Thanksgiving in West Virginia and Sinterklaas back in Michigan

SINTERKLAAS

Benjamin served a mission in the Netherlands. There they have Sinterklaas on December 5-6th. On the 5th the kids put carrots and hay in their shoes and if they have been good Zwarte Piet will leave presents in their shoes for the next morning. Their tradition is that if the kids have been bad Zwarte Piet will get taken away. Benjamin told all this to Abbie and she got really concerned. We had to work all morning at reassuring her that she really is a good girl and that nobody would be taking her away. But she was excited the next morning.



THANKSGIVING

We were super lucky to be able to visit my Uncle Steve, Aunt Shanna and cousin Cami in West Virginia for Thanksgiving. My brother and his family were there from Maryland also. The drive there was stressful, but definitely worth it. We had a wonderful time.

My Aunt Shanna helped the kids and girls do crafts. Abigail painted her things glitter, pink and more glitter. I got to may a nativity set that we have been enjoying.

Benjamin went hunting for the first time in his life with Dave and Uncle Steve and enjoyed being in the beautiful Appalacian mountains. We all went shooting one afternoon. I enjoyed shooting a .45 pistol...nice kick.

They had a fire pit in their back yard and we got to roast marshmallows and hot dogs.


Benjamin and Dave playing Epic Duels


Steve and Shanna's house was Abigail's dreams come true. They had 2 dogs, an INDOOR swimming pool, a yard, fire pit, good food, a banjo and toys.



Thanksgiving dinner was tasty!

Cousins on the couch

Look at those smiles!

We had an awesome vacation and sure appreciated their hospitality. It was so fun to be with family. We love you guys!

Enjoying Fall

We have gotten to do a lot of fun things recently. Yesturday we did a Pirate Murder Mystery. Benjamin was Dr. Jim Jones "Redbeard" and I was Black Bones Sadie. It was fun to see Benjamin in his theatre mode. He did plays in high school and his skills were appreciated by the group.











HALLOWEEN!!!!!!

We went trick or treating in a friendly neighborhood where Abigail warmed up very quickly to the idea of getting candy for the magic words of, "Trick or Treat!" At first she said she didn't want to say it very loud, but by the end of it dropped her shyness and became an old pro. The next day we did the ritual sorting of the candy with her and daddy has been more than pleased with her generosity in sharing her loot. The people you see in the pictures are our good neighbors the Belliston's and Sandy and Megan.

As you can see, Abigail decided to be a disney princess, but she wasn't Snow White even though you might think it from the dress. Instead, she was Cinderella. When Emily got the dress for her at a garage sale, Abigail promptly put it on and grabbed a spare broom which she called a "mop" and started mopping our carpet. She has the story down!

Here is a video of Abigail doing her best Cinderella impression in preparation for the Halloween festivities!

We got to carve pumpkins twice with Abigail. Once while Emily's parents were visiting us and another time on the day of Halloween. As you can see by Abby's facial expressions, both attempts were complete successes!

Wednesday's are Benjamin's busiest days and besides a 20 minutes stop in for dinner he doesn't get to see Abigail because she is asleep by the time he gets back from mutual. So one Wednesday Benjamin decided to do a scavenger hunt for Abigail using starburst candies as the prize. It was a complete success! This picture is of Abigail discovering the first clue taped to the bathroom door. Since the completion of her first scavenger hunt Abigail has had both of us go on mini hunts for toys and candy and trash, usually hidden in shelves and under the couch. Good clean fun!

There is a children's museum here in Lansing called "Impressions 5" and Emily went with a bunch of friends there one day. As you can see Abigail had a great time. Emily is very good about taking Abigail out to all kinds of things like this. She has a play group on Tuesdays and reading time at the library on Thursdays. Daddy tries to take her to open gymnastics time as often as he can as well.

The weather is getting cold here in Michigan! It was in the 30's and even 20's at night! It's warmed up a little bit since, but the winter clothes are officially out of storage!

We're about half way through our marathon October blog posting so for an intermission please enjoy a few random pictures of Abigail...

Emily's parents came to visit us and we had such a grand time! Dennis (Emily's Dad) did a lot of fixup work around our apartment and even made a new guard for Abigail's bed. It is the perfect blend of form and function.

Anna Margaret (Emily's Mom) kept Abigail busy from the moment she arrived and all the way back to the airport. It's hard to say who had more fun, though. Abigail loves her grandparents!

One day while Emily's parents were visiting we went out on a nature walk at the perfect time to see all the leaves changing colors. We got to go to a nice restaurant right before the walk and we misjudged how much food we were going to get. The walk was a very welcome end to a huge meal. Great food, great friends, great lakes, great times...

Well, thanks for reading our gigantic blog posting! Hopefully we'll have more bite-sized installments in the coming months! We've been wrestling the formatting on where the pictures and text go so please excuse the disorderliness!