Happy 5th Birthday Elizabeth

Oh my goodness, our baby is FIVE! We started our celebration on Sunday with a birthday trip to Toys-r-us so that Liz could pick out a special toy. Liz brought cupcakes to school on Monday, got to be the leader in her class, and had Daddy make her a special pizza for dinner.
Liz chose to buy a Barbie reporter kit. She reported the weather and news the whole way home.
Happy 5th birthday Elizabeth! Liz is such a sweet girl. She is always ready to snuggle and so loving with hugs and kisses. She is hysterical too! She is always fun loving and trying to crack jokes. Liz loves to pretend..............she is always pretending. In kindergarten she is learning all kinds of new things and loves to practice her new skills at home. Poor girls always has marker on her hands! We couldn't ask for a better daughter and love our "girly" very much.
The message at school was all about Liz and her birthday. She was so proud to bring it home!
The sweet birthday girl with her crown from school
Ready for "Happy Birthday" and blowing out candles!



Yummy cupcakes!
Liz got to pick out a present at Toys-r-us already. She got a few more tonight. First up was a Princess Bath set because now that she is 5 she takes showers. They are like waterfalls!
Despite the fun of showers, she wasn't too impressed with her first gift.
Patrick did a great job helping Elizabeth to read her birthday cards.
She got two new Barbies for her birthday - a doctor and patient with all the toys for an exam from Mom and Dad, and a paleontologist Barbie, complete with fossils, from Patrick.

Thanksgiving Hike

The weather lately has been AMAZING!!! We headed out on Friday to take full advantage of it by taking a hike at Baltimore Woods.
First on the agenda, walking sticks.

Second on the agenda, climbing out on the tricky fallin' tree.

Third on the agenda, being cute and having fun on our family hike.

There was water along the trail, so of course we had to play in it!
Liz is always posing.
Love this picture! Talkin' and walkin'.

Brotherly and sisterly love :)
After a while, Liz need frequent breaks................even though we really didn't do a long hike. Maybe a mile long trail?? She felt the need to hit every "break bench"!

More love................after four attempts.
Patrick, the scientist, inspecting a caterpillar.

Thanksgiving celebrations have begun!
Liz came home today with a large envelope so that we could complete her November share activity.
We got out all the pieces and had to read and follow the directions very carefully. Every turkey is unique to what the child making it likes.
These are the directions for the Turkey. One colored body if you like turkey, another if you don't. All of the other body parts mean something also. It was a super cute activity.
Liz's turkey, all done! It means that she likes turkey without gravy. She spends Thanksgiving at someone else's house and doesn't watch football on Thanksgiving. Liz likes apple pie, mashed potatoes, green beans, rolls, and corn. She was excited to take her turkey to school on her share day to share with her class.
Liz's class had a great feast for Thanksgiving. Liz had apples, applesauce, popcorn, cider, and muffins. 2 muffins.
Here's the gang on the way to Turkey day hockey with the rest of the Louer's and honorary Louer's. Liz went to play with Megan and Sarah Jane on the playground. Mom had a very thankful moment while every one was gone.............I was thankful for three hours of peace and quiet! After showers and putting on nice clothes we headed out to Aunt Anne's for a delicious Thanksgiving meal.

SU Basketball

We had tickets to an SU exhibition game tonight. All four of us got to go.
Patrick watched the plays intently as they warmed up. He was very focused.

Patrick and Elizabeth were excited that Sarah Jane and Will (and Mark and Amy) came to the game also. Brian took the boys on an adventure to the top of the dome where they danced their little hearts out. The girls danced in the aisles and had fun playing. Since it wasn't a crowded game the kids had the run of our section.

Tigers, Oh My

While we were trick-or-treating, Patrick was chewing Aunt Peggy's ear off about the big cats at the zoo. Patrick loves all big cats and has been systematically getting books about them out of the library every week. Aunt Peg offered to have us out to the zoo so we could see the tiger cubs, mom and dad. Patrick couldn't wait for Sunday!!
The cubs were so cute. They were curious about us and came over to investigate. They make the cuteness noises. It is called chubbing, and they do it to communicate and when they are happ



There's an 800 pound tiger behind that door! Toma kept pacing and putting his face in the window, then walking away.
And Will came nose to nose with him!!
Toma is a huge beast.
More counsinly love.
I didn't even know the vulture did this. He was walking around with his wings out stretched the whole time we were watching him. It was wild.
It's always all about the lions. Patrick LOVES those lions.