punkychicken.

gobble gobble

we held our thanksgiving in the brand new barn (workshop) this year which was really nice! i was so happy to be home, i dont get to spend a lot of time there so it was comforting. the kids had a great time playing with kim and katie in the van, i think they watched kung foo panda. just like the pilgrims (:

i think dinner was a success. i thought it was yummy! we had more desserts to count, i literally was only able to take one bite of each. brian made a pumpkin maple cheesecake that i have been secretly nibbling on every time i pass the fridge. my kids didnt eat much though, they were to  busy yelling back and forth to eachother through the unfinished pipe that led into the bathroom. they were really cracking me up with the whip cream. they are so funny!

 

lela made homemade napkin rings to decorate the table. she was very proud. she also knew what she was doing. she took extra special care and time when she made her own. here she is passing them out. shes precious.

   

lets see, james and gail came up with katie and kim. maw maw and pop pop came in from vegas so we had lots of fun hanging out and talking. oh yeah and lets not forget, looking over the paper for black friday deals. brian is OBSESSED!

 

             

courtyard

they have been so busy this week at shangrila. the electric, plumbing, gas lines, air conditioning, heating are at least close to being done. im probably missing something, oh yes, they papered the roof. it has been so fun to watch it all go in but i dont know how interesting pictures of wire would be so im putting up lots of pictures of the courtyard. we will be finishing the overhang with linseed oil. i think it will look really good when its all complete, in fact, i think it looks pretty darn good (correction, i LOVE it) right now as it is.

             

turn at the big red barn at the top of the hill, you cant miss it.....

i will happily admit that i was wrong in questioning brians decision to pain the barn red. here it is, it looks fabulous!

 

things have been crazy lately. the kids are wild as ever. lela is a little sick today with a low grade fever but is really excited for thanksgiving, mostly shes excited to set the table. i wasnt going to do anything special but now i think we will go tablecloth hunting.

charlie, as you will see in the following pictures, never stops. he is always busy, always. he has taken to dressing himself and really likes to wear his spiderman and batman jammie shirts with jeans, topped with whatever hat he can find.

piper is going through a little terrible 2s but she is slowly getting the picture that i dont give in when she cries. we have been having mommy boot camp this week. still, she is so cute even when shes screaming. lately her favorite word is no. lela and charlie find this hilarious.

they say 'are you cute' piper says 'no'

them, 'are you funny' piper,'no'

them, 'do you like mommy' piper, 'no'

this goes on and on.....and they laugh and laugh.

 

     

           

last week my dad came and visited us, i cant believe we only got this picture): all the kids enjoyed his visit. it didnt take long for piper is make a new buddy, lela and charlie were really sad to see him go. they keep asking to visit papa j's house.

 

more fun house stuff!!

   

isnt this pretty!!!

     

our puzzle

lela and i love to do puzzles together, together being the operative word here. i picked up this puzzle at kmart last week. i picked this one mostly because of the cats, these are the same cats who must have had me so transfixed that i didnt notice that this is a 300 piece puzzle recommended for 10 year olds. when i dumped out the box we all collectively let out a big sigh, lela looked at me and said 'this might take a few days mom' ..............she was right. only it was me who spent most of the time on it, lela would get bored real fast, it doesnt matter because she still took most of the credit. now shes making us keep it on the table to show papa j this weekend.

leftovers from october

here are some extra october pictures. by the way the costume lela is wearing during the popiscle pictures is her halloween costume minus the wings and makeup....

also here i am fat and pregnant.............

 

 

     

afternoon with cole and christian

after school today linda and i took the kids to the park. we checked out private forts and burned some energy. the little explorers were so cute! they are a good team....

           

look at this pretty pretty girl.

trusses!!!

yay!!! they look SO GOOD!!!

 

   

     

spooooky halloween pictures....

let me start by saying how embarrassed i am that i did not get a piture of lela in her costume. i am a horrible mom. whoops. she was barbie mariposa, use your imagination.

                         

also, i should mention charlie spent half of halloween as a teenage mutant ninja turtle, i didnt get a picture of that either.

at the last minute we changed our tradition and followed lelas girlfriends out to the estates and had a good time, the kids really liked it bbbbbutttt, we did bring them through a haunted house which was a BAD BAD BAD idea. it really didnt look that bad but apparently it was really scary to the kids. lela cried, charlie had a night terror and piper has pointed the house out twice to me as 'scary mommy.'once again, im a bad mom!

this is what i picture piper looking like as she goes to college

 

although she probably wont be driving a minivan. at least i hope not.