Thanksgiving with the demboskis

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving this year at Paul's parent's house. We had the entire clan there to celebrate the holiday weekend. We started the day by driving the monster trucks in the backyard. There was playtime, bug time, and cooking time. I was in charge of the onions. So when everyone was busy preparing and slaving away in the kitchen, I was nice and relaxed, all I had to do was open my jars of onions, put them in a pot and wait for them to boil...simple and easy. We managed to set the tables so that we could all eat at one big long table. I don't know where we will put everyone once Mike and Becky start popping out kids :) We all went around the table to say what we were thankful for. I was thankful for a healthy pregnancy, Paul for health, Andrew for America, and Allison for her baby doll. We have so many things for be thankful for this year. We have been so blessed as a family. We have a warm home, careers, food in our kitchen, healthy children and God. Although we have had a rough patch this year with the loss of Angel, we are still able to see how good God is.

We had a late night that ended with lots of cuddles and full bellies.

Thanksgiving with the Bugs

Each year we take turns having the Holidays with each other's families. This year it is the demboski's turn so we decided to have my parents over for a mini Thanksgiving. It turned out to be not so mini. I rotiseried a turkey, served mashed sweet potatos, green beans and beets, the best dressing ever (if I do say so myself), and of course cranberry sauce. It was so much fun. We used our china and the kids got to have sparkling lemonade. Papa and Grandma had a blast playing with the kids, our evening was filled with yummy food, book reading, wrestling, and silly pictures. We certainly have a lot to be thankful for.

A disneyland Weekend Getaway

We spent this past weekend at the happiest place on earth in the California Grand Hotel at the disneyland resort. We went here because Paul had a realtor convention, so while Paul was attending workshops all day, Andrew, Allison and I went to disneyland. Since we were guests at the resort, we were able to go to California Adventure Land 1 hour before it opened to the public. We even had our private entrance into the park. We went on the new Ariel's Adventure ride and then made our way over to Woody's Roundup ride. It was nice going on 2 new rides that we have never done before. We took pictures with Chip and dale and of course the famous Buzz Lightyear.

I think this picture of me and the kids on the big Ferris Wheel is one of my favorite pictures ever.

The Woody roundup ride was the first time the kids experienced 3d. I am not sure if Allison even noticed because her glasses kept falling off. Andrew on the other hand seemed to be more interested in the shooting aspect of the ride and I am not sure if he truly understood the 3d concept. Either way they looked cute in their glasses.

After our morning in the park, the kids and I went back to the hotel, grabbed some lunch pool side and went swimming, which was slightly tricky with two kids who don't know how to swim. But thanks to life jackets and jacuzzis we had a great time. Once I decided 3 hours at the pool was long enough and our hands were wrickeled enough, we left to go back to our room to get ready for dinner before Paul got back. As we were leaving the pool deck, we heard Paul yelling from the other side of the pool. He got back early to surprise us. The kids were thrilled because that meant they could go down the big slide. I couldn't believe how brave and crazy they both are. Allison didn't weigh enough and ended up flipping over onto her tummy and going down backwards, but that didn't stop her from going again an again. Andrew had blast and was so proud of himself for being so brave.

After a wonderful 2 night stay, we checked out and went to breakfast at the hotel. It was a buffet breakfast and we were visited by a lot of the disney characters which the kids loved. We ended our day by riding a few rides in disneyland. Allison was able to go on the roller coaster in toon town for the first time. She was thrilled, she truly is my little dare devil! I was actually more nervous about Andrew riding by himself in the front! But they all survived. It was a wonderful weekend getaway and even though we were only 30 minutes away from home and only stayed 2 nights, it felt like we were on the other side of the world for a week. These small trips away are what makes life so much fun!