we decorated a gingerbread house for family night tonight. Maya was so excited she was making plans and drawing ideas all day long of how it would look. Here is the before shot.

Kai was a bit anxious to try out his yummy ginger bread man and so he just ended up eating the whole thing dry and then picking at the candy while he watched the rest of us decorate. That's our boy
Maya was so proud of her ginger man covered in about an inch of frosting and gumballs. That's our girl!


Anthony and Maya's masterpieces!

First snowman of the year

We had a huge snow storm on Saturday and Maya was so excited to get all of her snow gear on and go make a snowman. Kai, however, was not. He is not a big fan of the snow. We got started a bit late so I will have to go take another picture of the finished guy in day light. The kids had a blast and lots of hot cocoa afterwards.

Oh Christmas Tree!

One of our favorite family traditions started by accident when Anthony and I were in a hurry to buy our first Christmas tree together 5 years ago and there were no more trees left that were unwrapped so we ended up just grabbing on of the ones that had just gotten off the truck still wrapped. When we took it home it was just like opening a present not knowing what kind of tree we were going to get. It ended up being beautiful and has been every year since. We have had great luck and fun unwrapping our tree every year.


Maya got to put the star on the top with just a little bit of help from her dadda

After we sat down as a family and read the Christmas story, Maya also had the honor of lighting the tree. what a pretty girl (and tree)

Happy Thanksgiving!!

The Carlson family and Nana and Papa came to our home this year for Thanksgiving. We had such a blast. Of course, the cousins all had a bit too much fun! So many memories were made. We sure miss having the Carlson's living down the street from us but at least we all get to visit every few months. Maya and Kai love all their cousins SOOOOO much!

Maya and Kate


Drake and Kai boy

Goofball Maya...always making us laugh!

Thanksgiving Dinner!!!!


Wow....Just the men in the kitchen. I had to get a picture of this!.....(oh, and notice the new granite counter tops we had just got just days before. The backsplash is in progress now. It looks so great!

The kiddios table

Happy Halloween!!!

The kids and Anthony woke up to a scary candle lit breakfast of pumpkin pancakes and oarnge eggs and juice. Maya and Kai got such a kick out of the pancakes.



We went trick or treating up and down mains street. It sure beat having to walk miles from house to house like I used to have to do as a kid.



Ride 'em Cowgirl! Maya was the cutest cowgirl I have ever seen this Halloween. And Kai was her faithful horse!

Fun Fall Leaves

There is nothing like spending all day raking leaves then seeing the pure joy coming from your kids as they play and play for hours in the piles. And when you have an acre of land with huge trees....there are A LOT of leaves! The Maya, Kai, Drake, Sadie and the Sabin kids had a blast!! We had to tear them away at the end of the day. It is ALWAYS the free things that kids have the most fun with.

Trip to Thanksgiving Point Pumpkin Patch

We attempted the corn maze but quickly found out that corn mazes loose there thrill pretty quickly with a 2 and a 4 year old. Poor Anthony was stuck carrying the kids for the most part, I don't get too far with the child lifting at 8 months pregnant. Needless to say we made the joint parental decision that one of the emergency exits became the glorious ending to the maze. Maya was so proud of herself for finding the way out. It all worked out and everyone was happy!!




Instead of a sandbox they had a huge box full of corn kernels. Fun to play in but a lot more uncomfortable in the shoe than sand.




It was so fun to watch Maya and Kai on this little train ride. Maya just had a huge grin on her face the whole time and Kai just grabed on and held on for dear life the entire time and didn't move an inch. He stayed perfectly still until I came over and pulled him out of the ride. So funny!



We try and take the kids pictures by this cute pumpkin. Documented proof of my fears that my kids are growing up way too fast!