Happy Thanksgiving 2011!

We had a very nice and quiet Thanksgiving. It was a nice day of relaxing and playing together and, of course, eating. Then, we went to our friends, The Ogert's, for dessert so the girls also got to play with some friends. It was great. We also had some fun reading the "Turkey Recipes" that Mrs. Dawson sent home with Avery. Mrs. Dawson had sat down with each kid in the class and asked them how to cook a turkey and she sent home their responses. Avery said "Get your turkey in the woods. Take the feathers off. Cook it for 18 minutes in the microwave. Then cut it up like we do at Aunt Sarah's house." All of the responses are so funny!

After Thanksgiving was over we went right into Christmas mode. We got all of our decorations out. We put up our tree and put up all of the outside lights and decorations. We all did a great job. Everything looks so festive!

Two Rudolphs getting ready for Christmas

Daddy read us some of our Christmas books

Decorating the Christmas tree

And, this morning Elvis The Elf on the Shelf showed up in our tree

Thanksgiving in State College

Last weekend, we went to State College, PA to have an early Thanksgiving celebration with the Hine Family (Gramma's brother and sisters and their families). Almost everyone was able to make it this year, so there was a quite a group of people with lots of kids for the girls to play with. It was a beautiful weekend, so the kids were able to play outside and have lots of fun. Every year, someone brings a craft project for the kids to do. This year it was glitter christmas ornaments. They turned out great! And, of course, there was so much delicious food all weekend long. We are so very thankful for the wonderful time we were able to share with family.

The girls running in the yard with Edna

We had lots of fun exploring the farm

Craft time...Glitter, glitter, everywhere!

The Saylor's

All of the kids

School Conferences

Last week, Cory and I met with Avery's teacher, Mrs. Dawson for parent teacher conferences. First of all, several times, Mrs. Dawson thanked us for letting her teach Avery. She said she is a joy to have in class. She plays great with all of the kids, she is happy doing anything in class, and she loves to have fun. Academically, she is one of the top in class. They use a new technique for learning to read, which to me sounded pretty confusing. Mrs. Dawson said that Avery has taken to it like a fish to water. I am amazed with the work that she comes home with. The sentences that she writes and the illustrations that she draws are amazing! It is so exciting to think of the progress she will make over the next few years. We are so very proud of our little Kindergartener!

Avery's First Lost Tooth!

Yesterday, Avery lost her first tooth! We were all very excited. The tooth had been really loose for a few days but Avery refused to let us pull it out. Then yesterday before school, she came running up to me with tooth in hand. She was so excited for the tooth fairy to come but was also a little upset because she didn't want the tooth fairy to take her first tooth. So, she wrote the tooth fairy a note to see if she could strike a deal and keep her tooth. And the tooth fairy, being the lovely person that she is, came last night, took the note but not the tooth and even left Avery a little money. How exciting is that!

Trick or Treating, Finally!

I know you've already seen a ton of pictures of the girls in their Halloween costumes, but I had to include some actual Trick or Treating pictures from last night. It was almost 70 degrees during the day yesterday so the snow is almost all gone. I guess it was worth the wait!

Avery came up with the clever idea to put vampire teeth in her toy dog's mouth, Check him out!

Getting ready to head out and Sierra's already eating some candy

"Trick or Treat"

Halloween 2011

Since Trick or Treating had to be postponed because of the snow storm, we had to settle for building a snowman on Halloween this year. Luckily, Gramma and Grampa were visiting us (because they wouldn't dare miss a power outage), so they were able to help us make the best Halloween Snowman ever!

Avery rolling some snow while Sierra has some for a snack

I think it's about ready!

Avery, Sierra, Gramma and Grampa showing off their creation

Our October Snow Storm

After our last day of soccer, we went to a Halloween Party at our neighbor's. When the party started, it was already snowing. And about two hours in, the lights went out. It made for a very spooky party. Luckily, our friends have a generator, so the party went on and it was a blast!

And here are some pictures of the aftermath of the storm. We got about a foot of snow, lost power for four days, and lost a lot of trees in our yard. They had to postpone trick or treating until November and Avery's school was cancelled for the whole week. Good times!

The Last Day of Soccer

Here are some pictures from the last day of soocer. The girls each got a really cool medal which made it worthwhile because this was the morning of our snow storm and it was freezing!

Sierra getting her medal

Avery & Gracie posing with their medals

Avery's Team posing for a picture