Thanksgiving Dinner and. . . Presents?

We did the Ostler Thanksgiving dinner today and it was fabulous! I did a terrible job taking pictures this year, however, and only got a few at the end. But everything turned out great: great food, great family, great fun! And our kids were very excited that they got to open their gift for the Christmas gift exchange a whole month early! Yeah!

Addie got a Tinkerbell dress which she absolutely loves! She couldn't be happier.

And Preston got a ball and two cars: two of his favorite things. Perfect!

And Ryan got to play some soccer with the other guys and the kids while the girls talked and talked. Once again, perfect. I love my family and enjoy any excuse to spend more time with them.

Our Thanksgiving Feast

We had the privilege of hosting the Rocque family for Thanksgiving dinner this year. We put up two long tables in our basement playroom and had an AMAZING feast. Ryan made THE most delicious turkey (he brined it--by soaking it all night in salt water--before he cooked it), mashed potatoes, gravy, and rolls. I cleaned the house, set everything up, and made a pecan pie. Everyone else brought the rest of the feast. It was SO delicious and so much fun.

If you know Ryan, it should be no surprise to you that he wanted to be like a noble from the Middle Ages and eat the turkey the old fashioned way. :)

The little girls' table. I'm pretty sure they did a lot more playing than they did eating, but oh well.

Boy, am thankful for these two rascals in my life. After we ate, we each took turns saying what we were most grateful for this past year. Honestly, my little family always comes out number one for me. I am so grateful for Ryan and all of the endless hard work he does for our family. Being a full-time teacher AND student has not been easy, but he still saves a little energy to play with our kids and be a fabulous father and husband. I am so grateful for Adelyn because she is my best little friend. It is so nice to be able to carry on real conversations with her and chat about anything and everything. It is also such a joy to watch her develop into such a sweet, ambitious, beautiful little girl. Preston is a little ham! He is starting to talk more and more and he is so fun. He loves to tease, kick and throw balls, climb onto everything, and be outside. He is a true boy through and through and I don't know how we ever got along without him.

I am also very grateful for our extended families and for our friends. It is such a blessing to feel loved and supported. We have been richly blessed this year! Although it is sometimes easy to focus on the trials and hardships we have faced, it is quite overwhelming when I stop to think about all the little things that have fallen into place for us. I know the Lord is directing our lives and is never far away. And that is a great blessing indeed.

"Jungle Sally"

For those of you who don't know, we have recently adopted a third child. It was kind of on a whim, but we realize now that we needed her as much as she needed us. But three kids has actually turned out to be more of an adjustment than we originally thought it would be. She is just three years old and is unfortunate REALLY wild. She just absolutely destroys our house, screams at the top of her lungs regularly, never says please or thank you, is EXTREMELY mean to Preston, and doesn't listen to a thing I say. As a result of her uncivilized behavior, Adelyn and I have affectionately named her "Jungle Sally."

During these last few weeks, I have given Adelyn the responsibility to help keep Sally tame and to clean up after her when she makes big messes. Adelyn also volunteered to teach Sally to be nice to Preston and share her toys; to say please and thank you; and to not scream or whine. It is working out quite well and I have only occasionally had to send Sally outside to sleep with her jungle friends.

Okay, so we don't really have a new wild third child. But our little imaginary family scape goat has given me an opportunity to help make my real three-year old aware of her mistakes without causing her to feel blamed or picked on. And amazingly, "Jungle Sally" really has become more tame in the process. Isn't it neat what a little imagination can do. . .

Trick-or-Treating with Cinderella

I LOVED Halloween this year! People have often told me that life is so much more fun with kids. Well, that is true, but especially when it comes to Halloween. Honestly, I can't think of any better way to spend an evening than skipping down the road trick-or treating with my giggling little girl. She was just beaming and she kept saying, "Mommy, this is so much fun!"

We decided to coordinate our costumes this year. Adelyn is obviously Cinderella, I am her fairy godmother, and Preston is Bruno. If you don't know who Bruno is, you are definitely due for a dose of this Disney classic. He is like the hero of the whole show. (Ryan was supposed to be Prince Charming, but I couldn't find a good costume for him.) I love this picture because it reminds me so much of a picture taken of my mom with my two oldest siblings on Halloween long before I was born. She was dressed as "Little Bo Peep." My mom is my biggest hero. I like to imagine that someday I will be even half the woman and mother that she is.

Preston looks like he has no idea why on earth he has to wear this crazy dog on the top of his head all night long. But he was quite a trooper about it overall.

An excited little princess.

This is such a darling picture of Adelyn with her Grandma Rocque. I will never forget the day that we left her house and Adelyn said, "Mom, I just love that Grandma." I think if she had it her way, Adelyn would spend every day visiting either her Grandma Rocque or Grandma Ostler. She has such a special relationship with both of them.

Ryan's beautiful sister Heather with her baby, Abby. Her three little girls were all darling princesses this year.

Adelyn, smiling because she just ate ANOTHER piece of Halloween candy. This picture shows off the cute witch she got painted on her cheek at the ward Truck-or-Treat.

My boys, exhausted from a long and fun-filled Halloween night.

Carving Pumpkins

This past month, everywhere we went Adelyn would look at everyone's Halloween decorations and say, "Look Mom, those people are ready for Halloween. When are we going to get ready?!" I'm still not really sure what "getting ready" entails. But apparently my little group of plain pumpkins on the porch wasn't cutting it for her. To appease her a little, we made sure to carve a few pumpkins. Thank you, Grandma Rocque, for growing these beautiful pumpkins. I especially love the green one because it has personality (and it was much less slimy on the inside).

Adelyn and I decided to give the green one a silly face. Ryan took the more complicated route (as usual) and carved an impressive haunted castle.

While we carved away, Preston entertained himself by playing with his baby pumpkin. He was a pretty good sport about not getting in on the carving. I think he only had one or two tantrums where he threw himself on the floor in frustration. :) But fortunately he forgave us when he got to pose for the pumpkin pictures.

Cackling with the Witches

One of our favorite pre-Halloween traditions is to take the kids to "Gardner Village." We went over UEA break this year. We just love to walk around, browse in the little shops, and enjoy all of the Halloween festivities. The weather was beautiful and the atmosphere was amazing.

I love this picture because it captures Preston completely. He is such a smiley little guy. He loves being outside and enjoys finding new seats to sit and relax on and take a load off.

Adelyn's favorite witch was the really sparkly purple witch named Matilda. But she thought the funniest witch was the one who wasn't watching were she was going and crashed into the tower.

He's such a little angel!

Mama's boy.

Daddy's girl.