Filling in the gaps...Thanksgiving

Things I loved about this Thanksgiving...

!. Visiting Ezra and Lisa and their FABULOUS kids for the holiday. We always come home with great ideas after being with their family.
2. Watching the kids giggle and squeal as Ezra puts on a "magic show" much to their delight.
3. Our first trip to a Children's Museum. It was so much fun.


I remember LOVING pretend grocery shopping as a little girl...so why do I dread it now?4. Jed's traditional family pies....YUM! I love that he and his brothers are all baking the same thing on the same day...sort of bonding.
5. I mean really, does it get cuter than this little pilgrim?

Filling in the gaps....Davis and Aiden turn Four!

As I said before, despite my requests for Davis to remain 3...he turned 4 in November and boy did we celebrate! It just so happens that one of his FAVORITE friends, Aiden, has a birthday around the same time. We were at a fundraiser auction with Aiden's parents (Beth and Shae) and decided to buy a joint birthday party at the fire station...It was the best party EVER...at least the boys thought so.


That is one hot fireman!

The firefighters even provided this cake and gifts....Let's hear it for Public Safety!

And thus it continues...

Here's the latest on the light war...after the Pages tried to burn our sign and posted the "No Lakers" we posted this sign on their front door....
I fully recognize that this does NOT compare to the lighted signs, but Owen and I had fun taping it to their front door in our "spy clothes". We also left little bags of coal around their house...one on the front doorstep...one on the back...one on the cat food...one in the mailbox...one on the truck...On one bag we posted the note "To the Grinch who TRIED to burn our sign". We thought it was funny. Then the next day this appeared on our fence...I am sorry that the picture doesn't do the sign justice...it reads "Todd Margo live here". If you have seen "Christmas Vacation" you get this and are surely laughing right now. We are having too much fun...I'm sure this is teaching our kids something good, right?

Okay? Okay? Okay, bye!

Last night the kids were saying their prayers and this is what Kate says, "Heavenly Father. Thank you my friends, my family....okay? Okay? Okay, bye." It was SO funny. Like she forgot that she was praying and started mimicking me on the telephone...or maybe she was really communicating with "The Man Upstairs".

Filling in the gaps...Halloween

We got this giant pumpkin from our neighbor's garden...thank you Joe and Shirley! The pirate design was Owen's choice.

This was another little pumpkin that Owen drew on for a contest at school...yet another pirate. Do I detect a theme here?What can I say? She pure joy in a little body!
Davis loves riding his bike and insists on wearing flip flops...no matter what the weather.Don't we love having sisters?Jed as Emeril....BAM!

Do I look like Napoleon Dinamite's girlfriend, Deb?
I feel safer with these two around, don't you?
And finally...our little Hawaiian beauties.

Point for the Pages...

Update on the Light war...the same night we put up the sign...the Pages moved it and set it on fire....hmmmm....do you think we hit a raw nerve? Luckily Jed found it burning and put it out. The next night it appeared back where we had put it with the "Go" gone (aka burned and sawed off) and in it's place is a lit up circle with a line through it...now it reads as no Lakers...well played...point to the Pages...stay tuned to see what we come up with next...I guess the purple and yellow lights all over their house might just send them too far over the edge...time for plan B....

Tied...one to one...

Many of you may remember that we have a lovely tradition in our family in the form of a Christmas Light War with our friends/neighbors, the Pages (if you need a refresher look at the post under Dec. 14, 2008) . This year we headed to spend Thanksgiving with our good friends Ezra and Lisa and their four fun children (more on that later...). When we returned home we found this sign on our garage...

You may look at this sign and think that it has something to do with the big BYU/Utah game (go Cougars!) which was played that day, but in fact their is another meaning...We were with our neighbors (Dallas, Jodi, Bradley and Dave) and our friends Beth and Shae at something and Shae mentioned that he knew Jed and I at BYU. Then he casually mentioned that he even took me on a date. Of course then they all started to tease me a bit saying that I dated everyone at BYU...not true, but we had a good laugh. So basically, this sign was for me. :)

Now the war was on...last year we had to bow out gracefully because the Pages had a tragic death in their family. This year we had to get them good. Now how do you get a family who LOVES the Utah Jazz...we thought that this sign out in front of their house would do. What do you think?

P.S. The "LAKERS" has lights through it that hopefully will be legible in the dark. Oh, and by the way...while our family was putting up this sign out in the FREEZING cold (cars would drive by and the three big kids would fall flat on the crunchy icy grass...so fun to watch) in our full spy/army attire the Pages were in their house...watching the Jazz game...gotta love it!

Cougars Don't Cut Corners...

So, the following experience also took place a couple of months ago now, but it is just too good not to document. Back in October Jed had a crazy schedule. Several weekends he was out of town with the youth from our church. So, one Friday morning before he headed off to work I said, "What can I do to help you get ready for your trip?" He jokingly told me that I could mow the backyard so that he didn't have to worry about it. I knew that he was joking, but decided to do it anyway. After dropping Owen off for his half day of school I got straight to work. I went out to the out building and got the mower out and started mowing. I kept thinking about Gracie's safety, so I went back in and brought her outside in her car seat just a few seconds after beginning. I decided that it was better to sacrifice a little of her hearing (sorry Jeff) than to wonder what Kate and Davis were doing to her. Okay, back to mowing...I am moving at super speed and laugh as I think about the student body president my freshman year at BYU. He gave a speech at orientation about how "Cougars Don't Cut Corners". Of course it was a metaphor for life and how we should always do our best...does anyone else remember this who was at BYU that year? Of course they put up signs all over campus that said "Cougars Don't Cut Corners" and some wise guy went around and cut the corners off of all of them....I'll admit, it made me laugh. Anyway, so I am mowing and thinking about this and I decided then to embrace the fact that we are now Redwood Roadrunners and just have to move fast...I skip going around the fruit trees...maybe in this instance it is okay for cougars to cut corners...
A few minutes later Davis comes out and tells me that the phone is ringing...I stop mowing and go in...it is not ringing Kate has pushed the "page" button. Oh and by the way she is now COVERED in lotion....in her brand new shirt....gotta love it...clean Kate up...back to mowing...Davis appears again...Daddy is on the phone....I go in...nope...Kate is listening to old messages...Man am I getting a work out. The thing that keeps me going is know that Jed is going to be SO excited when he discovers that I mowed the lawn. Maybe this will even give him an hour to spend with the kids...this is going to be AWESOME....

The lawn is done...whew...just in time to shower and go get Owen...

And now for the rest of the story...Jed had an emergency patient at work and came home just in time to pack up his car and head out the door. So much for extra time with the kids. His smile was worth it though when I told him that I mowed the lawn...oh the things we do for love...

It has been two months ago that this happened now, but one morning I saw Kate rushing around, grabbing diapers, wipes, etc. and then heading back to the couch. This is not uncommon as she loves to change her baby's diaper and is constantly throwing out diapers that have only been used on a doll...ugh. It took me a minute to realize that not only was she changing her doll's diaper, but Gracie's as well. I love in this picture how Davis is just standing by witnessing all of this...probably as caught off guard as me. I am telling you...girls are a different breed!