{Thanksgiving 2009}

For Thanksgiving this year we drove to Ohio to visit the Tranchell's. It. Was. Awesome. The Tranchell hotel never disappoints. We had GREAT food and fun, fun, fun!! There was movie watching (New Moon and now I {HEART} Jacob....Ahhh), awesome Black Friday shopping (starting at midnight..yes we're crazy), Christmas card pictures (an adventure in itself), and cooking, cooking, cooking, and did I mention cooking?!! Who knew that Thanksgiving was so much work. Tiff is amazing. I couldn't keep up. Our dinner was awesome and we even ate on fancy china! We can't wait for next year. Anyone know a good caterer?

The boys watched some movies while we cooked. Sophie was pretty worn out as you can see.

Here's a sneak peek of our family pictures...complete with Jonas eating an Oreo for bribery. Yes, we have a problem.

Devin entertaining all the kiddos with Handy Manny.

"The Ball Drop" Ok so Livy and Sophie have like 1 million bouncy balls and I got a great idea to dump them down the stairs. It was hilarious. We must have done it 50 times. Then I curled up in a ball at the bottom and let them hit me. It was even better. Maybe you just had to be there.

Every night there were three little munchkins in a tub. There was a lot of splishin' and splashin'

The Feast. Check out that pie on the right. Carmel Apple Crunch. Delightful.

The Guests, minus Tiff, the picture taker.

Fine China, and fancy napkins.

My name card. Olivia even made one for JoJo. She was so excited that she could spell JoJo.

I made my first cranberry sauce ever. No one ate it. Oh well. I tried.

Thanks again for a great weekend. It was so so so much fun. We love you all.

P.S. My Good Deed was updating my blog.

My Happy Moment was when I dressed to match Tiff :)

"It's Autumn Time, It's Autumn Time...

...The leaves are falling down."

My Merry Miss Teacher's Mom (that dates me...and are you lost yet?) wrote this primary song:

"It's Autumn-time, its Autumn-time, the leaves are falling down,

It's Autumn-time, its Autumn-time, it's all around the town.

It's Autumn-time, its Autumn-time, there's yellow, red and brown,

It's Autumn-time, its Autumn-time, bright colors can be found."

Since I knew that Sister Hatch's Mom wrote that song, it was always my favorite. I've been singing it to Jonas since it is definitely Autumn-time at our house. We've lost track at how many times we've raked leaves. The tree in the front yard is still full of leaves and most of them are still green. Guess we'll be raking a lot longer than we thought.

Last week was leaf removal on our street and they piled the leaves Sky High. Before they could suck them up-we took advantage and added to the pile...and then jumped in it. We even buried Devin.

Mr. Blue-Eyed wonder had a thing against the camera.

Here he is trying to escape the grasps of Dad.

He smiles, but WILL NOT make eye-contact.

Wow! That's a lot of leaves!

Barrick had the most fun picking up a small pile and then throwing them up in the air over Jonas' head. Jonas wasn't really all that sure about it. He tolerated it well enough, but was not enjoying it nearly as much as Barrick :)

We hope everyone is enjoying the leaves as much as we are!

{Trick or Treating and Fall Fun}

It's safe to say we had a great time Trick/Trunk-or-Treating. Even with the bedtime hour approaching, Jonas did well. He definitely did not capture the concept and he still hates his costume, but it was worth it!

Jonas and Barrick. AKA Cutest Monster and Cutest Ferocious Dragon!

Me and Bella {Snow White} I was trying to get her to pretend we were at Disneyland and I was getting my picture taken with Snow White. Then a trick-or-treater came to the door and she was much more interested in them. Isn't she adorable?

Jonas with all his friends. I love that Lucy is checking out his costume.

Mom, Dad, and Jonas. He doesn't look real happy in this picture. He started running down the sidewalk after this...he figured he could run away from all the madness I guess.

This was at the Ward Trunk-or-Treat. He was NOT happy. Notice our trunk in the background. It was a ghost and we won the cutest trunk award. (mostly because Kara wasn't feeling the walk and around and judge thing..sorry about your car Kara)

The trees by our house are gorgeous. The picture doesn't do them justice.

There is a playground near our house with a hole in the slide. Jonas and I had fun taking pictures through the little hole. Here is his little chubby hand.

His cute face.

See? It was a fun time for sure!

We've had really nice weather and enjoyed spending some time outside. Jonas likes to run away as far as we will let him.

He also likes to eat leaves. eww.

Happy Fall!

Jonas Halloween 2009

Halloween 2009

I'm pretty sure Jonas gets the prize for the cutest Monster-with or without the costume. I'm so glad we got this when we did. It fits him perfectly. He's getting used to the idea of wearing it, but its not his favorite thing!

We borrowed Barrick's slide in an attempt to keep the little monster happy. It worked for a minute.

Barrick is AMAZED at all the weight Jonas has put on. Here he's lecturing him about the amount of Oreos that Jonas consumes-daily.

Dad thinks Jonas' costume is cute...but Jonas isn't convinced.

There we go! He likes it!

Just because I love this face. A lot.

..No Work~All Play..

We've been really busy playing, and playing, and playing. And getting ready for Halloween. Mr. Jonas has the cutest costume of all. More pictures of that to come...just have to wait for all the G & G's to get them first :)

A few weeks ago we went to visit Uncle Val & Aunt Alice. We had a big dinner and visited with lots of family that we never get to see. It was lots of fun and Jonas enjoyed being the center of attention. (And trying to break everything.)

Jonas found this little cupboard and spends about 50% of his day taking all the mugs and pitchers out. Then he kicks them all around the kitchen and runs off. It's a great game.

On Sunday we built a "fort" for Jonas. We thought he would love it, but it turns out he was mad that he couldn't stand up in it without hitting his head. We taught him to crawl through it. That was better. He had lots of fun.

Dad was coming to get him, but all he cared about was getting his mug-from the previously mentioned little cupboard.

Whew!! Got it and escaped from Dad!

EVERY day we wait for Dad. Today it was raining so we had to wait inside. Jonas got a little bored and figured out the mail slot. It was really funny when he could see me through it. I never could get a good picture though.

On this day, I told him Dad was on his way home. He gathered his blankets (he has two favorites-lucky me) and sat in front of the door. I guess I am a real bore during the day!

Whoa! Jonas had a fight with the "hair fairy" one night. I think she won the fight! I couldn't get his hair to lay down. It was crazy!

Finally we said goodbye to Elder Saadeh last week. He's been a missionary in our ward for almost 5 months. We enjoyed having him serve in our ward and we'll miss him. Jonas LOVES Elder Saadeh. He gives him "5" and even eats Elder Saadeh's food :) The hardest part about Devin serving with the Elders is saying goodbye! We really enjoy the time we get to spend with them. Good Luck!

.:Just fun & Games:.

Not much going on here! just the everyday playing, laundry, and enjoying the beautiful fall weather. I do love Maryland in the fall. The crisp weather, the leaves falling off the trees (which I have to rake this year), and the smell of soup cooking on the stove....

Waiting for his BFF (Dad)

My friend, Brittanie, made these awesome cupcakes for Cupcake of the Month in October. They were not only cute, they tasted delicious. Thanks for all the fun Brittanie! (Did I mention she delivers them?)

This is how Devin and Elder Saadeh spent the second session of conference on Sunday. They were listening..I promise...but this was an awesome race-track they built. Notice that they used scriptures to help in the construction!

More of Jonas waiting for Devin. Seriously somedays 5:00 doesn't come early enough.

Jonas has learned a new game...its pretty funny.

Jonas has also added a move to his dancing. Check out those arms!

Trouble

As if Jonas learning to go up and down the stairs isn't enough, he's also learned how to really make a mess. He L.O.V.E.S. books. Love them. But he loves even more to get them all out, look at a page and then throw them all over. This was a "mild" messy day. It takes me half of his nap-time to clean up after him! BUT its the best job I've ever had. I'm thinking of making it a career. :)

Have a book or two...

Jonas and dad have been busy building with Legos. It was Devin's idea to give them to Jonas for his birthday and Jonas' has LOVED them. He puts them in his mouth and promptly destroys anything that you try to build. I cut Devin off in this picture (accidentally), but this was every Lego Jonas has and it was pretty tall!

Last Saturday we went to the Zoo. It was supposed to be rainy, but we went anyway. Well it rained. A LOT. Never a bad down-pour, but wet and rainy none the less. We gave Jonas the umbrella and he took charge. It was so cute how he knew what to do with it. I took a million pictures :)

This was cuter in real life because he was just chillin' in the stroller, holding his umbrella like a big boy.

Before the rain-he really wanted to try out the water fountain. I could see a big wet mess all over his face and shirt and pants...you get the idea.

We took Aleese and Barrick with us. Aleese is a single mom for 6 weeks while her husband is doing a rotation in Ohio. It's fun to have a friend for Jonas next door. They are teaching each other how to share...whether they like it or not.

Devin and Jonas at the petting Zoo. I hate the petting Zoo. The cows look like they haven't been fed for a year. It's sad.

My sister, Kaylee, made Jonas these cute overalls last year. I keep waiting for them to fit him. They're still a little big Kaylee Bug...but very soon.

After all our fun, Jonas came down with a nasty cold this week. It nearly kills us both. I have wiped his nose well over a million times. I feel so bad for him because he can't breathe. He had just got over a cold, and then this one hit. I have a feeling its going to be a VERY long winter. Yuck.