Turkey+ Birthday= lots of fun!

Yesterday we celebrated both Thanksgiving and Nolan's birthday!  The little man turned 7!  It's so fun to see birthdays through they eyes of a child.  From the moment he woke up he was bubbling over with excitement for the day.  First up, breakfast of his choice (breakfast pizza), then presents! 

Then it was time to get ready for Thanksgiving dinner.  We had a ton of food, great time with family and lots of laughs!  Nolan requested a Mario cake so I used one of those online stores to order an edible cake image.  It worked great!  I also tried my hand at making a homemade yellow cake.  It was more dense than a regular cake mix, but not dry.  I may try that again in the future!

The kids bundled up to play NERF guns outside, and were busy playing Wii and watching movies. The kids had a sleepover with their cousins, so that meant staying up late and sleeping in (hopefully, it's still early!)  We are so blessed to be able to spend the holiday with all of our family. 

New bases for playing baseball!!

Blowing out the candle!

Opening gifts

Birthday Celebration!

November is a busy month in our household.  With one birthday down, the countdown to the other is on.  And, this year it happens to fall on Thanksgiving Day!  That said, we decided to celebrate a little bit early with a trip to the bowling alley.  The kids have wanted to bowl for a long time and we just never happen to get there.  I think we figured it's been a good 4 years since we have bowled.  Nonetheless, Nolan and his friends enjoyed it!  Derek had also been talking about it all week  and also had a great time!  Nolan chose a TMNT theme and had fun with his friends.  His cousins Keegan and Lexie were also there but left before I took the picture.  Nolan is looking forward to turning 7!

 

 

In other news we are busy getting ready for hosting Thanksgiving later this week.  House is cleaned, meal plan is ready, groceries are bought, and even some Christmas decor is up!  We are looking forward to cousin sleepovers, some Christmas shopping and being with family.

  Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday, for many reasons.  I love the family, food and football.  And, Thanksgiving is a day that should happen every day.  We should always be thankful for what we have each and every day.  It's easy to place that in the back of  our minds, I know.  We sometimes take these things for granted.  Thanksgiving is a day that we can reflect on all that we have to be thankful for within the year.  There are too many things to list, we are truly blessed!  Wishing you all a very Happy Thanksgiving! 

A Short Escape

Today I crossed something off of my 2013 to do list: Run a race that's more than a 5K.  One of my closest friends and I signed up for the Turkey Trot.  It was rainy but unusually warm this morning, and for my first 8K I think it went pretty well.  Finished in 40 minutes, kept a good pace and ran the whole way!!  A good stepping stone to my 2014 goal of a half marathon.

It was also a time for mom to get away from routine and the hustle and bustle of every day life.  It can be a lot of work to get four people packed up to go just overnight, and I often feel guilty about doing so,  but it is good for a momma  to get away from her kiddos for a little while.

I left Friday evening and was back within 24 hours, but feel refreshed and ready to go again.  Funny how just a little time away puts things back into perspective.  I even managed to get a little Christmas shopping crossed off the list and prepared our little wrestler for his first practice next week. 

As the season is about to get busy it's a great time to remember all there is to be thankful for, and those little things we sometimes take for granted.  I was happy to see those little kiddos and the smiles on their faces when I picked them up.  Thankful for great parents who are willing to help out, and an awesome husband that has supper prepped when I walk in the door. 

It's the little things.....

Leaves, Leaves and more Leaves!

 

This weekend we were busy doing some projects before the really cold weather sets in.  First on the agenda was painting our bedroom.  I've had the color picked out, bought, and sitting in the house, for, uh, probably 10 months or so.  Can you tell I'm not a fan of painting??  At any rate I went to it and got it done, and am happy with the result.  Check that one off the to do list!!

 

Today we took advantage of the sunny and not-too-cold weather to get A TON of leaves raked up in the yard.  With all the nice big shade trees in the summer, we sure pay for it in leaves in the fall.  The worst part is, about half of the leaves are still on the trees!

 

We all worked (and played) together to get the  job done.  As you can see below, the kids had a lot of fun, but were also great helpers!

 

 

 

 

 

Pumpkin Pie Tutorial

It's that time of year, time to stock up on the pumpkin puree at the grocery store!  I did this week, and ever since I can't stop thinking about pumpkin pie!  I know we will have our fair share of it this month, but I had some kitchen helpers this afternoon to help me make our first one of the season.

I am not a seasoned pie maker by any means.  I would like to be and I think all it would take is some practice.  I usually choose to buy the pre-made frozen crusts and save myself the frustration of the crust not turning out.  Well, today I didn't feel like making a trip to the store and the recipe said no fail so I figured I'd give it a whirl.

The recipe (sorry its sideways!)

Rolling out the dough

This guy LOVES to help

A little turkey painting while the pie was baking

The finished crust.  Didn't turn out too bad huh?

About an hour later, viola, it was done.  Made the house smell wonderful, hope it tastes good too!  I just used the Libby's recipe online.  We didn't have evaporated milk on hand, but it says you can heat up 2 1/4 cups of milk and heat it down to 1 cup and use that instead, so we will have to see if it worked!

We've spent much of the day getting a jump start on this busy month ahead.  Planning for birthdays and holiday celebrations, a little bit of online Christmas shopping, and designing Christmas cards.  Call me crazy, but I like to have a lot of these things lined up so the holidays aren't quite so hectic.  Randy and Nolan are out hunting so we hope they get something big!! 

Derek Turns 3

Today was the little man's 3rd birthday.  I never get tired of seeing the look on the kids' faces on their birthday.  I try to capture that excitement all day long, and bottle it up all year.  The day started early, like it usually does for Derek....about 6 am.  I tried to sing him happy birthday as soon as he got up; his response: he held up his arms stating "no, not yet."  This kid cracks me up!  


A banner made by Eryn and Nolan

Is this boy excited or what!



No birthday is complete without balloons, one for each year

After watching a little bit of Dora the Explorer (and 2 waffles later) this birthday boy was ready to open some presents.

The rest of the morning was spent playing with the new train and building his train set with his brother.  He took a quick break for lunch and was back at it,  so much that the new train went through one battery just today!

This afternoon we took in a movie with my mom, sister and her family that came up to visit for the day.  Derek was tired but wouldn't give up that easily.  We even ran into some other cousins at the movie, a nice surprise!  Then it was back home for what I hoped to be a nap for the birthday boy (and mom) but this persistent little boy played trains again until supper.  Then, it was time for cake.  Those of you who know me know that I enjoy making the kids' birthday cakes.  They are nothing elaborate, but as long as the kids enjoy the decorations, and it tastes good, I am happy.  Derek wanted a "blue" cake, and that is exactly what he got.

After cake and a quick bath it didn't take long for the birthday boy with no nap to crash.  We hope you had a great birthday Mr. Derek.  You are certainly a blessing to our family and we wouldn't want it any other way.  We love you very much!

Happy Halloween

We celebrated Halloween yesterday with a little trick or treating to our favorite spots.  We don't really get into Halloween too much, (not my favorite holiday) but it's fun to watch the kids get excited about their costumes and dress up.  This year Eryn went as a Gymnast, Nolan a Werewolf and Derek as a race car driver.

 

 

As many of you know, we've got a birthday in the Sabelka house tomorrow so we are busy making a birthday cake and planning a fun day.  Stay tuned!  We are looking forward to a fun weekend!

It's a Birthday Party!

This time of year is FULL of birthdays in our family.  It all leads up to the holidays, and probably why this is my favorite time of the year!  October starts off the birthdays with my mother and father in law celebrating.  This year my mother in law turned 60.  We had a nice family dinner and a little get together this past weekend to celebrate.  It was a pretty nice day out too so we captured a few pics of the family.

The kids with grandma

Grandma and Grandpa with the kids

Our Family

The Merrill's

The Nelson's