Happy Thanksgiving!

We hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving! We wish that we could have spent it with all of you! We have so much to be thankful for! We are so blessed!

On Saturday we went to to Skaneateles. It's a cute little town thats at the top of a small finger lake, two lakes over from us. They put on something called the Charles Dicken's Festival that runs from Thanksgiving weekend, to Christmas Eve. It's a cute little town with a fun Christmas spirit.

Dicken's characters dressed up and singing carols for all to enjoy. There were probably about 30 characters through out the town. There was a little boy who was a very cute tiny-Tim and of course Scrooge. He had a very good Bah-Humbug attitude. When I wished him a Merry Christmas (just to see what he'd say) he said, grumbling, "huh? (mumbled a little more) I hate this."

Allison left her hat on for about 30 seconds. Long enough to get one picture and one right after with it off already. At least her little mittens lasted a little longer. Although both girls had hats and mittens off after about 20 minutes.

Evelyn and Millie in their snuggly coats! We bundled up because it was a cold windy day. I love Millie's tongue sticking out for all of her picture lately. So cute!

Evelyn was on Sam's back for about 3 seconds before she started playing with his hat. Taking it off and shoving it back on. I don't think the whole shoulders-ride-thing lasted too long.

Much better picture with Father Christmas than last year. We actually got both girls to sit on his lap. Last year Allison was too small and Evelyn was too terrified. Evelyn knew that after we visited Father Christmas, we were going to get doughnuts and cider. Right before it was our turn I asked her what she wanted for Christmas and she said, "a doughnut." Once she got up to Father Christmas and saw that he had "treats," little candy canes, she told him that what she wanted for Christmas was, "a treat." She has a one track mind! Once she finished eating her candy cane she promptly remember that she'd wanted a doughnut, so that's what we headed for next.

This is the closest that Evelyn has gotten to petting any animal in a long time. Allison pet the dog for a few minutes. Once the dog turned around and laid down, Evelyn decided that she'd pet it's tail, with gloves on. What a brave little girl!

As you can see, Allison thought that her 15 minute nap on our way up was sufficient and didn't fall asleep on the way home, until we were 5 minutes away. Evelyn, on the other hand, was out in about 3 minutes. Needless to say, these naps took place much to late in the day, making for a later bed time and the girls playing in their beds for a long time before falling asleep.

Not only do my girls look a lot alike, but I dress them the same sometimes. Which only gets more people to ask me if they're twins. I can see them asking that when the girls are sitting maybe, but when they stand, Evelyn is significantly taller. Oh well, I think I'll probably be getting that question for the rest of my life and should probably just get used to it. It's just so much easier to keep track of them when they match. That way I can remember exactly what they're wearing and see it easily as they each run in opposite directions.

A week ago I was not planning to put up a tree this year. Since we're leaving on the 15th. Then on Thanksgiving I thought, "who am I kidding? Of course I'll put up a tree. The girls will love it." We'll have it up for a few weeks before we leave for Christmas. They loved helping put it up and they love having it up. Evelyn makes sure that she runs to plug the lights in, first thing when she wakes up in the mornings.

The girls really loved helping put on the tinsel. Allison had pants on when we started decorating. I don't think they made it back on after a diaper change.

Not sure what she was doing. Probably just playing with my face and honking my nose. Allison loves my little shelf that I'm growing. She thinks it's perfect for standing and sitting on.

My handsome husband is going blind and needed to get glasses. He mostly just needs them for distance and when sitting in class and he needs to see the board or projector from far away. I think he looks handsome in them! Allison has way too much interest in them so it's a good thing he doesn't have to really wear them around her.

Evelyn wanted to make sure that Allison did not get board when she was falling asleep. I went in to check on the girls before we went to bed and I had a hard time finding my little Allison under all these books and blankets. I'm pretty sure that there were 11 books in her crib (which is not the most I've found in her crib).

Happy Thanksgiving! Our friends made these cute little turkey cupcakes and they were adorable! The feathers are made of Starbursts. So cute, huh?

We celebrated Thanksgiving with 3 other families that live right by us. It turned out so nice. All the food was amazing and we had an awesome variety and selection. We fed the kids first and then put on a movie and put out toys and they mostly left us alone while we ate (except Allison who had not really eaten the first time, so she was in and out and on and off her laps). Without all the kids at the table at the same time as the adults, we were all able to fit at the one table. It was so nice of our friends the Maksymov's to have us all over to their home!

Picture of all the kids eating. Notice that Allison is not at the table. She was more interested in playing with toys. Until we started eating, then she decided that she was hungry after all .

A shot of some of the men that played in the Turkey Bowl. Scott is not one of the ones in the air, it was just a good action shot. There were between 16 and 20 guys that showed up to play. On of our neighbors had a bummer start to his Thanksgiving. Within the first 30 minutes, he sprained his ankle really bad. They thought it was broken so they spent the next 4 hours in the ER. They made it home just in time to finish up their food and bring it over for Thanksgiving dinner.

Allison still loves gathering things but she's not nearly so obsessed with ALWAYS GATHERING EVERYTHING as she was this summer! She did enjoy gathering leaves to show us and take home.

Evelyn loves running up and down these bridges that are in the woods behind our house. She loves to stomp and hear herself running. I'm surprised that I was able to get her to turn around for a picture.

For some reason our friends the Maksymov's wanted me to take a family picture for them. Well, I have much respect for photographers who can get good pictures with all the kids looking, cooperating and smiling but we got a few cute ones.