Thanksgiving #2

We did Thanksgiving on Saturday at my dad's house, as usual.  This was the first gathering where all of their grandkids were there.  We attempted to get a picture - easier said than done with four babies!

 

Violet (10 months), Elyana (7 months), Ayden (6 years), Logan (2 months), Reese (13 months)

An attempt at a picture of my kids

Elyana with her Great Grandma Groom

Great Grandma Groom with both kids (this was the best one of Ayden, unfortunately)

Thanksgiving #1

On Thanksgiving Day, we went to my mom's house.  We had lots of fun enjoying time with family, playing games, and eating yummy food.

 

Elyana "gobbling" some Thanksgiving grapes

Elyana, Ayden & Violet

The cutest niece ever!!

my sweetie-pies

This was Elyana's first outfit - before we she pooped all up her back :-(

"the girls"

She's getting so big!

November

We've had a busy month.....

 

Elyana is eating all kinds of baby food - veggies, fruit, oatmeal & rice. 
She also loves to eat anything in her mesh feeder!

She is now in a convertible car seat, so she sits in the high chairs and carts now!

 Ayden had a Thanksgiving Feast & Program at school right before Thanksgiving break.  He did a great job singing the songs and reciting the poems.  He was even one of the "Five Fat Turkeys."  The best part for Mom and Dad was that, since he had a "real part," he got to sit in the front!  Because he's tall, he usually is in the back and we can never get good pictures.  Not that these pictures are that great, but it's more than just his head in a sea of others :-)

Just before Thanksgiving, my Grandma Groom flew in from Texas.   We got to have her stay at our house for a few days.  We went to Old Town Sacramento and she got to get to know the two newest great-grandchildren. 

Ayden showing off his awesome reading skills

Another event this month was the end of soccer season.  Unfortunately, his last game was rained out.  The kids still had a blast at the end of the season party at Round Table. Ayden got a trophy and a soccer ball with his name on it!

 

Elyana's hair continues to be crazy! 

Here are a couple of pictures on a day where it decided to be straight-ish. 

I think it's kind of old-man-comb-over

Halloween

The fun Halloween festivities for 2012....

 

 

 

Ayden was very excited to use a "real, sharp" knife to carve his pumpkin

 

Right after this picture, the stem of the pumpkin was in her mouth!

 

The finished family of pumpkins

 

My cuties on Halloween morning, before school

Ayden with the neighborhood friends -

Cayden & Hailey Manna, Zachary & Jessica Burdick, Adelyn & Carter Carano

 

Matthew, Dominique, and Violet came over to go trick or treating with us.  The girls weren't sure what to think about the whole costume thing

 

cousins!

Uncle Matthew had to test out Ayden's transformer helmet (it has a voice changer!) and Ken's scooter

He was having fun sorting his candy on the driveway until is started pouring rain!

Favorite!

I think this is my favorite picture of the two of them together....

 

Toothless

Right after his birthday, we noticed that Ayden's first "adult" tooth was coming in behind his baby tooth on the bottom.  After calling the dentist and doing some online reading about "shark teeth," we decided to have both of his front bottom teeth pulled.

 

The last picture with all of his teeth

He got to choose a "nose" and scent to breathe in the "smelly air." 
He chose to watch the movie Rio while they pulled the teeth.

And, here he is with two less teeth.....

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He had a little bit of pain when we got home, but a little ibuprofen and pumpkin carving healed him!

Wildlife Refuge

We took a quick trip to Grandma Newton's house at the end of October.  Aunt Sarah was in town, so we drove down to see her.

 

I didn't take any pictures except when we went the Wildlife Refuge outside of Los Banos.  Ayden had a blast at the visitor's center where they had a bunch of hands-on displays.  We didn't get to walk around outside because of the bird-sized mosquitoes everywhere, but we did take a little drive to see the refuge.

 

Elyana spent her time looking cute in the stroller!

 

Ayden Turns SIX!

We had Ayden's birthday party this year at The Party Place.  It was lots of fun and we were able to have kids and family all in the same place.

 

We did a superhero theme.  It was so cute to see the kids in their costumes!

 

Ayden with his friends

being silly on the slide

The cookies that took forever to make!

playing with his buddies

Matthew took Violet down the big slide!

We made superhero onesies for Elyana and Violet to wear with their tutus!

 

 

someday we will be able to get a picture of the two of them where they are both looking at the camera

Reese is such a cutie pie!

Since school started, he kept saying that he wanted to bring Krispy Kremes to school.  He was so excited to share them with his friends!

Field Trip to Bishop's Pumpkin Farm

I took the day off to go with Ayden on his first field trip at Blue Oaks.  He has been on field trips to Bishops for the past few years, but it's always a fun day!  This time, he got to ride on a school bus for the first time!!!  He was so excited!!

 

 

Ayden & I on the hay ride

picked out the perfect pumpkin

I'm already thinking that it will be strange to not go on a field trip to Bishop's next year.... It won't be too long before Elyana will be going there on field trips!