"The elf is dead in the shower"

My mom bought the kids an Elf on the Shelf for Christmas and Liam opened the box. Cassia became very upset that Liam was holding it first and began shouting "NO BABY!" She grabbed the elf by the head then laid him face down on the floor. It was like Elf on the Shelf goes to Guantanamo Bay. 

We went to the elf web site and Liam named him Dinosaur, then made this Christmas tree. I asked him why it looked like this and he said it needed stairs. 

The kids decided it was more fun for Liam to hide Dinosaur then let Cassia and I find it. Pretty soon Cassia wanted her own turn and hid the elf in the bathroom. Liam says "Mom it looks like the elf is dead in the shower."

New outfit

Liam gets sick on Thanksgiving.

We were all set to go to Idaho Falls on Thursday, but Liam got sick at 3am and we didn't go. It's OK though, it happens. I will try and get the kids down there in December. Anyway, we weren't planning on being home that day and had no food, the turkey wasn't thawed yet,  aaaaand almost every store was closed. Jerad ended up getting him and the kids a frozen pizza at Albertson's a half hour before the closed and I had a bowl of cereal. We had out actual dinner the next day. Jerad made the potatoes, turkey, green beans, and cranberries. I had the sweet potatoes, pumpkin pie, brownies, stuffing, and biscuits. It turned out fine, even though we had a rough start. 

Savory turkey with salt rub

au gratin potatoes

green beans with lemon zest and French onion soup

cranberry sauce with orange and pineapple

cornbread stuffing

buttery sage biscuits

orange pumpkin pie

handmade orange whipped cream

mashed sweet potatoes 

pumpkin brownies

sparkling mango cider

red wine

Liam takes a sick day

she was less sick

Jasper still worried

HI MAMA

Me: Cassia say Happy Thanksgiving!
Cassia: Scooby Doo?


She's reading a book about Thanksgiving and sees some kids dressed like pilgrims "oh, babies, nice!"

Liam gives me a history lesson "Mom, these are canons. You use them if you have a ship or a kingdom."

Watching Star Wars

First day of Thanksgiving break and I had two sick kids, so we decided to set up the tent in the living room, make popcorn, and watch Return of the Jedi. Liam brought out his storm trooper costume and this is what happened.

Quotes from this week

Liam's favorite subject is math, and "subtraction because it makes numbers smaller"

He also talks some football smack "Mom you like Seahawks so you eat baby food! Dad and I like the Lions so we eat regular food!"



And not to be left out:

Me: Did you eat your lunch?
Cassia: Babies.
Me: That lunch for for the babies?
Cassia: No.
Me: OK then. 
Cassia: Snow. 

Jerad: Cassia say please.
Cassia: Babies.
Jerad: Babies.
Cassia: Thank you.

Leaving Barb's house:
Cassia: Bye Pishi, bye Cassia..(Pishi is their cat)
Me: Bye Barb
Cassia: Bye ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-bo!

I trained my kids to do the check out at the library

Cassia hands Liam the books...

...he scans them and puts them away. easy!

This is Halloween, Halloween, Halloween, Halloween, Halloween!

My pumpkin 

Liam's pumpkin (he drew the face)

Susan's daughter pumpkin, she carved a bat on a moon and it fell in so Susan just put glow sticks in it

Firefighter Cassia hitting Susan's inflatable bat

We stopped by Susan't before going out, I had some chili and the kids had a popcorn ball. Afterwards we went trick-or-treating  an hour later than planned (Jerad sold a car) but it was OK. We got tons of candy and it wasn't even that cold - yay!

Sunday School before Halloween

reading a book in Liam's hand me down gorilla jammies

Boo at the Zoo!

It was crowded but fun, both kids rode on the merry-go-round and did some trick or treating. Cassia liked feeding the goats and the slide. Liam was quite spastic and enjoyed everything. He went as a dementor, Cassia as a tough fire fighter. 

Here they are feeding goats:

http://youtu.be/IsHBZ8IMEuQ

Monster Mash Dance

Liam had his first dance last night, the Monster Mash. He wore his Optimus Prime costume and a Santa hat. Not shy at all, he was the first kid on the dance floor and one of the last to leave. One of his classmates danced with him, they were hilarious. He told me it was the "most fun I had in my entire life" 

See for yourself:

http://youtu.be/0FpjXQD0RlE

http://youtu.be/J4ewaedVT7Y

Class trip to the pumpkin patch

I chaperoned the annual trip to the Linder Farms pumpkin patch this morning. You might notice a lack of pictures. This is because I forgot my gloves and it was too cold to take my hands out of my pockets. I did get to talk to Liam's teacher about zombies though:

Mrs. Sly: I had a student who was afraid to use the bathroom because she though there were zombies in there.
Me: Liam would probably want to use the bathroom if he thought there were zombies in there.
Mrs Sly: Me too, I love zombies. 

And we love Mrs. Sly.

Liam however decided to invent a dance called "farting chicken" and to do this in front the group I was chaperoning, which they all started doing as well. Thanks, Liam.

Liam's class pumpkin

My parents donated a 116 lb pumpkin to the first grade class and had a vote on what to name it. Also some bat Halloween decorations, which I liked. Happy Halloween!!

Jerad gets home from an overnight trip to Idaho Falls

Jerad delivered a car to Idaho Falls and stopped in to see his family overnight. He met Laura's new puppy, a Jack Russell named Roxy and saw his grandma who recently fell and broke her collarbone. When he got home the kids were pretty excited.

Cassia is good at sharing Liam's chair

Liam's "midnight hat"

After the Homecoming Parade we went to the Theater dept's costume sale. Liam got this hat for 1$ and wanted to sleep with it on. He called it a "midnight hat".

Homecoming Parade @ BSU

We met the Newman family and Liam and CJ got tons of candy. Cassia remained indifferent. It was game day so after we went tailgating and got some hotdogs and cocoa.