Thanksgiving

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving up at Mom and Dad Fox’shouse this year. The food was amazing this year. Dad made his perfect gravy, Mike Godek’s mom Cynthia came and brought cheesecake, and stuffed shells and other delicious treats. She is a fabulous chef! All of the food was wonderful! I made rolls, fried zuchinni, praline pumpkin dessert and a pumpkin roll. Afterwards the kids did a play of the First Thanksgiving. Above is them praying. William had to be William Bradford, of course, all though he played his roll with less patience and fortitude than I imagine his forbearer had. (He through a fit for some reason.) Eliza played Dorothy, William Bradford’s wife.

Setting up the Christmas Tree

We bucked the anti- early Christmas movement this year and put up our Christmas tree BEFORE Thanksgiving. I was in the mood, and Baden was actually home, so we had a good time! It is a tradition in Baden's family to listen to the Osmond's Christmas and it is the tradition in my family to listen to the Carpenter's Christmas. So, we have created our own tradition and we listen to both! We inherited some sweet ornaments from my Grandma and Grandpa Bradford this year which make the tree a lot more pretty and special to me. I am kind of nostalgic!

Fort in the Living Room

Weekends can get a little long in the Winter, with nowhere to go, so we built this fort on a Friday night and let the kids play in it for a few days. They ate popcorn and had a great time!

Veteran’s Day Program

Samatha is so wonderful to organize a Veteran’s Day Program at a Veteran’s home every
year. We performed the songs and speeches from “Wee Sing America.” Our good friends the Haroldson’s performed on their instruments. They are very talented. I know they practice very hard! I want my kids to play like them someday! Ford and his friends performed a wonderful flag folding ceremony. Afterwards the kids handed out cards to the Veterans and told them thank you for their service. It was very neat!

Halloween

After multiple costume changes William was a Knight for Halloween and Eliza was a princess bride. We went trunk-or-treating at the church building with our good friends from across the street.

These guys are really great neighbors. The kids always have tons of fun playing
together on Saturdays.

Afterwards the Godeks, Amy & Jesse’s fam and Grandma and Grandpa Fox came over to our house for soup and pumpkin donuts. Then Eliza went out trick-or-treating with her cousins around our neighborhood. It was her first time trick-or-treating “for real” and she had a great time. The kids, of course, were thrilled with their
treat buckets. Sophie trailed after the kids buckets for 2 days, getting all of the the their cast- offs, and she through a major fit when I finally put the buckets up high.

I couldn’t help but grab some super good deals on these costumes for
next year at Spokane Discount. But, since the kids have a track record of changing their minds, I figured I would take a picture of them in these costumes, just in case they don’t end up wearing them next year! Sophie was actually a pea pod this year, but I only took a picture of her with my phone, so you'll just have to imagine it.

Eliza's Dance Recital

Eliza has really enjoyed taking dance at Michelle Spear’s dance studio. They had a Halloween dance recital where they performed their ballet and tap routines in their costumes. She was excited when we began to see that her friend Natalie from our old ward was in her dance class! They are partners in their dance routines.

Sophie’s Osos

My sister-in-law Amy gave Sophie these cute Care Bears for her birthday and they have been her favorite toy for a while. We have been working on learning Spanish with our homeschool, and me on my own lately. We have been asking Sophie “Donde estan tus osos?” and she actually understands us and will go find her bears! I guess it is true what they say that kids can pick up on a second language more quickly!

Superkids!

Baden has been working a lot of nights this Fall at Gonzaga Catering and he has class 2 nights a week and Scouts, so we have been letting the kids stay up later some nights so they can play with him for a while when he comes home. He does a good job have having fun with them before they go to bed.
He has been teaching them “paper rock scissors” which they get a kick out of, and of course they always have to play “Witch is Dead.” I don’t know how this started, but Baden acts like a dead witch on the ground and they run around screaming “witch is dead” until he wakes up and grabs thems. This is them playing “Superman” on his feet.

Walter’s Fruit Ranch

We had a great time in Greenbluff this Fall at Walter’s Fruit Ranch with our cousins. The kids
got to go on a tractor ride, pick their own apples and pumpkins and learn about how cider is made and apples are grown. Afterwards the kids played in a big peat box and swung on a tire swing with their cousins. We love living by such great family. All of our cousins are such great examples for my kids! The kids got flavored honey sticks in the gift shop. Yummy!

Carving Pupmkins

Baden carved some pumpkins with the kids for Halloween. They love doing this!

Cattails Zoo

We had a fun time at Cattails Zoo with Addi and Amelia. We went with Columbia Virtual Academy which is the school Eliza is enrolled in. Overall our experience with CVA has been
really wonderful this year. Eliza really likes sending e-mails to her teacher about what she has been learning, and it is nice for me to keep a written record of our work and her progress. It is a wonderful program!

Helen and Achilles

We have been having so much fun this year in homeschool! One of the things we have especially enjoyed is The Story of the World history curriculum by Susan Weiss Bauer. We try to act out the stories we learn as much as possible, because William really enjoys this. (He is up to anything with sword!) Here we are building the Trojan horse

William is hiding insdie). Eliza as Helen waits at the gates.

Below are their Grecian masks.

We have also been studying Astronomy with an Apologia curriculum that the kids really enjoy.

We went to the Planetarium when we were down in Utah for Synthia’s
wedding Eliza and William both got frightened during the movie about Black Holes. I remember space being a little scary to me too when I was little! They loved therest of the planetarium though.

Eliza has also been loving her Right Start Math curriculum. Being an English gal myself, I figured it would be Eliza's favorite subject too, but lately she just wants to do math, math, math! I think it's great!

Sophie Girl

We love this little girl so much! She has so much personality. For many months now, she is the first to fold her arms when it is time for prayer. Sometimes she even reminds us when we are sitting down to eat! She is a very loving little girl and is constantly giving the family members big hugs.

She doesn’t sleep as much as her Mommy thinks she should (William takes longer naps than her!) but sometimes it catches up to her and she crashes in her high chair. I think she is a true Fox- go go go!