Thanksgiving Craft Round-Up

We have had such a fun month learning about Thanksgiving!

I wasn't super great at taking pictures of everything we did.

Here are a few of the things I did remember to take pictures of!

This was a fun game!  Avery loves the game Cooties, so I knew she'd enjoy this.

I love her finished turkey!

This was a on-going activity.  

We first talked about the Pilgrims and put them at our Thanksgiving table.

The next week we talked about the Indians and added them to our table.

The week of Thanksgiving we talked about Thanksgiving food and added some food to our table!

What we're thankful for.  Starting at the top left corner and going clockwise:

Avery, is thankful for a tent for camping.  She drew a picture of us camping on the beach.

Louis is thankful for me, our baby boy, Avery, and Mary.

Mary is thankful for books to read.  I drew it for her. (in case you couldn't tell)

Becca, I'm thankful for Louis and everything he does for us!

Our toilet paper rolls people

Here is a picture of Avery with all of the crafts we did together during the month.

At the end of the month, Avery can now tell the story of the first Thanksgiving.

She loves to learn!  I hope that sticks with her throughout her life.

Third Trimester Here we Come!!

I am now 28 weeks along!  That is the first week of the third trimester.  I'm going to do one of those generic pregnancy updates.  I'm sure you've seen them around!  If I had thought things out better I would have done one like this at the beginning of the second trimester as well.  Maybe for the next baby!  Here we go!

How far along?  28 weeks 4 days

Total weight gain?  15 pounds

Maternity clothes?  Mostly yes to the maternity clothes, but I've been able to make some of my 

non-maternity clothes work for me still.  

Stretch marks?  No new ones that I have noticed yet, my belly could be hiding some though.  It did with Avery!

Sleep?  Once I get comfortable I can fall asleep and sleep well through the night.  Unless I have to go to the bathroom.

Best moment of the week?  Avery.  She's so excited for her brother.  She tells everyone we meet that I have her brother "Hammer" in my tummy and that he's going to grow and then come out.

Miss anything?  Being comfortable.  I've started feeling some round ligament pains this week.

Movement?  So much!  Especially early in the morning, it wakes me up sometimes.  He's still low, but he's getting bigger so I'm feeling him higher up now too!  Instead of getting hit in the ribs like with my girls I'm getting hit in the hips.  It's weird.

Food cravings?  I'm not having any cravings.

Labor signs?  I've been having several braxton hicks contractions throughout the day.

Belly button in or out?  Out.

Wedding rings on or off?  I am lucky and have never had any swelling with any of my pregnancies

Happy or moody most of the time?  I don't think I'm happier or moodier than usual.  

Maybe ask Louis or my kids for a better answer on this one.

Looking forward to?  Being able to stand up without having to pee.  

Picking out a name.  Please let that happen soon!  I have a name I love, but Louis isn't sure about it.

I am still feeling good overall.  I do get uncomfortable at times, but it's been okay.  I am so looking forward to having a new baby!  It is such a wonderful and spiritual event.  I am so excited for our first son!  It is very exciting to think that with the way my last two pregnancies went we could be holding our new baby boy in our arms in less than 10 weeks.

Birthday Fun

On Avery's actual birthday we set up a fun surprise for her for when she woke up!  

Of course the day I wake up at 7 so I can record her reaction is the day that Avery sleeps in past 7:30.  We tried waking her up by knocking on the door calling her name and telling her that it was morning, but nothing worked.  Finally just after 8 I went in and woke her up!
After the balloon fun we went downstairs to open presents!  Each birthday has been more fun than the last!  Avery was very excited and thankful for all of her presents.  She gave Louis and me a hug after each present she opened.

After presents we had waffles for breakfast.  Since the day before at her party was NOT her birthday we had to have birthday cake.  With candles and a round of Happy Birthday of course.  Then Avery spent the rest of the morning playing with her new toys.  Her favorite present of the day was her new play food.  She spent quite a bit of time "shopping" and having a tea party with her princesses.  Just before lunch time Avery and Louis headed out on a birthday date!  It's a tradition we started last year.  Click here to read about last years birthday date.  

This year Louis and Avery went to see the movie Big Hero 6.  When they left the movie they headed out to have ice cream.  That was their date!  Avery was so happy when she got home.  She loved her one on one time with Louis.
That was pretty much the end of her birthday celebrations.  She did get rice krispies for dinner just so everyone knows.  Avery is very excited to be four years old and we are so excited to see what the next year brings!

Cinderella Surprise Party

Avery watched a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse episode a while back where they throw Minnie a surprise birthday party.  She thought that was really fun so Louis and I decided to do a surprise birthday party for her this year!  Avery has been saying for months that she's going to have a Cinderella birthday, so it became a surprise Cinderella princess party.

Avery's birthday is on the 22nd, but we did her party the day before because Louis' cousin was getting married on her birthday.

The party went wonderfully!  For those who don't know, there are 4 birthdays within two days in my family!  John and Lizzie are on the 21st and my Mom and Avery are on the 22nd.  John and Courtney came up to help me out with setting up for the party since Louis ended up having to work the weekend.  Courtney stayed with the girls and I told Avery I was taking John out for his birthday when really he was going to be helping decorate.

Once everyone was at the party I told Louis to head over.  Avery thought we were going to be having dinner with John for his birthday.  

waiting to say surprise

She was SO shocked when she walked in and everyone shouted surprise!  I wish I had gotten a better picture, but this is all I got. 

John took a video, if he sends it to me I'll post it.  She jumped and put her hands on her cheeks in shock!  The first things she said was, "It's not my birthday!"  I knew she'd react like that!  The whole night she kept saying it was not her birthday and she was not 4.  It was John's birthday, her birthday was tomorrow.

We started our night with eating dinner.  I planned Avery's favorite, peanut butter and honey sandwiches, fruit, and chips.  While we were eating I also let everyone know that I had set up a table where they could write a letter to their favorite Disney character.  I have mailed them out and they should get a signed picture in return!  

After everyone was done eating we did a few games.  For the first one we all sat in a circle.  We had a small blue ball and a glass slipper.  The ball represented the prince and the glass slipper represented Cinderella.  We had to pass around the two objects as fast as we could trying to get the prince to catch Cinderella after she ran away at midnight.  

After that game we played pin the glass slipper on Cinderella.  Avery is surprisingly good at these games.  

Then it was present time!  Avery did not want to open her presents!  She said it was not her birthday and that John had to open the presents.  We convinced her to open her presents with John.  After the first present she was very excited to open them up!  She LOVED everything she received.

Then it was cake time and the party was done!  

I was going to include her actual birthday in this post too, but it's already getting long!  

I'll save it for another post.

4 Year Pictures

Avery's birthday is today!  I will be posting about her birthday fun tonight or tomorrow, but while she's busy upstairs playing with her new play food I thought I'd take the time to post some of the birthday pictures we took a while back.  Plus this years birthday interview!

Let's start with the birthday interview picture!  It is a fun tradition we start at the age of 3.

Click here to see last years.

click to enlarge

I took so many pictures of Avery.  She loves getting her picture taken and had so much fun running to different spots to get her picture taken.  So this post is going to have a lot of pictures!  Enjoy!

she really wanted one with her pumpkin!

November Craft Kick-off

I have some fun Thanksgiving themed crafts planned for this month.  Each week we're going to have a different Thanksgiving theme.  This week is turkeys!  We started out yesterday by making some fun and easy paper plate turkeys.  All of these pictures were taken on my phone so sorry for the quality of them.  I really need to get my actual camera out more.

This was our turkey making station!  Avery and I were a turkey making team and Louis and Mary were supposed to be a turkey making team.  Mary didn't seem to want to participate though and instead spent the whole time doing this:  

Dip apple into apple dip.  Lick apple dip off.  Repeat.

So Louis had to make his turkey all by himself.

Avery had lots of fun making a turkey and coming up with a "patterin" for the tail feathers.

She even did pretty well folding the legs like an accordion.  

Here is Louis' finished turkey.  He named him The Yummy Turkey.

Avery named her turkey Heart.  

She is very good at naming things.  Example:  Her brother "Hammer."

We had a lot of fun as a family doing this!  Today Avery did a color by number turkey and tomorrow we're going to be playing a make-a-turkey game.  It's played like Cooties.  I think it's going to be lots of fun.  I'm grateful for this fun time of year!