What a nice day to end our Thanksgiving weekend! We got our first snowfall of the season. It started yesterday and we had some more snow today. So, what do you do when it snows? You build a snowman! Jim is so good about playing with the kids every chance he gets! I guess it really pays off to grow up in the snowbelt too, because he can build one good looking snowman!!
Here are the kids dressed and ready to go out to play in the snow with daddy!


Jim and the kids rolling up the snow to make the body of the snowman and their final product!!

Ahhh.... Thanksgiving weekend.. Is there anyone who doesn't love it?? We began our celebrating last night (Wednesday) with our friends Bill and Sonia, and her son Alex and his girlfriend Lannette. We met up at Harrah's and had a wonderful dinner at The Range Steakhouse and quite a few bottles of wine! Bill and Sonia live in Springfield, MO, and are really good about letting us know when they are in town so we can get together. Sonia is from Bolivia and I love having that latin connection with her. Its almost like we are family!! The kids really liked spending time with Lannette who I must say is a sweetheart! Here are some pictures!

Couldn't Bill and Jim be brothers??


Here are the kids loving on Lannette!


Today, Jim and I worked on getting our turkey in the oven, made some delicious side dishes and baked a very yummy pecan pie. As usual, we are going to enjoy lots of food, rest and family time.. oh ya.. and some football too!!

Here is some of what happens a lot during our Thanksgivings at our house!

We had a really fun weekend! Friday night, after Jim got home from work, we took the kids to Pizza Street, and with Shane and Kayla it is always a big hit!! All the pizza (and ice cream!) they can eat and they get to play some of the arcade games they have in there.. well, Shane plays, Kayla pretends!
On Saturday we decided to start decorating for Christmas. We don't normally start until the day after Thanksgiving, but thought that it would be fun to take our time this year and just do a little at a time. The kids were very excited. I love setting it up because we get lots of questions about "baby Jesus"! Its a wonderful reminder. Kayla is having a really hard time keeping her little fingers off the nativity scene! She wants to hold and caress all the animals! In the evening we were invited over to Mark and Jamie's for the fight. Needless to say, a good time had by all!!
This morning we went to church and then joined the Todds and the Cates' for lunch at Subway and then we all made our way to the Shrine Circus. We went together last year and had a really good time and this year I think it was even more fun. With the kids being a whole year older, they were so much more attentive this year. Kayla made it through till about 3:30pm with no nap, then she crashed! It worked out great because all she missed was the last act.

Here are pictures of out families! The Gallaghers, the Todds and the Cates'!


I took a few pictures of the kids with Jim to show how interested they were in everything that was going on!


And here are a couple of the kids favorite acts. They really enjoyed the animals!!

Lately, we really have just been home bodies! The weather has been too cool for the kids to play outside, and they have been playing indoors, for the most part, nicely... well, sometimes they bounce of the walls! I have been downloading my photos of xdrive.com back into my computer and I came across some of the cutest pictures of Shane that I haven't seen in a long time. I can't believe how much he has grown!! I miss my little boy...



I LOVE this photo. I can look at this picture and really see the Shane I see now. Look at that hair!!!

We have been having some wonderfully warm days this week. I am afraid that this will be the last week, before the cold side of Fall shows up. The beginning of Fall is my favorite time of year, the weather cools down, there are lots pumpkins and Halloween and most of all, the trees just look absolutly beautiful! We have even heard talk about snow in the news.. now who wants to hear about that yet?? Most of all, I would hate to disappoint the kids by having to keep them indoors most of the time when it starts getting really cold. :( They have been having so much fun outside. When the girls next door get home, the party starts! Its usually around 3:30-4pm! They all stay out until it gets dark.. its was until past 8:00pm before the time change, but that has now changed since it gets darker earlier. They still make the most of it though!

Here is a picture of our crazy bunch of kids in our neighbourhood! They have all become really good friends even though they are all different ages. It is wonderful to watch them all grow up together!


And here is a video I took of them playing football in the front yard.. well, it was more like get the ball if you can!


Kids playing outside! from Juliana Gallagher on Vimeo.

I took these two pictures last night. Shane and Ryan really enjoy pretending like they are Rockstars.. Here they are posing.. and you can imagine who it rubs off on right?? Here is MY little princess, playing her air guitar! The picture doesn't do her air guitar justice, I really need to get a video!!

WHAT A GREAT HALLOWEEN!

Last night was Halloween night! Jamie invited us and the Barnes' over for a yummy Chili dinner, hot dogs, apple cake and some delicious wines! Shane and Kayla looked sooo cute in their costumes! I have to say that it is a lot of fun having a boy and a girl to dress up. They are SO different! Even Jim got dressed up for work this year and then kept his costume on for the evening! He was a Wild West "bad guy"! We had to piece together his costume, and thank goodness for friends with friends who own things! He shaved his goatee into a fumanchu (sp!) and then darkened it with some mascara. I have to say that Jim looked very nice with dark hair and his blue eyes!!

Here is a close up photo of Jim before he shaved.


The moms took the kids trick or treating first and then we went back to Jamie's and asked the guys to take the second shift! The kids got SOO much candy! Its amazing how generous our neighbours are! Our kids are set for quite a while!! I didn't take as many photos as I wanted, but here are a few!

Here is my White Ninja and my Princess!


This photo of the three of them came out so good!
Here are Shane, David and Ryan! David joined the boys when it came time for trick or treating. I thought for sure Daniel was in this photo as well, but I was wrong. He looked really cute as well as Darth Vader.

I took this pic when we first got to Jamie's. They took a "serious" pic and then a silly one! I think the silly one is great!!