Thanksgiving in Branson

Well my husband is the best ever and let me decorate for Christmas before we went to Branson for Thanksgiving which is a big Huber no-no.  I will admit, I was sooo excited to come home and have it all done.

We met Andy's parents and his Uncle Lance (his Dad's youngest brother) and his family in Branson on Wednesday.  Janet and Kemper rented a really nice 2 bedroom condo...the kids played, we ate, and enjoyed every minute of our time.  Lance and Stephanie have 2 kids, Grant and Anna who are a little older than the girls.  They had fun playing together.  First thing on the agenda, face painting :)

 and some hand painting too.

Those are some super cute girls!

 The condo was attached to a small golf course and so we took a couple walks and the let the kids run off some energy in the nice weather we had.

 Practicing some cartwheels...

 We found these on our walk....this is ice and the water somehow came out of these plants like this.  So crazy and very cool.

 Anna and Hadley played so well together. 

 And Grant and Joni really connected too.  He was like a big brother, watching over her.  So so sweet.

The three lovely ladies...

Happy Thanksgiving!

After our after turkey induced naps, we all headed to Silver Dollar City to ride some rides and have some fun!  

A late night snack....hot dog surrounded with spiral spuds....only at amusement parks :)

 Inside Grandpa's Fun House...it was fun even though it gave you a headache.

 The whole gang.

One of the best things we did was go to the Sight and Sound theater and see the Christmas story.  It was amazing...real animals running up and down the aisles, great acting, wonderful singing, and the girls were riveted the whole show.  It was amazing and made me so thankful for a God who saves. 

 Drinking from some boot cups the condo had...they thought it was funny.

Playing all together outside.  So cute.

I love this picture because Hadley took it and she did a pretty good job...it isn't blurry or anything :)

 Of the 3 families, we had the shortest distance to travel so Lance and Steph left early Saturday morning and Nana and Papa stayed around for a little while longer.....for some shopping :)

 After they left, we went back to Silver Dollar City to ride some more rides.  The tickets we had were good for 2 days and it was worth it.  The girls were so happy, the weather was gorgeous, and we still got home without it being too late.

It's that time of year again...when Oma goes Christmas dress shopping and blesses our socks off.  

 They love books....and we love that they love books.  

  Hope you all had a thankful Thanksgiving.  Love to you all.

A plethora of Fall fun

We will start off with some random ones.  Sweet sisters.  I was doing dishes while the girls played outside and it was quiet for a little too long...this is what I found.  

Visiting some friends who have a little chair Joni's size, she sat in it and said, "Take my picha, Dad."

Our favorite fall tree on our walk to the library.  The leaves are all gone now but it had the best orange and red colors!  

We finally bunked the girls' beds and it was been nothing but excitement since.  They want to be up there all the time, during naps, during quiet time, as soon as we get home, etc.  I'm sure the newness will wear off but they have fun and their room feels huge!

Some friends gave us a wood burning stove this summer and we had a our first campfire in it this week.  The weather is getting cooler here (finally) so a fire when it gets dark is doable.  In the summer when it's still 85 degrees at 9 at night, it just doesn't put you in the mood for a fire.

Another fun thing you can do in Kansas is go camping in October and not freeze.  It was perfect weather (besides the 2 hour downpour) and we can't wait to go again...maybe even before the new year :)  We made orange cinnamon rolls....take an orange, cut it half, dig out the insides, put a refrigerated canned cinnamon roll in the middle of the 2 halves, wrap in foil and throw in the fire. 

They. Were. Amazing.  The orange peel protected the roll and cooked it perfectly.  Definitely a new camping tradition.

Going fishing...

And skipping rocks...

Whittling a masterpiece with her own little pocketknife.

We ended up moving camping sites when our friends joined us and this is how we do it...

Lizzie and Hadley

Joni and Chloe checking out the fish that Hadley caught.  The only one of the entire weekend.  She should probably go on some fishing show/competition.

And letting it go...

Boys will be boys.  Seriously...there was lots of wood chopping going on and we had plenty of firewood ready to use....I guess whatever makes you feel like a man.  (I couldn't have done it :))

After the rainstorm, they had plenty of mud for mud pies!

And like normal, we ate way too much.

For one family movie night we watched The Croods and ate like cavemen too.  Sausage spaghetti with no plates or forks.  I wish we would have gotten a picture of Joni's face when I slopped it down in front of her.  All she said was, "Whaaat?"  

Pumpkin carving...

Joni wanted a crown and Hadley wanted Cinderella.  I thought we did pretty good!

We went as a family downtown for the SafeTreat...a lion, a cheetah, a Hello Kitty (you can't see my ears but they are there) and a ball of yarn.

Our annual youth retreat to Turkey Hill was the first week in November.  The girls always enjoy going because they get to play outside and get piggy-back rides from all the youth for 2 days.

Love my man (even though he has a beard).

Singing praise songs with Daddy....melts a Mommy's heart.

And last but not least, we headed to the Veteran's Day parade on November 11th.  The biggest one this side of the Mississippi.  It was warm and sunny and the kids were having fun and then in about 10 minutes, the temperature dropped, the wind picked up and it was freezing.  We didn't stay for the whole thing but were glad we got to go out a for a bit and thank our military!!!

Love to you all!