Thanksgiving 2015

Henry and Tim making Thanksgiving cards to send to family we love and miss.

Lukey and Sophia also working hard.

Thanksgiving morning. All the adults minus me and Randy, plus Alex, ready for the annual Turkey trot. Alex, Kathy, Sara, Dale and Eric getting ready to start. You'll notice no one has a heavy coat, there's no snow and Eric is in shorts. It was warmer than normal this year and a great day to go for a run, if you like that kind of thing!

Parker, Tim, Julia and Oliver cheering the adults on !!

After the adults finished their 5K it was time for the kids to take their turn. They run the circle Kathy and Dale live on. Everyone with their toes behind the starting line. Left to right is Jack, Tim, Parker, Henry, Julia, Sophia, Max, Oliver and Luke in his rainboots that kept slipping off!

Here they go!

Off to complete the circle! Notice Luke's missing boot!

After breakfast at Kathy and Dale's it was back to our house for the turkey. Sophia and Jack got a little cuddle time in before we ate.

Randy in the background there, complete with his beard for No'shave'ember carving our turkey. And Eric working on the gravy as he has done every year for us.

Oliver getting a little screen time in.

Cousin's playing together.

Randy and Eric checking if there are any deals for Sara, Kathy and I to get the next day on our shopping spree. I guess I didn't get a picture of George but he also celebrated with us this year, as usual and we love to have him.

Too much turkey? No, too much fun.

Tim watching Sophia color her bag she got from the Shook family for her birthday.

Patiently, Julia watches as Sophia paints Julia's little nails. I know we also celebrated Oliver's birthday this weekend, but I must have forgotten to take my camera out. As I said the adult girls did their traditional black Friday shopping, which is really about being together and getting lunch. We also loaded kids up and did Lights on the Lake. We split into two car loads. Kathy and Dale took Julia and Luke. While Sara and I took everyone else. On the way there Kathy had to get out at a red light and put the child lock on so Luke would stop opening the car door.Then at the light display a car was pulled over, and neither Sara or I said it out loud, but thought , "What did my child do?!" Only to realize it was a marriage proposal going on. So besides a few heart stopping moments for the moms, the kids had a great time!

Sophia's birthday

Happy Birthday, Sophia! She's now 9 years old! With her brothers, Max and Henry in the back. Luke, Alex, Sophia and Timmy in the front.

Birthday girl!

The night was complete with ice cream for dessert, two dances to the Beatles,"Birthday Song" and a game of Headbandz she got that night.

Madisen spent the night the Friday after Sophia's birthday. I decorated her minion birthday cake as they watched "Inside Out".

Movie done, cake decorated, and ready to eat!

Blowing out the candle.

The next day Aunt Kathy and Uncle Dale brought over Sophia's gift, a cotton candy maker. It was a huge hit!!!!

Random

Sometimes there are random pictures that need to be added to the blog. This post is of a few of those. Here's Lukey one day last fall when he decided it was a day to color!

Max and Alex consulting each other on the game Alex is playing.

Henry wrapped up into a burrito by Tim.

Sophia chatting away! This is the first year she's begun talking on the phone just for fun!

Alex's big project this past summer was completing a model of the Death Star out of Legos. He got the Lego directions off the web and used whatever Legos he could find to complete his masterpiece. Complete with a moving trash compactor, sliding door, working elevator and working trap door into the trash compactor.

Finally, even Dracula needs his nails clipped every now and then.

Happy Halloween

Our minion (Sophia), Clone Trooper (Timmy), Police Officer (Henry) and Yoda ( Lukey) started Halloween at the St. Rose Halloween party. They played games, ate candy and had fun!

We came home from the school party and got our pumpkins carved. Timmy's deciding how he wants his pumpkin face to look.

Luke and Henry making decisions about their soon-to-be, jack-o-lanterns.

Sophia and her friend, Madisen, working together on Sophia's pumpkin.

Ta-da! Pumpkin #1 all done! The thing to the left of the pumpkin's eye is a sword it's holding.

Henry's scary jack-o-lantern is ready for a candle.

Now it's time to trick-or-treat. Madisen (as Mary) and Sophia went out with Madisen's parents.

Henry and Tim ready to get some candy! Unfortunately Luke got sick right before it was time to go trick-or-treating so he stayed home with Alex and Randy. And Max stayed at his friend's Jason's house and trick-or-treated with him.  By the time Henry, Tim and I got back home Lukey was doing well, we waited for Sophia to get back and then headed over to Aunt Kathy and Uncle Dale's. It has become our tradition to end Halloween at their house. Which is always complete with extra treats and a viewing of "The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown."

Lukey turns 3!

The Shooks came to visit the first weekend of October. It was a very busy weekend. The girls (minus Sophia) went to Beth Stile's (Kathy's daughter-in-law) baby shower. Randy, Henry, Timmy, Sophia, Eric, Oliver and Parker went to Cubtoberfest, a overnight cub scout camp out at the Fulton Drive-In. But before all that, we celebrated Luke's 3rd birthday. On the couch are Alex and Max. In the front are Jack, Parker, Tim, Oliver, Henry, Luke, Julia and Sophia.

Max, Randy, and Eric watch Luke excitedly play with his new dinosaur before it's even out of the box. Why does Max have a bat? Excellent question!

Luke with his new trumpet and "choo-choo" cake.

Just about to sing "Happy Birthday"!

Later that evening playing his new drum.

Julia taking a turn with the trumpet.

Max, the baby whispherer with baby Jack.

 Two, 3 year old cousin's sitting in the toy boxes, watching Daniel Tiger. Right before Sara and I took off for dinner at a restaurant, all by ourselves, well except Jack! (Alex and Max watched the 3 year olds.)

Timmy's 5th birthday!!

Here isTimmy's birthday party.  Before his birthday he discovered our "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" book. It was all he wanted read to him. He kept asking to watch the movie, but I told him, "No, we don't get the Christmas movies out until Christmas." So when Randy and I asked him what he wanted for his birthday all he would say was, "Mine own "How the Grinch Stole Christmas " movie so I can watch it whenever I want." And since that was his only idea, and our copy was an old VHS tape, that's what he got.

Timmy really got socks and underwear for his birthday (from Aunt Kathy and Uncle Dale). Which he thought was hysterical!

Timmy loves our neighbor boy, William. Timmy really wanted him there for his birthday! There's the two of them playing with Timmy's new gifts.

His birthday couldn't be complete without watching the Grinch.

Alex, Luke (hiding behind Alex), Max and Sophia playing Timmy's new minion operation game.

Timmy's friend, William, Sophia, Alex, Max, Timmy and Henry waiting for Timmy to blow out his candle.

Timmy's birthday cake, the Grinch about to go down the chimney of a Who- house, of course!

September 15th, Timmy's actual birthday! He's officially 5!

Everyone celebrating Timmy's big day!