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!

Cousins

All eight: (starting at 12 o'oclock): Jay (7.5), Rebekah (4.5), Hannah (9), Erika (7 mos.), Julia (almost 4), Ryan (nearing 3), Daniel (nearing 6), Joey (4.5).

Erika (7 months), Julia (almost 4), Bekah (4.5), and Ryan (will be 3 in January)
We have to dress Rebekah and Julia differently and do their hair differently or else we spend the whole day mixing the two of them up. They are roughly the same size, have similar hair, and their voices sound similar.

So, the kids have gotten whatever it is that has been going around and have been pretty sick for the past 2 weeks or so which hasn't exactly lent itself to many picture perfect moments.
However, last week my sister and her kids (so, 8 kids 9 and under in one house) came for a visit. Thought you'd enjoy a few cute shots of the cousins all together.

Super Cute Ring Bearer and Flower Girl

Daniel and Julia were in another wedding this past Saturday (I think we should "hire" them out, they seem to be popular). This time it was for a cousin's wedding. Now, I am the first to admit that they are super cute, so I don't blame people for wanting them to be in their wedding.

Last time Daniel was the ring bearer (last December), he was quite upset when he discovered that he had to carry a pillow with NO rings on it. When the bride of this wedding asked him if he would be the ring bearer in their wedding, he asked if he would get to actually carry the rings. I explained, and she laughed and told him "absolutely." So, Daniel agreed to the job.

On our way to the wedding, Daniel was fussing about having to be so dressed up, to which John said, "that's my boy. Boys don't like being so dressed up, we only do it because the girls like it." But, oh, did he look handsome.

Julia, of course, loved every minute of it.

Unfortunately, I forgot my camera, so I had to rely on pictures from a few other people. I'm sure the photographer from the wedding got a lot of really cute shots. They looked completely adorable together.

Julia LOVED the flowers she got to have. She had two in her hair and a ball of them to carry down the aisle. Here she is at Krispy Kreme donut shop enjoying a donut and chocolate milk (I know, a risk while wearing all white) while we waited for it to be time for the reception.
Here Daniel is showing all of his stains on his shirt...grass stains, dirt, coffee...he's ready for his debut with Tide!

Let the Games Begin

This is how we all dressed on Sunday to commemorate the beginning of the new football season and to show our support for the Philadelphia Eagles. I was the only one who didn't have anything with the Eagles logo (so, I picked something that was the correct color), but I fixed that yesterday when I found a McNabb jersey for $13. Jay was a little disappointed that he didn't have a jersey, so I found one on the $13 rack for him, too. So, next week, we'll all be sporting our Eagles wardrobe.

Daniel Looks Like My Dad

We noticed when Daniel was quite little that he resembled my Dad (which by the way, they both have the same middle name). I think the similarities have increased as Daniel has gotten older.

Here is a picture of my Dad at age eight (I think):