Letters from Santa...

Yesterday the kids all recieved letters from Santa in the mail. The real Santa. As you can see, they were even postmarked in the North Pole. It's legit. Luke's been carrying his around ever since, saying "Santa".
The girls insist that my friend Gigi must have written them, but look at the postmark? How could anyone around here do that? They're adament that someone must have paid the post office extra for that. ??? After reading Isaac's twice to him, and his sister coughing "uhh Gigi, uhh Gigi" through out the whole thing, he looked up at me w/the most sincere face and said, "There really is a Santa then". I loved it. The girls didn't believe near long enough, I'm going to enjoy it w/the boys.

Jake's letter has been most helpful. Santa told him that he needed to stay out of his sister's rooms, and it has worked! He's really trying!!! Ingenious! Why didn't I think of that?

Thanks Santa!

You'd have thought it was Christmas.... the way my kids excitedly woke each other up early Sunday morning after it'd snowed all night. I hadn't turned the TV on in a few days, and didn't even know it was coming. It was a fun surprise. Too bad it was Sunday, my poor kids spent the entire day watching it melt through the windows of the church. If 3 hrs of church wasn't harsh enough, we stayed after church for 2 baptisms and a potluck. They were sooo worried there'd be none left, but Em managed to find enough left to make this snowman---in the dark. (it gets dark here by 430 now!)

Thanksgiving at Plymouth....
We were thrilled to have my dad and Kim visit for Thanksgiving weekend. We spent Thanksgiving day at Plimoth w/the pilgrims.

Looking at "the rock". You'd expect so much more, but it's just a rock!

Of course my kids favorite part of the Plimoth Plantation was the roaming animals. Made them feel like home!

Emma caught a chicken and Sarah a goat.

My favorite part was completely grossing out Sarah while posing for this picture.

And of course, what's a trip w/out a few 2 year old tantrums?

The Mayflower II.

And finally, our Thanksgiving Feast. We stepped back into the year 1838, when Thanksgiving was made a national holiday. The food and entertainment were wonderful. (Truly the best part was that I didn't have to cook or clean anything up though!)

And I know this is going to be hard to believe, but we made it through the meal with out even one spill!!! I had forgotten a sippee, so even my 2 year old was drinking from a goblet!

So during dinner I asked for a box to take the leftover turkey on our table home in, there was a lot! I got a look from our server like I was the first person to have ever asked for one. She went back and asked, and came back saying that it was against health code. So I decided we would have to smuggle it out....way too much yummy turkey breast to get thrown out. I decided I had room in my purse, and since I didn't want to have to mail back a table napkin, I borrowed my dad's CLEAN hanky, wrapped it nicely, and tucked that steaming warm turkey in my leather purse. I was down by my feet, and a few minutes later I noticed Jacob down there pulling it out. I said, "Jacob! Put that back!" and explained why turkey was in my purse. His blue eyes got wide and he whispered, "and so we have to sneak it?" What am I teaching my kids?? I am teaching them to be RESOURCEFUL and not waste food! The turkey made it home, but once we walked in the house I got distracted by trying to get the kitchen light to work, baby on hip crying--needing to be in bed, etc, and set everything down on the counter. The dog was barking, and I yelled at Emma to feed her dog Thanksgiving dinner. I got busy putting Luke to bed, and about 5 minutes later Emma came upstairs with "uh, Mom, I think Duchess got her Thanksgiving dinner". Yes, my DOG at all the turkey!!! All that work for nothing. Just a few crumbs left on the floor. I usually know better than to leave food out, just got caught up in the chaos....

Definitely a very memorable Thanksgiving!! Thanks Dad!