Our first Thanksgiving here

Mmmm Margarita

Happy Thanksgiving!! 

Im going to apologize now for any errors you may come across i dont catch to fix.  Thanksgiving cooking is done at my place and i've started on my margarita's :)  Since this is our first Thanksgiving in a whole new state with no family/friends.  I've taken it apon myself to cook the traditional feast.  I wanted to take this time "alone" as a chance to see if i could do it, but also to took a whole turkey on my own.  Maybe if i learn how to cook a great turkey, having Thanksgiving at my house wont be such a big deal someday :)  I think it turned out great!!  The turkey was a little dry, but throwing some gravy on it, fixed that lol  The girls ate great~  And since it was finished early and eaten for lunch, we will have the left overs for dinner, followed by some pumpkin pie.  YUM!

My first turkey~

Looks great to me!

The girls made us some place settings :) 

aww i love my place setting :)

Good job girls!

 

We've been busy like usual since my last post.  Ella is doing great with her potty training and has moved up from the every 20 min. potty trip, to hourly or a little over an hour.  We are getting there!  She is mostly dry and has anything from no peepee accidents, to only one or two.  What we are working on is #2 in the potty and also telling us when she needs to pee.   She comes up to me AFTER she pees or poo's her pants, but hasnt said anything before hand yet.  She stays dry at nap already though! :)  I started in her in underwear almost 2 weeks ago.  Such a big girl!! 

Aubrey is getting so big, and such a smart girl!!  Ive been working on crib training her.  She has gotten better.  And i think i'll be packing up the co-sleeper tonight or tomorrow.  Her crib is in our room on my side of the bed anyways, so she wont be far.  But she needs her own space that is bigger than the co-sleeper.   I would keep her there forever if i could.  But i want the transition to the crib to be easy on her, even if its hard on me cause shes my baby.  I'd rather her get used to it now when its no big deal, than to have her scream and cry later just because i wanted her with me.  Makes me kinda sad though that she is already gonna be 4 months old on Dec.1st.  She is taking a really good nap in her crib as i type this.  Shes gotten on the schedule of taking a good 2-3 hour nap in the middle of the day.  Such a good baby!!

While Ella took her hour nap or so.  Usually longer, but since potty training, she will wake after an hour or so, to use the potty.  The other night she slept for 2 hours and woke dry.  So eventually she will train her bladder to hold it longer and hopefully her naps will increase in time too.  But since we are talking about Ella, who has always been a cat napper.  They probably wont get longer lol

Julia's girl scout meeting went good.  They made ornaments to sell at the holiday bizarre the school puts on.  Ive signed her up for soccer that will start here for their winter season of Jan-Mar.  She's excited!!  Madie is still in ballet and will be until June, when it ends the term or whatever.  She must of had a growth spurt cause her ballet shoes fit a few weeks ago, and then last week were soooooo tight.  So i ordered her another pair that are bigger, and some new tights.  

Yesterday was the Thanksgiving feast at Julia schools for all of the 1st graders.  I showed up early to help for that, and i stayed late to help clean up.  I know her teacher has 3 kids of her own and prob. wanted to leave when school was out.  As i was done doing some dishes and cleaning up, i went back to Julia's room to grab my coffee and over heard her (during circle time) say "today was the best day ever"!  hehe so cute! I got to eat next to her for lunch and the kids thought it was so cool to eat in the courtyard with some parents.  They've eaten out there before, but with the teacher, so this was new for them :)    They also got their shirts.  I guess every year the school lets the teacher make class room shirts that all the kids get.  They say the teacher's name, whatever design she or the class chooses, color, and the school mascots.  

She wore this hat ALL day! lol Insisted on wearing it to Costco and Target after school too :)
I made some Thanksgiving day crafts with the kids the other day too.  Used their foot prints for the turkey's body and their hand prints for the turkey feathers.  It turned out sooooo cute!  Something for me to keep, thats for sure!

getting ready to work on our turkey craft :)

The mornings are pretty cool here.  For a about a week it was in the 30s overnight.  Now its been in the 40's and by the time the girls and i walk Julia to school. Its in the high 40's or low 50's.  So we need coats, and the girls in the stroller need a blanket, coat and hat.  I LOVE IT! lol  Its usually sunny, and by the end of the day has been in the 70/80s with a chill in the air. So its perfect!!  I miss the fall colors though, and since im Oregon born and raised.  I do miss the rain.  I miss the stormy days when a fire and movies is on the agenda :)   While this time of year is PERFECT here, it wont be long until the heat returns.  Im told by locals that it starts getting hot again in March.  Since its October by the time it cools down, thats 6-7 months of heat.  Way to hot, HEAT.  Half the year perfect, to be ruined by the other half of the year heat.  Something that would get old, pretty fast.  Especially with no extra car and no in-ground pool.  

My beautiful girls!

 Football is on, the weather is great and we have tons to be Thankful for!  We made the girls say what they are thankful for before we ate tonight.  So cute!  Julia said she was thankful for being born, etc.  And Madie said she was thankful for food.  This is kinda funny cause she is our most difficult eater. haha.  The baby has woken from her 3 hour nap in her crib, so we are going to take advantage of going to the park for a bit before the sun sets and then its dinner time (again)! :)

Happy Thanksgiving!
Until next time....