Thanksgiving

This year we had a nice and mellow Thanksgiving at Arlene and Hal's with Memere.  We ate like kings! The kids loved the relish tray...heck, I loved the relish tray!!  Here they are carrying on the tradition of olives on the fingers!

Memere and the sweet Sadie Jo. Crazy that last year at this time she was a week old! Now she is walking and talking!

Julie spends most of her free time these days hula hooping.  Even on Thanksgiving!  Here she is showing off her mad skill by doing 2 hoops at once. 

Sadie barely fit into this dress, but I was so happy she did! Julie wore this dress for Thanksgiving 5 years ago. Lauren wore it for Thanksgiving last year. I love that our girls have all had a special holiday in it! And it's still in pretty good shape in case any other little princesses want to wear it.

Thank you so much Arlene and Hal for having us. It was great having some time with you and Memere. And we got to see Jordan and Mariah for a bit after dinner. It was nice of them to come all the way over just to say hi. 

We missed Grammy and PopPop this year, they are visiting friends in Colorado. And of course, Grandpa Mel was never far from our minds. Thanksgiving was always a holiday we spent with him, so this year was tough. But with each year that passes, we hope the happy memories out weigh the sting of our loss.

With a great Thanksgiving behind us, the Christmas lights are up and we are singing Christmas songs and hanging stockings! Love the holidays and with each year, the kids get more into it and it becomes even more fun!

Sadie's 1st!

Well, it happened, my baby girl turned one! I know, I can't even believe it. But, just like Julie and Andy, I can't even remember what it was like without her.

She woke up happy just like always and all of a sudden seemed bigger! I walked in and she said, "Momma!"  then as I walked to her crib she said, "down, down"  Uh, I love hearing her little voice but hate how big she is! And just an hour or so before her party, she learned to blow kisses!  It is the most adorable thing and she loved showing off to all her guests.

We were pretty ready for her party, thanks to the help of great friends and family! The house was clean and decorated with streamers and the paper chains from Sadie's baby shower, the cupcakes and cakes were baked and frosted.  We were ready to party!!  Even though it rained all day and this was the first party we have ever held that was all indoors, it was a blast!

And here she is! The birthday princess!!!  She also learned to climb on the furniture in the last week or so and of course my chair is her favorite place to be....little stinker.

It was an owl theme, so here are the cute cupcakes.

And of course Sadie got her own cake to dig into.

Then the party guests started to arrive.  I walked into the room while Lina, Audrey and Julie were playing. They all turned and smiled as soon as they saw my camera.  A bunch of little hams....

Andy loves his Auntie Kay and Uncle Monster! He is a snuggler!

Here's the birthday girl waiting for some cake!

She was just a little confused as to why everyone was singing.  But she clapped for us anyway when we were done.

"Ummm, Dad, what am I supposed to do with that??"

"Oh, I get it now!!"

Yeah, she enjoyed that! She didn't eat much, but most of what she did grab she got into her mouth! I just had to wash her hands and face. She only got one little spot on her clothes.  Don't want to waste any of that cake!

Sweet brother boy.  I made him a bow tie to match Julie and Sadie's owl skirts. He loves it and wears it almost every day!

Sadie had a lot of help opening her gifts, but she really loved playing with all of them! She plays with her toys a lot, so she was really excited about them.

This is the best picture I got of the girls matching skirts. Oh well, they were cute. Julie actually wore hers to school last week too.

The gift frenzy.  Sadie is so lucky to have so many friends help her open her gifts!

Sadie didn't do the pinata at all. But it was a really great pinata that all the kids had to do was pull the ribbons at the bottom and all the candy and treats fell out!  perfect for our younger crowd.

Memere and cousin Lauren had fun too!

Momma and the birthday girl!  Love this little sweetie.

Julie and her little cousin Sophia.  Julie and Sophia gave each other about 5 hugs when it was time for Sophie to go home. I know they would like to spend much more time together.

And last but not least, here is Andy and his little bestie Everett. 

There were so many loving people at the party that I didn't get pictures of. But my kids are all so loved and cherished by so many people. It makes me overwhelmed to think about the large community surrounding our family.

I hope you enjoyed your special day, Sadie Jo.  We all love you so much!

Crazy Fun Week

The last week has been CRAZY!! But in a good way! I was asked to go to a conference down in Anaheim for a few days for work. So I took the train down there. The conference was all day Thursday, then Friday morning, John, Julie, Andy and Anne all met me to go to Disneyland!! Sadie stayed home with Memere so we could really focus on the big kids and wouldn't have to worry about Sadie crawling around Disneyland....ewwww.

We didn't take too many pictures because we were having too much fun! I think Grammy was the only one to really take any, so she wasn't in any of them. These two were especially excited! 

Julie got to meet Goofy while John and I were on a "scary" ride with Andy.

And she pumped some iron while she waited for us....

Our favorite part of Disneyland is the parade! And this time we got to watch it twice!  It was wonderful.

And last, but not least,we got to meet Mickey!!  While in line, Andy kept saying he didn't want to meet Mickey, but once we got up there, he couldn't resist. It was pretty sweet.

After a long day, we made it home safe and sound.  The next morning, John and I got up and headed to Clovis for a friends wedding, we were there Saturday until Monday since John was a groomsman in the wedding.  Hopefully I will be able to get my hands on a few pictures. I know there was at least on of John and I.

Thanks Memere and Grammy for all your help and babysitting expertise over a crazy week!!

The Real Halloween

Oh my, what a Halloween! We were all over the place. But it was a blast! Most of these pictures are self explanatory. Seems a fun time was had by all!

This year Andy dressed up as a cowboy (or Woody) riding a T-rex (or Rex).  He was adorable and it combined his two loves, cowboys and dinosaurs. If he had been able to fit a train in there, he would have been complete.

We went to Zoo Boo on Saturday night where we met up with friends.  Julie and Lina have been friends since birth and spent a few Halloweens together. I love that as soon as they see each other they have to hold hands.  And this year, they were both witches!

They are also SO good about including their younger siblings!

The Hunters with less than half of the Arnolds.  We love us some Arnolds!

Memere and Sadie the lamb!  Sadie can say Memere now! (along with Momma, Dadda, Ama (we think it's Grandma), down, this, and my favorite, NO!).

Curious George and the Man with the Yellow Hat! Christina and Brian did such a great job on these costumes! They were a hit wherever they went!

Auntie Audrey and the little lambie!

Tom and April also outdid with the costume. Eli was an awesome Umpa Lumpa!!  He is the sweetest boy.

John went everywhere as a Deviled Egg. I made him this costume when we were dating, so about 11 years ago?

Cousin Lauren was an owl.  She was so adorable. I think she was one of the only kids actually looking at the zoo animals!

On Halloween morning, John brought Andy and Sadie to Andy's class for his Halloween party.  Andy had so much fun parading through the other classes.  Sadie even got to join in on the fun.  By this point, I had switched her costume and she was a care bear. Seemed to fit her a little better than a lamb...personality wise I mean.

All set to walk around.

Sadie made a friend!

In the afternoon, we went to Dr. Patterson's for his little carnival. The kids had fun bouncing in the bounce house and playing silly games.  All our kids love Dr. Patterson. And their parents think he is pretty swell too.

This is the only picture I got of all 3 of my kids.   Is Andy on a roller coaster??

After Dr. Patterson's, we came home and ate, met up with Chris and Kay and Brian, Christina and Everett.  Chris and Kay had awesome costumes.

Can't help but smile with this goofball!

We trick-or-treated over to Grandma Hazel's and then to the carnival.  It was really busy by the time we got there, so after just a couple games, we headed home.

3 wild ones!

Care Bear Stare!!! She was a happy Cheer Bear!

Of course, no carnival is complete without donuts on a string!

When we got home, Julie all but put herself to bed. She had fun, but was done. Andy wasn't too far behind her.  Our house was quiet by 8:45.  Happy Halloween everyone! I can't believe it's November now! The next two months are going to a busy, fun, chaotic, and memorable. I can't wait!