this past week (aka: a week of pure gluttony)

we hope your thanksgiving was full of love, food, and drumsticks!

ours was...

larissa cooked the most beautiful bird. 

and he tasted even better than he looked

we also celebrated larissa's 27th birthday this week!!!

go 27 go!

rikki decorated the most beautiful table. it was fit for a wedding reception... not bbq pulled pork sandwiches like we had. oh well, nothing wrong with bbq-sauce fingerprints on glass goblets right?!

at least it was tasty and the birthday girl was happy

kandie and i tried to surprise lari with a get together at the park on her birthday, but weren't able to pull the wool over her eyes, she's too smart.

so instead we had an non-surprise get together at the park!

if you came, odds are good i have a picture of you (perhaps in mid-bite of a caramel apple!) or a little one that belongs to you, so scroll through and check it out!

thanks everybody for coming, it sure is fun to have great friends. if we end up moving in february i will definitely miss this group of buddies of mine! (hence all the pictures... for memories sake)

ellie and ev are best little buds.

i thought i captured such a sweet little moment of theirs and afterwards asked ellie what they were doing in these pictures.

"looking at dog poop." was her reply.

hello.

our menu last night

jack is getting very good at writing.
all i do is spell it for him and he can write any letter, space out words, and sometimes he even adds a period at the end.

he has always loved to write lists. mostly the grocery lists.

and he is obsessed with post-it notes. i have a feeling some might end up in his stocking.

as of late though, his favorite thing to write has been "menus".

any one want to come for a tasty worm, cake, and ice cream dinner?

exciting stuffs

exciting stuffs #1:

congratulations elder and sister brower!

mom and dad brower are at the MTC and will be heading back to ohio on the 17th. we couldn't be more proud of them and excited for this grand adventure! what a blessing it is to be able to show the kids how much their grandma janie and grandpa bart love the lord by serving as full-time missionaries! 

i know i have said this before, but i am so lucky to have the in-laws that i have... you couldn't ask for better. they are always great examples to me and i recognize how blessed i am to have them for my mom and dad.

exciting stuffs #2:

rikki b  photography 

has set-up shop at our local farmer's market at the promenade!

if you are in bonita on saturday mornings, you need to head on over and check it out.

nowhere else will you find such incredibly breathtaking photos of the bonita springs/estero area and at such a fantastic price!

also note-worthy, the farmer's market is now home to a couple food trucks too!

i feel like we have a little slice of the big city!!!

two weekends ago we had to test some cupcakes. ellie was taken by the sprinkles on a red velvet, jack was crazy for carrot cake and i went for a classic vanilla with a vanilla ganache on top.

 and this past weekend bo, lari, and i tested out some great pulled pork sliders and a turkey, brie, and apple panini. that stuff doesn't interest the kids, like it peaks our mature culinary palates, so they opted for some yummy kettle corn.

i think saturdays are going to be our favorite day of the week this fall season!

exciting stuffs #3:

the kids have now experienced the joy of churros.

exciting stuffs #4:

charlie had 4 teeth break through today. 

yes, 4!

and 2 of them were molars. 

poor little dude

he is also standing all on his own now. 

he better not even think about taking any steps...

this boy is growing up waaaaay too quickly!

and

exciting stuffs #5:

only 13 weeks till graduation!!!

the light at the end of the tunnel is getting so bright!

we are almost there

we think we can... we think we can... we think we can...

tis the season to be...

THANKFUL.

trying to teach ellie and jack the importance of this holiday.

it really bothers me that more emphasis isn't placed on thanksgiving.

what's more important then recognizing all we have been given from our loving Father in Heaven? when i do, things in life seem so much more full and rich.

we don't have any decorations for this time of year except for some gourds on our table left over from october, so i whipped up this banner last night. we're trying not to spend money on so many little things, so i used some old stripped wrapping paper left over from santa last year, card stock, and some twine. nothing fancy, but a good reminder for the month.

i love banners because they can be stored nice and flat, but can still add a punch to the festivities.

we strung it up before jack went to school and they are both pretty excited.

i hope this year they will understand a little better why we give thanks and who we give thanks to. 

right now, i'm feeling quite grateful for this little dude

the second best day of our lives...

to celebrate the best day of our lives

(our anniversary)

chris and i finally made it to the 

wizarding world of harry potter

(aka the second best day of our lives)

after griping so much about not going, and then telling chris about a miracle of having a snowy white owl fly over my head one evening and whispering to me, "why haven't you come?" (it happened, i swear!), i told chris it was his job to make it happen. and a week later, we were there! i sure love that man of mine!

the three broomsticks

hogwarts

hogsmeade

official ($7) pumpkin juice

ollivander's

notice the dragon in the wizards hands! eeek, i love it!!

we asked some employees to take our picture in front of the three broomsticks and they thought we meant with them. that made us laugh. but what made us laugh even harder is that chris put his arm around her instead of me for the picture! so so funny!

official ($10 w/ mug)

frozen butter beer!!!

oh yeah,

worth every penny!

refills weren't outrageous, so that was awesome.

we picked up a chocolate frog, ton-tongue-toffee, an acid pop, a cauldron cake, and a few lollipops at honeydukes.

while we were there, the witch at the register asked us if we were celebrating anything and we told her it was our 7th anniversary. she said congrats and then proceeded to yell very loudly to the shop, "attention all witches, wizards, and muggles, chris and lisa are celebrating their 7th anniversary in hogsmeade today! lets hear a congratulations!" and everyone clapped and chris raised his butter beer mug. here here!

we found out she did this to anyone celebrating anything... even the purchase of pigmy puffs :)

u-no-poo

the constipation sensation thats gripping the nation

cauldron cakes

we spent seven blissful hours at the park and headed home to three happy little babes waiting for us with grandma. it was perfection!