Family Picture Attempts

The last family picture we have is from December 2010.  

Kaelin was 4, Hailey was 2 and Logan didn't yet exist! 

In our defense we have tried on multiple occasions with Jecca to get a good family picture.  

The last attempt was last month. Here is the proof...

and the reasons why we don't have a family picture to send out. :)

Pouting Girls

Thanksgiving Fun

Both Kaelin and Hailey had to decorate turkeys for school projects this year.  

Hailey's Turkey:

Explanation: The orange balls at the top are clouds.

The noodles up the side are to measure his height.

The pipe cleaner/blue ball are flowers.

And the turkey has the chicken pox - that is why there are red dots.

Kaelin's Turkey:

Explanation: Her turkey is planting seeds! 

The noodles are tree branches.

 Our most exciting Thanksgiving news was: Kaelin lost her first tooth! 

On Thanksgiving! 

At Grandma Cindy's!

And the next morning she found a dollar under her pillow where her tooth had been!

Hailey did have a Thanksgiving program at church but the pictures are very dark.  She was a cute little indian and they sang a few songs. Then we had a big school wide potluck afterwards.  It was really well organized by the preschool/church and we really enjoyed it! 

We are back...

I know I haven't blogged in ages.  Sorry!  We have had rounds of sickness here at the Magee house! First a bunch of ear infection and then the last week and a half a horrible week long virus swept through. Two dr visits and one evening at the ER later and we are all finally on the mend!  

Here are some sicky pics to prove that my children do exist:

Kaelin literally fell asleep while Hailey and Logan got checked by the doctor.

 

Kaelin spent Saturday evening at the ER. She was having horrible stomach pains and a high temp, the doctor was concerned about her appendix.  Turns out she was severely dehydrated and constipated from being sick all week.  A bag of fluid got her body working right again, thankfully!

This little guy likes to snuggle on the couch with a fuzzy blanket and watch Mickey.

 This is Hailey's 'I'm Tired' face. 

Stay tuned...hope to have our last few weeks updated today....before Christmas activities continue!

Eating Out with Kiddos - CHEAP

Ok, so you know that Justin travels...and I am not a homebody! We like to be busy and go, and I like adult conversation. That being said, I like to take the kids out to eat every once in a while when he travels. It gets me out of the house, someone else cooks and someone else cleans up! Its a win for me all around....except the expensive part!

Solution: I have found a number of restaurants in the area that have free kids' meal nights! Thought I would share with you:


Sunday: Quaker Steak & Lube has free kids' meals with every adult entree purchased from 11am-3pm.  (FYI in our area, Austintown location as much better service and food than the Boardman location). Extra note: If you ask the waiter after you place your order, they will bring goldfish for the kids to munch on while you wait for your food!

Monday: Salsitas in Austintown has a clown who makes balloon animals.  They run a very frequent coupon (but don't usually ask for it), for this evening.  Kids eat free with an adult entree purchase after 5pm.

Tuesday: Salsitas in Boardman has a clown who makes balloon animals.  They run a very frequent coupon (but don't usually ask for it), for this evening.  Kids eat free with an adult entree purchase after 5pm.

               Bob Evans (all locations) has free kids' meals with an adult entrée purchase.

Wednesday: Perkins (all locations, after 3pm) has free kids' meals with an adult entrée purchase.  Kids also receive a cookie at the end of their meal.


Saturday: Perkins (all locations, after 3pm) has free kids' meals with an adult entrée purchase.  Kids also receive a cookie at the end of their meal.

Restaurants that don't have a kids' discount/free night (so you don't waste your time researching):

Carrabas

Chili's

Cracker Barrell

Eat n' Park

Longhorn Steakhouse

O'Charley's

Olive Garden

Outback

Ruby Tuesday

Hope this helps everyone to enjoy a cheap meal out of the house...and give Mom's a break! If you know of any other specials please let me know! 

Trick or Treat x2

Our kids love to trick or treat.  Wait, actually Kaelin loves to trick or treat. Hailey loves the first half of it, and then is tired.  Logan could care less. Every year we head to Grove City to trick or treat on the Saturday before Halloween, with Justin's Mom's family, where he used to trick or treat.  Usually it is chilly, and sometimes misty.  This year the first half of the route was good, the second half was WET! Hailey gave up and had to be carried.  Logan was done about 3/4 of the way through - mostly because he wanted out of the stroller to play.  Kaelin could have kept going!!!

The cousins.

Logan, being cheesy for Aunti Jecca

Kaelin - Our little Snow Princess - posing as always and loving the rain and trick or treat.  Just for the record, shortly after this, I made her put her winter coat on.

Usually on Halloween night Justin takes the girls around our neighborhood to trick or treat, while I hand out candy.  This year, because it was so wet, and we had already spent 1 wet evening trick or treating, we were very grateful for our church.  They were supposed to hold a trunk or treat.  Thankfully, because of the weather, they decided to hold it indoors! YEA!!!  So we got the kiddos dressed up - the girls even got a bit of make up (this only happens at Halloween in our house).  Members of church volunteered to sit throughout the halls and let the kids trick or treat.  It was awesome (and warm!). Then they also took the kids pictures and promised to send a copy to our house!

Logan the Lion

 Hailey our Southern Belle

Posing Snow Princes - Kaelin

Sisters 

(Like the blankets and pillows on the mantle? No more emergency room visits for Logan...

at least not for diving into the fireplace bricks!)

 

 Kaelin and Sparky - from Awanas

Hailey and Cubbie - from Awanas

 In the church's gym, there were 3 inflatables (an enclosed house, a jousting inflatable-open jouster, and a big inflatable slide) set up for the kids to play on.  The girls immediately lost their costumes and ran to play with friends.  They also had popcorn, coffee and hot chocolate for refreshments!

Logan kept spinning around and around to the music playing over the speakers.  I was surprised how well he did in his costume.  Didn't try to take it off at all!  I finally took the top half off (its as heavy as a winter coat), because he was getting warm.

 Hailey jumping in the open house.  

This is one that has the pillars 2 people can stand on and then beat each other (jousting).

 While no one actually jousted (that I saw), because there were so many kiddos, 

K wanted to hold up the big stick. 

Hailey, mid jump, in the enclosed house.

Logan meeting Cubbie.  He didn't take the candy, but he did give Cubbie 5!

He wasn't scared, 

but he also wasn't completely impressed when Cubbie picked him up to take a picture.

Fall Firsts for Logan...

We went to a cheap buffet last month. Logan eats so much faster than the girls that we have to keep him busy so everyone else can finish.  The kid is like a garbage disposal :).   So I decided to hand him an ice cream cone.  He obviously loved it....A LOT!

 Last week it was gorgeous here - 75 degrees and beautiful! So Justin and the kids washed my car! YEA! This was Logan's first time helping (AKA playing in the water bucket), and getting soaked with water.

K helping

H helping

Logan got this ball pit from Justin's cousin Ryan and his girlfriend Danika for his birthday.  He LOVES it! He actually likes to throw all of the balls out of it and sit in it to watch tv :).

 Logan likes food, did I mention that? However, snacking is difficult because of Bandit.  I recently bought this snack cup. He did really good with it right away. I was impressed.  He has really good fine motor skills and is able to us his fingers to pick up very small items (not always a great skill).

 Logan is a one man wrecking crew for my kitchen.  He likes to tear apart my tupperware and pan cupboards and this drawer that holds all my pot holders.  This time however, somehow, he fell in...and got stuck.  haha  Very shortly after I took this picture he started to get upset because he couldn't get back out!

Logan's 1st Haircut!  I always wait until the babies are 1 before they get their first trim.  To be honest Logan's wasn't that bad, except for the curly mullet he was starting to sport :).  Our hairdresser just trimmed it up enough to look like a big boy, but not short enough that I will have to take him to get his hair cut all of the time now.

BEFORE 

AFTER

Pumpkins!!!

A few Sundays ago we took a trip out to White House Farms to pick out pumpkins!

I think the sun was in her eyes ;)

K picked a pumpkin for Logan.

Logan says - What Is That?!

Then the next Sunday we went to our friends' the McCreadie's house for their annual BYOP party (Bring Your Own Pumpkin).  It is an afternoon of carving, fun and food of course! This year Mandie and Justin provided an awesome soup bar.  

This year both girls drew faces on their pumpkins all on their own...then Daddy started carving. 

He thought the stem was cool.

K's finished pumpkin (I love her eyelashes!)

Hailey's finished pumpkin.  Mandie provided paints too - so her pumpkin became colorful!

Our fall front porch.

 

For the past couple of years I have mostly watched as everyone at the BYOP threw away their seeds...this year I gathered them all up! Got about 3.5 Quarts of seeds (About 8 batches roasted). 

Seeds done! Season Salt, Jalapeño Salt and Garlic Salt.

Another pumpkin project this year was for Kaelin's school competition. She wanted to turn it into a scarecrow. So we dug out Logan's old clothes, I hot glued straw to garbage bags (that we used for his neck, hands and feet) and his head. Kaelin decorated his face! I was so proud of her. She did a great job and was very creative I thought!