Happy Thanksgiving!

I was loving our 4-day weekend together! Here we all are on Thanksgiving morning making food & listening to Christmas music (oops :) ) We had dinner with our friends the Peine's, the food was delicious & we're so grateful for friends to share the holiday with.

We went to the Branson Landing again this weekend on a sunny, warmish day. We went out for lunch, some Orange Leaf & let the kids run & play. We saw a family with a Dad, 4 sons & a daughter & they were all playing stringed instruments & singing-they were so cool! So our new favorite ice cream combo thanks to Andy's custard that we then recreated at Orange Leaf & will recreate at home is as follows:

Vanilla Ice cream or custard or frozen yogurt

Heath Bar crunched up

Almonds

Strawberries

so, so, so, so, so good! I promise, you should really try this.

So we did a little shopping on Black Friday. Knowing how much I love shopping, Jeremy actually went at 6am to a couple of stores for me-isn't he the best??? Then we all went together to Home Depot to pick out a, sniff sniff, fake Christmas tree. I can't believe I finally did it, I was never going to buy a fake tree. I don't mind the pine needles, I don't mind watering it, I love going out & cutting one down together as a family, I love the smell & I love that it's REAL. But, financially it just doesn't make sense. So we bought a tree for a 100 bucks & it's pre-lit & looks great :) And my friend is going to pick me up a nice pine smelling candle so hopefully that will help with the adjustment :) I wanted to put it in the living room but because our living room is now a nursery/play pen for the babies we thought it would be safer in the dining room.

We also bought a new vacuum that actually vacuums stuff off the floor! What an idea! Now I don't have to spend an hour after vacuuming picking up hair & fuzz off the carpet...Merry Christmas to me!

I'm so, so, so etc. thankful for my family!

I'm thankful for how well these two crazies get along (most of the time!) Even though they're already into boy scout humor, one of my favorite noises is these two belly laughing together, even if they are laughing about diapers, burping, or garbage flavored jelly beans!

I'm thankful for my Bug who is into this 'Love' stage, he loves everything, he's always telling me he loves all the food we're eating & movies & toys & friends, this, that & everything. One of my favorites was when they asked what was in this chicken goolash for dinner.

Me: There's chicken, rice, sour cream, mushrooms, onions...

Hunter: Onions? I love onions!

He was pretty enthusiastic about those onions.

I'm thankful for how much Hyrum is into drawing, letters, numbers etc. He loves to learn & he loves to be creative & draw/build/make things. It's so fun to see him developing like this!

I am so thankful for my babies! I'm thankful we get to be a lucky family with twins. I know I've mentioned it before but I just can't believe how blessed we are to have both of them at the same time! They are such sweet little people & make our home so much more complete. And I'm never lacking someone to snuggle with either.

Pa & Darlin' come to Missouri

I've been so excited for my parents to come visit us here & true to form it flew by way too fast. Unfortunately most of the time they were here someone was sporting a fever or some ailment so we didn't do a whole lot but it was splendid having them!

We took them to the Branson Landing-I love it down there!

Dueling babies

Of course we had to do Bass Pro Shop...

and Andy's custard twice because what trip to Springfield would be complete without those two places?

And the Farm Park too

The weather was nice enough to enjoy the outdoors luckily! Here's a favorite of Pa with the boys. There was instant bonding going on around here between Pa, Darlin' & all the Shakespear kids

My parents just got back from a fun trip to Florida where they visited Hogwarts (!!!) While in Honeydukes they purchased a package of Bertie Botts Every Flavored Beans. We had quite the evening tasting the wide assortment of flavors.

Among the favorites: Cherry, blueberry & Fruity Tuity or something like that

Among the UNfavorites: Grass, sausage (still twitching from that one), VOMIT (so sorry Mums!), dirt, rotten eggs, earthworm & soap-double yuck!

Hyrum was quite concerned & very confused as to why we were purposely putting disgusting things in our mouths. Someday when he's a Harry Potter fan, he'll understand :)

Thanks again for coming Pa & Darlin'!

Another twin video featuring the head shake:

Our Webcam is so cool

Target

I don't own a coat. I gave both of mine away before we moved from AA because one was 15 years old & too embarrassing to wear anymore (every time I wore it someone asked me in surprise if it was Jeremy's?) & one was shredded to pieces. So I finally went shopping this week. I thought about Target but figured I better go to the mall where there's more variety. I dislike the mall. Very strongly. I dislike shopping even more strongly if that's even possible. I get headaches & start feeling stressed just driving to go shopping. I spent a frustrating hour or two trying on coats but I didn't like anything & I definitely didn't like the prices. On the way home I thought I better go by Target just in case. 10 minutes later I was the happy owner of a coat I really liked that has the right kind of Target price! Sweet!

It reminded me of when my little brother was getting married & I needed a white skirt. Again, I thought about Target but decided I better go to the mall for more variety. After a few very frustrating hours of trying on skirts I left with an $80 skirt I didn't even like because it was the only thing I could really find. On the way home I decided to stop by Target just in case. 10 minutes later I leave the store happy with 2 different white skirts that I really liked & my Visa is only 20 bucks lighter!

When will I learn my lesson??????? Next time I think I better go to the mall for more variety I better drive myself straight to Target & not look back.

Target, I love you.

We met my good friend Ruth, her husband Lee & their 5 kids at the temple. Because it was a balmy 45 degrees & sunny when we arrived we had the kids play at the park nearby the whole afternoon. We took turns with them going to the temple & it was so nice to actually go WITH Jeremy. It was a great day!

Here's the whole crew- 9 kids 7 & under!

It was a good day to play with Daddy, take naps,

swing on the swings, play all day in the sand volleyball pit,

& snuggle to stay warm!

You want to know what the cutest thing is? Watching your babies play peek a boo over a gate-so cute!

And the next cutest thing? When your 4 year old wants a picture of his whole family in the frame Nana gave him but because 'it's too expensive to buy one I'll just draw one myself!'

Hmmm...do I say the phrase 'it's too expensive' too much?

And we're all holding hands...awww! Can you tell who's who? I can't but I sure like his drawings!