Thanksgiving

Now that my brother Sam and his family live closer ( 5 hours instead of 12) They came to AZ for Thanksgiving and joined them at my sisters in Mesa.  Since our car was having troubles Sam swung by and picked up our two oldest so the rest of us could fit into our other car.  When we showed up the next morning it was obvious the kids were having a great time.  They had set up their own Big Kid table out on the patio and they even all dressed in blue or black to coordinate with their table.

 I made the mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes and the green bean casserole.  It was all so yummy and fun to see everyone.

 For dessert, Grandma Borgia and all the Aunts, Uncles, and cousins who live in mesa or were visiting came to Mandi's to have pie.  Again lots of fun to see everyone.

date night with some siblings

I stole this post from my sister in-law Melinda there are lots of pictures of my brother, but I didn't get any pictures and we had so much fun I was so glad she got some and did this post so that I can remember our fun nught....

Amazing Croutons...
We have so much fun with Sam's siblings when we manage to sneak in a date night without the kids! These are out of order but we went to this Marketplace in Tempe and found this really fun store called "It's Sugar," and got a kick out of all the giant candy.

Our first attempt for dinner was at a restaurant nearby but it was packed so we decided to give in and head to where the chain restaurants are. When I saw Ruby Tuesday I said "Sam, you could get the croutons you love!" and that led to a lot of teasing for Sam from the rest of the family for the rest of the evening. We ended up eating at Cadillac Ranch and got to see several people attempt the mechanical bull and also had a nice dinner even though Sam and Chad positioned themselves across from the giant screen with the football game on!

As we were leaving the marketplace Sam suddenly stopped and pulled up at Ruby Tuesday. He went in and asked the host for some croutons and they actually made him a whole fresh batch. When he came out with the croutons (and found us since we had moved the car and hidden from him) and everyone tried them, they admitted that they are good (Nicki is trying one in the picture above)! I know this story sounds a bit lame now that I am typing it, but it was really funny for those of us there and I have to type it for memories sake!
We then headed to sub zero to try out our own concoctions of ice cream! I had a really great time that evening and wish we could all do date nights more often!

turkey trot

I had no idea Court could run till I showed up to the school on the same day they were having the turkey trot and a couple moms told me they has just watched her win the 1st grade girls race...and i missed it!  Darn.  She told me she even came in before the 3rd place boy and long before the rest of the girls.  e even tripped and fell during the race

She won a $20.00 gift card to Fry's, our local supermarket, complete with electronics and toys.  She got A 3 foot tall doll and some candy.  I thought the doll was creepy and tried to talk her into something else, but she would not be swayed so she ended up with......

The sister i never gave her.  She loves to dress in different outfits and do her hair.

cookin over a fire

The kids were dying to roast hot dogs and s'mores over a fire, and they insisted we have friends join us so we invited a couple of friends and enjoyed our evening.  We got the giant marshmallows for some extra fun. Nate showed us how messy that much marshmallow can make a s'more!

Soccer

Our school is a K - 8 school.  when the kids get to 7th grade they can join the sports teams.  THis year they were short players for the soccer team so they opened it up to the 6th graders.  Casey tried out and made the team.  Court's Kindergarten teacher Mrs Norris was the coach, so it fun getting to see her so much.  Half thir team was made of 6th graders.  They only won a couple of games, but they had a great year and a lot of great team spirit.  Grandma and Grandpa Kitchen came to a lot of his games and it really meant a lot to him, thanks to them for making the effort  :)

Halloween

I'm always terrible when it comes to costumes.  As of 2 weeks before Halloween we had no costumes planned, but we pulled some together....Casey was the obvious soccer player since he was indeed a soccer player this year (post to come)

Tyler is interested in superman and batman this year, but to old and I certainly don't have one his size to actually be superman, so I got to thinking with his new glasses (i think forgot to post that he got glasses this year)  he could be Clark Kent.  Chad picked up a superman shirt for him at Walmart for $7.00

Court was easy since princesses are always at the top of her list.  This year we borrowed a Belle costume from my friend Melissa and she was set..so to date she has been, Princess Aurora, Cinderella, snow white and now belle,

Aiden found this Spiderman costume in the costume box a while back so he new what he wanted to be early on.

By proudly wore this Lightning McQueen costume Tammi had picked up for Aiden a while back.

 Chad had to go to bed so I took the kids trick or treating.  We had daddy drop us off a few blocks away from the house since I have learned from previous years that we go go go till the kids get tired and then they are to tired to get home again.  We made it a street from our house before Aiden gave up.  I let the older kids do the street behind us while the 2 younger kids and I took the shortcut thru the park.  When we got home Aide was more than happy to sit at the end of the drive way and hand out candy to those passing by.

pumpkins

This year I was trying to be a little thrifty (after the large amounts of monies we paid the dentist)  and so I got the kids each a small "pie" pumpkin.  That way they could have the great fun of carving their own pumpkin and then I could bake and scrape them out afterwards to make a yummy pumpkin...something.

Everyone had a great time picking patterns.  Aiden forwent his chosen design and just started cutting into his pumpkin.

Unfortunately I didn't get any after shots!!!  I thought i did but i guess not  :(  oh well.  It was great fun.  I always love the kids faces as they scrape out the seeds and slimy guts.  We saved and roasted the seeds this year..yummm.  And I almost abandoned my baking idea, but in the end I did it and made some yummy pumpkin muffins.   I still have some puree in the freezer to make another triple batch.

HERO

At the kids school they have an award that they give to kids starting in 6th grade.  It is a peer nominated award that is based on your peers thinking you are a person of character who is a good example.

He got the award at a special school wide assembly that the principal called me at home to invite me to so that could be there since Casey did not know he was going to be named a "Hero" (the kids don't know till there names are called).  That night we went to another evening assembly where they called his name again and he also got a certificate for Kelso's Choice.  This was a program where they partnered up about 10 kids who did a few weeks of training before they visited 1st grade classes and taught them about anti-bullying and problem solving skills. 

birthday trip

My friend Tammi was taking her girls to Disneyland for the Halloween party and since her husband didn't want to go she invited me to come along for my birthday!!!!  Oh glorious day!!!  The only stipulation was that i dress up for the party....oh OK!!  I got be Sally form one of my favorite movies "The Nightmare Before Christmas"  The cool thing about the Halloween party is that you get into the park at about 4:00 and then at 7:00 they make everyone who is not their for the party (you have to have a wrist band on) leave and then the whole park stays open till midnight with the addition of lost of extra character/photo ops and trick or treating stations through out the park.  I want to take my kids next time...it was so great.  And almost everyone there is dressed in costume so it is fum to see all the costumes.

                                                

The fox was being play full  :)

The next day we got hopper passes and went to both parks.  We got to see the new world of color water and light show.  it was so beautiful.

Savanna and I rode all the big rides while Tammi took the younger girls on the other rides.  Autumn wanted to spend time with us "Older" group too so we hit the medium ride (river run and stuff like that) together.  Autumn was nervous to ride California Screaming and got in line a couple times but would change her mind.  We finally got her to go on and she enjoyed it.

Tammi had Savanna take me to Cafe Orleans for my birthday lunch.  I had decided I wanted to try this place since I had never eaten her before and I knew they had Monte Cristo sandwiches.  When i got there and saw the menu i also discovered they had k and sausage gumbo.  I got wondering if was the same gumbo they have at another restaurant that i love so much, so i decide to give that try in the form of a ck gumbo crepe.  It was oh so yummy!

It was such a great birthday.  Thanks to Tammi and her girls for letting me tag along and spend my birthday at one of favorite places to be.  Thanks for the great party and the lunch and everything else.