Thanksgiving

A belated post to Joel and Heidi to THANK them for another great Thanksgiving at their house, and for putting up with all 6 Kinney's + 2 dogs (a huge thanks for letting that happen!).  Heidi and I even got a little bit of Black Friday shopping in!  And we got pics of the kids for christmas cards, and didn't even need our coats outside because it was almost 60 degrees!  Very nice.

Happy Birthday Benny!

It was Ben's 12th birthday yesterday, and he spent it at home on the couch, with strep throat.  He still had a pretty good birthday, even though he didn't feel well.  Thanks to everyone for all of the neat birthday stuff and cards and cash...he's one of those really appreciative kids that loves everything he gets, so he really thanks you all <3 ! 

And Ben decided that sucking on a cup would be a good idea.  Yeah, big bruise on the chin as a result.

A day of domestication

Grace found my old Better Homes and Gardens Jr. Cookbook today.  She was itching to make something, but the only easy thing we could find all of the ingredients for was Hot Cocoa.  So she whipped up a batch!  It was good too!

This cookbook was Jensine's to start with, then got passed to me, then got passed to Grace :).

And my morning and afternoon was taken up by making 24 jars of Cranberry Pomegranate Jelly.  Thanks to Jensine for helping me through many e-mails and tips :)!  Now cross your fingers that it will set up the right way!

Halloween

What a beautiful day it was in Bismarck today!  Mid 60's and sun.  We got some yard work done this afternoon then the kids went out trick-or-treating this evening.  Ben was going to just hand out candy, but then a group of his friends came by and he went off with them.  Grace went off with Madeline, and Matt took off with his friends, so Rich and I ended up handing out candy.  We're getting old!

                                                 Matt the Oompa Loompa...he added the orange face paint later

Tucker licking his lips and watching us through the door

Madeline, Genevieve and Grace

A few random pics from the last month

Grace and Madeline at Demonette Mini-Camp

Iowa game weekend

We had a fun weekend in Iowa....a fast 4 day 1,660 mile trip!  There needs to be a travel-by-blinking machine so driving can be eliminated :).  Day one:  Bismarck to Ankeny.  Day two:  Ankeny to Iowa City to Eldridge (to Rich's brother & SIL's).  Day three:  Eldridge to Iowa City to Ankeny.  Day four:  Ankeny to Bismarck.  On Saturday we met up with Tyler and Rachel, then Rich and the boys went to the football game while Grace and I went to the mall :).  She got a Build-A-Bear and we hit Scheel's for some Hawkeye goodies. 

The Kinney cousins, minus Tabitha and Melissa

Belle and her tennis balls

Belle is staying with us this week while my Mom and Don are in Canada.  She is such a good dog, the only time she's been in trouble so far is when she ate my chicken burrito (paper and all) off the coffee table.  Yes, she likes her food.  And garbage.  But she'll stay with you in the yard, and loves to be outside with you...she'll follow you all over the place.  She's a sweetie too, she loves when I get in her face and kiss her...she'd like to be in your face at all times LOL. 
Tonight she was playing with a ball (ha) and it went under the fence.  She sat at that spot for a good 15 minutes trying to figure out how to get that ball.  I finally stuck a big stick under there and knocked it back so I could grab it.  Sissy saves the day :).

And one of Lucy, because she's so cute <3

Tim the turtle and cheerleading

This is a video of the girls cheering....it's cute!  Grace is the one in the middle...her friend Mary is on her left and friend Zoey is on the right end. 

The neighbors found a turtle in our yard, and the kids all named him Tim.  He was pretty good sized...maybe 8 inches long.  I think he was a Western Painted Turtle.  We kept him in a bin for a couple days, then let him go in the canal. 

Tuesday Grandma and Don came through and stayed with us for a few days on their way up to Canada.  We had a lot of fun!  We went to Grace's cheerleading practice, Grandma did lots of my laundry for me :), Don and Rich did a couple projects, and we went to some garage sales.  We are keeping Belle for them while they are gone...she blends right in with our dogs!  They'll be back through on Thursday to pick her up and catch Matt's tennis match.  Speaking of tennis, Matt won his first match!  He and his teammate Scott won 2 doubles matches in a tournament in Fargo.  Very exciting...and thanks to Uncle Joel for the sideline coaching and cheering on!
Today was Grace's first official cheerleading game.  She's cheering for the Bismarck Midget football league.  It was really cute!

Labor Day in Daglum

The kids and I spent Labor Day at Grandpa's over in Daglum with Joel & Heidi and the boys.  We watched the Iowa game, redecorated Grandpa's house, went to church, went to Wal-Mart a couple of times, took Matt driving to practice for his permit, and spent lots of time exploring.  The weather was perfect and the kids had a great time!  A few pics:

Entryway makeover

I think our entryway is finally done!  New paint, new laminate floor, new decorations and new hall tree.  Yay!
Before:

Newly painted.  Old floor removed, moisture coming in under door :S.  Got that all caulked and dried up...storm door ordered.

New laminate in!

And after: