Thanksgiving

We've gotten kind of used to a huge crowd at Thanksgiving since some or most of Jacob's family has come for the last several years. But this year it was just the Knights. We still ended up making the same amount of food, mostly, so we had plenty of leftovers, and it was a great day with family. 

Savannah invited Annie to help them make pies, and the chef in her was very happy to help with that. They got that taken care of the day before Thanksgiving so on the day of we'd have time to chill.

 Rain was forecasted, but held off long enough for all of us to do our 2nd annual Turkey Trot 5k. I meant to have these shirts made for Fall Break so we could wear them on our adventures together, but Thanksgiving was good, too. The kids' shirts say Knight Adventures. By the time we got to the adults' shirts we were low on vinyl, so ended up doing just Knight Fun and a smaller picture.

 No one will get lost as long as we're wearing our shirts.

 The 5k went well. I rode my bike so I could check on progress at the front and back of the pack, and if kids needed a break they could ride in the bike trailer. (I also hate running, so it was a good excuse to not run. :D)

 Rachel and Ryan were at the front of the pack of runners and Rachel barely beat out Ryan, even though he was ahead for most of the time. They both did great and amaze me with their endurance and speed.

 Others used scooters or caught rides for part of it, but all the kids did amazing and made it most or all of the 3 miles on their own power.

 We set up a kid table in the front room so we wouldn't be bothered by their natural volume.

 And we enjoyed a delicious meal in relative peace. With the meal prep split up between 3 houses it was really very low key to get it all ready.

 After the food Todd kept the kids (and adults) entertained with games, like always.

 Rachel and Annie begged me to take them Black Friday shopping. I agreed to take them on Friday after most of the craziness had died down from the Thursday night insanity. I didn't think Annie would last long, so I took her on her own (she ignored the deals and got some toys she could have bought any old day). Rachel's friend, Eliza came with us and they had a good time running around together.

 They are pretty funny to shop with.

They mostly ditched us, but luckily my mom had decided to come along, too, so she and I shopped together while Eliza and Rachel ran around together. They didn't get much, but had a good time doing it. They did get matching pajama bottoms. Then after I found a shirt I liked that said "Fleece Navidad," they decided they liked the shirt, too and got one each. So we can all be twinners.

When I would end up wearing it the same day as Rachel she would make a big deal of being embarrassed, and I would just remind her that I found the shirt first. She's the one who chose to copy me. It's kind of fun to have reached the point where Rachel is occasionally (or claims to be at least) embarrassed of what I'm wearing. It gives me a goal to shoot for. ;)

Rachel's 12th Birthday

Rachel is 12! She wanted to have her traditional movie night party and decided to decorate her own cupcakes. 

 Since our ward was recently split and her huge class of Beehives was cut in half as the other half was put in the new ward, she wanted to have a Beehive reunion for her birthday. Most of the girls were able to make it and they had a good time eating pizza and watching a movie.

 Opening presents:

 Rachel has hit the age where every gift she opened required a hug and thank you to her friend. It's a step up from all those years of us telling her to slow down and open one present at a time. ;)

Her friends Chelsea and Eliza got together to plan a huge, random present. She got things like huge marshmallows, vampire bat sunglasses, a razor, and about 20 other things. It was a big laugh and one of her favorite gifts.

 Pigging out on popcorn while watching the movie:

 We forgot to snag a picture before they started getting picked up, but we did manage one before they were all gone.

 For Rachel's family celebration Annie helped decorate a cake for Rachel and Benjamin. Rachel had no preference as to how it would be decorated so we asked Savannah for ideas of what B was into. She told us he liked rockets, pogo sticks, and weird animals so we made a space cake with a rocket with a dog looking out the porthole, and a lego man pogo-ing on earth.

 Not too shabby. Annie cooked it all and decorated most of it. She did great.

 Rachel's class presidency stopped by with a birthday surprise. The balloons had candy inside.

One of Rachel's gifts was a make up shopping spree. I took her to Walgreens and she got blush, mascara, lip gloss, etc. then we went out to lunch at Panda Express. It was fun to go shopping with her (and get tasty food). 

 One year away from teenage-dom, and I think the teenage years, while full of drama and many "it's the end of the world" days, I'm sure, based on the previews she's given us already, will actually also be fun. Perhaps like the terrible twos and threes are full of emotions and hard days, but the cuteness and excitement of all the new things they're learning balances out the tantrums. I think the teenage years must be similar: tantrums and tears will be balanced out by fun outings and conversations and a human that likes to watch movies I like to watch finally. :)

Rachel's big present for her birthday was a pair of rollerblades. She wanted a wheelchair, and when I told her no, she asked for crutches. When I told her no to that she asked for rollerblades (so she could get crutches/wheelchair the legitimate way?). I actually did run across some crutches at goodwill that I ended up getting her, too. For the first little while learning how to rollerblade she found that a butt-pillow was important to keep her from getting too bruised. :D

Rachel is blossoming into a young lady. Her feet are almost as big as mine (size 8.5), she can borrow my shirts/jackets, and she's just a few inches shorter than me. She has a fun sense of humor, is very responsible at school and when it comes to babysitting, but not so much when it comes to keeping track of her stuff (lost and found ate several sweatshirts/jackets), or keeping her room clean and organized. It is lovely to have a kid who can babysit for us to go on a date or even so I can just run to the store without dragging all the kids along. We're glad Rachel has survived 12 years! :)

November

November flew by. It started out with the girls' piano recital. They both did a great job. I'm proud of how good they're getting.

 Sunday after church we were playing Fuji Flush. Ryan's mustache was hilarious.

 Our bathroom is finally finished! Except for the painting. But I have the paint, so that will get done one of these days. Hopefully soon. That was quite the ordeal, taking much more time and suffering than we originally anticipated. But it's done and it's pretty.

 Megan and Ryan wanted to draw an owl. We found a guy on youtube that teaches kids how to draw and they followed along drawing their own pictures. I was very impressed with how well they turned out.

 We had our last Young Women in Excellence in November. There was a balloon for each personal progress goal accomplished by any of the girls during the year, and it was a pretty cool visual to see how much they have done.

 Annie had been working on StoryShare for the first quarter and into the second quarter with her ELP (gifted) class and some other kids. They each wrote a story, then selected a story from another grade to perform. Annie's story, "Attack of the 40 foot Squishy" got selected to be performed by a group in 4th grade. Annie's group performed an alien story (I can't remember the name) and did a great job. Annie (green hair) was an alien.

 The kids have been loving the skate park lately. They mostly spend time on their scooters, though Annie does use her Heely's sometimes, and Rachel has used her rollerblades a little, but mostly prefers riding the park paths on her blades, rather than the skate park.

 For FHE one Monday we cut out snowflakes. We hung them up in the hallway to the laundry room and bathroom and it created a beautiful winter wonderland effect.

 The kids' classes helped hide the Albequerque Turkey like they do every year. Megan made hers a Christmas tree, Ryan made his into a bowling ball and pin, and Annie did either an elf or Santa, I think.

 I snapped this picture of Grandma with her youngest two grandkids. We're lucky to have her so close by.

 For a combined youth activity in November, we all went to the bowling alley. Rachel did a good job, breaking 100, and would have been top dog in her group if the others didn't use bumpers. (She didn't use bumpers.)

 I was pretty amazing myself. The first round. Multiple strikes and spares, bowled 130+. The second round I completely tanked. Should have quit while I was ahead. :)

Megan and Annie happened to both choose leopard pants and matching hoodies the same day, Annie in white, Megan in pink.

 Sammy came to hang out one day when he didn't want to go grocery shopping with his mom. He liked our turkey hats a lot and I thought he should wear it to Megan's Thanksgiving party/performance later that day, but he just wanted to wear it in our house.

 We made our famous turkey veggie platter one last time. I've made it every year I've had a kindergartener for their kinder feast.

 Megan was super enthusiastic in her singing and did a great job. It was fun to watch them.

Ashley and baby Anya (sp?) stopped by for a few hours before they caught their flight home after visiting Ashley's sister in Sierra Vista when she had a baby. It was good to see them and catch up a little. And Megan (and the others) were super excited about having a baby around to play with.

Annie's 9th Birthday

Annie turned 9! She wanted to make her own cake. She made a double layer vanilla cake and decorated it all herself, with just a little help from me. It turned out beautiful.

 The cake was for her family birthday celebration when everyone came over for Sunday dinner.

 Friday night she had her friend birthday party. She was jealous of Rachel's late nighter that she had at the end of cross country season, so she decided that would be a perfect birthday party (since we don't do sleepovers, except for cousins).

They made friendship bracelets and watched Studio C until the pizza showed up.

 Clockwise we have Megan, Emily, Annie, Laura, McKenzie, Eloise, Alexa, Quetzali, Rachel, and Peyton.

 The girls watched Enchanted on our projector screen.

 Then when Megan and Ryan headed to bed, the girls whipped out their pillows for a pillow fight.

 We reined it in to open presents.

 Then the girls painted nails and watched Studio C until parents showed up.

 I was happy to see that the planned activities took up most of the time. Most of the girls were done with nails around 9:45 and the party ended at 10pm, so Studio C kept their attention for the last few minutes, rather than them feeling the need to run around like crazy people. :)

Annie has one year left in the single digits. Now that she's 9, all my kids are officially odd. Until Rachel turns 12 in a few weeks. Even then she'll still be odd. ;) 

We're so happy to have Annie in our family. She love sweets and candy so much, but she also has a very sweet heart and is happy to share her candy or other things she has. I think one of her love languages must be gifts because when she's feeling especially loving towards someone she finds something to give them. She is very creative and smart and is a great student. Her advanced math teacher recently sent me this email: 

Have I told you recently how much I love having Annie in advanced math?  She's a kid I can always count on to do everything I ask the first time I ask.  She is engaged deeply in whatever we are learning about.  She doesn't hesitate to help anyone who needs help and yet she's never bossy.  Essentially, if I could create a perfect student she would be it.  Thank you for sharing her with me!

Sincerely,

Kate Goodall

Annie has recently started getting into Harry Potter and has read thru the 3rd book. She enjoys reading, cooking (she wakes up most Sunday mornings and offers to make fried eggs for whoever wants them, and always jumps to help whenever I'm baking), the Great British Cooking Show, Phineas and Ferb, playing the piano, crafts, and gymnastics. And she's got one more year until she hits double digits!