Our Thankful Hearts Week 4

November 22 -29, 2015

"We are thankful for our WONDERFUL dad & husband!"
Sunday, November 22nd
Happy 37th Birthday to our main guy! Sunday birthday are a little challenging but we embraced it. We went with the theme, "We love you every hour of every day." We had small gifts {mainly food & candy} that the kids gave him every hour. We started with breakfast at 7 am "We love you more than Bacon {and that's a lot!}

A little pre-church fun. Of course balloons are always a hit no matter what age you are.

During singing time the kids picked candles with songs to sing and once all the candles were lit {red tissue paper} we sang to Kurt {and the other November birthdays.} I had cupcakes for everyone after. Kurt loves it when I sugar up the kids before sacrament meeting.

The sugar and birthday excitement proved to be a bad combination. I felt like the kids were C-R-A-Z-Y after church. And when they are irreverent in the church it drives me CRAZY {major pet peeve.} Can anyone please tell me WHY there are not one but TWO wheelchairs in this church building. The only people I see using them are the primary and youth {ANOTHER pet peeve!} I'm going to hide them in the janitor closet next week! Ok enough of that rant.

Ruth was very sweetly adding leaves to the thankful tree in the foyer. 

Austin {finally} relocated the chick from my house and into the club house. Its getting big. 

Tio came for dinner after church. While Kurt and I finished getting dinner ready {yes, he cooked on his birthday. He loves to cook the meat} Tio & the kids had fun hiding, doing disappearing tricks & then putting on a show. They loved it and were happy which translates into happy voices and sounds on Sunday.

They had so much fun with the kid in the bucket-someone else hands idea that they decided we HAD to do in for the Branch Thanksgiving party on Tuesday. After we ate Tio & Emma got busy writing up the first Thanksgiving.  Dinner was nice. We even pulled out glass dishes and lit the candles. Hopefully Kurt felt loved. He sure is worth celebrating {every hour of every day!} Hands down the best thing that has happen in my life. Happy Birthday Kurt!

"We are thankful for healthy bodies." - mom
Monday, November 23rd
Austin when working on his Duty to God set the goal to read the Book of Mormon in a year. He figured out how many pages he needed to read to accomplish it and set his alarm for 6:15 to start. These are the really, really good moments.

This week Kurt picked our ponderizing scripture:

Kurt continued to work on getting water to the corals in preparation for the steers arrival. He worked on it on Saturday day but naturally it turned out to be a larger-than-expect job. He was in and out of the house throughout the morning and even ate lunch at the house. It was nice to see him during the day. Jane took an extremely long nap and then snuggled in my bed after that while I was studying Spanish with Chelsey. Hopefully she's not getting sick...

                                            

But the highlight of the day {at least for Spencer} was getting to go to Ashton Wilson's birthday party. They went bowling and played at the arcade and had a wonderful, crazy, undoubtedly loud time. 

We had to drop him off in between piano lessons which made it late by the time we took Emma to art. Of course she wasn't happy about that. Such is life. I knew Kurt had been busy working on a house project all day so the little girls and I stayed in the car & waited for Emma to finish her class. They were lucky enough to get donuts from Sister Wolfe.

She loved all the Thanksgiving decor outside that Sister Wolfe had painted. 

I was able to get a picture of them at the end of class which never happens since I don't pick her up.

She also brought home the painting she finished last week. The leaves on the tree are fun. I hadn't seen her paint in that style before. 

After Kurt and Spencer got home we had Noche de Hogar. After school Ruth had asked if she could give the family home evening lesson. Of course I said yes. She finished her homework and then proceeded to write her lesson {talk} by herself on, you guess it, SERVICE. I sure love that girl!

After everyone was in bed I made 3 cheesecakes in preparation for our Branch Thanksgiving dinner the next day.

"We are thankful for TIME." - Emma Lynn 

Tuesday, November 24th 

Jane had a more active role in smart gym during free time. Anna didn't seem to mind and Lucy was SO excited to "help" her with everything. I enjoyed visiting with Maria during class. Unfortunately we did not volunteer at the school because it was necessary to go home & keep working on dinner preparations {peel a million potatoes.}

Lucy was so excited to show us the thankful turkey {made out of yarn} that she made in class.

I always have the kids put in change when there are salvation army buckets. They let her ring the bell for her donation. Jane wanted nothing to do with it. No worries, Lucy was more than happy to ring it for Jane too.  

 

4th and 5th grade had a Thanksgiving feast during school. Spencer and Emma Lynn took one of the cheesecakes I had made. They commented that their feast was mainly of sugar. It sounds like next year we had better bring in some veggies! Regardless I am thankful that we officially have 5 DAYS off from school!!

We still had Robotics after school although our numbers were very small. Then we rushed home to get everything ready, prepared and packed for the branch dinner. We got there at 5:30 {it started at 6} and by some miracle got everything set up & ready by the official start time. Even though EVERYONE was late and we didn't start on time I was happy we were ready. We had a good turn out, as far as our little branch goes. Including a few investigators. We had 4 long tables set up for the adults & 1 kid table with a thanksgiving-color-on-me table cloth I found in my tote of fall decor. It was perfect. So many of the sisters commented to Kurt how it was decorated so nicely. haha I'm so glad because I didn't spend any money! Just gathered all the fall decor from the house and went. Emma was fabulous to arrange everything while I got food ready in the kitchen. I sure appreciate her help with EVERY function we do, she is the best help.

After an opening prayer we started out with our silly skit that Tio Jorge & Emma Lynn had written. Thankfully the boy's arm were not long enough to get us really, truly messy. We had a good laugh.

We had plenty of delicious food. It truly was a feast. Just the exact amount of potatoes and turkey. Phew! After the meal we had 3 birthday cakes for Kurt and Jasmine {10 year old member} birthday on Sunday. He is loved.

We ended the night with a pinata of course. Fabiola gave each kid a bag of candy after they took their turn hitting it. Plus the contents when it exploded.

 waiting for their turn 

 The group of littlest pinata goers 

I am thankful for our little branch this Thanksgiving. It has not been an easy thing. But it IS easy to love our members & they are family. It is a beautiful blessing to be apart of. 

When we got home Kurt worked on the mound of dishes while I worked on the blog. I had two weeks to post and knew that if I left for Thanksgiving without doing it it would be near impossible to "catch up" when I got home with the Christmas season starting. 

"We are thankful for FOOD. We can never be too thankful for FOOD." - Austin
Wednesday, November 25th
I woke up early & was able to get the blog done! WAHOO. When the sun arose we also saw that it was snowing. Fun way to spend the day traveling to Utah. Our plan was to leave at 9:30 - that is the time we told Tio to come. I have a VERY hard time leaving the house a mess when we go on a trip. Kurt, and the kids all pitched in that morning to get packed AND clean up the house. I also made time to pack healthy snacks for myself {and anyone else that would eat them.} So in the end it was 10:30 before we left the house but in my heart I was happy to have checked off important items on my to-do list. {wahoo!}

 He was so excited about the snow.

Since Tio was coming with us we took both vehicles. The little girls BEGGED to drive with dad so I had the 4 oldest with me. They were so ecstatic to have so much room. Car cash is still working for happy traveling and I'm so grateful!

Happy girls to be riding with dad and Tio

 Emma Lynn finally had songs downloaded onto her MP3 player from her birthday. 

Since I missed the Twin Falls exit we stopped for gas, bathroom & lunch in Burley. Once we got to the valley I stopped at Costco to pick up pictures & a few items mom needed. I was shocked to get a text from her with an emoij - WHAAAT?! They had gotten a new phone but I didn't know it was a smart phone. We had fun trying to learn about it over the weekend.

Tim had plenty of great tricks to show her. Remember to raise your leg when texting. 

Kurt, Tio and the kids decided to unwind after dinner & the long drive by watching Nacho Libre. They just HAD to show it to Tio. Oh brother and now all they can do is quote the movie all day long. 

Jane looks like she was trying to channel her inner Nacho ;)

"Among so many things today we are thankful for a faithful, loving, supportive, family & that we get to share our Thanksgiving together." - mom

Thursday, November 26th

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

Kurt and Tio left that morning to see some sights. Kurt took him on a driving tour of the temples in the valley. They saw 6 temples and arrived back just in time to cut the turkey.

Ruth asked grandma for her fabric scraps and practice hand sewing and a foam sewing project grandma had. She was a very happy girl.

Elaine & kids arrived that morning and we are always happy to be reunited {at it feels so good!} Jane was just getting dressed from her bath when Ethan came down stairs. "Where is Ethan? I want to see him. I want to hug him!" And Ethan was so sweet to return her affection. I love hearing their unprompted feelings.

Other happy reunions

Before eating our thanksgiving dinner we read the story of the First Thanksgiving & had a nice scripture study. Then it was onto the food.

                                              

Austin moved up to the adult table this year. He was pretty excited about that. We won't mention that Jane did too hahaha

 Again the table cloth was a big hit. I think they forgot to eat. Thanks for smiling Lucy! 

After some delicious desserts {so fun to eat our pies that the girls & I made together} & getting everything cleaned up we headed to Sam's old movie theater to watched "The Good Dinosaur." I wanted to DO something together for Tim's birthday. Create some memories. I'm SO HAPPY that every single person came. Cheesy grin happy. I love that we took up 3 rows to comfortably enjoy the show. It was a good movie, another touching Pixar with amazing graphics. 

Back at home we ate Tim's birthday elbow pumpkin cake. Love his creative cutting. 

Followed by 3 minute 2 win it games. Raise the M&Ms on a pencil into your mouth, chopstick marshmallow sort & candy cane hook. There was minimal cheating and lots of fun.

"We are thankful for Kurt's job & his ability to provide." - mom

Friday, November 27th

Kurt, Tim, Tio and I were suppose to attend the SLC temple that morning but we found out it was closed. So we attended the Jordan River temple {Tim didn't come because Kurt was still planning to take Tio to the SLC Saturday morning.}

Big Thank You to Elaine, Mom & Dad for helping with our kids and holding down the fort while we were in the temple. After one movie Elaine wanted them all to see the light of day & get some exercise. They went to the park and sadly didn't last long because the frigid temps. So then she convinced them to all go to McDonalds so they could play at the indoor playground {they did buy a fry to justify the play time although dad waited in the car.}

Jane enjoyed grandma's new-to-her ipad. She quickly learned about Jane's obsessed with Dora. She would watched all day if left to her own. She definitely needs an intervention.

After the temple Kurt and Tio headed into Salt Lake to see the sights. I needed a few items for the Christmas party the next day so I convinced Elaine to go shopping with me. We decided to brave Target even though it was Black Friday. We figured it was in the afternoon so we should be fine. It was busy but thankfully not crazy. I got a lot of things checked off my list & it was fun to get sucked into my favorite store with Elaine. How did we not take a picture?

When we got home we ate more Thanksgiving leftovers and then bundled up with all the gloves and hats and layers that we could find. We met up with Kurt and Tio at temple square to see the lights. 

It was BEAUTIFUL and it was COLD and it was CROWDED. I think that pretty accurately describes the event. But I would do it again if given the chance. :)

 This is the best I could do to get a picture of the boy :/

 Tim and his ladies. He did a great job keeping his oldest nieces warm. 

"We are thankful to read scriptures." - Lucy

Saturday, November 28th

The guys left early for the SLC temple. I made my assigned breakfast casserole for the party and then got started on the always large job of packing up and loading the vehicle. We woke up to light snow and Kurt said the roads were slick {they actually ran off the road en route to the temple. Thankfully there was no damage done.} 

We met up at Grandma Karen's church in Clearfield for her annual Christmas party. We haven't been able to attend for a few years so I was grateful that the timing worked out in our favor this year. Lorraine did a beautiful job decorating. The kids table was especially cute. The kids were straight to town on the donut holes on the table or drooling/mauling/chanting about the amazing rice krispy treat at each of the kid's table setting. It was quickly apparent that there was plenty of sugar to be had so I scooped up all of our kids rice krispies and put them in the car for the drive home. 

Daniel seriously chanted "rice krispy" during the entire prayer and Grandma's speech. They were that tantalizing, mouth-watering. hahaha

I loved seeing little cousins reunited and happy to play together. 

Starting with Lorna these 4 kids were born every two months. 

Again Austin was promoted to the big table. He still got to keep a Christmas plate {like the other kids} and rice krispy. It was the best of both worlds for him. What a good trip.

There was a fun photo booth that we all took advantage of.

A fun highlight and new addition is that SANTA came to our party this year. He asked if anyone had been naughty that year. Immediately Spencer and Daniel separated themselves from the group to form the naughty kid club. 

When it was brought up again {about being naughty} Daniel jumped to his feet and pointed out 2 others that had also been naughty that year. Oh. My. Goodness!! So hilarious and so true. I love the honesty and entertainment. Well they must have done a few good things during the year either that or Santa believes in the repentance because all the kids got a present from him. Hopefully next year there won't have to be a naughty section.

After helping cleanup and loading up on amazing cookies for the drive we said our good-byes and got on the road homeward bound. Even though there was snow in parts the roads were good. We only stopped once at the rest area {those amazing rice krispies were dinner!} and got home by 7:45 pm. Thank you all for a wonderful weekend. Cherished family memories.

~~~Romans Reflections~~~
- Jane is constantly saying, "I do it by myself." I haven't really noticed because I'm with her every day but Kurt really noticed. He said he'd be rich if he got paid every time she said it during the week. "I play with it by myself. I open it by myself."
- Jane also drew her first picture of a person. I was shocked that she could at 2.4 years but good job.

 - "I'm thankful for you mom!"