Thanksgiving 2012

Thursday was Thanksgiving and it was a beautiful day.

The kids played outside and on the trampoline!  Aunt Mel helped Reese stay up on her feet since the boys were jumping like crazy!

This kid loves to jump :)

Knocking each other down...so fun ;)

While Mel was watching the kids...  Mom, Cindy, Michelle and I started making the Thanksgiving Dinner!.....

Dad and Josh put up the Christmas tree.... (love Josh's face as he peeks around the tree)...

...And Mario works on Dad's birthday gift (putting shelves in the outdoor storage closet!)

Voila!!  A now more organized storage space!  Great job Mario!

While the final preparations are being made for dinner, Grandad keeps the kids occupied.

Yummy!!!  Always sooo delicious!  We carry on some Bellican food traditions every year....turkey and ham, sweet potato casserole, dressing, scalloped potatoes, fruit salad, and more vegetables!

The main cook (Mom) and sister Cindy 

Josh and Michelle

While the adults finished dinner, the kids began to play again and we suddenly heard tons of laughter coming from the other room where the Christmas tree was.  I went in there to check things out and I figured out what they thought was so funny....they were throwing everyone's shoes in the tree!  The shoes in this picture are my cousin's!  Soo funny, but we made them stop...hehe.

My parents put lights on the house too because the kiddos love it so much. :)

Boy, there is ALWAYS so much to be thankful for.  I am so blessed to have such wonderful family.  :)

Before Thanksgiving

My sister, Melanie, came in town with her kids a couple of weeks early to spend time with us before the Thanksgiving holidays got busy.    It was so much fun because we had the opportunity to do so much more than we normally can do when they visit!!!

We went to ECS to let ALL the kids ride on the "tractor"!  

Looks like they are all happy except Reese??

Um...I think she just wanted to drive :)

These boys love to zoom around.

I love being twins with this girl!

Cheese!

We also got to go to SEGA gymnastics for a one hour toddler time!

The kids get to run all over the gym and play on most of the equipment.

They love it!

Aunt Mel has fun with the boys.

Reese did her own thing and found plenty to play with!

We even raced in the blue foam pit!

(And we lost our socks and had to hunt for them)

Melanie and I took the kids to one of Justin's basketball games.

This is a picture from where we sit in the bleachers, and across the court you can see Justin sitting on the edge of the bench with the players in white.

Having fun playing with trucks

Eating pizza and popcorn :)

We also just got to hang out and relax at Meme and Papa's house.

They got a trampoline this year!

Aren't these cousins precious reading their books?

Love my two sisters :)

Looking forward to spending more time with them over these next two November weeks!

We made it to STATE!

On November 16th, our ECS Eagles won the semi-final playoff game against St. George's!  It was a HUGE win.  Earlier in the season, we had lost to St. George's, so we really wanted to beat them this time.  It also meant that we were headed to STATE!   And, this is the first time the team made it this far since Justin has been on the Varsity staff (6 years!).  So he was extremely proud of his boys.

The victory huddle!

(Justin is in front of the huddle in his gray sweatshirt.)

Justin telling his wide receivers how proud he is of them!

(James even got to be part of the huddle :)

James was proud of his daddy ;)

It was an amazing game that went to double overtime and ending on an Eagle interception!!

Go EAGLES!

Justin makes a highlight video after every game for the ECS website.  Click HERE to watch this game. 

Home Made Hot Pockets

Before my family came in town for the Thanksgiving holiday, we split up some food ideas to help spread out meals for the weekend.  I was asked to make home made breakfast hot pockets.  My sister, Melanie, showed me a link on MoneySavingMom's blog that is a super yummy recipe, and we have been making them during the cold months for the past few years.  We keep a few fresh, and then freeze the rest.  It's so nice to be running out the door in a rush one morning, and just grab one of these hot pockets out of the freezer, pop it in the microwave for 1 & 1/2 mins and Ta-Da!....an amazing breakfast to go :)

The dough is filled and ready to be popped in the oven!

The recipe makes about 30, but I doubled it and made 60 hot pockets!

Yummy!  Warm right out of the oven ;)

This recipe definitely takes time (probably half a day bc of all the waiting for rising), and the clean up is not fun either!  I think I use every pot and pan that I own!  But it is DEFINITELY worth it!

I usually try to use every bit of the bacon-sausage-egg mixture, but this time I just had some left over.  Perfect for some breakfast burritos or egg scrambler!!

If you want to make these, just go here for the recipe:  http://moneysavingmom.com/2009/02/guest-post-homemade-hot-pockets.html

(I made a few changes to the recipe, like adding bacon, and cooking the pepper and onion with the sausage)

School Lessons

In November, I was teaching James the letter J.  That was a fun one because we did a segment "All About James!"  

James wrote his name

And drew his family.

I love how he keeps drawing a person inside of another person. :)

November Fun

The kids relax with Daddy

We forgot when we take James for a run, we need to make sure it's early in the day, or he will fall asleep!

On some Saturdays, Justin takes the kids to ECS for a campus ride on the "tractor".

Then, they help daddy collect the pylons.

James being a big helper.

Oh the creativity of a 3 year old boy!

Just some cuteness

Cold, long walks in the neighborhood.

Goofy glasses 

Reese's favorite spot in the house :)

(What her aunt Michelle used to do :)

Daddy soothes little girl

Bedtime stories

Happy kid