Happy Thanksgiving and a made up treat

• Happy Thanksgiving to Everyone!
• I love this time of year! There are so many fun things to do and so many fun things to eat! We will be taking a road trip up north to New Hampshire this year to visit some friends and we are really looking forward to getting away. I'm hoping there will be snow up there. It's been so cold here and in my opinion, cold is wasted unless there is snow to play in. But in the spirit of the season here is a small list of things I am thankful for.
• Mostly, my wonderful husband and 3 fun children.
• A warm house to live in and a warm car to drive in.
• Great family and friends
• The security I feel right now, despite times of turmoil around us.
• Being able to go to church each week and feel renewed for another week.
• Yummy turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, green bean casserole and pumpkin pie!
• That Christmas will be here soon and Christmas music
• For a mom and sister who are such good friends to me.
• The good health of my children.

I could go on, but I won't bore you anymore.
On a different note, here is a fun treat we made today. (Sorry I don't have a picture). I had some puff pastry in the freezer that needed to be used. I thawed it, cut it up into 9 squares and pushed them down into muffin tins. Then I put a dollop of peanut butter, some milk chocolate chips and a half a marshmallow on top. Bake them at 375 for 10 minutes. Then let them cool for 10 minutes and eat. They were really yummy and satisfied the chocolate craving really well. :)

Hmmm?

Lately, when I ask Christopher or Michael a question, the answers don't quite fit. If I'm having to have a talk with Michael and I say, "Michael, why did you bonk Baby Anne." He'll say, "Because I don't want to hit her." So I'll say, "Then why did you hit her." To which he will say, "Because I don't want to." Hmmm, that' doesn't really answer the question does it? :) So I'll try to rephrase the question and I still get the same answer. I usually end up smiling which doesn't help with the discipline. And if any of you have 3 or 4 year olds the most commonly used word in the house is "Why." (Sometimes I wish that wasn't a word). But sometimes if I say something like, "Christopher, please get your shoes on so we can go to the store." He'll say, "Why not?"...(not a "why not" as in "sure mom", but a very questioning "why not"). Hmmm, I think he just means "Why?"...to which the answer would be, "um, so we can go to the store". It's a good thing my kids are so cute, or I might just go a little crazy. ;) I really do love them though, and all their curiosity.

Funny stories

* One morning this week we were sitting on the couch reading out of the children's Book of Mormon. We were reading about the Amlicites and coming to a part where they were fighting (which I usually alter a little to sound not so violent). Michael looked to the next page where they were throwing spears and bows and arrows and says, "Mom, look, they're playing baseball!" Hahaha, that sounds better than fighting to me. :)

* Christopher was sitting on the window sill playing with two toy cars. This is how the conversation went.

"I like Jesus. Jesus likes me. God loves Jesus too." Do you like Jesus?"

"Yes, yes." (say the cars)
"Jesus tells us be nice. Say amen."

"Amen, amen." (say the cars)

It went on like this for a little while with a little more variation on this theme. Christopher is such a little sweetheart.

* Sometimes we have a little issue with Baby Anne getting picked on by her older brothers. ;) Today they were all playing on the floor and Michael kept laying down and putting his feet on top of Annie so she couldn't move. She didn't like it and so Christopher grabbed Michael's legs,and while holding them said, "Run away Baby Anne. Save yourself!" LOL

Feeling Crafty

I have been in such a crafty mood lately. I have so many projects in my head and I know I won't get them all done. I'm almost done with all the Christmas slippers and that's just the beginning of my Christmas projects. But this was something I made for Michael's birthday. It is a car mat, like the ones you can buy that kids can drive their toy cars around on. I decided I wanted to make one so it would be more personal. I put things like church, Bushkill Falls, Pathmark and Dunkin Donuts on it. It was fun to make and Michael and Christopher seem to enjoy it so it was worth the time. Plus, here is Michael on his birthday. The cake was supposed to be a pumpkin. I think I'm going to give up on theme cakes because I'm not very good at it, and just go back to the good old chocolate mint cake. Yum!

Fall Fun

A few weekends ago we took our annual trip to see the fall foliage. The landscape is, by far, the best thing about living on the East coast. Whenever we leave this area I think I will really miss all the trees and the fall season. We couldn't go until a little late this year so we didn't go as far as Vermont or Lake George like we have in the past. Our landlord gave us the suggestion of driving through the rolling hills in Connecticut. I googled it and we decided to take Route 7 up through Connecticut into Massachusetts. It turned out to be a great trip. If anyone knows us, we like to fly by the seat of our pants when it comes to trips like this. I usually decide where we are going, but we don't book any hotels and we tend to veer off the beaten path. If we see a road that looks appealing, we take it. On this trip we found some pretty covered bridges, an old army tank that Jeff was fascinated with, tons of acorns that the kids collected at a wiggle stop and a really good pizza place somewhere in CT. We like to stop at little local places to eat. The pizza was great and afterwards Jeff took a little walk by himself and came back with a new shirt for me to wear the next day since I hadn't brought any long sleeves and it was REALLY cold up there. He is so sweet!

We found a really awesome hotel room that was a suite for a great price. We like to have the rooms with the kitchens and separate bedrooms so we can cook and stuff and have enough space. We had a fun night watching "Winnie the Pooh's Halloween" and the next day we decided to head west and come home through the Catskills. We found an awesome little local deli/restaurant on the way and had a great lunch. We also stopped at a NY state park we found along the way and played outside. By the time we got home we were beat but we had a really great time. We are already looking forward to the next trip.

If you look really close, Michael is sitting on this tank.

Halloween Happenings

Thanks to our friends who shared these fun pictures from the Hoboken Halloween Parade. The kids had a fun time, mostly because they got TONS of candy. Jeff and I have also enjoyed some of their goodies. :) Christopher was a lion, Michael was a doggy and Annie was a black cat. I made their costumes and it was fun, even if they didn't look very professional. I made the boys costumes just like you would make a hooded bath towel and they turned out pretty cute. They had little paws to go with them, but didn't wear them a lot of the time since they interfered with unwrapping candy. I think Annie ate as much candy as the boys since she kept screaming unless I put candy in her mouth. She's getting pretty smart. :) I took some pictures of the 3 little animals together that I will post when I get them back. It was a fun day!