Thanksgiving

We had a party at DeMars on Wednesday night before Thanksgiving and did crafts with the kids. We made letters in jars for the centerpiece, pilgrim hats, and cupcake turkeys. It was a fun evening to spend with family and a yummy dinner. We were lucky and had two Thanksgiving meals with both families!

Lyla in her pilgrim hat

Griffin the Pouting Pilgrim

new little cousin Collin and Lyla (she looks huge next to him, he's a tiny little guy and she's not all that big herself)

The kids were fascinated with papa carving the turkey. Griffin was a little worried about where it was before it was in the oven, but he ate it nevertheless!

HaPpY HaLLoWeeN

Adrie, Andrew, Kyra, Mazie, Ellie, Bree, Griff, Crew, Ava, Lyla and Madi

(Samson was sleeping so we caught him for a pic later with Lyla)

cousin Samson and Lyla

Griffin, Crew, Ava, Blythe and Brandt

Ava's preschool class

Kali and Ava

Happy Birthday Ava

Ava turned "4". She is growing up way too fast! We had a cousin party out at The Chocolate. We had pizza, decorated cupcakes, did glitter toes and had treats! She had a fun time being with all her cousins! Happy Birthday!

Mazie, Makenna, Ava, Ellie and Madi

Thanks to aunt Shaley for coming and doing glitter toes for all the girls! Their toes were all so sparkly and fabulous!

All the girls and their glitter toes

cousin Ellie and Lyla

We did "A" cookies, Ava was excited to take to her preschool class for her birthday treat!

31 for 21: Carving Pumpkins and Kecia Birthday

Sunday evening we had a family pumpkin carving party and Happy Birthday to Kecia!

Lyla is doing so good on her tummy now that her scar is healed and she doesn't cry when she rolls on her tummy. She's making great progress holding her head up!

Apple ball bites were great to dip in carmel and toppings. Thanks Caitlyn for the great idea, it worked perfect, much better than whole apples because you get to try every topping this way plus the polka dot apples after you scoop them out are so cute!

Lyla was just interested in chewing on the lid to her pumpkin.

The finished products!

31 for 21: Down Syndrome Playgroup

Last week Kecia hosted a down syndrome playgroup at her house so we went! It was so nice to meet a bunch of mom's and visit and share expreiences with each other. It makes it great to know people in the same situation and share feelings, it's an instant bond with them sharing in this new journey, and it was great for Lyla to meet some cute new buddies! They are all so darling and sweet. You can just feel this enormous spirit with all these kids together!

31 for 21: Lyla's first haircut

Lyla has the craziest, whispy, thin hair so it was time for a haircut. She had a little trim when she was brand new but the top had grown in so long and weird.

Thanks to aunt Caitlyn the horrible comb-over is now gone!

Lacey put the whole top in a ponytail which stuck straight up, it looked ridiculous, we were all laughing.

So much better now! Hooray!

31 for 21: Cornbelly's

Last week we tried to get in all the outdoor Halloween activities before the weather turned freezing, and good thing we did since we woke up to snow today, yuck. The kids had coupons from Ava's school fieldtrip to go back for free so we went again since the boys weren't with us the first time. They all had so much fun!

Crew was in heavan with the old firetruck he could play in and try on the firefighter hat!

Griffin and Blythe dancing on the jumping pillows.