Happy Thanksgiving

I love Thanksgiving. I love getting together with family and friends, eating together, watching the kids play and having it be the beginning of the holiday season. I never feel that I have to really think about what I am thankful for on Thanksgiving. I start every day reflecting on what I am thankful for and all of the beautiful things in my life. It starts each day when I hear Jackson coming down the stairs in the morning, Aubrin calling for me to come and get her, Todd and I talking about our day as we get ready for work, talking to my mom on the way to work... the list goes on. Thankful is what I feel every day.

This year we spent our day at Todd's parents. It was nice to have most of the family together. Kaye made a great dinner and we all ate way too much. We didn't see my side of the family on Thansgiving, but we spent time with my parents the day after.

When we got home we read Elf on a Shelf and prepared for the arrival of our elf Harry. Aubrin could hardly contain herself that Harry would be at our house when she woke up. Jackson was excited as well, but knew another set of eyes would be watching him:)

Happy Halloween...all month long.

Jackson and Aubrin were both sure about their costume choices in early September. Aubrin knew that she wanted to be Belle and Jackson wanted to be Superman- the one with muscles. He said maybe the costume with muscles would finally make him weigh enough to sit in a booster rather than a car seat. (He really wants to join the 40lb club)
It seems that we spend much of October celebrating Halloween and going to many festive events. There are too many events to write about but a few were Boo Bash in Milford, classroom parties and of course Halloween night.
Boo Bash this year was CRAZY! We got there early to get a spot in line. This was the first year that Todd was in town to join us. It seems that each year it gets busier and busier. At one point we didn't move for 11 minutes. The kids were both over waiting in line, so we decided just to walk down the street and look at all of the costumes. We ended up running into many of our friends and their kids. Then we headed to the Burger Joint for dinner. We thought it would be crowded, but most people were still walking in line for candy.
Both of the kids had Halloween celebrations in their classrooms. I was able to go to Aubrin's the Thursday morning before Halloween. She was so excited to go in her costume. We spent our morning making crafts and eating snacks.
Todd was able to go to Jackson's Halloween celebration and parade on Halloween. Jackson was excited to be in the school parade and especially having his dad there to watch. He also spent his afternoon doing crafts and eating snacks.
I rushed home from work to get the kids dinner and dressed in time to go out trick or treating. Jackson and Aubrin had a great time with their neighborhood buddies running around and getting candy. I thought Aubrin would only last a few houses, but she lasted over an hour.
The kids came home picked out the candy they wanted to keep and put the rest on the counter for the Halloween Fairy to take.
When the kids woke up the next morning they found their treasures from the fairy. I wasn't sure we would have the fairly come this year, but a few days leading up to Halloween I heard Jackson and Aubrin talking about what they were hoping the fairy would bring them. It made me smile that it was something they were looking forward to.