A Happy Turkey Day!

Our first Thanksgiving in our very own home! Taylor thought it would be a great idea for all the boys to be pilgrims and all the girls to be indians...Isn't Michael a cute pilgrim?!?

My first turkey! I was so worried I would ruin it....I did the brine recipe with buttermilk from Williams Sonoma.....it was absolutely fantastic!

Bye Bye Pacis...

I would categorize Michael and I as "softies"....a little (ok, a lot) over-protective, wanting to keep our sweet girl happy and feeling loved....hence, Taylor still had her pacis on her 4th birthday. But if you knew how much she LOVED those things you wouldn't have any questions as to why they were still around. So after she turned 4, I knew it was time....but thought we would wait until Christmas, and Santa could take the pacis and give them to the babies at the hospital and leave Taylor with a huge pile of wonderful toys to keep her mind off of how much she missed them.

That's not the way it turned out though....we heard that some other friends had a visit from the "Paci Fairy"....she came and took their pacis and left them with a letter and gifts. So Taylor wanted to be in on that! We talked about it a lot and she decided (and we did too!) that she was ready! This is the letter that Taylor had me write to the Paci Fairy...we chose Emily & Katelyn (twin baby girls) for her to give them to.

This is what was left for Taylor when she woke up the next morning...and the pacis had disappeared! She was so excited! And so proud that she was such a big girl now....

We prepared ourselves for a few roough nights.....but go figure, she only asked a handful of times for them (and only one night was just a little difficult)...and is now completely over it. She didn't even cry one time....We're so proud of her.

You know how it goes....the photographer never has pictures of her own family....Well, thanks to a very sweet friend, I was able to FINALLY get my own family portraits taken! And I just love them!

Pumpkin Carving...

Taylor really got into it this year!

And really wanted to do the carving...
The finished product....we went with the standard- no frills jackolantern.
Just what Taylor wanted!

At the Patch...

Some of my favorites from the patch.... I can't believe how big she is!!

Preschool Pals

Some playgroup moms and I decided to make a "preschool group" for our kids who aren't enrolled right now....once a month we meet to do storytime, art projects, food/science projects, etc... and then go on a field trip once a month too! The girls all seem to love it!

Helping paint the pumpkin mural...

Some October Fun...

Taylor & I hosted a Pumpkin Decorating playdate for the Moms Club...

At our friend Sam's 4th birthday Painting Party...all the kids had these adorable shirts/smocks ready to wear when we arrived and they all painted their very own masterpieces!

Same day, different party! Eddie's 2nd birthday Halloween Dress-up party...

This also was our 5th wedding anniversary....can you tell how romantic our day was?!? haha!

But we wouldn't have it any other way!

Taylor was a Ballerina Kitty this year...

and this was the first of many times to wear her costume...

she loved having the nose & whiskers drawn on!

At our Moms' Club Halloween Party...the kids dressed up, we all decorated our cars for Trick R Trunk, they made scarecrows and had a "spooktacular" time!

Our little playgroup's Halloween party...Collin (the dinosaur) has the BIGGEST crush on Taylor...he is the sweetest little guy...always making sure she is ok, draws her little love notes in the shape of hearts, and even let her borrow his special rock. What a sweetie!
The girls!

Awful picture....but look how cute they are!