Decorating for the Season

The day after Thanksgiving, we decorated!  If it weren't for Laynie, I probably would have waited, but she loves to do things like this, and I can't say no - mostly because I remember being the same way when I was young.

But I have kept it super simple.  We put up 2 trees and just a few other decorations.  I figure simple is good.  It doesn't make my house feel cluttery.  :)

 

Thanksgiving 2023

My dad and cousin Carly's family came to our house for Thanksgiving.  We had a nice meal and had fun playing games (Pie Face, Family Feud, a card game).  Then Rosie backed into one of the preschool tables with her head and was bleeding quite badly so Carly's family left.  Matt and I cleaned up the kitchen and then we all watched a Christmas movie.  I had just recovered from a nasty cold, so I was exhausted, but happy to have had another nice Thanksgiving Day.

Sitting down to eat

Grandpa taking his chances.

The game won!

We had some pretty good laughs with this game.

 

It's Autumn Time, It's Autumn Time...

I love fall, but sometimes I feel sad during it because I really miss the carefree summer days. My garden comes to an end and my beautiful flowers die off. It gets darker and colder, and daylight savings is a struggle to adjust to!  But I guess there's a season for everything, right!?!

We harvested our garden and came across these twisted together carrots!

We had new windows installed in our home! We can now open up the kids' bedroom windows and hopefully our heating bill will be lower. 

I went on a beautiful fall hike with Kami and Nanette. 

We came to a pond with 2 moose doing a bit of hanky panky. 

We hiked back and went to a cookie shop and talked until closing. I sure love Nan and Kam. I know I can tell them anything and they won't judge me because they are friends that truly know my heart. 

Preschool field trip to Hee Haw Farms!

Met up for dinner with Kami and Nicole Cremashci (a foreign exchange student we were friends with our Junior year of high school). 

I attended a primary chorister training. This calling has been a lot of fun and lots of work - planning out different ways to learn songs each week. 

Laynie had her Culture Museum. She presented on Argentina. The night before, we threw that shirt together. I had a Hispanic skirt and flower already to put in her hair, but she is a no frills kind of girl and didn't want to stand out, I guess...

 

Autumnfest 2023

Alayna participated in the clogging competition called Autumnfest for the first time. It was a great experience and I was so proud of her!  She is now an intermediate dancer. Very few 8 year olds were at this level, most of the dancers at this level were 2-3 years older than her, but she rocked it. She danced two solos - percussion and show and received a 1st and 2nd place respectively.  She's been learning the line solo at home and almost has that down pat. 

Teammate Lilli and Laynie.