Guess who is 2?

Freya turned 2 on December 1st.  She was super excited to have a birthday.  She wore this little cupcake dress to church and was the most adorable person at church, not that I am biased in any way.  Our spunky 2 year old continues to surprise us.  We thought that after 3 kids we had seen most things, but she finds new ways to do things daily.  She is resourceful and can get to almost anything she wants.  She holds her own against her brothers and sister resorting to out yelling if necessary.  She doesn't nap in the car, she climbs out of anything that might try to contain her, she thinks fast on her feet, she runs amazingly quickly and she loves fiercely.  I am so glad I have been home to enjoy all of her smiles, loves and enthusiasm for life.

Paintball!

A couple that we know planned a group paintball date for the last Saturday in November. When we arrived, we found out that the wife had pneumonia and wouldn't be able to make it.  Bummer!  We had a decent sized group, and it was SO MUCH FUN.  We were our own paintball group, so we didn't play against anyone else.  We decided on how to break up into teams early and stayed with those teams for all the rounds except for the obligatory girls versus boys round, where the girls were soundly defeated...  Anyway, you would play a course twice, switching sides between rounds and then move to the next course.  Depending on the course there were towers, cars, buildings, boulders, wood pallets, hills, flat surfaces, etc.  It was really cold when you stood around, but when you were playing you were sweating.  I had a blast.  I also came home with some awesome welts.  One bruise was seriously the size of a softball.  I would definitely do it again though.  And I was very happy that this cute guy was on my team.

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving was pretty low key for us this year.  The food was still as intensely good and time consuming to make as previous years, but it was just us and Dave's parents.  Our menu was:
-  Turkey Dave's Way - Butterflied with Sausage Stuffing
-  Cranberry Sauce with Pears and Ginger - a huge hit that made its way into the permanent Thanksgiving "must-haves"
-  Crescent Rolls - so awesome and oh so time (and space) consuming to make.  Probably the best rolls I have ever made though.
-  Green Beans with Orange Essence and Toasted Maple Pecans -  yummy
-  Gravy
-  Mashed Potatoes
-  Cherry Pie
-  Chocolate Cream Pie
-  Triple Chocolate Pecan Pie

Dave's mom also brought a salad, a banana cream pie and a pumpkin pie.  The food was amazing.

And before the feasting began, Hilde, Enoch and I ran our neighborhood Turkey Trot.  This was the second year that Hide has ran with me, the first for Enoch.  Enoch made it about halfway, and luckily for him that put him right on our street headed to our house.  So he walked home while Hilde and I finished.  They are such great kids, I love running with them.  It was, super cold and a little windy though.

Outdoor Fall Fun

 Fall here is absolutely gorgeous.  This is one of the trees in our front yard, and it is lovely.  Then as the wind blows in, and the leaves fall, our front yard becomes quite a collecting ground.  This year Hilde wanted to learn how to rake leaves.  She sees ways to make some quick cash in the future.

 We have also been getting in some trips to the park.

 The kids love swinging around on this.  I have no idea what it is called, but it should be called, "weeeeeeeeeee!!!!!"

 And Freya is completely fearless.  I have to keep a close eye on her because she will try to do everything her siblings are doing and more.

Happy Halloween!

 We had several Halloween activities in October, which works out great since at least one of our kids never settles on just one costume.  Enoch was Obi Wan Kenobi, a chef, and a knight this year.  Hilde made her own costume for the second year in a row.  This year she was bubble bath.  She was adorable, but it was a little hard for her to walk around in her costume.  Phinn picked out a costume from our local consignment shop and wore it all month, a race car driver.  Which is funny since he has almost zero interest in cars.  He loved the mask though.  Freya was a cute bunny rabbit.

 Pumpkin carving was a lot of fun this year.  Enoch and Hilde got to help with all the slimy pumpkin guts.  We even made a decent batch of pumpkin seeds, a first for us.

 We baked and decorated pumpkin sugar cookies.

We went to both Enoch and Hilde's elementary school dances.  It was fun for Enoch to be able to see some of his old friends.

 I got to help out with Phinn's preschool Halloween party.  He insisted on wearing his Hawaiian button down shirt underneath his costume.

And then Halloween night was finally here.  Phinn thought that anytime it was dark outside it meant that it was Halloween, but we did wait until the 31st to go trick or treating.  I took the kids, assuming I would be home after a few minutes with the little ones.  Boy was I wrong.  Freya insisted on carrying her bag by herself, dragging it over a mile as we went all around our neighborhood.  She would cry when I tried to help out, as if I would steal her candy.   These kids really made a haul too!