. Only 1/3 of it would fit in the pan to cook for dinner! We had green beans and pickles also home made.

It was warm today, in the 60's. The boys all had shorts on playing outside. It is still a bit crazy to me to have weather this warm during the holidays. Our Hardy Bowl was the best ever. We played Sam and the Pikes vs. the Hardys. Molly was barking and running around and getting in everyone's way. We laughed and laughed, and huffed and puffed after all that turkey.

Tal wanted the drumstick....funny boy!

I am grateful today. I am blessed. So much love and beauty in my life. 

We have baby bunnies! Friday before school Grace came running in saying that she thought Jessie was pregnant. Very exciting. That afternoon we opened up the cage to help her get ready. When I tried to pick up the nest of fur Jessie had made it started wiggling! It was kind of freaky. We saw 2 babies and the girls were soooo excited! Quinn was quickly banished to a separate cage all on his lonesome.I guess we know that we have a boy and girl bunny now. The next day we counted and there were actually 6 baby bunnies! There is a runt, he, not sure why we call the weak little one he? seems to be doing ok though. The babies are tiny and ugly and the girls have been having sooooo much fun taking care of them. They are learning a ton. I do wonder though how my kids would learn anything if they did not have internet.

 
Our teenage chickens are learning to forage in the yard. Several of tehm were roosting on the fence this afternoon. It was cute. Pics don't do justice! Abby and Grace starting shelling pecans tonight for our Thanksgiving pie. All was fun and games until they found a worm. The area was quickly evacuated, both by the worm and the workers.

Sophie used her own money to by a blue lobster today. She as been thinking of it for 2 weeks and was super excited. I think it will eat the guppies in the tank, but the girls are going to take their chances. It is really just a crawdad. Not sure why they call it a lobster? Probably so they can charge more for it.

I was given this tonight rolled up in a scroll. I agreed on the condition that all jobs would be done quickly, well and with no complaining. Of course then Luke said he didn't really care if Abby stayed or not. He still had to work though.

Sophie and Jason were working together on the piano and guitar this week after dinner. It made me happy to listen to them playing and singing together. Sophie has been teaching herself Don't Stop Believing, Jason joined in and they were figuring out the guitar chords. 

 

Sophie is holding Bert. We also have a Bertha that is almost as big. I know the picture looks like an optical illusion, but the sweet potato really is that big! Sophie didn't want to get her shirt dirty by putting it closer to her chest. I am not sure how but we grew some monster sweet potatoes in our garden! Just looking at this makes me smile. I also Huck Finned the girls this Friday. We invited friends over to help us pick pecans and it worked like a charm! It is fun to work when your friends are there loving it. Abby and Caroline had a blast climbing the tree and ladder. We are excited to get pecans this year! Last year we did not have any at all, we think it was too dry in August and they all dried up and fell off before maturing. We did not get a ton this year, but enough to make pies at Thanksgiving and Christmas. So fun!  I have been able to begin running trails this fall. Short distances and very slowly, but it still makes my heart sing!

 

Luke and Noah both made A Honor Roll at their school for 1st quarter. 3rd grade is when letter grades begin in our district. They were both so excited and proud. My awesome boys!

 

Grace wanted me to be sure to include her picture of Grumpy Cat. Or maybe it was a picture of how mom looks on Monday mornings?

At Long Last

Sophie has been working since February to save money for the Taylor Swift concert. She has wanted to go since she was 7. Of course Jason was out of town, so Grace and the boys had a popcorn and movie party at home. Grace called a bunch of time, I only was able to answer twice. It was way too loud to hear the phone ring.

Sophie made a crazy costume to try to get picked to go to the Loft after the show. Taylor Swift employees go around during the concert and invite about 30 people randomly. She spent hours and days getting glitter ALL over our house crafting her costume and poster. It is 2 weeks after the concert today and there is still glitter in random places. She did get her picture on Taylor's official website the next morning which was really fun. The larger then life cutouts of her pet cats were so awesome, seriously.

Sophie's costume said Taco 'Bout Awesome, 1989! The back said Swiftie for life. We had nosebleed seats, but it was still really fun. Sophie did not sit down at all the whole time. Fun time.

Utah Trip for Jen

 Could these girl's be any cuter? I was able to visit Lindsey and her family for a few days before Millie's blessing. It was fun to spend time with all the Fairbanks, but especially the girls as I had them all to myself. Millie is super sweet. So mellow, which is good as the 4th. Georgia in her Minnion jammies made me laugh and Sadie wanting to document the awesome donut her Auntie Jen got it. Originally she was going to wait to eat it until Olivia saw it, but figured a picture would work just as well. O also got a flower donut.

 Day of the blessing. Polly, Kate, Linds, Heather and I 

Hiking with Heather, Keenyn and Briella at Timp

Happy Hardy Halloween 2015

 Dementor, Ghoul, Harry Potter II, Taco

 Luke and Noah and their buddy Olivia dressed as Harry, Hermione and a Dementor. It was super cute. We Trunk or Treated Friday night and Trick or Treated Sat night together.

This just makes me laugh. Soph told Grace to eat her.

September Beach Trip

Instead of an Anniversary trip to the beach this year we went as a family. It was fun. And crazy. And rained most of the time we were there. Unfortunately we were in the middle of a tropical storm on the Atlantic, but it was still warm enough to play and have fun. I rented us a condo right on the edge of Kure Beach, before the state park at Fort Fisher. I was all happy to have gotten a great deal on a beach front place...there really was no beach. It was all eroded and was mostly sandbags. It freaked the kids out a little that high tide at night was basically waves crashing under our building. The condo was old and dirty. But we were at the beach! 

19 years Sept. 25!

                   Jason, Luke and Grace took a class on surf fishing at the aquarium. They learned how to cast, equipment etc. and then fished for 2 hours and caught nothing. Not even a bite. I guess the wind was blowing the wrong way the teacher said, she didn't expect anyone to catch anything that day. But it was cool to learn and know next time we go to the beach we will drive down on the State Park beach to solitude and Jason can fish while we play.

Having the beach all to ourselves was amazing. We drove down a few miles after getting a permit. There were a few people fishing, other then that, miles of beach to ourselves. The sun came out for the hour we spent here on Sunday morning. I had forgotten how beautiful it is. 

 Sophie and Noah and I found the best donuts ever while the others were fishing. Really. This place was fabulous. We went back as a family the next day. While driving on the beach we let the kids sit in the back of the Suburban, they were dragging their toes and feet making patterns in the sand. Laughing and having fun. It was a nice change from the fighting.

Grace's best pic from the trip. I love the colors in this!