November 2011

We have been so busy this month. Taylor's tennis matches are over with her team at school but she still has tennis 2 days a week. This is the 1st winter that we aren't taking a break but instead of Monday, Thursday and Saturday it will just be Thursday and Saturday. Caleb is still taking but is going to take a break for 3 months. Madison is looking forward to starting tennis in the spring.

Taylor and Madison are both in scouts now and are gearing up for cookie sales which start in January. This is early for this region...normally it is February. Caleb isn't involved in scouts this year. We haven't been able to find a good den for him...I am going to keep looking though as we think scouts is a good thing for the kids to be involved in.

We have been in enjoying the warm weather...I know the cold is coming. I remember last year this was how fall was and we had a pretty bad winter so I am preparing myself. There are so many leaves to rake but the rain has put a halt to it for the time being...just too wet!

Caleb missed the only 2 days of school they had the week of Thanksgiving. He said his throat hurt and turns out he had strep. He know will be seeing an ENT on Friday to talk about taking out his adenoids/tonsils. We knew this was probably going to happen eventually and probably should have been done before now but we had kinda hoped he would grow out of it. Hopefully we can get it scheduled for the week after Christmas so he won't have to miss school.

I have been using my camera on my phone to take lots of pictures and don't know how to load them to my computer. Madison finally lost her 1st tooth! She was so excited. Sadly, I have misplaced the tooth so the tooth fairy hasn't visited yet. We may have to put a note for the tooth fairy under the pillow but Madison really doesn't want to do that. Matt pulled it Thanksgiving morning and we put it in a bag and I figure with all the company coming that we have just put it somewhere safe...now if I can only remember where :)

We had 2 Thanksgiving dinners on Thursday. First with my family and then later that evening with all of Matt's family. It was fun...I didn't get any pictures on my camera except at Matt's family gathering. Quinn looked adorable as a turkey and if we are friends on fb then you saw the picture.

Don had the best shirt..."Does this suit make me look fat?"


We enjoyed playing cards all weekend and eating. Sunday after everyone was gone we put the tree up...well the tree and lights. The kids went to bed early so we weren't able to decorate it. The kids got homework done quickly so they could decorate it Monday evening. And this year I let them do it all. I didn't even go back and fix any ornaments after they went to bed. The presents are already spilling out from under the tree :)

My helpful elves...






Please ignore the lack of pj's on the last little elf...she has tons of cute pj sets but only wants to sleep in a t-shirt :(

How To Cook a Turkey by Madison Aytes

First, I would go to the farm.

Then I will catch it with a net.

After that, I would take him home and put some ketchup on it.

I would put some sauce on it and some salad.

Then I would put him in the oven for six minutes on hot.

Then I'll eat him with a fork.

Side dishes...apples, green beans

Dessert...cake

She illustrated this with a wonderful picture of herself catching a turkey with a net :)

How To Cook a Turkey by Caleb Aytes

I get my turkey at groger (he meant Kroger).

My turkey weighs 2 pounds.

You put the turkey in a pan.

My family doesn't stuff the turkey.

I'm not sure if my family puts spices on it (we put salt, pepper and butter).

I think you put in on 40 degrees.

I think you cook it for 50 minutes.

My dad carves it.

And that is how you cook a turkey.

November 2011

Madison's House

Last week my sister came over and helped my parents rake leaves at our house. It is a never ending battle....I love the trees but the leaves drive me insane in the fall. The entire driveway was leaf free for about 30 minutes...2 days later it is completely covered again as is the deck and patio. We average about 10-15 bags of leaves bagged each week. Madison was home for part of the leaf raking so she was responsible for entertaining Quinn. Madison enjoyed strolling Quinn around the garage and driveway. Madison also enjoyed the beautiful weather and did some beautiful chalk drawings. She drew a picture of her house (with her bed) and a jumpoline (or trampoline as most people call it). We currently don't have a jumpoline but Madison is really wanting one...I am thinking birthday present next year if we can clear a spot in the backyard. Anyway she was very proud of her drawings and I was impressed too :)

Her house and jumpoline


A close-up of her house and the long blue thing is her bed


The jumpoline

Teacher in the making

Last week I came home from work and my mom told me to be very quite and sneak upstairs and see what Madison was up too.

This is what I found....



Madison was busy teaching her animals/doll. This is the first time she has ever pretended to be a teacher. It was really cute and I was able to snap a picture before she heard me and turned around :)

Fall Break

This is our 3rd year to go camping with Amy, Aaron and their girls over Fall Break. The kids look so forward to it (and so do the adults). This year Amy's 2 nieces came too...Taylor enjoyed having Kaleigh to visit with and the little ones loved having Kassey to play with! We had outgrown our old tent and recently purchased a new one and the kids were so excited to get to sleep in it. It is a breeze to put up (unlike the other one) and is huge. We can put 3 air mattress's on one side and the other side store our stuff and there is still tons of room to walk around. Caleb wants us to set it up on the deck and let him stay in it...he won't be saying that now that the temp is dropping :) LOL The kids and I went on Thursday night and met Amy, Aaron and the girls (Matt joined us on Friday after work).

We couldn't have asked for better weather...cool evenings and warm days. We enjoyed riding bikes, playing on the playground, hiking a trail, making s'mores, watching movies in the camper and playing card games.

Random Happenings!

Things have been so busy here. We seem to spend more time in our car than at home. Tennis is keeping us busy...matches on Monday and practices on Thursdays and Saturdays. Caleb is still taking tennis as well though he only practices on Thursday and isn't playing on a team yet so no matches for him. Taylor also have Girl Scouts 2 Friday's a month and we just signed Madison up for Girl Scouts though we don't know any details (when they are meeting and where).

Madison is doing good in Kindergarten. She had a list of 15 sight words she had to learn by the end of the month. She also had a homework packet that had a page for every night as well as having to read/have read to her 20 books this month. If she read all 20 books, did all her homework pages and knew all 15 sight words she received a special treat. She worked really hard to learn her words by practicing every night. Her treat was lunch with her teacher.

She has been cracking us up with funny things. A few weeks ago she informed me that George Washington was the best president ever and really missed him! I couldn't help but laugh. On Fridays at her school they can buy ice cream. Friday is our day to go to Menchie's and get a treat after I pick her up. I told her when I picked her up that maybe we shouldn't go since she already had ice cream. She was quick to inform me that Menchie's wasn't ice cream it was yogurt! Pretty good reasoning...and we ended up at Menchie's :)

Tonight Taylor went shopping with Nana so I took Madison and Caleb to see The Zookeeper at the $2 theater. Really glad we didn't waste $50 at the theater this summer. It was ok but definitely not worth spending alot of money on.

Matt is gone this weekend...it is amazing how quickly drill weekends come up! Just a few more months and he will be off to CA.

Taylor has her first youth group function Saturday night. They are going to a Corn Maze. She is really excited and the weather is going to be perfect....no rain and cool temps! I am so excited for her!