Thanksgiving Vacation

Whew!  This has been a busy, crazy, fun week.  The kids have been off school all week and we have had such a blast.  We have had play dates, played games, spent time with family, made "Thanksgiving decorations", and studied yoga with Auntie Rachel.

By Thursday Jeremy was off work and we were ready to celebrate Thanksgiving.  This year we went to my parents house.  Ben and Becca were in Utah with Ben's family and Emily and Tala were in Arizona so it was just Brendon and Rachel's family, my parents, and us.  We must have thought everyone was going to be there though with the amount of food we cooked (we are still eating leftovers).  It was a great Thanksgiving.

In addition to being Thanksgiving, Thursday also happened to be Elsie's 9 month birthday.  I had been busy cooking in the morning and really didn't have time for my regular photo shoot with a very wiggly baby so after dinner I asked Maude to give it a whirl.  Elsie is getting two new teeth on top so 90% of the pictures she has her tongue sticking out and Maude didn't have any better luck getting her to hold still than I did.  At 9 months Elsie is a really busy girl.  She loves to be down and on the move.  She is "crawling" but not really.  She goes half on her bum and half on her knee on one side and up on her foot on the other side.  It is really hard to describe, but it works for her and she is really fast.  Also this month, she started saying "mama".  It melts my heart every time she says it.  She loves her food and is eating all kinds of things.  She pulls herself to stand on anything and everything and I am certain it won't be too long until she is walking.

After Thanksgiving, the rest of the week mostly revolved around shopping and football.  We did get to spend some quality time with the girls while Merrick was at a friend's house watching the Ducks and the Beavers.  Since Carrigan got to choose the activity, we ended up at Chuck E. Cheese.  It has been a while since we have been there and I think Merrick has outgrown it so it was nice to be able to just take the girls,who both had a blast.

It has been a great week and now I am ready and excited to start the countdown to Christmas!

Jeremy's Birthday

This week we celebrated our Daddy-o and his 36th birthday.  His special day fell on the Friday this year and since I didn't have preschool I was able to go downtown (with my sidekick, Elsie) and have lunch with him.  That night, after he got home from work, we had a special dinner, cake and presents.  I am not sure it was a birthday for the record books, but we did our best to make him feel special.

Last night Nana and Papa watched all the kids and Jeremy and I were able to go out on a date to celebrate more.  We went to dinner and picked out new glasses for him because we know how to have a good time.  In all seriousness, Jeremy and I were talking on our way home last night about how lucky and blessed we really are and it is true.  When I count up all my blessing Jeremy is at the top of the list and I am so glad we had a day to celebrate him.

Harry Potter Night

We are finally all caught up here on the blog so I can actually write about things as they happen.  This week it's Harry Potter Night.  Every year our city library goes all out putting on a Harry Potter Night.  You may remember me writing about it from past years.  The night is complete with getting an individualized wand, being sorted into houses, playing Harry Potter themed games and eating Harry Potter themed snacks.  The first year we went there weren't that many people, but it has grown each year and turned into a huge deal.  We have never dressed up, but we are becoming more and more the minority.  Maybe next year we will have to get on board with dressing up.

Full disclosure, I didn't actually go this time.  Elsie hasn't been feeling well and it didn't start until 7 so Jeremy took Merrick and Carrigan and Elsie and I stayed home.  I have it on good authority though that everyone had a good time.  They even met up with several friends from school and saw friends from the ward.  Next year I am sure we will all get back in on the action and even Elsie will get to experience the extravaganza that is Harry Potter Night.

Fall Is In the Air

One peak outside to the beautifully colored falling leaves and it is clear that Fall has arrived in the PNW.  I know our summers are amazing and I always rave about them, but I think that Fall might be my favorite season here.  I think it is because I never really got to experience Fall in Arizona.  There is just something seriously magical about the changing leaves and while the nights do start getting crisp, we usually still have some warm days mixed in.  Now add to that pumpkin patches, apple cider, and apple cider doughnuts and it truly doesn't get any better than that.

In the Clifford family we have done our fair share of Fall activities already this year.  Carrigan got to take a field trip to a pumpkin patch with her kindergarten class and Elsie and I got to tag along.  It was fun because since it was a school field trip it was a different patch experience.  We got to see baby animals, learn about different kinds of pumpkins, see how they make apple cider, and of course pick a pumpkin.

We also made it to a pumpkin patch as a family.  This was more of the traditional patch experience.  We did the cow train, a hayride, painted pumpkins, did the corn maze, shot paintball guns, slid down slides, and played in the hazelnut house.  Elsie spent the day strapped to my chest but I am sure by next year she will be right there with the other kids loving every minute.

Of course no Fall would be complete without Halloween.  We did Halloween big this year.  It all started with a Halloween Party for Merrick and most of the whole third grade.  A couple of moms from the school and I put it on and it was a huge success.  We played games and ate pizza but the clear winner of the night was the toilet paper fight.  We started with a mummy wrapping activity and then let the kids have a dance party in all the toilet paper.  The dance party kind of evolved into a toilet paper fight and even some of the parents (especially me) had to get in on the action.

Our next Halloween activity was a family affair. We were invited to our friend's church Halloween carnival and let me just say they know how to throw a party.  There were tons of games and inflatables and TONS of candy and prizes.

Eventually it was actually Halloween, but even then we couldn't just have one activity.  After school the kids and I went trick or treating to the businesses in old town West Linn.  Carrigan had an extra good time because we ran in to practically her whole soccer team and her current kindergarten crush.  Elsie enjoyed the afternoon in her stroller and eventually enjoyed it with her eyes closed.

As if that wasn't enough, that night we met up with a bunch of Merrick's friends for trick or treating in the neighborhood.  I tell you, I have never seen so many full-sized candy bars.

Now that Halloween is behind us it is full steam ahead to my favorite holiday, Thanksgiving.  See?  Fall it the best!