Thanksgiving

I love Thanksgiving. It is by far my favorite holiday of the year.

Here are a few highlights of the tradition...

This is at my Uncle Kevin and Aunt Patrice's house. We meet here each year for dessert, football watching and Christmas carol singing. The two favorite songs are "Silver Bells" and "12 Days of Christmas." Aunt Patrice always directs the mayhem.
Oh, and I think I counted 44 people. There are 3 sets of original couples (my Mom and two of her brothers); myself and 8 cousins (and some spouses);
and 21 second cousins (I think that's what they're considered).

This is my "Uncle" Joe (long time friends of the family). He has always entertained the kids (used to be my sister and I, now it's our kids) with his expansive train sets. I love watching the kids' faces and seeing it bring joy to Uncle Joe.

The cousins have such fun together. Our kids are the "big" cousins
and they take their role very seriously. :)

Daniel and my Dad

Julia and my Aunt Linda

Hannah and my Mom

And so the countdown begins for next year...

A Few Fall Crafts

There is a book called, Leaf Man, where the author/artist creates pictures of different things using various types of leaves. It is so creative and interesting to look at, that we decided to collect leaves and make Leaf Turkeys. It was fun to look at leaves and try and figure out
what part of the turkey they could be. The kids had a blast walking around our
neighborhood and picking up leaves.
The first picture is Hannah's. She made several different turkeys, some of which are facing to the side. I was impressed with her creativity.
The second picture is Julia's. With a little assistance, she did a great job!

( I tried ironing them between wax paper but was quite disappointed in how they turned out...apparently wax paper isn't as waxy as it once was. The leaves move around inside if they aren't carried just right.)

Daniel had to "dress" Curious George for a costume party as a Kindergarten project.
Daniel LOVES Donovan McNabb (from the Philadelphia Eagles),
so he had fun dressing George like him.

This was a school project as well. Jay had to decorate the turkey so that the turkey could "hide" at Thanksgiving time. We chose to make the turkey look like a cow.

Halloween

So, this year is brought to you by a Chef, a Kitty, the Thing (from Fantastic4), and a Ninja.

This was our first year trick or treating in our neighborhood...it's a jackpot! We actually quit when the kids were having a hard time managing their buckets! What fun!