November Miscellaneous

Lots of miscellaneous photos from November!  We've had a lot of fun at home, and Joe grew a mustache (it's Movember!) for a short while.  (I swear that Joe was wearing pants in this photo in case anyone is bothered).

Friday Night Fun

Trish & Marshall invited us to come over for dinner and see Marian & Rick on Friday night.  On our way, we stopped in at Joann's, and Joe took the kids around while I shopped for some fabric.  While they were goofing around, Joe took these cute photos of Evie trying on foam hats.  At Trish & Marshall's house, we had a great dinner and a lot of fun visiting with everyone.  Joe and Marshall played with Evie in the living room, she absolutely loves this foam puzzle toy that they have!

Thanksgiving Fire Pit

Ooops, never mind, it looks like I did take a few photos after Thanksgiving dinner of everyone hanging out around the fire pit.

Thanksgiving 2014

We decided to host Thanksgiving at our house this year, and thankfully it was potluck-style.  Joe's family brought most of the food, including the red-wine-lacquered turkey (thank you, Steve & Syl!), which made it really nice.  The weather was warm and gorgeously sunny, so we ate Thanksgiving dinner outside on the patio in the afternoon.  Evie & Sophia had a lot of fun playing in our backyard, while the adults ate, drank and socialized.  In the evening, Joe made an awesome fire in our new firepit!  It seemed like everyone had a really great time, and they all stayed to make s'mores and drink coffee.
Disclaimer:  Joe & I actually did not get around to taking any photos, so I stole these off of everyone's facebook pages.  Thanks, guys!!

Stone Soup

Every year, Evie's school puts on a luncheon for the children and their families for Thanksgiving, called Stone Soup.  The lunch includes soup made by one of the classes from some vegetables that the children have grown in the school's garden, and corn bread, made by one of the other classes.  When Henry and I arrived, Evie was sporting an adorable turkey hat she made in class.  It is really fun, everyone eats together sitting on teeny-tiny chairs, then they tell the story of Stone Soup, one of the teachers "finds" a stone in her soup, we all sing songs, and everyone departs to begin the Thanksgiving holiday.  If you're interested in knowing the story of stone soup, you can find it here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stone_Soup
No photos of Henry, as he was on my back in the baby carrier the whole time.

A Visit From Ruff & Clay

My Aunt Ruff & Uncle Clay came to Phoenix for the week of Thanksgiving, and we were so blessed that they were able to come over for dinner with Trish, Marshall, Jennifer & Kelsey.  We all had a really great time, and the kiddos had a lot of fun with them this evening.  They also brought presents for the kids which was so sweet!  Evie loved her playdough toys and new painting supplies, and Henry was given an adorable outfit and some texture books which both kids love to look at.  (Henry still needs some hat therapy so that he can better enjoy wearing adorable hats).  Thanks so much for coming to visit us, and for the thoughtful gifts!!  We hope you come back to Phoenix soon!!

Christmas Photos With Santa

Spoiler Alert!!!  We may, or may not, be using some of these photos for our Christmas card this year.
While the kids were in good spirits, and they looked very nice on this morning, the actual photo-taking was a challenge.  Just as Evie was getting on her chair, the chair tipped forward, she fell out, and the photographer went to grab her, inadvertently knocking Evie in the head with her camera.  After a couple of minutes of tears, we tried again, only to have Henry freak out on Santa.  But pictures of young children crying at being sat on Santa's lap are still pretty cute and funny, right?  So, after all of that, we get these photos back, and this is the most disinterested Santa we've ever seen, his expressions are almost comical at the risk of almost "wrecking" our Christmas photos.  Still, we got some great photos and luckily, Joe is a wizard at photoshop.