Layne and Shelley didn't make the drive to our house Thanksgiving morning alone... they brought with them this hugely awesome fish tank and three cute fish. Of course the kids went wild with excitement. How they long for a pet... specifically a dog. I hope the three fish will hold them off for a while longer. And, I hope these fish make it a little longer than our previous fish and two frogs! (The fish's names are Shimmer, Goldie, and Star)
Since the weather outside was so beautiful, we headed out in our cul-de-sac for some exercise after stuffing our faces with Thanksgiving dinner. Kendall surprised us this Summer by learning how to ride a two-wheeler really quickly. It took three days of practice till she got the feel of it and then she was off. So, we passed bikes down the line - Hudson got Kendall's old bike, Kendall got Brooklyn's, Brooklyn got Ella's, and Ella got a new bike for her birthday...
We love Layne and Shelley! They are so much fun to have here and the kids love playing games with them. This year, Aunt Shelley brought the game Spoons. Boy did that bring back memories of my childhood. Now they have fancy colorful spoons to play with, but I remember playing with whatever spoons we could find in the utensil drawer in our kitchen...
Brooklyn and Kendall thinking they're super cool in their glasses riding the quad...
Kendall looks like she's running out of steam. Time for bed...
On Friday, we took Ryan to see one of our favorite new places... Five Mile Woods. It wasn't as beautiful as it was when we were here a few weeks ago and all the leaves were changing colors, but it was still fun and the weather, again, was amazing.
The kids showed Ryan how they inch their way across this tree branch to get to the other side of the dried up creek...
Oh how I love being outdoors when the weather is so nice. It won't last much longer!...
Saturday morning, we headed to Jug Hill with a huge group of friends to cut down our Christmas tree...
With so many people in our group this year, there was a little bit of a rush to find the perfect tree before anyone else claimed it for themselves...
Hudson and Kendall found the one they were looking for...
Hudson fell in love with this little... ummm... twig, and cried until we finally had to drag him away. It was hilarious...
We found a good tree, and although it was a foot or two shorter than we'd hoped, we sawed it down anyway and brought it home...
Once everyone in the group found their tree and tied them down on our cars, we gathered for apple cider donuts, hot chocolate and rice krispy treats...
Kendall found a comfy spot in the back of our Suburban to enjoy her treats. We were so grateful for the beautiful weather today. Usually we're freezing to death and ready to grab a tree and go home to where it's warm, but this year we could have hunted all day long and been happy...
Once home, this poor tree became victim to our irregular light stringing, broken, hand-made ornaments, and random strands of beads. The finished product is really quite funny...
Always ready to pose for a picture...
The very first ornament out of the box was immediately dropped. Of course, it was a class ball ornament which exploded into a million pieces once it hit the floor. We don't have many unbroken ornaments left, and now we're down one more...
It was Ella's turn to put the star on the tree this year, and she only needed a ladder to reach the top...
Ta Da... and there she is in all her glory. Our pride and joy during the holiday season. Our beautiful Christmas tree...
Once the tree had endured all the torture it could stand, we headed off to Longwood Gardens for their Christmas light display...
Hudson was really hoping to cut down a blue Christmas tree this year, but all we could find were green ones at Jug Hill. So, when he saw this one decorated in blue lights, he said this was his favorite at Longwood...
Painting the dragon's teeth at Longwood's children's water garden...
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