Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving at the White House was a delicious affair!  Donald outdid himself with the turkey and I....wait for it.....cooked a Southern Living cake that was both lovely and delicious.  What is the world coming to?  Emily loves having extra people in the house to play with and enjoyed hijacking her grandparents in the playroom for a while.  Hope you enjoy the pictures of our holiday and hope that yours was equally wonderful!

 Ready to cook in her snazzy apron

 Paula Deen broccoli salad - yum!

 Grinding up graham crackers for the cheesecake crust

 Entertaining shouldn't be this stressful!

 What's a holidy without a little crafting?

 Thanks to my friend Torie for this wonderful recipe!  I can't believe I cooked something that looks like this.

 My roll helper - I've passed this job on to her.

 Ready for lunch!

 Ringo is ready for lunch, as well!

 Emily fixed a Thanksgiving plate especially for the boys. Cat treats weren't on our menu.

 Special craft table - Notice that she labeled it.

Turkey!  Both of them....

Happy Halloween!

We held our annual Halloween get-together at the White House this year but mixed things up a bit by hosting our first Tent Event in the front yard.  We decided that it would be easier to meet trick or treaters in the yard instead of having them trek across our (very uneven) front yard and climb up our (very uneven) front steps.  We had such a great time hanging out around the chimenea and handing out candy!  It was like a Halloween tailgate.  The otter and the genie also had a great time trick or treating up and down our street before heading home to hand out candy.  How do you think the otter costume came out?  I can guarantee you that she was unique - I didn't see another kid dressed as a marine creature.

Book Character Day

On Book Character Day (aka Halloween) Emily and I got in the spirit by dressing as Julie the American Girl and Auntie Claus.  Compare the pictures to see how well we did!

Pumpkin Carving Party

We journeyed to the Westbrooks for the annual pumpkin carving party and had such a great time!  It's always fun to get together with friends and make a huge mess.  So glad that they can just hose their deck off when the evening is done.  Emily picked out the design for her pumpkin and Donald scienced it up a little with some dry ice.  It's fun to see everyone's different carving techniques - one group was even using an electric drill!  So, how did you carve your pumpkin this year?

Pumpkin painting - or markering.

I love this picture - Can you see the hand holding her ponytail?  That's our wonderful fireman host who made sure that no one's ponytail caught fire during the pumpkin display!

The lighting of the pumpkins!  They looked even better in the dark.

Crashed out on the way home.

Mad Scientist Day

Donald was able to visit Emily's classroom this year and do some fun science experiments with them to go along with their science studies.  She was so thrilled to have her Mad Scientist Dad visit the classroom and all of the kids especially loved the foaming pumpkin experiment.  Remember...it's not magic.  It's science!

Hope you enjoy my clumsy photoshopping of the photobomber in the background.

Happy Belated Birthday!

Papa's been busy with other building projects and was delayed by bad weather, but he recently installed Emily's new swing in the backyard (along with abotu 500 pounds of concrete!).  She's so excited to be able to go out and swing whenever she wants!  It's one of her favorite things to do.  Happy Birthday, Emily!

Hat Day

Emily is a lot like her mother - she loves a good hat.  She was completely excited that Red Ribbon Week included a hat day this year and couldn't wait to wear her newest hat, which was originally purchased for Book Character Day.  She couldn't stand to wait that long and so got a little early wear out of it on Hat Day.  Love her bouncy curls!

Fall Leaves

We came outdoors to do a little yard work because the leaves were starting to take over the yard.  Emily couldn't resist jumping in a few of the piles and we couldn't resist taking a few pictures.  Hope you're all enjoying this new cooler weather!        

All the dolls came out to sunbathe with us!

TCS Open House

Striking a pose in the gym

She's got her own locker now!

Emily and I got to go with Amy and Abby to the TCS Open House this year. Abby's such a big girl - starting middle school this year! We snapped a few pictures of the girls as we went around and met each of Abby's teachers. It's going to be an exciting year for her!