Thanksgiving at the Conrads

I love any holiday that gives you the freedom to eat whatever you wanna eat, which is good since We had lots of food to enjoy. Since my parents went to spend the Holidays with my Brothers we decided to have a low key Dinner with some of our closest friends. There were 6 adults and 12 kids. There were so many kids we had to have 3 kid tables. Jenna got to have her best friends Sammy all day.

Despite being out numbered 2-1 with kids we had a great time. The kids played really well and we didn't have any major incidence's all day. they stayed out in the rec room and let the adults play our own games.

This is the McBrides, I didn't get a family picture of the Ricks because Ashley and I ditched the kids and went to K-mart that evening for some pre-black Friday sales.

YW in Excellence

Last week we had our Annual YW in excellence for the girls in our ward. Brianna was not able to make it because she was in drivers ed. They had the girls bring things that represent them and shoes that describe them. Katrina brought her drum set, nail polish and makeup. Books because she loves to read. One of her porcelain dolls and some jewelry. She brought her funky Nike's and explained why they represent her.

Here is what she read to everyone.

" When the Young Woman got Worth of a soul, I would have never guessed that I would have such crazy friends and teachers that they would think up shoes. When you think about it though shoes are like the center of a table. The shoes define you just like a flower that defines the family. I think the green in my shoes represent that I'm not normal yet I fit into the pattern, The pink is the little bit of girly girl I have in me. The zebra print represents my life style. My life like a zebras is fast and fun but every once in a while you've got to out run a Lion"
Katrina is such a funny and unique child am I am glad to have her as part of our family!

Worlds biggest apple...

So a few weeks ago I found what looked like to me to be the worlds biggest apple. The pictures don't really do justice to the massive size of this thing. It weighed 1.3 lbs. thats almost as much as a whole apple pie. It was more than twice the size as a normal apple.The kids have been anxiously waiting to eat this enourmous apple. I told them they had to wait until I took pictures for my blog. I found it at Toledo Red Apple and knew I had to buy it. It really was the biggest apple I have ever seen!

Soccer Awards

Jenna had her end of the year soccer party at the only pizza place in Napavine. I am excited that I will finally get some down time in the evenings. 6 days a week of soccer was too much for any sane person. The girls are usually crazy when they are together and they made a great team.

Jenna loved her trophy!

I thought Jenna was one of a kind but come to find out she has friends at school that are just as goofy as her.

Happy Halloween!!

This Halloween seemed different than the other years. Brianna made plans to go to Longview with two of her friends and Katrina stayed at her friends house too so it was just the 3 younger kids. Andrew didn't want to dress up, not even in his Davy Crockett hat like the last 3 years. Jenna had enough enthusiasm to make up for everyone else. Quinton was still pretty clueless but every time we mentioned candy he seemed pretty happy.We were going to go with a superhero theme for our whole family, but due to cost we decided to forgo that idea. I still think it would have been cool for Brian to be Superman since he is faster than a speeding train, and I am definitely Superwoman! As most of you know our town doesn't have many options for choosing costumes so if your crafty you can make your own but if your like me you head to Walmart and chose the most commercialized costume you can find for your kids.

Quinton is our official ninja ready to fight off all the bad guys. As a test run for this costume I had him kicking Brian in the shins before we headed off to get candy. His ninja method worked pretty good.

It didn't take long for the headband to get lost.

Jenna insisted she wanted to be a ladybug, which Walmart did not carry. I had to go to Olympia to find her a costume that cost more than any sane parent would want to spend on something you wear for 3 hours.

I didn't have hard time getting any pictures of Jenna since she loves to be the center of attention all the time.

Katrina was going Trick R Treating with her best friend in Napavine so I had to hunt them down to get any pictures of them.

They are wild and crazy when they get together.

They took Quinton to a few houses in town for his first Trick R Treating experience. He loved people giving him candy, since it is his favorite thing.

As you can tell by the picture of my poor kid carrying a Easter basket around that I am too cheap to buy a "real" Halloween basket for him to carry. The kids all had a great time and we all made it safely back home.

Disclaimer: Quinton did get a haircut after I viewed the picture and noticed how girly he looked with his pretty hair with a hairband on.

Trunk R Treat!

The 2009 Ward Trunk or Treat was about as...... well as......... fun as it could be! The kids love seeing their friends so I guess that makes it fun. Jenna patiently awaited her best friend Sammi's arrival because she can't have fun without her.

They had a chili feed, although I didn't see very many kids actually eating. I think they were saving room in their bellies for all the candy.

Then they had a costume parade which was nice so you could see all the kids dressed up before they headed outside.

Jenna did not want to participate but I told her I bought the costume so take your brother and go. Quinton will just go whereever the big kids go.

This is the only picture I got of my boys together. Andrew is getting a little old to dress up but obviously not too old to collect free candy.

Andrew with his little crew of friends.

I couldn't resist putting this picture of Ben up here. He is wearing Connors hair with Dougs hat.

The kids had a great time and I was just glad when it was over so I could head to my Quiet house!