HaPpY ThAnKsGiViNg!

This Thanksgiving was very special!! We drove 14 hours to my hometown of Deming, New Mexico to see mi familia! We haven't been back since My dad's wedding 8 years ago. CRAZY! 8 years? Wowza! It was so good to be back to see my family and remember all the fun things we did as little monsters! So many things were different tho as well and it was weird!! Here's a little look at our Thanksgiving! Maybe you'll understand me better when you see a little more of my roots!

Ah, I'm home!! I was like a kid on Christmas when we drove under our sign and onto the ranch! Yay!

We had many ping pong battles, and Greg walked away victorious as usual! That's my ping pong champion!

The kids loved Aunt Lisa. Here's Aunt Lisa helping Ashy crochet a scarf. The yellow one she's working on was made for Ethan. He loves it!

As usual, the missionaries came over. Ethan was so excited to get to talk to them!

My bro Joseph, me, Tinabop and Karina!

The line for Dinner! Yes, it is Ginormous! We had a couple of turkeys and over a dozen pies. That's how we like it! Jam packed! And to think we were still missing quite a few Nicolls!

Ethan getting anxious for his food.

The Chefs, Dad and Krisite! The yummiest turkey ever!! oh my I want to just jump in and eat some now!

More Sistas! Christina, Lauren, Cheri and me. I loved seeing Lauren & Cheri. I haven't seen them in years so this was very special!

Ashy loved playing with all the animals. Here's a baby duck.

Edog with a baby duck at Uncle Jason's

Aunt Lisa helping Tyson hold a baby chick!

Here's Uncle Jason working in his (small) Greenhouse! This place was amazing! I was very impressed !

The kids loved running through the rows of tomatoes! ( this pic was taken in the large greenhouse)

The kids in the small greenhouse

The kids fell in love with Uncle Elis Chihuahua puppies!

They played outside with the puppies more than they were inside!

They loved helping my cousin collect eggs every morning.

They loved feeding the chickens and the chicks.

Uncle Eli's mama and baby llama!

Tyson looking at the llamas!

Greg trying to lure in the baby llama.

My love!

One of my most favorite people in the world! My Grandma Vivian. I love you Grami!

These next pictures need a little explaining. When we were little my aunts used to dress all us grandkids up in old prom dresses, well...anything really that was lying around. We used to put on fashion shows for the whole family with tickets, programs, the whole shebang. This year was no exception! All the grand and great grand kids dressed up. I only have a few pics but the fashion show was long and crazy!!!

Of course Aunt Molli dressed up. For real, where in the world did this come from? hahahaha!

Kiko!

Karina helping Tyson on the catwalk!!

As you can see us Nicolls can have fun and don't care how silly we look! We just love being together!

Grami making her famous fudge! Look how patient she is!

Hope everyone had as happy Thanksgiving as we did!

MuGgLeS aNd WiZaRdS!

We got 6 free tickets from Greg's office to go see Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows! Thank you! We were going to go as a family and then heard it was too scary for little kids so we let Ashy invite her 3 friends who are also Harry Potter fanatics, Raven, Lexi and Alli and left the boys with Grandma. I'll tell you what, those girls are some goobery girls. We had to take pictures with every poster, Ashy insisted she dress up as Hermione and all 4 girls picked a character from the movie to be. They were so cute. It was indeed scary, at one point, Alli, the oldest friend screamed so loud I asked her if she peed her pants. They laughed really loud and had us laughing.

Do you see the resemblance?

Oh yes, and this morning I find out that Ashy has her first crush. She drew a picture and signed it," Ashy loves Harry." haha!

Last night was Ethan's birthday party. We had alot of fun! I ran out of time and energy so I bagged the Jazz jersey idea last minute and made this baseball cake. Ethan loved it. It tasted pretty great if I do say so myself!

Greg was in charge of the games. He, as usual was awesome!

Happy Birthday Mister Ethan! My big 6 year old boy! I love you!

out of the mouths...

Today, when the munchkins got home from school I asked them both what they learned. Their answers made me worry what in the world they are learning at school lol!
Ethan said, "I learned about the programs and Indians...mom, what's a program?"

Then Ashton, annoyed at her brother said, "IT'S PILGRIMS!!!"

So then I asked Ashy what she learned at school today. She answered, "I learned about Christopher Colombolus..." Oh dear!

For family night we decided to put our Christmas tree up and Ethan wanted to put the nativity up as well. He worked really hard trying to figure out where each piece went. I was walking by and he said, "Mom, I think we should put the Foolish Men over here." I laughed so hard it took me a sec to inform him that the Wise Men would look fantastic there.

I'm completely addicted to the cake shows on TLC. I know... I know... I'm paying for it now! It's November. Do you know what that means? That means I have to make 3 very different birthday cakes in 3 weeks. I always make the kids' birthday cakes. I love to bake. However, I made the mistake of letting the kids watch those cake shows with me and now they are asking for a miracle. Ashton decided she wanted a Harry Potter birthday cake. Great, ok. So, I googled some cakes and wowza. Of course Ashy came in and looked with me and then E and then Ty and now I have No idea what I'm going to do! Here are some of the cakes ideas they want:

Is this for real? I mean come on!

Raven wants this one.

Ashton wants this one

and this one!

I talked Ethan into this one. I think I can handle this but of course it will be a Jazz jersey with #8 for Deron Williams

Or this one.. we will just have to see.

I don't know what to do about Ashy yet. Greg's of course will be his favorite...German Chocolate so now I just have to figure out Ashys. hmm..........

Maybe I'll try a version of this. I don't know. what to do?