Thanksgiving

The kids had fun learning about and decorating for Thanksgiving. They all did a great job coloring their pilgrims and indians. The tree next to it is our thankful tree. The kids did scratch art on leaves and then we wrote things we are thankful for on the back and hung it from a branch. My favorite thankful was headbands....bet you can't guess who came up with that one!

Dave took the day before Thanksgiving off so we could have a "get stuff done day". It was a real blessing and I was able to get caught up on a lot. Benjamin and I had just finished studying the sun and one of the experiments was to take a magnifying glass in front of the sun and hold it over a piece of chocolate and watch how it can melt it. They had so much fun with it that they didn't stop with just chocolate....they "burned  holes" in mulch, leaves, paper and had a great time!

My mom got a new couch and I couldn't resist using the white as a photo background while we were visiting. Look how good they did in my practice photo in their cute sister/brother shirts.

Then, when I added Eva, Collin started being a stinker!

 So I tried a new pose that worked better, although most of these Anna is looking to my side at the TV. The parade was on and she was absolutely in love with it! (She watched it once live and then again at her other grandma's house.) We sure do have a lot to be thankful for!

Love these of the boys!

If only they always looked at each other with this much love and never fought!

Sweet girls!

Eva is starting to really enjoy being on her tummy and look all over.

We were always too busy having fun, that I actually didn't get any pictures with all the fun we had with our families. Dave did snap this one though of our time at the candy/chocolate factory. We enjoyed watching them make candy canes (Collin adorably calls them candy cans) from start to finish. It was pretty neat and they tasted so good!

Taking advantage of the cool white couch again and I scored this great picture of my little sweet pea.

Her eyes look even bigger and brighter when she's on her tummy!

Eva loves, LOVES to chew on cloth (blankets, burp cloths, her clothes) and is very good at catching her dress and getting it to her mouth.

Special time with Daddy.

After we got back from Thanksgiving with our families, the kiddos were pretty exhausted from all of the fun. I almost fell over when I saw this sight. I cannot remember a time that Benjamin fell asleep watching television or any other time that wasn't bed time. Good times are hard work, I guess.

Eva telling us her morning stories.

She is a very happy girl in the morning!

She's also very popular from the time she wakes up!

Benjamin hard at work on another coloring creation.

When I came back from taking Benjamin's picture and hearing his plan for it, Collin had emptied Eva's toy box and every toy was laid out next to her.

We let Benjamin grow his hair out a little longer and so we decided to have some fun with hair gel.

Anna wanted some attention too, so I tried braids for the first time. Her hair is super fine like mine, so we got it wet to do it. I meant to get a picture after it dried but forgot. It was so cute after we took it down. She had these beautiful wavy curls and looked so different!

Of course Collin needed a turn with the camera too. He was smiling at me and then right when I took the picture gave me a surprise "Hulk smash".

Sweet smile.