Snow and Santa

Fun times sledding and snowboarding with the kids...





Santa and his elf helper made another surprise visit to our Christmas party with friends from school (that I work with). It is so fun seeing how the kids change every year and how they react as they get older. What a fun night!

Thanksgiving in Gresham

We had a WONDERFUL Thanksgiving Weekend in Gresham, Oregon. Thank you David and Olivia for sharing your home with everyone! The food was incredible too! The entire Liezen family, along with some Tuff family aunts and uncles were together and we spent our days hanging out, playing games, eating, laughing and exploring in the forest by the house. We are so thankful for our family!

Brrrr!

It is starting to get really cold in Spokane. Over the past two days, we've reached a chilly high of 38 degrees. We still need to get outside though, so we just bundle up. On Thursday we met the Jones' girls at the park and played in the leaves. And today, the kids and I went out to Eastern and went to a tailgate party before the football game. We didn't stay for the game though!

Did I mention that Matt is in California, playing in the sun at the beach? He is down there with 8 other guys for their annual Veteran's Day boy's trip. We're looking forward to having him back home!

Halloween...A little past due!

Okay....so Matt and I got into the Halloween spirit this year and actually attended two different Halloween parties, one with kids, one without. As you can see, I was "The Refreshinator" and Matt was "Captain Six Pack." The kids thought we were quite the superheros. We even won best couple costume!





Andrew was a train conductor this year. He had a parade at school and a little party in his classroom. I asked him if he wanted me to stay for the party and after thinking about it for a couple of minutes he said, "Go ahead and leave mom," and waved me off. So, Abigail and I left and picked him up after school!





On Halloween night, Jay and Jen invited us all over to their house for pizza and trick-or-treating. We had quite the crew! Abigail was a butterfly princess this year (which is just a princess with wings)!

More fall pictures

Here are some more pictures from playing in the leaves and carving pumpkins. Andrew and Abigail actually helped me dish out the guts this year from the insides of their own pumpkins. Andrew also made a family tree for his social studies unit at school. It was fun finding pictures of grandmas, grandpas, aunts, uncles and cousins to include in his tree. We are blessed with a beautiful family!

The Perfect Pumpkin...

We beat the rain on Saturday and had a great trip up to Greenbluff with our friends Chris and Beth and their boys Ryan and Tyler. The kids found several "perfect" pumpkins and we had to convince them that they could pick one each. I don't know they had more fun doing, picking the pumpkins or pushing the big green wagon. Abigail kept up with the boys and was red-faced and dirty and the end of our trip. The highlight was eating apples with caramel and fresh, warm caramel corn. Yum!