December 2017

Thanksgiving 2017

We had Thanksgiving dinner at our house this year. Joe's parents came down so it was a nice small dinner. 

We had a lot of helpers in the kitchen. :)

The boys helped some and then went to play their DS.

Lots of card games were played as well.

I forgot to get a picture of our meal, but it was delicious!

We had turkey, Italian sausage stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy, rolls, creamed corn, cheesy broccoli, and cranberry sauce.

And Nana brought some homemade pies for dessert!

Both Joe and I worked on Friday, but then we headed up early Saturday morning to go have dinner with the rest of the Manthe clan. 

 We only had half of the brothers and families so it wasn't a complete reunion, but it was fun to be with those that were there!

The cousins always have a great time together.

I stole a picture with my Kylah.

More games were played. 

 And football was watched.

And more games. Isn't baby Thomas so cute sitting with the big boys?!?

Nana found enough energy after dinner to put up her tree. The girls were very excited.

These two are still twin cousins...sometimes I can't tell them apart from behind!

Decorating the tree.

Norah finally lost her first tooth!! She's been waiting so long to lose a tooth!

Since we won't be together for Christmas we did a little Christmas celebration the next morning (well, Jennifer was prepared...I was not prepared so I didn't have gifts ready for the grandparents!!)

Jennifer made Trystyn and Trinity a stocking with their name on it which was so sweet.

Waiting in the morning to open presents. We made them even eat breakfast first! :)

And then they got to open their stockings too.

Joey and Trystyn both took their new yo-yo's to church with them.

We loved getting to meet little Ella. She's a little mommy's girl right now, but she'll come around in no time and realize Aunt Michelle is her favorite. :)

I love this cousin picture.

And our first family picture with Trinity and Trystyn.

Cutting down the Christmas tree

 I knew we were going to have a very busy Thanksgiving week and weekend, so I begged Joe to let us get at least our Christmas tree set up before Christmas. He is usually a strict no-tree-until-after-Thanksgiving person. But he agreed!

We bundled up and went with the Adams to pick out a tree. We found trees that were side by side!

It was also fun for Trinity and Trystyn to get to do this with us since they have never done it before.

Everyone took a turn sawing. And then Joe finished it off.

Such a cute little clan carting the trees back.

It was nice to have extra hands to help set up the tree.

Everyone took turn hanging ornaments. 

I'm the official passer-outer, just like my mom was. No one is allowed to touch my ornament bin!!

And it's done!

Designer made sleepover

 Our church had a fun sleepover for girls in grades 3-5. Kylah was excited to be able to go this year. And she was excited that I volunteered to help and stay all night (since she still doesn't like sleeping anywhere that her parents aren't...)

First things first. Get your sleeping bag laid out to mark your space. These group of girls are so sweet!

The whole theme of the sleepover was "Designer Made." Basically to reinforce to each girl that we are all different, but God made us each how he wanted us to be. All of us leaders dressed up in fancy dresses for the night.

Miss Arkansas 2013 came and spoke to the girls.

I sure do love these two. Jane and Kylah are two peas in a pod.

Each girl dressed up as something that represented them for a fashion show. It was so cute to watch each girl walk the "runway" while an announcer was talking all about them.

No sleepover is complete without a dance party!!

I finally got to sleep around 3 am and was up at 7:30 am. It took me the rest of the weekend to recover!! :) But it was worth it!

Toilet paper game

 Joe and Eric took the kids to the annual JBU basketball toilet paper game. We have some fond memories of this game when Joe was playing at JBU. It's fun to have our kids experience that. Since Joe and Eric were going I decided to stay home and have a quiet night to myself. It was fabulous. :)

Getting ready to throw!

And the first basket was made!

And of course they stopped at A&W for dinner. 

Halloween 2017

Halloween has never been my favorite holiday, but the kids love dressing up (and getting candy...). So I tolerate it. ;)

Our kids collaborated with the Adair kids for their costumes this year.

Norah and Matthew were King and Queen.

Kylah and Audrey were 80's girls.

Joey and Connor made these Minecraft costumes all by themselves out of cardboard boxes and paint. We were very impressed!

We joined some more friends at the Harris' house to trick or treat. Norah made it about halfway, and then got too scared so her and I headed back to the house. Case in point why I don't like Halloween...it's too scary!!

But the kids were all super cute in their costumes!