Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving was at Grandma and Grandpa Newbold's this year. While we were waiting for the turkey to cook the kids made these thankful turkeys. Madison is thankful for her family, coat, house and herself. Hailey is thankful for her cousins, family, friends, Jesus, food, turkey, pumpkin pies, her house, toys and books.

Blake is thankful for Mom and Dad, his DS, video games, x box, himself and one eyed turkey monsters. You gotta love boys.

Here is the Thanksgiving table. We had 23 people for dinner.

This is the little kid table that Hailey and I decorated.

We made a fall tree with leaves that had questions on it the kids could ask each other and also write what they are thankful for. Madison and Jasmine loved answering the questions. Even now Madison likes me to ask her what her favorite things are when I read to her at night.

The two littlest ones of the group Abby and Bryce.

Madison was so excited to see her cousin Jasmine. They played none stop while we were in Utah. The even got to have a sleepover. They got nicknamed the giggle girls by everyone because they were always together and giggling.

Grandpa's Giggle Girls!

Grandma and Grandpa with all of the cousins. Grant just got back from his mission in October so for the first time in a long time we had all of the cousins together again.

Yummy! Abby loved the pumpkin pie. Happy Thanksgiving!

Old MacDonald Had a Farm

We took the kids to Wheeler farm while we were in Utah with Grandpa Newbold to get a Christmas picture and see some of the animals.

Madison loved seeing all of the animals and was amazed to see all the piglets.

Hailey thought is was really cool that she could guide all the geese back into the pond. It is a good thing they didn't all turn on her.

Madison keep calling the baby goat a puppy.

Blake thought the tree house was the coolest thing every and wants one in the backyard to live in.

They couldn't believe how ugly a turkey was. No one believed us when we told them that was the turkey we were having for Thanksgiving.

Abby loved the horses and cows the most.

This was my favorite spot for a Christmas picture but Abby was not having it.

Thanksgiving Break

The kids were out of school for a week during Thanksgiving so we headed up to Utah. It was our year to have Thanksgiving there. The kids love staying at Grandma and Grandpa's house and playing with their cousins and finding the snow. They were also very excited to stay in a hotel on the way there. Todd and I do not find the hotel thing as fun as they do especially with Abby sleeping (I mean kicking) between us. We did a lot of fun things while we were there. We saw lots of movies. It was nice to have Grandma and Grandpa there to be with Abby while we went. One day we went to a place called the Hollywood Connection and had a great time. The kids got to miniature golf, roller blade and play laser tag for the first time. Blake and Todd loved laser tag so much they went back with Lance and Thanksgiving night to play again. The same night Todd and I went to a movie and shopping with the rest of the Salt Lake Valley to Toys R Us at Midnight. It was worth the deals and Todd was super friendly with everyone in line and made some friends. I can't believe he didn't complain once.

Super Students!

Blake and Hailey both placed in Reflections this year. Blake won the Award of Merit for the upper grades and Hailey also got the Award of Merit in the younger grades. The theme this year was Beauty is... Blake painted a picture of fall leaves.

Hailey painted an under the sea picture of a fish with sparkling scales.

Parent teachers conferences were also this week and they both got amazing reports from their teachers. Hailey teacher said she is a perfect student and has an amazingly fun personality that comes out in her writing. We read some of her school journal and I was pretty amazed. We might have a writer in our mist.

Blake teacher said he is a great listener and very respectful. He is really does well in Math and is in the accelerated math program. The both have great teachers and I am very thankful for that. Way to go guys! We are proud of your hard work!

To celebrate we went to Barnes and Noble to use their gift certificates they won in Reflections how ever they wanted. I was surprised how much Hailey loved the book store. She was like a kid in a candy store.

Day with Mom at Disneyland

On Madison's actual birthday I took her to Disneyland. If you go on your birthday and have passes they give you a $60 gift card to spend. So Madison and I headed to Disneyland. She was so excited to do what ever she wanted to. They gave her a button to wear that said she was celebrating her birthday. She kept skipping along saying "this is my celebration". It was so cute. She couldn't wait to tell Mickey that is was her birthday. She went right up to him and gave him a big hug.
She wanted to see a bunch of shows so we spent a lot of time doing that. She loved seeing Playhouse Disney Live because those are all the shows she loves.

She was so excited to ride on the Toy Story Mania ride. She giggled all the way.

The last ride we went on was the Nemo Submarine ride. When we got out the fireworks had started so we went up to the top and the stairs to watch them.

She fell asleep after the fireworks on the way out of the park. So I did some secret shopping at the Disney Store with the rest of her certificate. She picked out a toy she wanted earlier. I got her Minnnie Mouse PJs and a sweat shirt. When we got to the car, she had woken up on the tram so I let her put her new PJs on.

A great end to a great day!

Happy Birthday Madison!

Our sweet Madison turned is four today! We are so lucky to have her as a part of our family!

Here is a few things we love about Madison:

- I love Madison because she has such pretty big brown eyes that always express so much about what she is saying. She is the best hugger ever and I love when she comes into my office and talks to me when Abby is napping. Love Mommy

-She is funny when she sings that Madagascar song and tries to dance with me. Hailey

-She lets me call her Goo Ga, she likes watch me play DS and she likes me to make her stuff. Blake

-I love to read and cuddle with Madison, especially when she says "B end". Love Daddy

- I love to jump on the bed with Madison. - Abby

We celebrated Sunday night at Grandma Di's house. I got a blue cake and ice cream just like I wanted. I got lots of great stuff, including my "everything box" Grandma Di does every year.

Birthdays are so fun especially when you get to spend them with family!

A Big Top Birthday Bash

For Madison's 4th Birthday we decided to do a circus theme. Grandma Newbold made this cool circus tent that we put at the entrance to the party.
Here are the cupcakes Annelise and I made for all of the kids.
These are the party favors full of circus snacks.

As Madison's friends arrived they made clown hats with pom poms and circus stickers. The kids also colored circus wristbands to get them into the magic and clown show later.

Todd mastered making dogs with balloons and the kids loved it. The boys all wanted swords.

Next everyone went to the ticket booth to get their ticket necklaces and we started the games at the booths. Blake ran the ring of fire booth where the kids threw tiger balls through a hoop, Hailey helped the kids put a golf ball in Big Top Golf, Adriana (Madison's cousin) used tattoos in the face painting booth, I ran the photo booth, Ryann (Hailey's friend) helped the kids throw rings on the elephants trunk, Aunt Annelise helped them play pin the nose on the clown and Todd helped them take turns on our small bouncer. Madison clowning around in the photo booth!

After the tickets were used up we served hot dogs and nachos for lunch and sat down to watch the clown show.

Next was the magic show with Blake and Todd.

Finally, we brought out the body bumpers and the kids got to take turns bumping into one another.

Madison had a great time with her friends.

We had all fourteen four year olds come. Blake and Hailey were a huge help and I was to proud of them for helping entertain the kids. Annelise and Adrianna also came up and were very helpful. They were such great kids and we all had lots of fun!