Thanksgiving is down, now on to Christmas

It was time again for our annual tree cutting expedition with the Salmos family. Instead of driving for over an hour to our usual awesome tree farm we tried a local place that wasn't quite as accomodating to our traditions. Last year it was in the 50's and sunny and we got to drive right through the lot and it was hard to pick the perfect tree as they were all so great. This year it was cold and snowy and we had to walk. It may have been that a few of us were cranky (me, Reagan, Alicia was a little and Kaiden) but none of the trees were up to par. After walking about 3/4 of a mile we found one for ourselves and Jason took it down. As I told Alicia, if Geof finds one it will be in the back of the lot. Yes, he found his 14 foot tree, in the back corner. It took all his and Jason's strength to juggle that thing back to the parking lot. Alicia and I thought it was quite humorous. I somehow lucked out and got my own drug up to the lot by two awesome 7/8 year olds.
Alicia and Kaiden

Geof and his monster tree

Kyle and his friend TJ taking a break, they still had to bring it down and hill in back of them.

It was hard to get Piper to take a break from playing with Konnor to take a picture.

Reagan looking cute! For most of the adventure she followed me around crying about having to walk. She's developed quite the attitude lately.

We finally decorated the tree tonight. It smells so good and the girls had so much fun putting their bulbs up. Seeing their eyes light up is so much fun!

Layla had to be part of the action.

Piper started her paper chain tonight. I wonder how long it will get this year.

Our first snowfall

Well our first snowfall came and it was an adventure. Jason and I like to be prepared but we rarely put forth the effort to be so and as usual, our snowblower was not in working order. At least it was in the shop and we got it back in great working order about 5 days after the snow. Well I never looked for the official reading but I am guessing we got 5 inches of the heavy wet stuff. It showed up Friday night and into Saturday. Trading off shoveling duties it took us the entire day to clear the cement portion of our driveway. Me being me, I couldn't wait to take Jason's truck down the driveway to get our paper and check out the driving conditions. Well I didn't realize his 4wd was completely out and I only managed to make it partially back up the driveway. We decided not to take my car out until it cleared up a bit, so Sunday we decided to give my car a try at the driveway. Well one of the kids knocked on my dome light and killed my battery. With Jason's truck stuck at the bottom of the hill we felt defeated and called in reinforcements. Our friends Geof and Alicia came to the rescue by jumping my car. In the meantime I was feeling pretty cranky about being stuck at home for 2 days so I started shoveling the gravel. It wasn't that bad, but it could have been that I was so cranky, I had a lot of energy to expel. We got almost all of it shoveled and after having Jason's 4wd fixed we haven't had much of a problem. Now of course I'm waiting for another snowfall so I can play with my snowblower.

Jason entertained the kids and himself by sledding. He is thinking of all the fun ways to sled through the yard and pasture, removing fences and all. I think he wants to be a kid again. Nothing wrong with that, I wish I had more of his imagination and enthusiasm.
Rea was determined to go down her slide all covered in snow. It was so thick I'm sure her little legs got tired slogging up and down the hill.

Piper was having a blast, she couldn't wait to start building a fort and a snowman. Unfortunately she didn't get too far with either of them before she was soaking wet and had to come in to dry.

Oh their giggles were so priceless!

Happy Thanksgiving

Now that I have a dining room I was excited to host our 1st Thanksgiving here at the new house. We had 17 people including the Piper, Reagan, Brecken and Vienna. I was insisting on sitting everyone together at one table and unfortunately my dining room isn't big enough to hold all the tables I put together. If the doorway wasn't quite as narrow we could have made it but alas we ended up in the kitchen dining area. Oh well, I really like my new dining room with Grandma Miller's hutch and buffet and Doug's matching table and Great Grandma Warhol's fostoria, it's all so pretty. All our happy guests. We had a great day, although I was a little nervous, we planned to eat at 1pm, the turkey was saying it was done at 10:30am and I was expecting everyone to show up a little early but our first guest didn't arrive until 12:15. I thought for sure the turkey was going to be awful but it was great and I am a lucky hostess as all I worried about was the turkey, rolls, vegetable (which I actually forgot until half way through dinner) and a dessert. Mom brought wine and made gravy, Robin brought the mashed potatoes and her delicious broccoli dish, Niki brought the green bean casserole and a bunch of delicious snacks to munch on and Bill stressed out making the silver creams which finally turned out perfect until something went haywire on the drive out, they turned into soup but still tasted great. Bill wasn't a very happy camper, I'm not sure when we'll get him to attempt Silver Cream pies again. I may have to snag the recipe and try my hand at them.

Setting the table. I finally got to use the dishes Robin and Lonny gave us for our wedding. I didn't even realize I had them until we moved in. I never had a place to store them so I had them packed away in the attic and after 10 years forgot we had them.

When the chairs came from Doug they were still sporting their original 70's green/orange and brown fabric which had seen it's day and then some. I spent hours in the fabric store and finally got fed up and went with this fabric thanks to my friend Holly. I got it home and was very pleased as it matches the furniture perfectly.

A couple pictures of the dishes, it's so cool, I have a mix of both family's dishes in there and I FINALLY have a plate I can put cake on.

Halloween Hoopla(s)

We had fun getting ready for Halloween, we started celebrating a week early at the Kocina's Annual Hayride at Jason's Aunt and Uncle's house. Jason was off hunting so the girls and I hitched a ride with Lonny and Robin. We all had a great time.

Piper was in heaven getting an opportunity to ride a horse. She just jumped right on like she's an expert, she took a few spins around the pen and took time to pet the horse and talk to him. I think we will have to look into riding lessons for her, luckily there are a few places nearby.
It was such a beautiful day/evening. We put our coats on for the hayride but barely needed them, it was 70 degrees that day and it didn't cool off too much as the sun set.

Now to continue our traditions we went to Mom's to ride the Excelsior Boo Train. The kids just love doing this and have been talking about it for the previous month and a half. As usual, they had a great time and Mom cooked up a delicious dinner for us all.

Mom's friend Barb and her niece Carrie Jo joined us again this year.

Reagan and I riding at John and Sandy's. Reagan would have gone alone with Grandpa walking beside her but I wanted an excuse to take a ride as well. Our horse's name was Chic.

As usual Piper made friends with all the other little girls at the party and had to sit with them on the hayride.

John and Sandy have such a fun place and always do a great job of keeping the kids entertained with all their toys.

Now on to Halloween night, we are making it a tradition to venture over to Heather and Brant's house to trick or treat. They have family over for a little potluck and then all the kids get out to trick or treat. We had quite the entourage of people this year and had a great time!

Little Princess Reagan with Aydan and Laura Ingalls Piper

They looked so cute!

Pumpkin carving, Jason whipped through 4 pumpkins in record time this year. We enjoyed designing them even though we are the only one's who saw them.