We decided to do Thanksgiving by ourselves this year.  We had a brand new set of china that used to belong to Ben's grandmother, and we were excited to get to use it for the first time.  It was such a wonderful quiet holiday enjoy our little family.

The day after Thanksgiving we left for Nauvoo.  The kids had a great time learning about was it was like to live as a member of the church in the 1840s.  It was so quiet, we were usually the only ones at each demonstration.  We learned how to make rope, bricks, horseshoes, and prairie diamonds and got to take each one home with us.

We went on a carriage ride, which was very cold, but we heard some interesting stories about early members of the church.  Well, most of us did.  This was how the boys spent the ride.

This is the wheel maker's shop.

This is in Carthage Jail, in the room where Joseph and Hyrum Smith were killed.

On December 4th, Zack had his preschool Christmas program.  The pictures aren't great because we are sitting at the very back of the church.

December 20 was the first day of Christmas break for the girls, and also the first snow of the season.  They were so excited to get out there.

They had a "campout" in the family room the night before so they all still had their sleeping bags out.  After playing until they were too cold to go on, the came in and cuddled up in their sleeping bags and watched a movie.

Ben has this week off of work, and we are really looking forward to spending a wonderful Christmas holiday.  I am so grateful for the birth of my Savior, and especially for His death and resurrection.  I pray that we will all remember Him and try to live more like Him every day.

One of our favorite Halloween traditions is making spiders out of Ding Dongs.  With the recent news from Hostess, we might have to be more creative next year.  Here are pictures of everyone's creations.

And, being the awesome parent that I am, carved pumpkins, even though I hate it.  Each of the kids designed their own.

We tried a new tradition this year.  Worm sandwiches and monster mouths for dinner.  The kids LOVED it. We even tried out the monster mouths on ourselves.

Ready for trick or treating!  Yes, I did buy their costumes this year.  I'm not proud of that.  Maybe next year.

Since I haven't blogged for three months, we'll just put a few pictures up and maybe hit some highlights.

I know I posted first day of school pictures already, but I found this one of Tansy on my phone.  This kid loves kindergarten.

 This was a picture of the boys' haircuts.  Also great blackmail.  Mwahhaha.

 Our neighbors moved and decided not to take their basketball hoop so they gave it to us.  Super fun!

 Here's Zack's first day of school picture.  I let him get this shirt to wear for his first day, and he wore it every Tuesday for the first month of school (because that's when it was clean; otherwise he would have worn it every school day).  He loves preschool.

 We started having lunch with the girls at school on Fridays.  We trade off each week who we eat with.  The boys realized that their reusable Subway kids' meal bags make great hats.  They do this almost every week.

 Sydney participated at a booth with her karate teacher on UCM campus a couple of months ago at Get the Red Out, which involves vendors and anyone else who wants to advertise lining the street through campus with a lot of fun stuff to do.  Ben had a lot of homework, so I ended up taking everyone.  While Syd did karate demonstrations, I wandered with the other kids.  These Star Wars characters were wandering around.  As you can see, Tansy loved them.

 This is Sydney using three hula hoops at once.

 At the end of September, we had a yard sale.  It went okay.  We had planned to wait until May, but we didn't know when we were moving, so tried.  The kids thought it was awesome.

 Sydney won first place in the coloring contest for Fire Prevention Week at her school.  This is her picture hanging up at the commissary here on base.

It's been a fun couple of weeks.  Last weekend, we went to the Missouri State Fair.  It is held in Sedalia so it only takes us about 25 minutes to get there.  We let the kids do the pony rides this year.  Tyler was excited until he realized the horses were real.  I talked in him to getting on, and once they started moving, he was good.

The petting zoo is right next to the pony rides.  We go there every year.  This time they had to go twice.

We arrived 1/2 an hour early for the pig races, which is the only way to get a seat.  We snacked on nachos from a nearby food truck while we waited.  Have I ever mentioned how much I love nachos?  I really love nachos.

The kids were trying to help the pigs find their Oreo cookies.

It was already lunch time at this point.  This is Tyler's foot-long corn dog.  Yes, he ate the whole thing.

Zack and Sydney were not sure about these massive pizza slices.  But Syd finished hers.  I tasted Zack's, and I think the crust was made of pretzel dough.

This was probably the last bite Tansy took.  Tyler finished her corn dog as well.

It has become a tradition to play on this rock by the museum.  It's right by the picnic area so they run back and forth while we eat.

Sydney loved creating the energy to turn on the light bulbs.  They other kids were sad they were too small to try.

Tyler was finally big enough for rides this year!  He had so much fun.  Ben took the girls to the rides for bigger kids, and I had the camera so we only had pictures of the boys.

Sydney earned her orange belt in karate on the 13th.  She has been taking karate for a year now, and I am so proud of her hard work.

On the 14th, Sydney had her first lesson with her new piano teacher.  I have been teaching her, but we don't have a great amount of patience with each other, and I didn't feel she was making the progress she could.  Her teacher is a sweet woman from church who helped me learn to play the organ.  I am so excited to just be the helper and not the teacher anymore.

The 16th was the first day of school.  Here are my girls waiting for the bus.

Tansy was so excited to get on the bus, this was the best picture I could manage.

Sydney's always ready to pose.

Tansy has told me that she loves everything about school.  She loves making new friends and learning, so this is perfect for her.  Sydney is a little less enthusiastic, but she is happy with her teacher so far.  Now to try to settle into a schedule again.  Sigh.