Santa Claus came to our Ward Christmas Party. The kids were pretty excited to sit on his lap. I wasn't sure if Ellie would do it but she climbed right up there and asked him for a kitty. We (Blaine and I) love when Santa is coming because if the kids are being bad, all we have to do is say, "Okay, I'll go call (or email) Santa and tell him your not being very good and he might put you on the bad list." They are good pretty fast after that!  We are all getting very excited for Christmas!!

Bring on the Gingerbread!

We had our 6th Annual Blood Family Gingerbread House party this last weekend. As always--it was lots of fun with lots of candy, and we were able to get to know some people from church a little better which is good. Our kids love this party, because its basically a free for all with the candy. 

Blaine was creative enough to "personalize" our house this year with our name. 

Happy Thanksgiving!

We spent 4 1/2 days in Pittsburgh (or "Picksburgh as our kids call it) with our brother and sister-in-law for Thanksgiving! We had a great time! We had a delicious Thanksgiving feast, and instead of shopping the day after Thanksgiving--we went to the Dino Museum which was really cool. Thanks to Phil and Lisa for a really great time. It's a Thanksgiving we'll always remember together.

Playing in the snow!

Our kids rarely have seen snow so they we're thrilled to have a little bit of snow to play in with their cousins in Pittsburgh. They built one great snowman all on their own and had a great time! Kelsey's snow pants made her slide down the hill which she loved!

Cameron was in his 1st grade Thanksgiving play last week. He is dressed like a Pilgrim of course and did a great job delivering his line about "Q" which stands for a "quiver" that the Native Americans used to hold their arrows to hunt food for the big feast. Way to go Cam!

All I want for Christmas....

I took all three kids to the dentist yesterday (yes, all three--I wanted to just get it over with!) 

Cameron was so brave! His two front teeth were pretty loose, so the dentist  pulled them both out. He looks so cute. The toothfairy visited him of course, and we know what he wants for Christmas now--his two front teeth. 

Kelsey on the other hand, hates the dentist.  We finally convinced her to get in the chair, and I warned the girl that she throws up REALLY easily, and they started cleaning her teeth and Kelsey promptly threw up all over her, the chair, and the girl cleaning her teeth. Then we had to coax her into at least letting the dentist count her teeth and clean her teeth with some gauze instead of "spinny toothbrush" that she hates. She's thrown up every other time she's been to the dentist--so its just not a good thing for her. 

Ellie has been crying the last week and waking up in the night crying that her mouth was hurting and I couldn't see anything in her mouth or a new tooth or anything, so I took her also to see if the dentist would look at her. She did NOT want to open her mouth either, and she looked right at the dentist and said very slowly and clearly, "LEAVE ME ALONE".  We finally got a peek in her mouth and he saw a sore on her tongue where she had bit it and that's what was hurting her. She doesn't have a high opinion of the dentist either now. What a  fun afternoon that was!

Welcome Christian!

My dear friend Natalie Moore had her baby today.  He was born about month early! He is perfect! He was 6 pounds 12 oz.  I've been around now to see all 4 of her boys when they were born. I feel so happy to be here in Virginia to see Christian today too. Sure love the Moore's!

Trick or Treat!

Happy Halloween! What a fun day we had. Here are some pictures from our ward's Trunk or Treat and from our real Trick or Treat adventures we had with the Moore's. We were happy that Ellie decided to wear her costume. Every other time we tried to get her to wear it she had a complete melt down. She LOVED Trick or Treating. She thought it was the greatest thing that all these people were giving her candy just because!


Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf and their 3 children (this was one of those times that Ellie refused to wear her costume.)

Kelsey the Witch and Cameron the Jedi

Our cute little Witch Ellie

Trick or Treating with the Moore's--so fun!

Pumpkin Patch fun!

Here we go to the Pumpkin Patch!


Cam and Ellie on the slides and "Farmer Cam" in his tractor.

Kelsey petting the goats and loving the slides!

This farm has lots of really big fun slides that the kids loved! They had animals and free cider and apples. This is one of my favorite things to do with my kids every year. It was a great time.

It's A Boy!!

We had our ultrasound today which showed a healthy, active, BOY!! We are so excited and feel so blessed that everything looked healthy. Cameron is thrilled of course to be getting a brother--he just collapsed on the floor when we told him exclaiming "YES!!" Kelsey is excited too--she just wants to help with a new baby, pick out the colors for a new baby blanket, and choose some "cute"clothes (what a girl!). Ellie is clueless about it all and will have a big adjustment to see me holding another baby--something she has never liked. Now just comes the long wait till he comes in March. Happy day!

Sorry about the poor pictures of the Ultrasound--our scanner doesn't work so I had to take a picture of them and its not so great. You get the idea!

Great friends here for a visit...

Last weekend we had some very fun visitors--our great friends the Westovers and the Turners. 

It was so good to see them. Our kids had a blast playing and we were just so glad to have them come see us while they were both in town to go to the temple (or had intentions of going right Turners??) Can't wait for these guys to come back for another temple trip.  So--whose next to come visit?? We'll tend your kids and you can go to the temple--not a bad deal!

The Blood's and the Westover's--we should have "zoomed"in a bit to see us all better before the self timer took the picture!

Kelsey, Malea, Eva, and Kiah having sooo much fun together. Kelsey has been crying for Kiah ever since she left. 

My dear friend Amy Turner--we lived in Lexington together for 3 years and just love her! 

The Blood and Turner kids. Bryce is 8 and incredible on the piano--thanks for playing for me Bryce--I'm still totally impressed. 

Halloween Celebrating begins!

Grandma Bell has a great tradition of throwing an awesome Halloween Party every year--so since she and Phil and Lisa were here this last weekend we had to keep the tradition going. Blaine and I have never really had costumes to dress up in--but this year I made us costumes. They will probably be our costumes for the rest of our lives. The party involves three main events: 

1. Pin the Tie on the Ghost

2. Great Neptune of the Sea--where you ask "Great Neptune" behind the sheet for a prize and you put your fishing line over and he gives you a prize. 

3. The Ghost Cake--which is a cake with a ghost with real flaming eyes--its a big hit. 

We had so much fun! Even better to have the Moore's here with us to celebrate!! 

"The Big Bad Wolf" and "Little Red Riding Hood"

All the kids ready to party (We had to put Ellie to bed because she was having a melt down she was so tired.)

Kelsey playing "Pin the Tie on the Ghost"

Grandma and Emma as "Kitties"

The Fabulous Moore's

Mount Vernon on the Potomoc

We visited Mount Vernon this last weekend with Blaine's mom and his brothers family. Mount Vernon is the name for George Washington's beautiful mansion home and farm that overlooks the Potomoc River. It is one of my favorite places here and we went on the perfect Fall day. George Washington was an incredible man--how lucky we are that good men like this once lived to start our country. 

Cam in front of the front lawn and mansion.

I love this picture--Cam and Ellie with the Potomoc River in the background--it really is a spectacular view. This is the view George Washington had from his back porch!

Our family in front of the Washinton Mansion
 

This is a replica of a famous portrait of George Washington. The original hangs in the White House--Blaine and I actually went on a tour of the White House today and saw the original!

Cameron turns 7!

Cameron celebrated his 7th bday on Sunday! It was fun to be in Pittsburgh with cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents to celebrate--that hasn't happened since he turned one!  Cameron is a great kid--here's what we love about him:

1. He's our little science guy--he can tell you more than you ever wanted to know about animals and science stuff.  He's learning about fungus right now at school--today he wanted to do an experiment to grow mold on a piece of bread. Is that FUN or what?!

2. He loves books--he asked Santa for science books last year. 

3. He can make friends with anyone.

4. He says his prayers and reads scriptures every night all on his own. 

5. The force is strong with this one--young Jedi Cameron. 

6. He loves hanging out with his Dad. He still hugs me when I drop him off at school. He is a great brother to his sisters (most of the time). 

Cam--Happy Birthday! We love you so much. 

Weekend in Pittsburgh

We are just 4 short hours away from Blaine's brother Phil and his family! We went there last weekend to celebrate the birthdays of Grandpa Bell, Emma, and Cameron (on the 18, 19, & 21) and to see our sweet neice Emma be baptized. Our sweet Dad Blaine was left at home once again because he had to be at a mandatory class over the weekend and it was so sad that he wasn't there with us and his whole family! Emma's baptism was wonderful! She set a great example for all her cousins. Then we headed to Chucky Cheese for more celebration--our kids LOVE that place. Great times! AND--we saw our dear friends the Westovers who just moved to Pittsburgh which was wonderful! I forgot to take any pictures but they are doing great!