Thanksgiving Weekend

We had a great thanksgiving weekend (so far). Tuesday was the last day of school for the kids. I helped out in Chase's class all day. They had sooo much fun! They watched a short movie and mad all kinds of turkey crafts, and made vegetable soup that they all helped by bringing a vegetable to share. They made cute pilgrim hats to wear at their "feast". It was a fun party! As soon as the kids were out of school we started our weekend fun! Uncle David came up and we got a hotel in Reno for a few nights (we celebrated early because Matt had to work Thanksgiving day and the rest of the weekend). We went to downtown Reno for the big tree lighting and we were going to go ice skating, BUT...when we go there the tree was already lit, and the ice skating was closed. I guess the mayor decided that the weather was to bad so he cancelled the celebration! Really? Check out the big blizzard...HA! We admired the tree for a few minutes and hopped back in the truck.

We took the kids to the mall for dinner and we even got to see Santa!! Chase made sure to give Santa his whole list, and Sadi shyly asked for just about everything pink she could think of. At the top of her list was a pink tree! The kids were thrilled to get to the hotel and jump around and check out everything!

The next morning we set out to Scheels (Chase's favorite store, I think because it has a Ferris wheel inside), and just to shop around and have fun. Sadi was in heaven when we ran across...

A pink tree!!! She HAD to have it! Later we went back to the hotel and went to a movie. The theatre was really cool, and had couches to sit in!! After, we hit the buffet and waddled out after we were all stuffed!! It was the perfect, relaxing getaway!

Thursday we packed up and sadly headed back home for a quick meal before Matt had to go to work. No turkey, we had fried chicken instead! Best part, everyone got a drumstick!!

It was a great Thanksgiving!!

The BIG storm...

Of course the weatherman has been predicting this HUGE storm for days, and we had told the kids it was probably going to snow. They have been waiting and waiting...nothing. Until...this morning they woke to the "big" storm. Check out what we got...As soon as they saw it they wanted to play in it. I was laughing because we got maybe 1.5 inches. I knew I had to get them outside quick before it melted. They wasted no time enjoying the cold. Chase had fun throwing snowballs. And Sadi took her time building her snowman (It's there, you just can't see it, maybe because it ended up being maybe 4 inches high). As expected, by lunchtime it was gone. I love this kind of snow!! Until the next "big" one we will enjoy sipping our hot cocoa!!

Happy Halloween!!

It has been a looong weekend! Fun, but busy! Our weekend started Thursday really, it was the kids last day of school because of Nevada Day falling on Halloween. I spent the day at Chase's school for a full day of partying! It was more fun than they could pack into the day, literally! I got to make pumpkin ice cream with the kids, it was yummy!! We also went on a ghost walk in downtown Dayton, went to the Nevada Day parade, dinner and trunk-or-treating at the church to name of few things we did...whew! Finally Halloween Night it was time to "suit" up once again for the big finale! My cute trick-or-treaters.... Dr. Kelsey Denning

I don't care what Matt says, Chase was the cutest Peter Pan. Poor kid got called Robin Hood the whole weekend, really? He was walking with Tinker Bell the whole time (see below). He got really excited when someone finally said "What a handsome Peter Pan". He was like "Mom, he knew who I was!"

Tinker Bell!! She loved being a fairy! I HAD to call her Tinker Bell while she was in her costume or she would not answer me.

Her favorite part of this was I made her a little pouch of fairy dust (gold glitter) she loved tossing on anyone!! This was so cute, she tossed some on Chase so he could fly.....

And it worked!! Look how high he is, he is soaring! So off we flew to get some candy.

The walk this year was much further between houses thanks to all the foreclosures in this area. We walked a couple of streets but the houses we stopped at were VERY generous. I took Sadi home early because she was cold but she did not need this much candy.....

Can we say Belly Ache? Hope you all had a great Halloween!!

Pumpkin Carving!

I still think whoever invented this tradition of carving pumpkins must have not had any kids. It is alot of work! My kids were very excited this year to get to carving. Here is what our canvases looked like before cutting.... Chase really got into it this year and had fun pulling out all of his seeds.

Kelsey eating her seeds straight from the pumpkin (still grosses me out). She was really little(maybe 3) when we were at my Mom's house carving pumpkins, she asked if she could eat the seeds. I told her they needed to be cleaned and roasted. Grandma said "oh I don't think they'll hurt her, let her try them!" (I'm sure she thought they wouldn't taste good). 10 plus years later she still will eat them straight from the pumpkin!

Sadi wasn't sure if she wanted any part of this. Step 1: eye the pumpkin and get the nerve to touch it...

Step 2: Carefully reach hand in and touch the guts.

Step 3: "I did it!" Pulling seeds from the inside.

Final Step: Scream like a girl "It's to icky...it's too orangey...ewwww!"

She was happy to tell Mommy what to do to make it a happy pumpkin. He had to have teeth!

Chase designed his own pumpkin and was very proud! He has been learning about shapes at school so that explains the square eyes.

Kelsey's pumpkins get better and better every year. This year it was an angry looking pig!

Can't wait to light these babies up! Happy Trick-or-Treating!!

Sick Day

Why is this boy so sad? Is it because he broke his favorite toy...NO. Is it because his sister was biting him....NO. It's because I told him he could not go to school today! He had a bad cough yesterday which continued into this morning. It is one of those deep coughs (you know the ones that make you move a bit when someone near you is coughing). No fever, no runny nose, he acts fine but I figured it wasn't a good idea for him to be at school. I wouldn't want someone coughing on my kid, so I should expect no less from someone else right? He begged and pleaded with me ALL day to go to school. I told him he wasn't allowed.....here is where it gets interesting. I let him listen in as I called the school to excuse him from class. I told the secretary he had a bad cough. Her reply: okay does he have a fever? No. Diarrhea? No. Well he's fine to come to school. What?!!! Am I missing something? Isn't that how germs spread? Now I know why all the kids are always hacking at school!!! Sooo that backfired!! Now he was really mad at me!! He will definitely be back to school tomorrow (thank goodness his cough is much better). Note to self: NEVER let the kids listen in to a call to school!

Fun on the Farm

This weekend I took the kids to Corley Ranch out in Gardnerville. There were so many things to do there that we spent all day and actually didn't do everything there was to do. The kids had a blast! How about this for a bull ride... This was actually for roping' but Chase wanted to ride it so the ranch hand said go ahead ride that bull! They had a little hay maze for the little kids that Chase and Sadi loved. It was nice to let them explore on their own...can't really get stuck if you can climb out!

They had a really fun petting area where you could go groom or feed the animals. Pretty sure they all already had goaties...he he he(farm humor).

Sadi LOVED this area, she was giggling her little butt off! She was sooo unafraid it made me nervous. She groomed, petted, and shoveled food into anyone who was near, and thought it was funny when they butted heads to get in to her hand. Most of my pictures of her you cannot even see her in the heard of goats. I did manage to get one good shot. Look at that grin on her face! Chase was not loving the chaos and goat fighting (lets just say we know who was screaming like a little girl) and quickly retreated to the pig pen. He was getting a good look of the pigs so he could pick a winner for the pig race.

The pig races were my favorite. They announce the names and stats as they run them down the lane and load them in their stalls. We all made bets on who would win.

There was a black and white pig named "Oreo", in the blue loading bay was Charlotte, in the red was Bacon, and in the orange was Pumpkin. Oreo was favored to win. On your mark, get set, go!.....

They are really fast! I was rooting for the under pig Bacon, he had only won 1 race all year. He lost the first race, but won the second. It is pretty fun to watch. They actually race for Oreo cookies!

After the pig races we went through the corn maze. They have trivia questions throughout the maze and if you find all the clues and answer them correctly you win a prize.

Some other things we did were: Learning to rope,

and ride,

and fun places to just "hang" around.

Of course you cannot leave the farm without picking a pumpkin. Not just any pumpkin, the best pumpkin! Anyone who has taken their kids to the farm know how long or short this can be. They had all kinds of different pumpkins and different pumpkin patches to visit. One of the many we visited was Cinderellas patch.

Kelsey scoured for her perfect pick and settled on this one:

Chase thought every pumpkin was the best, he loved this green one (who else you know would pick a green pumpkin?)

But, he changed his mind after he found the perfect pumpkin. Know why? He said it looked just like a pear!

Sadi wasted no time and found her pumpkin, little and perfect!

Stay tuned to see what these perfect picks turn into!

Are you tough enough...

For Powder Puff? As part of the Homecoming week festivities Kelsey joined the Freshman Powder Puff football team. They played last night against the Sophomores and the Seniors. Their first game they whooped the Sophomores and went straight to the championship game against the Seniors. Those girls were big and scary! Kelsey didn't even want the ball the second game. I think there were only 12 girls on her team, many of whom left injured and crying. Kelsey did manage to get some ball time getting the kickoff return and running it before being tackled. I'm not sure why they even bothered with the flags, it was full on contact for these girls! It was fun watching, and they came in second place. Not bad for Freshman!