A Beautiful Last Minute Family Get-Away to Tahoe

Wednesday was Veterans day so we all had the day off. Daddy had to meet with a teacher and some students in Lake Tahoe on Thursday, so we decided to drive up Wednesday afternoon and spend the night. The boys got to miss school. Luke was very excited to be ABSENT. He kept telling us, "I am going to be absent and Andrew is too, dad, do you know what absent means?" It was the perfect last minute adventure. We stayed at Harrah's, because they had an indoor pool and we found out when we got there that we had 2 bathrooms and each one had a TV in it. The boys thought this was super cool. Andrew was sitting on the potty watching Seinfeld. The kids got to swim, we bundled up and walked through Heavenly village for dinner and ice cream, the kids played games at the hotel kid zone, we watched a movie, had a rough night sleep (which is usually expected at new places), and then woke up at 5:30a.m. with our little Allie. But, when we woke up Andrew opened up the curtains and IT WAS SNOWING!!!! Their little faces lit up and they were so excited. We bundled up in our PJs and headed out to the grocery store for a couple things...yes, it was still a bit dark out when we left (one day we'll sleep in and enjoy a lazy morning in the hotel). By 7am we were back at the hotel, so I suggested we go find a sledding hill. We had put our big tub of snow gear in the car, just in case, so we found a small hill, put on some boots and gloves, and played in the snow. The kids were having a blast. Luke was much braver in the snow than last year. He said, "mom, this is actually really fun." (he has the best comments). Allie loves the snow even though she is all bundled up. By 7:45 we were done and heading back to the hotel for warm baths. We enjoyed a yummy breakfast together and then took daddy to the school office. Mommy did a little school work with the kids, went shopping, and went to a park, while daddy worked. We picked him back up and drove home around Lake Tahoe. It was beautiful seeing all the snow that had just fallen. We had a great time as a family and it was the perfect "little break" we needed from the regular routine of life.

Andrew in his beanie Oma made him

sweats and a swimsuit???

excited boys to be able to swim

do you love her outfit?

playing in the snow with PJs on...it's only 7a.m.

beautiful girl

HALLOWEEN NIGHT...2 Racecar Drivers and a Little Bee

Halloween Night....we ended up having a low key Halloween night due to daddy and Allie not feeling good, and mommy on the verge of not feeling good. We dressed Allie up for pictures and she went trick or treating for a short time. Her and daddy passed out candy and the went to bed early. We had to cancel our neighborhood and family gathering at our house. We moved the party to the DeJongs house, so the boys and I went there after we all trick-or-treated. My boys are getting older...we trick-or-treated for about an hour. We usually make it about 20 minutes and then they are done. It was a good night despite not feeling good.

our precious BEE getting kisses from her brothers

Allie's sparkly shoes...she loves them!!!

Allie and her bag of Skittles that she carried around all night

Luke and his worm

Annual Family PUMPKIN PARTY

Friday night we had our annual Family Pumpkin Party. Daddy and Allie were not feeling well, but we managed to have a fun time anyway. We made backwards breakfast for dinner with eggs, sausage, and orange colored pumpkin pancakes. I love to set the table fun for the kids and do lots of festive things. Aunt TT, grandma and grandpa, and aunt Jamey came by to see us carve pumpkins. The boys hate cleaning the pumpkins out...Andrew even says that he is afraid of the insides. This year Andrew drew out some sample faces on paper and we tried to carve them. It was especially fun to carve our GIANT pumpkin this year. After carving we enjoyed brownies, the boys rode scooters outside to burn some extra energy, and then we watched Halloween Dora and Halloween Mickey Mouse Club House. It was a fun night getting ready for Halloween!!!