A Wonderful Thanksgiving!

We had an amazing Thanksgiving. We were blessed to have 5 out of the 6 White siblings at our house. We had a total of 23 for dinner, 19 of which stayed with us for a few days. It was so much FUN!


We had:


April and Rick with their son Makana. Their oldest son, Kaulana, was not able to come due to his first baby due this week - we are still awaiting to hear of her arrival.


Margo and Greg with their 3 children. Their oldest, Brittany, was in San Diego celebrating Thanksgiving with her in-laws.


Paul was able to come with April.


Kurt and I with our 3 kids, who by the way, were in heaven with all their cousins here!


Jenny and Chad with their 7 kids.


We wish Jared and Dianne and their 3 kids could have been here but they live in Virginia.
Dad and Julie spent Thanksgiving in Utah with Julie's children.


Here are some pics of our fun time:

Eating delicious mandarin oranges

You have to love California weather - it was beautiful!

All 14 kids played outside while we cooked!

Uncle Rick and Uncle Greg checking the

turkey on the BBQ - delicious!

We were worried about seating because we

don't have 23 seats inside but the weather

was wonderful so the kids ate outside.

Our attempts at a family picture:

We are hoping that our niece, Jessica, got a better one!

We thank everyone for coming and making the journeys to our house. We had a great time and hope everyone else did too! We especially thank all those that helped in the kitchen! We couldn't have done it without you!

Many Thanks!

I want to send a heart-felt THANK YOU to my dearest friend Kristen for hooking me up with a template website: thecutestblogontheblock.com. They have so many cute backgrounds! I can tell many hours will be lost to playing on this website!

Keep checking back to see what it changes to next!

Thanks again Kristen! Love ya!

Blogiosis

So I am suffering from a major case of blogiosis - I can't decide on a template. I keep changing and can't settle on one.

Does anyone know how to get super cute and fun templates?

Let me know!

Happy (belated) Halloween!

Okay, so we are total slacker photographer parents lately. We only took pics of the kids at the pumpkin patch. We don't have any pics of them in their costumes this year. They were not too excited about their costumes because we didn't buy them new ones - they had to pick from their dress-ups in the toy room. What mean parents we are! But guess what? They had a blast in their old costumes! Halloween was still fun without new costumes!! Who would have thought it was possbile?!

We told the kids they had to pick pumpkins that they could carry themselves.

So these are what they chose:

Okay, so notice Hailey is not holding her pumpkin. It is too heavy for her to carry.

What is this poor child to do?

Daddy to the rescue!

I wonder if he is wrapped around her little finger?

Fun at Auntie April's house!

My kids love going to Auntie April and Uncle Rick's house. They have the best time there - from pedicures, to crafts, to picking veggies in the garden - they are in heaven. April took floral classes this summer and so last time we went down there, April and the girls made floral head pieces. The girls loved modeling them!

Here is Hailey:

And here is Kayla:

Kayla made her own (with Auntie April's help):

Hailey's found this ribbon and wa-la, gorgeous!

And, of course, Evan was in heaven with Cousin Kaulana's 4x4 truck to work on. Here he is helping him find the short in the engine:
And what job is complete without working on the tires?

Honestly, I am surprised these kids come home with us!

The BIG 3!

It is official -

Evan is the Big 3!!!

He is not my baby anymore and I don't think he is even
considered a toddler anymore. He is officially a big boy now.


We had a party at our house with Grammy, Papa,
our neighbors and his friends from nursery.


Evan had a great time!

And even took his new fire truck to bed with him!

In Remembrance of Max

Our beloved dog, Max, passed away on Friday, Sept. 19th. He had a condition where his airway was starting to collapse due to old age. He was like a normal dog when he was calm. It was only when he would get excited about something that he would have trouble getting the air that he needed. He had been doing really good all year but since the beginning of September his condition had been getting progressively worse.

On September 9th, Kurt had to rush Max to the emergency vet because he was barely breathing after Max was running around the front yard. After spending the night at the hospital, Max came home and we had a new and clearer understanding just how serious his condition was getting. We tried to keep our house as calm and uneventful as possible so he would not get too excited again. He lived like a king during his last 10 days - table scraps, belly rubs, extra attention, special blankets and lots and lots of love.

Max was an amazing dog. His personality was like none other. He loved Christmas because he always knew there was a present for him. He would hunt under the tree for it, bring it out and go to town unwrapping it.

He was definitely a huge part of our family and will be terribly missed!

Who is going to eat the kids crust off their sandwiches?

Who is going to eat the extra pancakes?

Who is going to chase the lizards in the backyard?

(Evan has volunteered for this one! Ha ha)

We will forever miss you Max!

We Love You!