Thanksgiving

I was finally feeling pretty good around Thanksgiving time and I was very excited to celebrate my favorite holiday.  It was nice because it was only my family but it was also sad because it was only my family.  Don't get me wrong I love that it was just my family I just love when I get to have a whole bunch of the people that I love around me.  

As always this year the whole family and I cooked together.  Everyone was responsible for one dish.  We had quite the feast too.  We had Turkey (we didn't have stuffing this year because only one person in the family likes it so It didn't get cooked), yummy potatoes, rolls, ravioli, mac and cheese, cranberry relish, shrimp cocktail, coconut cream pie, pecan pie, and cookies.

I was there to supervise any cooking that needed supervision but for the most part everyone cooked their own food and didn't need any help.

 I did something a little different this year.  I set my camera up on the stairs and set it up with the remote.  I then took pictures during dinner.  I also passed the remote around so that everyone could take a turn taking pictures.  It was fun to do.  Everyone caught on to it by the end and it got a little cheesy up in here.

Ella turns 10!

Every time one of my kids get older I am just amazed at how old they are getting.  It was just the same with Ella this year. I can't believe that she is 10 years old already.  Really?  This is crazy.  I was still recovering from my surgery so all of the party had to come to me.  Ella had a fun birthday.  She had a party the weekend after her birthday.  She took her friend swimming at the swimming pool.  She had a blast! 

Ella felt spoiled from her family. She got exactly what she asked for.  She got a fuzzy poster to color, a movie, one of the dork diaries books, and Disney Infinity for the wii.  

Natalie made Ella her cake this year.  

I am just so happy to have Ella in my family!  She is such a kind, loving little girl and I can't imagine not having her around.  She still loves to cuddle.  She loves to play outside.  She loves to hang out with her siblings.  She wishes that she was a big girl and I wish that she would stay little forever.  I love you Scoobs!

Happy Halloween

This year at Halloween time I couldn't participate in the whole Trick or Treating thing because I had had surgery the day before.  The kids were on their own this year.  They still had a lot of fun trick or treating and walking around the neighborhood.  They got a ton of candy too.

Ella went as "Willie" from Duck Dynasty

Tyler went as a hobo.  They both did a great job putting together their costumes.  The best thing about this Halloween was that there wasn't snow on the ground and it wasn't that cold outside.  It was nippy but not nearly as cold as it has been in years past.

This and That

There has been a lot of things going on in this house.  But some of it is not worth a whole post on so I just am throwing some pictures out there.

Natalie wanted me to take a picture of her and send it to my mo because she is wearing the shirt that my mom got her.  If your child wants you to take her picture at 16 take it and then blog about it because it doesn't happen often.

Natalie got a certificate for participating in Football.  It was a fun night to Nate and I got to spend with her.  We got to have dinner and watch a highlight reel of the football season.

This package came from my mom and dad for Tyler and Ella's birthday.  My dad ordered Ty this knife clear back in July off of Amazon.  We waited and waited and waited for it.  My dad would call every few days and ask if we got the package yet.  Of course we hadn't.  Finally after waiting 3 month for the package he contacted Amazon.  They informed him that the company went out of business and that he would not be getting his package.  Which would of been nice to know I don't know say 2 months earlier.  He had to find Tyler a new knife.  Tyler was super excited about getting his knife.  He loves it.

Ella got her birthday present at the same time.  She got a whole bunch of jewelry from my mom.

Here is Ella wearing some of the earrings that my mom got for her.

I just liked this picture of Natalie so I had to throw it in there.

For Young Women in Excellence each of the girls stood up and spoke about one of their projects that they had worked on for the year. Nichole talked about her restaurant management competition that she did and Natalie talked about Flag Football and about working hard to get on the honor roll. I am so proud of both of my girls and how hard that they worked this year toward their Young Women in Recognition award.

Look Ma two shoes.  This picture was taken 2 weeks after surgery (it really should of gone in my previous post) but I am in a pair of shoes.  Not one shoe but two!!!

Tyler got an award at school for having perfect attendance for the first quarter.  Go TY!!!

Ella joined her school choir and practiced after school every Thursday for 2 months to get ready for a singing performance.  This particular performance was a gathering of all of the schools in this area including the high schools and middle schools.  It was fun to watch all of the kids sing.  

Natalie and Nichole had some friends over to help paint some decorations for the stake dance.  They were very tired by the end of the night.  They decided it would be fun to take a nap together on the couch.  It doesn't look very comfy to me.

One of my least favorite things about living in AK is that it gets very cold very fast here.  This was the first day that we hit negative weather.  It was even colder then -7 that day but this was the only time that I was in the car to be able to show you.  It's days like this that I prefer to take Ella to school rather then wait with her at the bus stop.

Nichole wanted to be excused for the assembly at school.  I sent her in this note.  She didn't accept the first two versions of the note but was fine with the third. She told me what to write every time. In case you can't read it the first note says "This note is to excuse me from the assembly.  Nichole's Mom"

The second version says " Nichole says "I Jessica Musil would like to excuse Nichole for the assembly today",  There is that good"? Jessica Musil

The acceptable note says "Third times the charm I excuse Nichole Musil from the assembly."

Tyler wanted to make a folder covered in Duct Tape.  He worked really hard on it and it turned out quite well.

Ella doesn't mind having her picture taken.  She even takes selfies.

I love looking over and seeing these two boys having some quality time together. Even when it is playing on their ipods.