These are a few of my favorite things...

So, remember how I had big plans of posting thankful bits daily for the family all month? Well, clearly I have failed at that one. Not the Thankful part, just the publicizing my thankfulness part. But don't worry, I have something up my sleeve, that I think will be fun. For now, here are some fun photos of the last week or so. Enjoy!
It has turned Fall in our neck o' the woods. I. Love. Fall. I love the crispness, the foods associated with it, the cozy clothes, colors, smells...my list could go on and on. Fires are at the very top of that list, but add S'mores to the fire and you've nearly won my heart forever! Passing that love on to my kiddos is hugely satisfying!

Cute baby in sunglasses, check!

Cutie Patootie staying up late, eating a snack and watching cartoons, all while feeling very big girlish! I wish I could video tape everything this little lollipop kid does and says. She's unbelievably adorable! If LA wasn't such a drive, I'm sure we could make serious money off her voice!

My sweet sleepy baby boy, sweating out a rather treacherous bout of gasiness.

Trouble with Teeth

Summer lost a tooth last week! She was so excited, because it fell out on her desk while she was at school! She came out of school dancing with excitement as she told me of her good fortune. It's been a while since she has lost a tooth, so she was seeing $$ signs! Bed time is always a snap when the Tooth fairy needs to pay a visit and this night was no exception.
Fast forward to the next morning. An adorable sad face woke me up. The Tooth Fairy hadn't come. Sighs filled our home. I suggested that she send the Tooth Fairy an e-mail, letting her know that we had moved since her last visit, in case that was the problem. She looked at me and said in amazement, "You can do that?!" I told her "why not?" That was all she needed to get to work. She penned (typed) the lovely letter above and sent it off to: thetoothfairy@toothfairy.com

Dear Tooth Fairy,
Hi!I lost a tooth,but we moved this Summer.Last night I put my tooth under my pillow,and you did not come to pick my tooth up!I am wondering what happened to your appearance for my tooth.I hope you are not having a hard time with getting to all of the houses in one night,and not feeling bad about it at all,when you do not get to all of the childrens houses in time.
LOVE,
Summer
my adress: XXXX XXXXX Circle Califorinia
It worked, because the Tooth Fairy paid a visit the very next night, explaining that she had, in fact, gone to our house in Florida and was confused that she wasn't in "her room" and that she was sorry for the mistake. Luckily Summer was very understanding and patient with our dear friend!

Tom Turkey

We got to visit the elementary school today to see Mrs. Ballard's 2nd grade class perform Tom Turkey. Summer was a cow. A very adorable cow, I might add! The little ones and I enjoyed watching her.

Mrs. Ballard's 2nd grade class basking in their Tom Turkey 15 minutes of fame.

Here's what we are thankful for today:

Jess: "Walking outside and realizing what a beautiful day it is."
Kelli: Access to a free education for all of my kiddos! I am glad I don't have to do it myself!

T Jay: "Parents"

Summer: "Simon"

Matthew: "You!" (pointing to me.)

Lexi: "You! You make me happy!" It's my lucky day!

Simon: Mommy! I thought I'd make it almost unanimous!

Thankful Posts

These photos are from Jess' birthday. We were so busy enjoying his day, that I never mentioned anything about it here. For his 39th birthday, he got a monster late sleep in, a breakfast date, a new bike, a scavenger hunt (planned by T Jay) and a birthday party (pirate theme) planned by the kiddos! It was really fun.

Jess is the genius of crazy games to get the kids to do what we want. This is some sort of bedtime train. I asked him to write all of his game ideas down. I'm smelling a book deal? Maybe not, but for posterity's sake!

In other news, I am trying something new this Thanksgiving season. We will still be making our annual Thanksgiving tree while we are in Colorado. In the mean time, I am interviewing each of the members of our family on things they are thankful for, and then I will be posting them here. Some of the days will be combined into one post. Five kids, remember?! Here's what we've got so far:

November 6th:

Jess: The ability to improve

Kelli: bedtime

T Jay: food

Summer: a body

Matthew: (he wouldn't cooperate)

Lexi: baby dolls

Simon: milk

November 7th:

Jess:

Shallow: Upgrades on Delta Airlines.

Deep: A wife who makes my life infinitely better. (I didn't pay him to say that, at least not that I'm admitting!)
Kelli: Washer, dryer and Dishwasher! All three were used profusely today. I couldn't imagine my day with out them!

T.Jay: Clean water

Summer: Mrs. Ballard (her 2nd grade teacher)

Matthew: The bed that I sleep on.

Lexi: Simon

Simon: pacifier

Simply Simon!

This post is all about our little Simon! He had his two month check up last week. Here are his stats: weight- 13.2 lbs. Length- 24" He is in the 80 something percentile and growing like crazy. He has begun to smile at us and is staying awake for longer periods of time. He started sleeping through the night at six weeks, which has won him extra brownie points with me! All six of us are utterly in love with him!

Handsome after Church.

Simon smile unveiled!

Simon: "I like Mom to try really hard to get me to smile. It's entertaining to watch her make crazy faces." At least that's what I think he'd say!

Ha! Ha! Ha!

Hooray! Mom gives me everything I want!

lovin' the swing!

Bring your family to work day

Last week, we took the opportunity to go tour one of the wind sites that Jess' company has been working on in our own backyard. We stopped into the local office, picked up hard hats (pink for the girls, of course!), safety vests and a tour guide and set off for the site.
The kids are in front of the old turbines in this photo.

First off, Holy windy, Batman! Duh, right?! It was so windy that we had to hold onto our hats, literally! It seemed like enough wind to power the whole East Bay area without breaking a sweat! (new turbines)

Family photo op (except for Simon, he was snug in the car.)

Operation retrieve Lexi's run away hat.

Matthew's plan for riding out the wind.

The kiddos posing on the platform to the turbine.

Four little angels looking down on us.

Jess' job is actually finding and preparing the sites for construction, not the actual construction. It was fun to see this side of the process. At this site, they were replacing old turbines with larger more efficient turbines. They took down about 25 old ones and replaced them with one new one!

Halloween 2011

Trick-or-Treating with our neighbors!

Robot, Harry Potter, Hermione Granger and our little strawberry Fairy!

Checking the fit! (and added muscle strength)

Me and my little honey bee!

and one more 'cause this little bee is so cute!

Me and my Hubs!