Not sure who is having more fun with Candy Cane...

...me or the kids:)

And Ben is ridiculously obsessed with following all the rules in the book and he has asked 472 questions today about him. Can he see me from here? What about from here? How about in the car, can he see me there? How come his tongue is sticking out? Why doesn't his head turn? And the list goes on and on and on...I'm running out of clever answers and we are only on day #1!

Cutting Down our Christmas Tree

 Today we all headed out to cut down our Christmas tree. Carson slept the first part of it. 

 We found the perfect one and the kids supervised Kevin while he cut it down.

 They had a fire pit, Kettle Corn and apple cider. Yum!

 These two crazies got a little silly. They are nuts, but pretty darn cute!

Now it's time to decorate- Ben can hardly wait! My boy LOVES to decorate for the holidays even more than his mama:) 

Gobble Gobble

 Lauren loved the tablecloth I got this year for the kids tables! 

 Kevin stuffing the turkey! 

 Two Crazy Turkeys!

 Love the grandpas snoozing on the couch.

 Kids table! 

 Carson had fun with the poppers that Nana brought over. His had a corkscrew in it, which Ben promptly took from him because it wasn't safe for Carsie. Ben is such a protective cousin. 

 The gang

 The caveman

We also celebrated Carson's 2nd birthday since it fell on Thanksgiving this year. It's no secret that I think he is the cutest thing around, the boy just cracks me up and melts my heart. LOVE him! 

What a great thanksgiving, so thankful to get to spend the day with our families! 

Girls Day

 On Friday Lauren, Nana, Oma and I went shopping, out to lunch, and got manis and pedis. It was such a fun day. We went to Molbaks and it was so festive. 

 The poinsettia tree!

Lauren was pretty excited to run into Santa there. He was so great with her, really friendly and engaging. 

Fun with Miss Jodie

 We hadn't seen Jodie in almost 2 weeks so the kids were so excited when she was over this Wednesday! Jodie loves Justin Bieber too:) 

 Lauren is such a good buddy to Jodie and loves to read her books.

These two are such pals lately, I love it!

My new housekeeper

 Ben loves to help me clean house! 

 He especially loves wiping down the kitchen floors. I kept telling him we couldn't wipe the floors down until I had time to vacuum them. Next thing I know he has the vacuum out and he is doing it for me! 

 Getting in all the hard to reach spaces!

And finally, his favorite part- squirting and wiping down the floors! 

I really hope he keeps up his love of cleaning floors!

Pictures from the week

 Lauren is so into writing these days, I find notes, journals, etc all over the house. 

 Super Carson!

 Love this cutie! 

 Found this on my desk the other day when I was subbing:) 

 The 1st graders at Lauren's school sang a few songs at the Holiday Craft fair. They were pretty cute!

 The Turkey Tango!

 This little clown had a great time at Carson's circus themed birthday party!

They had a sleepover the other night- of course Ben ended up in her bed and she was mad. They are too funny!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving from Lauren, Ben, Carson, and Hadley!

Phone pics

 Happy Miss Jodie playing with the farm animals.

 Ben & I always play games on Thursday when Jodie is over. He is pretty fun to play with these days but his strategy could use some work- notice how he holds his cards! 

 We took the kids bowling the other night and they had the best time. It was a really fun family activity- highly recommend it. 

 Lauren wore her cape the Bell Square. Totally normal attire. 

 Ben decided he wanted a cape too, so we went to the craft store and made new capes for everyone! 

 Ben has really gotten into helping me babysit Jodie. He's really sweet and helpful with her, always wanting to give her her bottle, get her diaper, etc. The other day he said, "Mom, I can watch Jodie while you go get Lauren at the bus stop." Ha! Told him he just wasn't quite there yet, but thanks for the offer:) 

 Miss J out enjoying some November sun. 

 So focused during this game of Mancala. We've had this game for years and I've never played it. Ben found it and asked to play. I have to say, I kind of enjoy it. So simple but there is a bit of a strategy to it. Love that he is into games- they aren't really Lauren's thing. 

Love this cheese ball smile! 

Bellingham

 Friday night we headed up to Bellingham and went to the Honey Moon to watch Megan & Scrub play. They sang at our wedding and this Friday happened to be the 10 year anniversary of our engagement. They played a few songs from our wedding for us, which was pretty cool. 

 Ben LOVES his Opa!

 Oma, Lauren & I

 These two are so cute together!

 Megan & Scrub

 Oma & Opa took the kids home after an hour or so and we stayed and enjoyed ourselves. Kelly & Zach joined us, it was so fun singing along to all the oldies. Loved every second of this night! 

The next morning Kelly & I walked around Lake Padden- it was 30 degrees and so cold but absolutely beautiful. Such a great weekend!