More Snow

We rounded out the rest of our Thanksgiving Week with another trip to the movie theatre, one huge day of college football (I still can't believe that BSU lost like that in overtime), relaxing and playing with friends. We were all surprised to see this much snow the week of Thanksgiving, but all of the boys really enjoyed it.

The boys have loved playing on the tramp in the snow. It gets super slick. They like to wrestle and just fall around on it.

Ryan got to hang out with one of his best friends. Nick and Ryan have been tight since they were just a few months old.

Best Buddies

Grateful

We had a few festivities planned for Thanksgiving. On Wednesday, we took our little family to see Tangled. We all liked it. That night we continued to prep food and set tables up at Mike's bachelor brother, Jim's house.

When we woke up Thanksgiving morning it was only 9 degrees outside, so the Football Turkey Bowl was out. Mike and I came up with the idea to play "Turkey Ball." Everyone had so much fun that we thought it should become a Traditional Plan B, for when the weather is miserable.

The boys got to practice their B-Ball skills on friends, cousins and uncles.

Mike took a small hoop for the munchkins that found the short hoop height more inviting.

Mike and I rounded up enough tables, chairs and dishes for 28 people. It was quite a Dildine crowd. Thanks to Jim for providing a venue and to Sarah for helping him get it spic and span. We all agreed that it worked great to have the person hosting not have to cook. I think it is a great plan for future Thanksgivings. If you host, you just provide a clean house. Everyone else does the cooking. As my kitchen was getting more and more crazy, I just kept thinking how glad I was that everyone was showing up around the corner from my house, not at my house. It would be a huge undertaking to cook AND keep everything clean for a crowd like that.

We had an adult table and a teen/pre-teen table. Lydia and Ryan were one of 4 little ones at the kid's table. After dinner and a partial clean-up we went just around the block to sing some songs to some darling ladies at the retirement center. There were only four of them, as others had been picked up by family for the day. All of the Dildines joined in, even the ones that don't profess to be singers. I knew they had it in them! ;)

For the month of November we had a big piece of paper on the inside of our front door. Sitting nearby was a box of markers. All month long each of us scribbled down the things that we were Grateful for. Anyone that came and went from our house was also invited to write down what they were Grateful for. By the end the month the paper was practically a work of art, with signatures, words, tributes and pictures written all over, in all different colors and sizes. I wanted to include the list here...for all posterity. :) So, in no particular order...

BSU Football-Mike

Food, Water, Shelter-Danny

The Most Beautiful Fall I have ever Witnessed-Mom

Cars-Danny

FAMILY-Nathan

Vacation-Nathan

2 Very Awesome parents-Danny

Mutual-Nathan

Doors and Windows-Lydia

Snow!-Dad

Chocolate/Banana Smoothies-Mom

Pretty Dresses-Lydia

Friends-Danny

Gum-Nathan

Clothes-Danny

Warm Water for Showers-Mom

Friends and Family-Nick Majors

Nathan's Peanut Butter Cookies-Jim

My Cumfy Bed-Nathan

Good Friends-Mom

A Handsome Husband!-Jennie

A Beautiful Wife-Mike

Great Kids that Help with Chores!-Dad

Mom who Makes our Dinners-Danny

That Ryan is learning to Read!-Mom

a picture of Macaroni and Cheese, drawn by Ryan

Money-Danny

Music-Danny

Getting to Work with the BEST family and a great boy!-Miranda

Scriptures-Danny

Kirk Herbstreit..."You Feeling the Love Boise?"-Mom

Shopping-Nathan

Church-Danny

Friends and Family-Jake Majors

Friends and Family-Savanah Majors

Turkey-Ryan

Mom's Delicious Dinners-Nathan

Getting to Do Lydia's Hair-Mom

Snow-Nathan

Warm Home-Nathan

Lunch Dates with Dad!-Mom

Dad's Mint Brownies-Nathan

Shoes-Nathan

Jackets-Nathan

Air-Danny

And really this list could go on forever, right?

I hope you enjoyed your November and had opportunities to spend time with those you love.

First Snow

Last Saturday we woke up to a blanket of snow covering the ground. Ryan's basketball game was at nine, and so in order to fill our First Snow Tradition, we grabbed Hot Chocolate on the way to his game. It has been snowing pretty steadily ever since then.

I guess Winter has finally decided to pay us a visit.

Zoobs

I have started to fall in love with Specialty Toy Shops. I can walk through them and almost every item I come across I think, "This would be so good for Ryan." or "This would be so fun for Lydia." I like that the toys are educational and not just electronic gadgets that clutter my house. A friend of mine tipped me off to the fact that we had a Specialty Toy Shop in Boise. It has been here all along and I never knew. I paid The Children's Store a visit and could have spent hours there. After a recommendation from another friend that I ran into at the store, I purchased these Zoobs. The idea is that once your creation is put together, it actually has movable parts. Ryan, his IBI Therapist and I created this Dinosaur together. He felt pretty proud of his accomplishment.

Swing

At the beginning of the year Nathan decided he would try out for the EMS Swing Dancing Team. EMS has had a Swing Team for the last 15 years or something. It took a little convincing, but after explaining that "guys who know how to dance are WAY attractive" and Nathan realizing that many of his friends were trying out (meaning...it wasn't a "nerdy" thing to do and tons of kids really hope they make the team), Nathan was game. He found a partner and worked on the audition dance over and over and over. Not very many 6th Graders made the team, but Nathan and his partner did! We got to see them perform at the Veterans Day Assembly.

Nathan goes to school early every Thursday morning at 7:10. That is when the Swing Team practices. He has really enjoyed it. We are excited to watch him in other performances throughout the year.

Parent Observation

A couple of weeks ago Lydia's Ballet class had a parent observation day. It was so fun to see her enjoying herself so much. All of the girls take it pretty seriously and have pretty somber looks on their faces. Lydia, on the other hand, is just Over the Moon every moment that she gets in the studio. She cannot wipe the smile of her face. She just beams.

Miss Lacey often lets the girls use props like these "Butterfly Wings."

Look at her concentration.

I love Lydia in Ballet.

Fall Photos

The following are some spontaneous pictures we took down by the river, right here in Eagle. It was a beautiful, warm evening to throw rocks in the river, toss leaves, climb trees and throw the football. You can tell that these were impromptu fall photos because the clothes the kids are wearing don't even remotely coordinate and Lydia still has traces of her dinner on her face. I hope you like them, just the same. :)