Mansius Family: November 2010

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving was really simple this year. We didn't have a lot of family over because there were not too many close enough. Neal and Rachael were able to come up from Provo and since Keith lives in our basement it was a long walk for him. James and his brothers can get really goofy when they get together and they love to talk about sports. So we definitely were not lacking on the Thanksgiving football talk this year. I do miss having a lot of family around and I especially miss having my niece and nephew nearby. The kids asked several times when their cousins were coming. They are so used to having holidays with cousins. Well I was all for attempting to cook a turkey on my own this year but everyone coming voted on a ham so we had a basic Thanksgiving meal. Ham, Potatoes, Veggies and Pie.

The day after Thanksgiving is when our family traditionally decorates the tree. We had to wait until the next Sunday when James had a day off and we surprised the kids by putting up the tree with lights without them knowing. Lilly though the whole things was just great and would just sit there and point at it forever.

Silly Girl!!

FAMILY PHOTOS

Taken & Edited by

Steele The Moment Photography

ELIZA IS 5!!

It seems like it was only yesterday that I was wondering if I was actually in labor 2 weeks early with my husband in Ohio and my parents on a cruise. Thankful that my Aunt Kristi happened to be in town that day. Eliza is now a smart and beautiful girl ready to start school and ballet.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ELIZA!!

(This post is just a little late but we were out of town on her birthday)

Before age 1

Age 1

Age 2

Age 3

Age 4

Halloween 20101

We kicked started Halloween off this year with the City Halloween Activity. This kids and I braved what we thought would be a busy theater where it was held to paint some pumpkins, meet the Chick-fil-a Cow, watch a Costume contest and then go trick or treating at the businesses in the shopping area. I had not gotten costumes finished so I told the kids to pick something out of our costume box if they wanted to. Eliza choose the tiger costume, Joshie decided to stay in his soccer uniform, and for some reason Aubrey didn't even want to dress up but wanted to wear this extra large green hat. (But she was definitely cute in it) They had a lot of fun and were super excited to find out that that day was not Halloween and that there would be more fun to come.

On the Friday before Halloween we Joshie's school had a costume parade so we all dressed up in our costumes to cheer his class on. We also stayed for the class party and helped out with the pumpkin bowling. Lesson learned: Pumpkins are fun to bowl with but eventually break and make a mess!!! Of course the girls got to tag along and they fit right into the class. They love being involved in class activities and one of their best friends, Sydney, is in Joshie's class so they get excited to see her everytime as well.

Eventually came Halloween night (or in are case the Utah Halloween where if Halloween lands on a Sunday everyone celebrates the day before. Awesome right!!!) We attended the bi-ward Trunk or Treat. It was full to capacity but we had fun. Yummy chilly, a story from Heidi the Witch and of course the trunk or treating. Which turned into classroom trick or treating because it had started to rain. After that we decided to brave the rain (okay at this point it had stopped raining) and go trick or treating down one block or so in our ward boundaries. It was fun getting to know where everyone in the ward lived and since 99% of the street was Mormon we knew most everyone. Yes it is so weird to be living in Utah!!!

Our costumes:

This is our Bug Collection. We own one spider, one ladybug, one dragonfly, and one bumble bee!! James and I attempted to look like exploring bug collectors!! Not sure if we pulled it off or not though! Did I tell you that I love family themes!! The kids helped pick out this idea. I think I might have infected them with the family costume theme bug!! (No pun intended but HAHAHA!!!)

Lilly (1) & Eliza (5)

Birthday Party

Because their birthdays were pretty close together we decided to combine birthday parties. Eliza helped me pick the theme and she wanted something to do with Apples. Not quite what I was expecting but it was a fun theme. We bought tons of apples and made caramel apples with lots of different toppings, had an apple eating contest and I even served a cake that looked like a caramel apple. We didn't have a lot of people come but it was just the right amount of people to fit in our tiny house so it worked out great and we had a lot of fun. I can't believe that my Baby is now 1!!

THE FUN AND GAMES
(Kevin and Carrie were the winners of this game and they won while holding a baby. We also learned that this is a team game and not for those with little months. Good try Keith, who tried to play this game solo and Good try Eliza and Addie, who just could not get a bite on that stubborn apple)