Thanksgiving

After surviving a week of the flu spreading through our family, we made it to Thanksgiving dinner at Maquels! All of Ladd's siblings were there, which means all 13 grandkids were there, and everyone had a great time! Here are some of our favorite cousins:

The newest cousin, Baby Bryce, with his dad, Scott

The food was delicious!

Thanksgiving is over, that means Christmas is just around the corner~YIKES!

In the Spirit of Thanksgiving

Click here for an uplifting Thanksgiving message!

I am so thankful for my wonderful family, whom I learn from, laugh with and love each day. I am thankful for kind and fun friends whom uplift and encourage me each day. Most of all I am so grateful for my Savior and all the love he offers me.

What are you thankful for?

Oracion

Tanner has been taking a Spanish class, so we have all learned a little Spanish in the process. The other day, Ladd blessed the food in Spanish, as he served his mission in a Spanish speaking area and still knows a little. So this morning Hunter was blessing the food. This is how his prayer went:
"Dear Heavenly Father, Tres, cuatro, seis, uno, tres. Amen." After the prayer, he proudly annouced "I say the prayer in Spanish!"

Fantasyland

Fantasyland is our unit of study right now for school. We have had fun reading and learning about Fairy Tales and Legends. Here are a few things we've done to bring these stories to life:

We started this unit off right with a visit to the real Fantasyland where the kids tried to pull the sword from the stone,

enjoyed the fun rides in Fantasyland,

and even took a break to read and get excited about Fairy Tales!

The kids had a Robin Hood day where they learned about the Legend of Robin Hood,

ate like Robin's Merry Men,

tried to steal the taxes back from the Sheriff,

and had a great time! Thanks Suzanne for hosting that fun activity!

While learning about Hans Christian Andersen, the big kids put on a little readers theater play of The Ugly Duckling for the little kids. We used the stage at Redhill Park and fed the ducks in the pond afterward. The kids did a great job! Can you tell I was in charge of the costumes-they are very thrown together! Once again, I am not a crafty type!

The ducklings-before they hatched!

Hooray for Hunter!

This sweet little guy has grown up so much in the last few weeks. He must have had a growth spurt- mentally and physically! The size three jammies I put on him that fit him a month ago were very snug tonight! And today, he kept his pull-ups 100% dry all day! This was without me asking him constantly to go to the bathroom, he just did it all on his own! I am so proud of my little munchkin. I know some of you may think, well shouldn't three olds be dry? I decided to be a lazy mom when it came to potty training this time around. Training Tanner was just about the hardest and most frusterating thing I ever did in my life, so with Hunter I decided to wait until he was a little older and pretty much let him do it on his own. It seemed to have worked and I had very little stress and hardly any messes to clean up.

Here are a few quotes I thought were cute:
As he was looking through the Target toy catalog, Hunter asked Tanner about a few different toys: "Is this cool, or not?" He needed his big brother's opinion before he could make his own!

After a little preschool class he went to learning about the letter A, I asked him what does an A say? Hunter's response while holding out his picture of an alligator: "A is for crocodile!"

He has had a cough and we haven't brought him to church for a few weeks, so on Saturday night, before he went to bed, Hunter asks, "Can I go to church and see my teachers?" He loves his nursery teachers and apparently had been missing them!

The REAL Survivor Man

For school today we joined another homeschooling group and met with a man who teaches people how to survive in the wilderness. We went on a three hour hike in Pasadena and our teacher, Christopher Nyerges, taught us how to survive off the land. We learned which plants were edible,

which were poisonous (here a a poison oak leaf-don't touch!),

how to make a lean-to,

looked for animal tracks (raccoon tracks looks like baby handprints!) and wild animals like this snake,

we learned how to make a fire,

which bugs are edible (sweet little white bugs on Eucalyptus trees), and a lot of other neat things. Our guide knew just about all there was to know about wilderness survival! The kids LOVED it, especially all the boys. Tanner was right next to our guide for most of the hike! He was much more enthusiastic at trying all the edible plants and bugs than his mom! It was a very unique and educational experience for all involved!

Football!!

I never thought I would sign my three year old up for football, but any of you who know him, know that he was born to tackle and block! The boys are both playing flag football this season through the city. Pee-wee football is just about the funniest thing ever invented and brings lots of laughs to all involved.
Hunter, a Charger, loves to run and chase after where ever the action is on the field.

Tanner, a Cowboy, is a great blocker and takes this position quite seriously. If he finds someone to block, he won't let them through until the play is over. If he can't find anyone that will let him block, then he just stands there and watches the play from a safe distance.

Go Team!