Charlie the Elf

This year we had an Elf from the North Pole stay with us. He arrived after Thanksgiving. Kenna named him Charlie Katrina called him Elfie and Tyler went with whatever (and Katie doesn't know the difference). They were so excited to have this Elf in our home. They did better at keeping up on their chores and tried to be on their best behavior. They were always excited to wake up in the morning to see what the Elf had done that night while they were sleeping. The girls adored Elf and took turns holding him tight at night while falling asleep. It was hard for the elf to escape their arms each night but he managed to get away too play. One night Kenna left her Lego's out and he had fun building with them. One morning he left a trail of ornaments on the ground and was found at the top of the Christmas tree. We even discovered that he is quite the ladies man. He was found having tea with Minnie Mouse, Tinker Bell, Ariel and Jenny (Kenna's doll). He also got all tied up in moms garland that was decorating the hand rail going up the stairs. It looked like he was swinging from it - like a vine. Silly Elf. On Christmas eve he had to return to the North Pole but left a letter with his report of what he observed in our home and told them that he thought they deserved to be on the nice list and left each of the kids a present to open. It was lot's of fun having Charlie the Elf or Elfie in our home. We look forward to seeing him next year.

Oh Christmas Tree...

Day after Thanksgiving we went and picked out a Christmas tree. We didn't cut down our own tree this year like we did last year. We just did a quick and easy trip to Home Depot. That way we could spend more time at home together having hot chocolate, decorating the tree and house, and watching a Christmas movie. We watched Elf. The kids love that movie. We also enjoyed a few games of Rock Band. It was a fun day. Here are a few pics...

KATE

Decorating the tree

Rock Band

Katie found her thumb

Thanksgiving

Although we are away from our families we are so blessed to have good friends here that feel like family. Like last year, this year we got together with our group of friends from Arizona that moved here for work. We all got together at the Peterson's and had a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner. There was soooo much food! We got STUFFED!!! It was a great day. What more can I say? Here are some photos I stole from a friends blog...

Carving Pumpkins and Halloween

We had to do our pumpkin festivities in spurts because Tim is out of town and it takes way too long to do it all in one evening. So each day after school they quickly got their chores and homework done and then after dinner we worked on them.
Day 1: We went to a pumpkin patch (on a lot, lame I know) the kids all picked out their great pumpkin.



And we decorated the outside of the house


Day 2: We watched 'The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown' and cleaned out the insides of our pumpkins.



Day 3: We watched 'The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown' AGAIN and carved the pumpkins. The kids did them all by them selves while I fed Katie. I tried to help Katrina but she wouldn't let me. And she did a really good job so she didn't need my help anyway. She was so patient with her pumpkin it was so cute! Luckily, her's was much softer pumpkin than Tyler and Kennas.



The finished product




Halloween
Tim's company lets them dress up and they do awards for best costume or best decorated desk or whatever and then at the end of the day the employee's families can come in and trick or treat. The kids love it. It's warm inside, they don't have to walk far and they get lots of candy in a short amount of time. I wish that was good enough for the kids. But they want to go out trick or treating with friends at night too. It's just a day full of fun and LOTS of candy.
Tim dressed up...

Our family at his work...

Our poorly decorated house. Oh well. It's more than we did last year.

Katrina's Pumpkin...

Tyler's pumpkin

Kenna's pumpkin

Halloween Night



Time for bed. They had matching Halloween PJ's too. Kenna was so tired. She fell asleep in the car on the way home. She woke up the next morning with 105 temp. so she really wasn't feeling good in this pic.

Apple Picking at Hillcrest Farm in Elijay, GA

We took the kids apple picking. They had fun. They had their bag full in no time. All that practice picking oranges on Grandpa's farm made this an easy job :o). After we picked apples we watched the pig races, the kids rode on John Deere tricycles around a track and then ate a late lunch and went home. It was a fun experience.

We had beautiful scenery on the way there...

Tyler, Kenna and Katrina

Tyler

Kenna

Katrina

Katie

All the kids (Palmer's and Peterson's)

Enjoying fresh jucy apples



Kenna riding a John Deere tricycle

Katrina riding a John Deere tricycle

Disney World...

8 days was a little much for me, but at the same time, it was a great trip! We had allot of fun accept for the weather. We thought it would be a nice time of year to go but it turned out to be so HOT and Humid!!! I can handle hot, after all, I grew up in Arizona. But when you add 90% Humidity to 90+ degree heat (maybe slightly exaggerated) that is when it kills me! I was DONE with the heat and humidity by day 3. Poor Katie was about to have a heat stroke on day 1 (at the park) after we had been there an hour. We stripped off her clothes and bought one of those over priced fans that has a water bottle attached. It was worth the $17 and two new AA batteries every day to cool her down and to keep her from over heating the rest of the trip. She was such an angel the whole trip. She never fussed accept when hungry and slept so good at night (considering we were all sleeping in the same room). We spent 6 days at Disney World + one day driving there and one day driving home. It is an 8 hour drive with kids(6 hours if you drive straight through.) But it wasn't a bad drive. :o) Of course we have a TON of pictures! I will spare you and not post all of them on here. Just the highlights....

DAY 1: We celebrated the girls birthday the first night we got there so they would have their new cameras to take pictures through out the trip...

Day 2: Magic Kingdom

Day 3: Holywood Studios

Katie chillin' with the fan blowing on her to cool her down...

Day 4: The kids outside the dinosaur ride at Animal Kingdom. We went with the Petersons...

Katie in her little air condtioned tent.

Tyler and Zack Peterson cooling off in the fountain. It was a HOT day!!!

Day 5: Epcot

Monika talked me into learning how to ride a Segway with her. It was pretty cool!

Our family outside of Nemo

We went to the Better than Ezra concert there at Epcot.

Day 6: Magic Kingdom for the 2nd time.

Katie looking very comfortable

They had it all decked out for Halloween

Day 7: Animal Kingdom for the 2nd time and Katrina's 4th Birthday. Since Kenna and Katrina's birthday are back to back we celebrate them together when we can. Especially since this was our last day at DW. We had to make them both feel special. First thing we did when we woke up was give them their presents...The both really wanted baloons that they have in the parks and minnie mouse shirts so insted of paying the high price at DW, Tim went to Wal-Mart and bought them. They were so excited!!!


The Petersons bought the girls necklases. They loved them!!! They are still wearing them almost week later! Kenna's was Belle (She loves Belle from beauty and the beast) and Katrina's was Tinker Bell (she loves tinker bell)


Before we got on the bus to take us to the park, Tim went to the front desk at the Resort to get "It's my birthday" pins from them. The guy was so nice, he gave the girls each their own card and a Minnie Mouse plush toy. They were thrilled!!!


Our Family at Animal Kingdom

Katrina was so sweet and shared her Minnie Mouse with Katie.

Day 8: Kenna's 7th Birthday. Going home. In the morning at breakfast there was a clown there making baloon's. Kenna was sure to let the clown know it was her birthday. He made her a baloon flower and then she wanted Katrina to feel special so she told the clown it was Katrina's birthday yesterday so he made one for Katrina too.


And the boys got sowards of course!

On our 8 hour treck home we stopped for dinner at Outback to make it a special day for Kenna. They brought out a treat and sang happy birthday to her and of course Katrina too.