Thanksgiving

I have much to be thankful for. My sweet, perfect family tops the list. Among other things I am grateful for the Gospel, my husband, homemade red velvet brownies, and fresh watermelon. 

We spent the holiday with family. We drove up on Wednesday to have dinner with my family. It was delightful. I had a hard time getting a picture with my darling girls. 

We spent the evening talking and catching up. It was fun. Then on Thursday we head over to Adam and Cassie's house and started over again. The kids ran wild playing with their cousins and fitting in some tantrums along the way. 

And of course more Wii. 

Cassie made a gratitude turkey with the kids and they thought it was great. 

Happy Thanksgiving everyone. 

"Have we not reason to be filled with gratitude, regardless of the circumstances in which we find ourselves?"

Dieter F. Uchtdorf

Date night with Dad

The long awaited date night with Dad arrive this weekend. The kids were counting down the days and Dad needed deliver considering Millie gave up her princess dress for this date. :) 

Well Dad delivered, like always. 

They started off going swimming at the gym. They loved it and Millie swam all over the place. 

Then they went to Chuy's for dinner. Queso, chips, enchiladas, and burritos were consumed by all and everyone devoured their food. 

The kids insisted they all sit on the same side. 

Then they went to Snow Monster for dessert. 

The kids hated it. :) 

Carson could not be stopped. 

Camilla finished it off. 

The kids could barely get full sentences out they were so excited to tell me about their night when they got home. I am so glad that these kids love their Dad so much and that he is just as excited to go on a date with them too. 

Playing in the rain

Just a little playing in the rain in their underwear. 

Chasing each other down the driveway. 

Hopping. 

Love these two. 

Another raspberry lover

We are raspberry lovers in this house. Brooke has never seemed interested before. Well that seems to have changed. Another adorable raspberry lover has joined our family. 

Blessing baby Jackson

This weekend we blessed sweet baby Jackson. Kimberly and Eric decided they wanted to bless Jackson in my parents' ward and it was a very special day. All 5 of my siblings were there, all but one in law, and all of the grandchildren. It was a special meeting and there was a sweet spirit present in the blessing. Jackson was perfect and just starred at my Dad the whole time he gave him the blessing. He looked adorable and I am so glad that my family could be a part of it. Cory also spoke and did a great job. He spoke with a strong spirit and I found his talk very applicable. 

Getting a picture of 8 kiddos is no easy feat, especially Sheppard. :) 

Afterwards we all hung out at my parents' house. A little Just Dance made an appearance. 

I'm sure this is how President Monson spends his Sabbaths. :) 

Our kids loved playing and dancing. 

It was a quick weekend but we had a great time. The kids loved playing with their cousins and it was so great to spend the weekend with my whole family. It was a very special day to have my whole family in the church we grew up going to. Sure love these Carrolls. 

Soccer

Carson's second soccer season has come to an end. We had so much fun playing this season. Aaron coached again and he was perfect. We had just the best group of kids this season and we were unofficially champions seeing as we dominated every team. :) 

The last game was freezing! We brought cinnamon rolls for the snack after the game and the kids were so happy to get their medals. 

We looked forward to the games each week. Carson finished off the season scoring 2 goals in his final game! 

Everyone loves coach Aaron. They got him this sweet sign as a thank you. They were really the best and Aaron does a great job with them. He really loves those kids. 

Soccer pictures are in and its official, Carson is the cutest! 

Home Depot

Aaron is building me some plantar boxes for my kitchen...I'm so excited, so he took Millie shopping with him on one of her late nights. This is exactly how I picture Millie in the hardware section, getting everything out, putting it in patterns and "organizing it." 

Then pushing the cart all by herself thank you very much. 

Dentist?

I just don't remember dentist offices looking like this when I was a kid. Getting your teeth cleaned while watching PBS kids...we may be making it too easy on these little ones. 

Thanksgiving celebrations

We had a few Thanksgiving celebrations at Carson's school this week. First we had the Thanksgiving lunch. Oh my was Carson excited for this lunch. He had been telling his teacher for weeks, Nov. 18th I get to buy my lunch (something Carson has been BEGGING us to do since the beginning of the school year). Well he used his own money to buy he and Millie's lunch and I hope it cured him from wanting school lunch for awhile, yuck! 

But it was fun to eat with his friends and Millie was SO excited to eat lunch at Carson's school. 

Then later we had the kinder-giving lunch. Carson's class was the pilgrims. It was darling and they had all the traditional foods,turkey, rolls, corn, pie, etc. 

Cutest pilgrim there ever was. 

Driving has changed

Millie has taken over the steering wheel. 

And Brooke has moved to a big girl seat. 

When did my kids get so big? 

Some fun with my girls.

Millie went to play at a friend's house one morning and I had a shopping trip with just Brooke. She had a lot of fun getting into everything and playing with her favorite baby in the mirror. 

Millie is in and out of her nap but when she does take a nap we have some late nights together. I went running one night late after the other kids were in bed and Aaron was in town and when I came home I did some planking with Millie. 

She was awesome, she made it over 45 seconds and told me that it hurt her body a little. 

She loves exercising with me and stretching with me. It sure makes it a lot more fun to do it together. 

A Cinderella Story

So we went to Target to get a few things the other night, a few things, do you ever end up just getting a few things at Target? Anyhow, my goal was to get a few things and while we were looking at some winter clothes for Brooke, the Cs were all over the place running around and playing tag. I finally got them together and we were on our way out when Millie spotted something she wanted very badly. It was a beautiful, pink princess dress with matching pink slippers. 

She wanted it...bad. I tried talking reason to her and it would not be heard. I tried convincing her that we could put it in the cart and talk about it at checkout..no way she'd been fooled by that tactic before. I mentioned that Christmas was coming soon and she could ask Santa for it. No, no, no she wanted it and truth be told I wanted it too. It was darling and I'm weak. I finally told her that if she really wanted it she could have the dress instead of going on a date with Dad for filling up her sticker chart. She recently filled up her sticker chart for good behavior and she of course wanted a date with Dad, that's what my kids always pick. But after giving it some thought she chose the dress. I asked her if she was sure, she said she was. She happily clung to her dress, and the matching shoes of course, all the way through the store and then in the car. On the way home from the store Carson mentioned how much he loves going on dates with Dad and how much fun they are. Then I heard my sweet Millie say, "mom, here you can have my dress. I will ask Santa to give it to me for Christmas. I want to go on my date with Dad." It was the sweetest thing ever. I called Aaron to tell him immediately and he started crying. He was missing us very much. My kids sure love their Dad. That was true love to give it up and I'll tell you what, she has not once asked for it back since. 

Locked out

Poor Millie. Carson locked her in the bathroom on Friday night. Aaron was at the church and I could not get the door unlocked. I tried screwdrivers and safety pins. I wasn't sure what to do since the screws to the handle were on the inside and the screws to the door were on the inside. I kept trying to convince her that she could turn the lock but she said she couldn't do it. I looked down at one point and saw her little toes sticking out of the door and then I saw that she had her head laying down on the ground trying to look out. Poor girl, she was a trooper though. She never got mad or screamed and then finally she got the door unlocked herself. 

When she came out she wasn't one bit phased or upset with Carson and ran off to play with him. I, on the other hand, was not amused. 

I'm so glad when Daddy comes home

We are all very happy every week when Aaron comes home. The kids get so excited and want me to track Daddy on his flight and call him after he lands and check when he is going to get home all day long. 

Then they stick to Dad like glue when he is home. 

The best laid plans

So Aaron is gone all week and while he's gone I don't cook dinner very often. It usually just ends up being eggs, quesadillas, cereal, you know the drill. I felt like I wasn't eating very well so one day this week I got up early and put dinner in the crockpot. I was so proud of myself. Then before we left to pick up Carson from school I put rice in the rice maker and dinner was all set. Well after we picked up C man from school I needed to go to Costco and then after so many samples and of course ice cream at the end no one was hungry we got home. 

Oh well, you win some, you lose some. 

The leftovers still worked great for dinner the next night. :) 

Look what I did...

All by myself. Millie kept asking me for two braids and I wasn't sure if her hair was long enough and if I could do it. But I loved it, I thought she looked so adorable.