Hello, my name is Stephanie and once upon a time I blogged! AHHH! There just aren't enough hours in the day and with November just about at a close, I figured it was time to do an update. SOOO here is our month in mostly pictures :)
my sweet baby girl had her first cold and just wanted Mommy snuggles for naps...bless her! I enjoyed the snuggles and tried not to let my "to do list" during nap time bother me.
We have a whole new playground in our backyard now, that is a community playground. The kids LOVE it! Maddie loves swinging too :)
Helping me find my Thanksgiving flag and deciding to go through all of the flags...busy girl!
Landon had a turkey project for school...he decided on Darth Vader (which is weird b/c he doesn't even really like Star Wars), but thanks to Pinterest we got it done!
Maddie and I voted!
Every year I look forward to seeing this tree...it did not disappoint this year!
A little family Battleship action one night...the kids loved it!
Landon and I made our Gigi bread one morning...it's now all gone and we need more!
We finished up the soccer season with another win! The boys did SO great this season!!
Coach Keith, Landon, Liam, Joshua, Finnegan, and Sean
The weekend of the last soccer game was also a weekend the cousins came for Alex's lacrosse tournament in MD, just 30 minutes down the road from us. It worked out great that they could come visit and stay with us! We all went to some of Alex's games...it was fun to see him play. We also celebrated Olivia's belated 8th birthday and Lyndsey's upcoming 10th birthday with pumpkin pie!
biggest girl in the world
Reagan made this in Girl Scouts, so sweet!
This little lady finally started a "real" breakfast. I kept holding off because I loved our morning bottle time, but someone was getting hungry. She now gets all 3 meals and 3 bottles a day!
Maddie and I were the guest readers in Reagan's class on the Friday before Thanksgiving. Reagan was so surprised to see us! What a sweet class she has...they were definitely more excited to see Maddie than hear me read them a book though :)
my crew enjoying the beautiful day!
The kiddos decorated their bedroom trees on a night that we didn't have anything going on...they loved looking at their ornaments, it was so fun...crazy...but fun!
Reagan finishing up her homework real quick before decorating her tree...sweet girl
Maddie was LOVING it!
...see, she LOVED it!
We had free tickets for Dutch Wonderland to use up, so the big kids and I went on the 19th for their "Winter Wonderland." It was decorated SO cute and it was very fun. When we got there at 3 it was 72*, perfect. At about 5:00 a HUGE gust of wind came and it literally dropped to 34*. We were FREEEEZING!!!!
NO line on the roller coaster meant they got to go about 8 times in a row without having to get off, they thought that was the best!
At this point...we were FREEZING, but they let Reagan ride the car all by HERSELF! She was so excited!!
Landon and I were sooo cold
Heather and Tobin were able to meet us there, which was so fun! We didn't last too late because of the weather. We headed to Red Robin for dinner and our car was covered in sleet!! Driving home with a good time, but we made it :)
That Sunday we had Landon's end of season soccer party, that actually only Liam wound up coming to. We still had a great time and another neighbor family was able to come over too!
Landon helped with a bottle while I finished getting everything set up
These sweet kiddos!
Up and at em! On Tuesday I had to set up Reagan's classroom for Special Friends' Day at school, which is when usually grandparents come to the classroom for a bit and then have a special chapel. We had to be at school, dressed and ready, by 7:45...that morning started EARLY!
Landon, the helper, again! Maddie doesn't usually get a bottle in the morning anymore, but there was no time for breakfast, so a bottle had to work :)
at the Special Friends' Day performance
Pre-Thanksgiving helper #1
Pre-Thanksgiving helper #2
Gran and Gramps came Wednesday evening, so after dinner the kiddos decorated their gingerbread houses. They were SO excited!
My GIRLS in their matching Thanksgiving dresses...my heart exploded!
all 3 of my turkeys!!
ha...love this, Maddie wasn't feeling it anymore
Maddie LOVES it when Reagan pushes her across the floor like this...I need to put a mop on Maddie's booty so she can clean my floors in the process!
Thanksgiving spread!
Nana snuggles
Maddie's FIRST Thanksgiving dinner! She loved it!!
Opa was toast!
On Friday we went to get our tree...it wasn't freezing, which was nice and we had Opa's pickup truck too.
The Kepplinger Family Christmas Tree!
This was HILARIOUS! They gave us probably the dullest saw ever, sooo Keith had quite a time cutting this bad boy down.
This is Landon in a nutshell :)
Saturday morning was the Middletown Christmas Parade and Reagan's Girl Scout troop was walking in it, she was so excited to be IN the parade!
The image of Keith on the side feeding Maddie with one hand, taking pictures with the other, and his hat on totally crooked is an image I'll never forget. It was hilarious!
That afternoon we left for Westminster for their nighttime Christmas parade. It didn't disappoint and although we were cold, we had a great time!
We hit up Baugher's for breakfast in the morning and then hit the road home
The kids were still off on Monday, so the past 3 years we have gone to see Santa on this day since all the other schools are back in, which means NO line, NO waiting!
Maddie wasn't so sure, but didn't freak out :)
Telling Santa some things they'd like!
Love those smiles!! Just wish Maddie was in that pic
AND last night we went for a haircut...Reagan (and me!!) was sick of all her tangles and was ready for a CHOP. Her hair had gotten so long! SOOO she went for it and got almost 6 inches cut off...
and now she's bobbin'!! Looking cute as can be! She is not used to how weird it feels yet, but brushing her hair for school this morning was a breeze!!
We once again did our Thankful Tree for November as well...I started off with "what are you thankful for" questions everyday, but then saw an idea on Pinterest to ask more specific questions. I love doing this each year! We ran out of leaves, so we cut it a little short this year!
1st - R-Maddie L-That he went to EC (we had make up conferences from Disney!)
2nd - R-school L-playing on the new playground with Liam
3rd - (color you're thankful for) R-teal L-blue
4th - (food you're thankful for) R-hot dogs L-carrots
5th - (technology you're thankful for) R-computer L-iPad games
6th - (toy you're thankful for) R-Brielle, her American Girl L-remote control monster truck
7th - (holiday you're thankful for) R-Thanksgiving L-Christmas
8th - (book you're thankful for) R-Bible L-Monster Truck Book
9th - (sport you're thankful for) R-dance L-soccer
10th - (snack you're thankful for) R-oreos L-pretzel sticks
11th - (smell you're thankful for) R-pumpkin spice and donuts L-sour apple smelly stickers
12th - (dinner you're thankful for) R-broccoli rice L-mac n' cheese
13th - (vegetable you're thankful for) R-peas L-carrots
14th - (what in school you're thankful for) R-art L-building blocks
Thankful Tree 2015!! (somehow it never got posted!)
We did the Thankful Tree again and here are what my kiddos said:
1st - R-community, our family, and Mommy L-God and Mommy
2nd - R-Descendants L-God and Jesus
3rd - R-family L-ham
4th - R-community L-friends at school and Bridget too
5th - R-Bailey L-family and friends
6th - R-Landon L-whole universe, God, and Jesus
7th - R-Mommy, baby girl, and Daddy L-my friends
8th - R-Bailey L-getting Gatorade
9th - R-school L-letters
10th - R-religion L-playing with friends at Jump On Over and making Gigi bread
11th - R-the dentist L-Mum-Mum
12th - R-chapel L-Mop(Gramps)
13th - R-school turkey play L-Pop-Pop
LONGEST POST EVER, but now we're all caught up for the MOST WONDERFUL TIME OF THE YEAR!! Bring on December!
