It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

but it sure doesn't feel like it. We're still waiting on that cold snap to kill all the bugs. Clark Griswold, I mean Steve, was up on the roof finishing off the Christmas lights last night and got eaten alive by mosquitoes. I'm on top of the shopping this year with only a few purchases left. Hopefully we can swing a date night one of these weekends to finish it all off. I've become a pretty good online shopper. I only worry that when the packages are delivered, my nosy kids might open them up but so far I've been home to get them. Jackson says he still believes in Santa but I think that's only because I always tell the kids if they don't believe then they don't receive. :) A couple of websites I've recently become aware of for good deals are slickdeals and babycheapskate for baby deals, obviously. I once got a jillion jars of baby food for pennies each because of a coupon I got off that site. Now, of course, my baby refuses to eat baby food.

Thanksgiving

No pics to post because my camera battery was dead and I never got out to get another one. We spent several days in Rockledge hanging out with family. Thanksgiving day was nice. We had dinner at Brian and Bridget's house, all 42 of us. All siblings were there minus Marilyn and Paul and all grandchildren were there minus Abbie, Adam, Matthew and Kelsie. The kids LOVE hanging out with their cousins. Who wouldn't? There are so many to choose from. :) My mom planned a "While You Were Out" kind of thing for my dad while he was working at the temple on Friday and Saturday. She had Dan and Paul redo the computer room. Dad got home a little earlier than expected and the work wasn't done but he was still pleasantly surprised. Since I don't have any pics of Thanksgiving, I posted some random favorites from this year.

Pumpkins

I couldn't resist doing these pictures of Justin, especially after looking all over creation for a pumpkin big enough to do it and finally finding it in my friend, Julie's front yard. They turned out so cute. Jill's baby, Ian, who is a month younger than Justin did not appreciate being woken up from a warm nap to be squeezed into a cold pumpkin.

Halloween

Here we go! I'll be honest about this whole thing. I decided to blog for our little family because I'm not very good at journal writing and because I wanted to preserve some history in a safe place that won't blow away in a hurricane or burn in a fire. I'm not doing it because of peer pressure so I hope you don't expect too much out of this blog. :) So here goes nothin'. These pics are obviously of Halloween. The kids costumes were easy this year. There was just too much going on to put too much effort into them. When Jackson said he wanted to be a basketball player I said "Okay" right away before he could change his mind. EASY! Nothing like the alien costume we did last year. The kids had a great time at the church Fall Festival and trick-or-treating. Once again, the candy overfloweth. I can't eat any of the chocolate because of Justin's milk allergy so I just smell it and wish I could eat it. This is the second Halloween in a row I've missed out on the candy. Last year I was pregnant and sugar made me sick. Check out Steve's chain. It's like an industrial strength (and weight) one you get at Home Depot, spray-painted gold. It's all we had around the house. :)