Happy Thanksgiving!

Preschool Thanksgiving Party

This week, Brayden had his Thanksgiving feast/party with his preschool class.  He learned all about the pilgrims and indians and even got to watch the Pre-K class do a play about it.  They made feather necklaces which listed the things they were thankful for...his says that he's thankful for "Trees, Leaves, and Playdoh."  Go figure.  

His Indian name is "Running Elk."  He does run a lot.  I remember getting these names when I was in elementary school.  So fun.

Brayden's preschool class...

8 boys.  0 girls.

His Thanksgiving feast

Brayden and Christopher (on the left)

Chris is probably his best bud in the class.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Trick-or-Treat!

This year, Brayden rocked his Spiderman costume for Halloween. 

He loved it so much last year, that he really wanted to wear it again this year.

Oh, just chillin'

 We went trick-or-treating with a good friend's kids.

Here's Brayden and Quinn ready to Trick-or-Treat!

The Park

Each time we head up to Oklahoma, Brayden can't wait to go to the park. In the last year, each time we head that way, Papa loves taking Brayden to the park to feed the ducks. I'm not sure who is more excited. They both LOVE it! Whenever the park is mentioned, Brayden goes into this long monologue about the ducks...giving them bread...and the turtles and fishies at the park. It was a much anticipated outing once we got to Edmond.

Almost at the pond where all the ducks await.

Brayden and Papa with their bag of bread in tow.

Feeding the "duckies"

One of the giant Canadian geese decided to grab the bread

OUT of Brayden's hand. He was totally okay; I on the other hand...

...thus the need to keep hold of his shirt!

Sliding at the park...

Such a kid!

Swinging...yes, he is such a kid too. And I love it!

Jonathan and Amy both jumping out of their swings.

Under-dog! He about flipped me over!

Amy and Brayden

"Can I take this stick back home as my souvenir?"

To Jump or Not To Jump

We decided it would be fun to try a jumping picture. Um, yeah. Usually with these pictures, you get one good one after like twenty attempts. It's hard to coordinate 7 people at one time with cameras of different shutter speeds. Oh well, we had fun. It was an attempt...but one with a great memory attached.

Got this one a bit too early...

This picture just looks weird...

Eh...not quite!

Jonathan just decided to dive.

YAY!

Thanksgiving in Oklahoma

For Thanksgiving, we drove up to Oklahoma to see my family. It was so great to see everyone back in town and hang out together. We had lots of laughs, early hours of the morning shopping, and time hanging at the park. Here are some of our pics from the trip:

Nanny & Papa with all the grandkids

Shannon, Amy, Kristin, and me

Brayden LOVED helping lick the beater after making whipped cream

Shannon and Nanny making gravy

Uncle John taught Ryan how to carve a turkey.

He learned from the pro!

The "kid" table

Paul & Amy had fun taking video of Brayden

My wonderful sis and me

Uncle John & Aunt Pam with Ryan, Shannon, and Kristin

Mom & Dad with Paul and Amy...I just love my fam!

After the turkey...we crashed on the couch!

Happy Fall - Easy Craft for the Kids

Here's a super easy craft for kids to make. Brayden loved getting to pull out the glue...He had to learn that a glue stick does not equal Chapstick. Um...yeah.

We made a tree with lots of falling leaves. It's super simple. We pulled out construction paper, tissue paper, and glue (Elmer's works best). We traced his hand all the way down to his elbow onto brown construction paper and cut out the shape. We glued that down onto the orange construction paper sheet. The brown hand became the "tree."

I cut out lots of 1" squares of tissue paper in varying colors. Brayden loved crumpling them up. Once they're crumpled, simply glue each one onto the paper. Some are still on the "tree" and some are falling down to the ground. It was a great way to teach him how the leaves fall off of the trees in the Fall.

Happy Fall everyone!

Putnam's Pumpkin Party

I have not carved a pumpkin since college. It's been a long time. I don't know why we don't carve them each year, but they usually just sit on our porch for a week or so. I was so excited when I found out that our good friends - the Putnams - were having a Pumpkin Carving Party.

After picking out pumpkins at our Pumpkin Patch, we were ready for some good ole carving. It was such a great party, and Whitney did an AMAZING job with the decorations and the fun food. It was quite impressive!

Jonathan pulled out all the guts, and I carved the pumpkin. I carved a pretty basic face, but I was so impressed with a lot of other people's carving skills...a spiderweb, fall leaves and acorns, a Rockets logo, and much more. I'm gonna have to up my game next year...ha!

What a great night...thanks Putnams!

Jonathan was excited about carving

the top of the pumpkin to clean it out...

...until he saw the guts inside. Bahahahahahahaha

The whole group in front of our carved pumpkins

Whitney & Michael Putnam

Gina, Whitney, and I

The fam with our punkin' and pumpkin :)