Thanksgiving

 While I should be posting Christmas, I feel I need to catch up with Thanksgiving first. I can't believe how quickly time went by between those two holidays. We were so blessed to have my family here combined with friends for a Thanksgiving feast on Thursday. Our house isn't really a great set up for entertaining (no dinning room). The thing is we love to have people over!!! So Randy and I decided to convert our porch to a dining room. Thanks to our good friend Rick in helping with the task, they closed the porch in and we put a space heater out for warmth. It actually ended up being really nice. Then we continued to celebrate with Randy's family up at his parents house on Friday. It was so fun spending so much time with family, cousins, etc.

 

 Randy's family:

 Our new little nephew Will.

 

I am cute and I know it!

Riley rummaged through one of our stuffed animal bins and became instantly bonded with this bear. As you can see he has had a tough life - Baxter chewed off an eye and nose when he was a puppy. Instantly, she was kissing this bear, hugging the bear, and carrying the bear everywhere. I guess she new he needed some extra tender loving care. She was the cutest thing to watch, we all got some great  laughs. This went on for about a week, and has since moved on. We await what animal or doll will be next.....

 She is already into accessorizing. Our friend Grace who I babysit, came over wearing this hat and scarf. As soon as she put them down, Riley had them and actually put the hat on and the scarf around her. she was walking all over the living room for about an hour like this, loving every moment. If the scarf came off she would put it right back on. She would take the hat off and them put it right back on. What am I in for...

 This adorable dress came as a gift from Auntie Katie. She, along with my other sisters, and sister-in-laws have these great sewing talents. (somehow I got skipped). It is so cute, I love the fabric and the pattern. Thanks Katie, she is sporting style.

To celebrate good grades we took the family to the best buffet in Lancaster. Brandon especially has been requesting we go here and was very happy to have his wish finally granted. You have to get there before 8am however, if you don't want to stand in line. It opens at 5am. We woke at 6:30am (all of us tired). It was worth the wait and 40 some minute drive to get there.

 Afterward Mom convinced everyone to stop at the Reading Museum and tour. Randy and I enjoyed seeing a shrunken head, and a mummy. I especially like the forensic recreation of the mummy Nefrina's head (just like they do on the "Bones" tv show). It was very cool. We also were able to walk through the Tiffany Lamp Traveling Exhibit. They had a neat little photo exhibit that Brandon enjoyed since he was working on photography in school in his creative expressions class. We found it funny how all the photos of motion were done with people naked, exposing there backsides. Doesn't everyone run, lift weights, etc. that way???

That night Brandon and I continued the celebration at the Trans-Siberian Orchestra concert in Philadelphia. What a fantastic family oriented show. Lots of lights, lasers, singers and band members coming out into the audience, and the Christmas Christian based message in the first half was a nice touch too.  Would highly recommend and would definately take the whole family next time.

Bathtime

One of Riley's favorite things is bathtime. She loves the water and loves to play in the tub.

She loves to lift these two shampoo bottles like they are weights, it is so funny.

Pumpkin Time

It was kind of sad, yet nice that the kids didn't need our help carving their pumpkins. They were able to do it all on their own, and a good job too.

First pumpkin.

This is Dylan's 2nd pumpkin. His first one he carved at our neighbors pumpkin carving party. Unfortunately, with the unseasonably warm weather it didn't fare well, and molded very quickly.

Halloween

Halloween is always a struggle to figure out what everyone wants to be. Brandon was undecided, and Dylan wanted to be a character from the video game Kingdom Hearts. (Brandon was that last year) I wasn't looking forward to another year trying to make a character come to life. So thinking I was wise, suggested a Mario themed family Halloween would be fun. The boys loved it. I thought is would be fun to have Brandon and Dylan be Mario & Luigi, and I would be Princess Peach, with Riley as baby peach. Figuring Randy in somewhere. This idea of coarse was way to simple. Right away Brandon is saying how he wants to be Dry Bones...dry who? Dylan wants to be Yoshi or maybe Bowser...no Bowser Jr.  So thinking to myself, ok, well them  Mom and Dad will be Mario & Luigi and Riley Princess Peach. "No way, please don't make me dress up this year" were Randy's words. After looking into the costumes and the fact that there was no purchasing the boys, I enlisted Randy to be the creative behind the scenes designer. I have no, and I mean zero creativity. Thanks to my wonderful husband the boys wishes came true and their costumes to life. I must say when everything was said and done, Randy and I decided we are all going as ghosts next year, nice and simple. Enjoy. 

Our kitchen was transformed into a workshop for a few days.

Randy super adhesive glued two pieces of foam together to start sculpting this mask.

Randy was using the tool you plug a tire with, to insert the yarn eyebrows into this used to be rubber ball.

 I am always amazed.