A Loyal Friend is Injured

Scott had one of those "oops" moments on Tuesday. While driving near the university, a car he didn't notice came up on him closely and quickly. He went to make a left hand turn and made one of those "wide, easy" left hand turns by first going a bit to the right and must have confused the driver behind him. That driver went to pass him and ended up hitting him directly on the driver's side door... scary. He wasn't hurt (however, he is still picking glass fragments out of his hair). We'll see if the heavy damage to the driver's side door is repairable. The parking spot he was after wasn't quite worth all the trouble and the logistics of a one-car life!
I am just so THANKFUL that when Scott called to tell me he had been in an accident that the next words out of his mouth were, "I'm OK!" It made me sick to my stomach when he pulled the car into the garage and I saw all the damage done right on the driver's side door. We are so blessed that Scott is in one piece with no injuries.
Poor Henry! Henry, being my pet name for the car my grandma gave me in 1998. He is an 1989 Toyota Camry that just barely rolled 100,000 miles two weeks ago! When I took the car with me back to Utah State after my freshman year of college it had 17,000 miles on it at 9 years old and it has been a wonderful car for our family. We are waiting on any decisions as to fix the car, ditch the car and buy something else, etc. until we have the police report in hand and insurance information.

Aquarium & Botanical Gardens

On Saturday afternoon we took Kevin and his girlfriend, Bri, to the Albuquerque Aquarium and Botanical Gardens. Kade loved seeing the "bish"! The gardens aren't really impressive this time of year, though the model train is always a hit with the kids and it was fun to see all the light sculptures that were set up for the River of Lights. Our little family.
Uncle Kevin and the kids - he is great with them and we sure enjoy being with him!
What an adorable gingerbread girl!
Scott got to be the gingerbread with no pants!

Snow Hike

The weather in Albuquerque took a drastic turn for cold in the middle of the week. On Tuesday we were at the park without jackets and in short sleeves - it was 72 degrees. By Thanksgiving night (two days later) there was snow on the ground! On the Saturday morning after Thanksgiving Scott got up early and went hiking in the Sandias with some of the Priests from our ward. They are preparing for their 10 day trek next June so they will be taking lots of hikes between now and then. We bought another digital camera the day after Thanksgiving so that Scott had one to take on his hikes and other things he does. I won't let him take mine because it's an expensive camera and I might miss something cute the kids do while he is gone.

Yes, I know it is hard to believe, but this is New Mexico!

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is a wonderful holiday! Yummy food and no expectations for gifts - just enjoying our blessings and those around us. We were lucky to have Kevin come from Logan to spend Tuesday evening through Sunday morning with us. Lots of visiting and game playing took place (except for the unlucky day Kevin got the stomach flu)! We were invited to have Thanksgiving dinner with our friends, the Esplin's, along with another family from our ward, the Madsen's. We were in charge of the turkey, stuffing, and gravy (and I took my sweet potato casserole because I can't have a turkey dinner without it) and it made for a really enjoyable time. I didn't have to clean my house and Scott and Kevin took care of preparing and getting the turkey in the oven. It was great to arrive at the Esplin's and all the other food was ready and waiting. The adults sat at the table in the kitchen and the kids sat in another room - so the chaos was minimal! Sarah and Adri Anne had fun things planned for the kids to do - a turkey paper plate craft before dinner (Kirra was in heaven, crafts are her thing), a turkey craft after dinner that the kids made turkeys to play a turkey roll game, and pin the wing on the turkey. We are blessed in that we have wonderful friends who serve as surrogate families here in Albuquerque!

Thanksgiving Eve found Kirra on an air mattress next to our bed since Uncle Kevin was using her bed. Can you tell that she is used to a bigger bed? We put her back on the mattress a few times before we went to bed and another in the middle of the night.
Kirra & Kade enjoying the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Kirra's favorite was the Island Princess Barbie float! Good thing we have a DVR so Kirra could have Daddy rewind so she could see her again. Kade was amazingly interested in the parade too. Is it bad parenting that I am almost giddy that Kade is starting to be interested in the TV...just a little?
Kade has an obsession with stairs - I am thrilled we don't have any of our own. Though Kirra keeps telling me we need a better house...one with stairs.
Kirra and Kaitlyn Esplin -- Kaitlyn is a 1st grader and Kirra loves to pal around with her (hanging out with the "big" kids is Kirra's style)!
Carving the Bird!
Kirra's paper plate turkey - she was so excited to have purple as the background covering the plate. She has always loved pink and purple, but purple is the front-runner right now.

The "Kids" table.
Kade enjoying some yummy Oreo pie. He kept yelling for "More"!
Mmmmmmmmmmm......
Pin the Wing on the Turkey. Kirra proved me wrong ... she has always been nervous to be blindfolded for any kind of game, but I guess she is getting older and it doesn't bother her so much.

17 Months!

Kade turned 17 months old today! He woke up grouchy so I put him down for an early nap and then he spent a while at Castle's while I took Kirra to the dentist. We came home for lunch and then off again to Hobby Lobby and JCPenney. Kade loves being out and about because one of his favorite things to do is to wave at everyone who walks by and see if he can get a smile and a wave back!
This was yesterday when he was trying on Daddy's shorts.

A Long Overdue Haircut

Today wasn't Kade's first haircut, but it was the most needed one! As I look back at the pictures of his crazy, long hair I think we made a mistake...my baby is gone! It almost breaks my heart to see how much he changed with some hair loss. Kade's new favorite place to play is right in the toy basket! Just before we buzzed all his hair off in the back.
Our little bat and his cute crazy hair.

We figured Kade would do better sitting on Mommy's lap and having Daddy do the cutting.
Kirra was our photographer and it was priceless! She was narrating like she had the video camera going saying, "Here is Kade sitting on Mommy's lap getting his long hair cut."
Kade got tired of sitting still ... very quickly!
Are you done yet Daddy? I don't like to be restrained while you use weird noisy things to cut my hair.

The back of Kade's hair before Scott did a little more buzzing.There was still a little more work to be done and Kade didn't mind so much that his Daddy was still cutting when he got to play in the sandbox.

Our dirty, short-haired boy.
Picking the few leftover tomatoes off the plant and then of course squishing them.
Blowing bubbles, Kade style.
Kirra got in on the bubble action, too!

Wild Kids

When Scott was using the clippers in the sandbox Kade got covered in hair so we took off all his clothes to bring him in the house. Kirra started practicing her handstands so Kade joined in the fun. He thinks he is doing exactly what his sister is!

Kade sporting some lovely pink sunglasses - he loves to dress up and have us tell him he is so CUTE!

Not a nice Mommy! Kade fell just as I was snapping pictures of him so I quickly got this one of him crying. Scott was right there to hold him, but I just couldn't resist the photo opportunity.