A Sickie Thanksgiving

We had a fun thanksgiving, though it wasn't as it was supposed to be. We only went to 1 of our 3 planned stops. All 5 of the kids were sick Wednesday, Tenna's kids had been sick too, so we decided we would still go there for Thanksgiving day, but canceled our two other family visits, hopefully soon to be rescheduled.
All the kids are feeling much better now though :)

The kids had tons of cousin fun time.


We have a couple sets of matching Hazen Cousins. Lane and Xander have always matched pretty well, before Xander's hair was so long and curly, they could be confusing from behind. Well, Lucas and Kole don't really look too much alike, but they are a pair of blond boy cousins, and they had fun playing together.


Ari hung out in the boy room for a while, climbing all over with the boys.

and of course there were wepons. No play day with Lane is complete without lots of weapons. Xander and Lane came downstairs, with swords and guns and I asked them if they were ready to come to the kitchen to eat. They looked at each other, then Xander spoke for them, "no, we need more weapons".
Lane's birthday is in a few days, so we also got to celebrate that on TG.

Papa's Aunt Rita and Uncle Jon joined us this year, and both of the girls had a great time coloring with Aunt Rita. They both listed it in their "best parts" of the day.


Arianna is a funny girl. She likes playing with all the kids, but also has no problem by herself. I kept having to go find her, and she was off in Ella's room playing with dolls, just having a good old time by herself.At the end of the day Ella decided it was time to set up the Christmas tree. So the 3 big girls went upstairs and got out the tree and decorations and set it up together.



Thanksgiving was fun, Bring on Christmas!

Nikolas' Birthday

The holiday season really starts in October for us. We have Sophia's birthday, then just weeks later, Kole's, and now we'll be straight into Thanksgiving and Christmas, but wait, that's not all, after Christmas, we've Got Ari's birthday in early January. Whew. The kids love every minute of it.
They've been counting down to Kole's birthday. During his birthday morning nap we wrapped presents, actually I didn't wrap anything, the kids took care of it.

However, Kole had to wait til Papa got home before opening the presents. Thankfully, Papa got off early so he didn't have too terribly long to wait.
While he was waiting he stole some of my knitting needles and used them as num chucks.
a yummy lunch

and some dancing with the kids. Kola loves it when all the kids start running around or dancing, he must get in the middle of it.

Any kind of wild movement must eventually turn into brotherly wrestling



Then Papa got home and the present opening was able to get going. The kids were nearly bursing and Ari had to be held to keep her from opening all the presents herself. Kole was able to do more this time, after a little practice at his party.

This is the book that Sophia bought for Kole with her own money.

Opening Xander's present next
He loves a good car

The grand finale was this helicopter pull toy from Isabella, Arianna and Mama and Papa.
Everyone was excited for this toy.
And Nikolas liked it just as much as I hoped he would. He loves to pull things, even if it's just Papa's shoe. And it has wheels, and balls to put in it, and plays music, what more could you ask for?
A few brotherly tips
Dinner time!
And of course cake, or in this case apple muffins, with a touch of icing :)
He wasn't so sure about the whole fire on top of the cake thing.
Once he gave it a chance though, he enjoyed.

Happy Birthday Kole!

Costume Party

Sophia and Nikolas' long awaited birthday party finally arrived! It was a beautiful day so we were able to spend most of the party outside.
Sophia has always had a costume party, a tradition we've all come to enjoy.
Sophia's costume this year is a Mermaid, and she picked Papa's costume out this year also.
Here are the 3 matching Supers. Superman, Super girl and Superbaby.
Ari's pose cracked me up every time. I think she saw it on the package, but every time I said "supergirl" she did the hands on the hips and got all serious.

Lane was also a Super Hero, so the super cousins united.

Isabella was a Fairy Princess, though I kept calling her a Butterfly Ballerina. Once Isabella's wings got uncomfortable, she shed them, and they were popular.


Lots of playing outside.

Cousin Lovin'Then it was cake time. Humongo Mermaid cake time.

And of course presents.Kole didn't quite "get" opening presents, luckily he had plenty of willing helpers. He is very into playing with toys though, so he appreciated each toy, after it was opened.
and finally, the Pinata. The girls were worried that maybe the pinata would break before everyone got a chance to take a swing, but in the end, that was one tough pinata. Every one had many many turns through the line, and in the end I had Xander rip the bottom off the thing cause there were holes but it wouldn't bust open! The candy and toys came out pulverized.






It was a lovely party. I know all my kids had a blast!