After laying all my ornaments out on the floor and grouping them together (cardinals, Wizard of Oz, baseball, princesses) I had the girls come in and help me decorate the tree. And not until this year did I ever understand why Santa would decorate our tree when he stopped in on Christmas Eve. All I heard was "I wanted to hang that one....MINE!!!) I think Santa might be decorating our tree for the next few years!
Here's Cooper, not sure what to make of being dressed up like the "stay puffed marshmallow man"! 
Jilly and Cooper playing in the whopping 2 inches of snow. We drove across town to my parents house (they have a great hill right across the street) and took the girls sledding. Wyatt stayed in the house with Gra-ma and Pop-pop.
Who needs a sled dog when you have a Daddy?
Poor Courtney! She was nice enough to let the little girls play with her sled, so she had nothing. She tried a cardboard box...no luck. Then she tried the wax coated bag from a bag of dog food...again no luck. Note to self: find the saucer sleds we had as kids, light weight and very speedy! So they all took turns (hardest on Cooper who is yet to understand the concept) and fun was had by all!
Lining up to sing with one of her teachers, Mrs Cohrs. Jilly loves anything to do with her school and teachers. Hopefully she will stay that way for years to come!
After our turkey dinner, Uncle Bubba got some snuggle time with Wyatt. There are few "real men" who can look so comfortable holding a baby
Riley man got his turn holding Wyatt.
Courtney has become our resident pie maker. She makes the crusts from scratch (a lost art in my opinion). This is her apple pie...all from scratch! She cuts the apples and makes the crusts, and doesn't not need any help (just company...she's very chatty when she's in the kitchen!)
Jilly did not fell well during dinner (she was getting over a stomach bug) and didn't eat very much...dinner that is. Girl friend felt fine enough come dessert time to down like a half a container of Cool Whip! (I was a little mad, but mostly proud...kiddo is like her mommy, you don't need pie to have Cool Whip!)
If you happen to be helping Cooper, it is just too funny. She does this little baby bird thing where she opens her mouth and just kinda grunts, all while using sign language and saying please. Who ever is with her usually just ends up laughing.
Mom, I'm a teen-ager now, and that means I can't look happy...EVER!!
Russell got to do the honors of carving this year...you cook it you cut it.
C'mon Russell where's the food!!
Before heading out to Winchester to have Thanksgiving dinner with my family, I though it would be cool if Courtney and I made a gingerbread house for the holiday season. Good in theory...but not that she is 13, she is more then capable of doing things like this on her own, and all I basically did was keep her company.
It kinda makes me sad knowing that she is growing up, but then I look at how she is turning out, and the things she is capable of doing on her own, and I don't feel too bad.
I have been trying for a few years now to get Courtney to cut some length off her hair. But I've always respected her decisions to just get it trimmed. Well, she made up her mind that she wanted it shortER not short! She came to this decision while we were at lunch for Aunt Sara's birthday last year and one of Aunt Sara's friends Angie was telling us about Locks of Love. Basically, as long as you have 10 inches to cut you can donate your hair so that some one (I have always assumed cancer patients) can have a wig made of human hair. Well, Courtney heard that and decided right there and then that's what she was doing. So when we went to see Miss Mandy for back to school hair cuts Courtney asked her about it. Mandy told her it was still a little short to be able to donate and still look good. (Poor kid got my Mom's incredibly curly hair, and Mandy wanted to make sure it would still look good once it was styled.)
So Mandy gave Courtney the OK to cut it in the spring of this year, and I asked Courtney if we could keep it long until after Finals (I have trouble french braiding the pig-tails as it is, let alone there barely being enough hair to braid!) and she agreed. So we set the appointment, and after making sure about 100 times that this is what she wanted...she did it.
It was amazing to me how her confidence level seemed to sky rocket after getting it cut. She loves it, and I love the fact that she made this decision on her own and is thrilled about it. Let's face it...we have all had our fair share of bad hair cuts!!
Jilly got her bangs cut (she won't let me near her hair, she loves Miss Mandy too much!) We made the appointment so that we were the last ones in there for the night..and good thing too! My kids were running all over the place, but at least I didn't have to feel like "that mom" who couldn't control her kids and let them disturb anybody...that's why we went when there was nobody there to be able to disturb!
Either because I work on crafty projects, or due to Courtney's homework projects, Jilly has decided that any time she makes something in school, it is her project. This is her Pilgrim hat "project" they made in school from a cookie and a marshmallow. I don't know where these teachers come up with these things, but the kids love to do them, and I love to see the amount of creativity Jilly is allowed and encouraged to have.
She did get to help me, but only after I made my wish...yes there are some things I'm not too old and cynical to believe in!
Courtney was going to ride in the State Finals November 13-16, but having broken her finger she was not able to ride. My Grandmother ("Grammy") was going to join us in Lexington for the horse show, but decided to just visit us for the weekend. It worked out really well, she came down on Thursday (my birthday) got to hang out with the girls, meet Wyatt, and hang out with my parents for a bit. It is always great to see Grammy, and I love watching Grammy with her Great-grand-kids.
Follow up: Jeff raked up the leaves into a pile on the street so that the town would pick them up. If not for the fact that the kids were eating lunch when the truck came by, we would have been in the clear. However, Jilly was sitting at the kitchen table (where she looks right out into the front yard) and started screaming "Why are they taking my leaves?!?" I had to remind her that we kept a smaller pile to play in, but most of the leaves had to go to be able to play with other kids. It worked, she calmed down finished her lunch and went to play in the (now much smaller) pile of leaves when she got up.
(Courtney decided to be paparazzi girl) On a beautiful Sunday afternoon we decided to take our wagon out for a spin. Jilly and Cooper were very good about sitting...well they would only stay seated if the wagon was moving. I love living on a circle, we walked around the block a few times as the sun was setting. It really was a great way to spend an afternoon.
It did not take Cooper long to realize what to do. At first all she knew was she wanted to be with the big kids...but then if she went with them and held out her little pumpkin candy holder people would give her things. Then there was no stopping her...and heaven forbid the Daddy tried to carry her...no, she would have none of that! She had to walk just like the other big kids.
