Thanksgiving 2010

Thanksgiving 2010 is coming to a close. It seems like this year went faster than the last one! Our family celebrated quietly today. We watched the Macy's Thanksgiving day parade and some football. The kids ran around outside and played video games.

I cheated this year and bought the Marie Calendar's Thanksgiving Feast dinner. Today was my day off since nearly every day is Thanksgiving here with all the people in my house.

Our quiet dinner was wonderful and we were all thankful for so many things. We all were thinking of our family and friends that weren't with us this year.



After dinner we played some Thanksgiving Bingo! We talked about what we were all thankful for...



The evening was winding down with the movie "ELF" because as of
today - it is a marathon sprint to Christmas!!




Pie finished the evening and our bellys were full and
everyone had a wonderful Mendenhall family memory
that will be tucked away in their heads forever!

Briggor's Thanksgiving Feast

On Tuesday this week, Briggor's Kindergarten Class celebrated with a Thanksgiving Feast. The pilgrims and indians were in attendance. They celebrated like a Charlie Brown Thanksgiving - popcorn, carrots with ranch dressing, pretzels, pumpkin pie and cheese puffs. Everything a Kindergartener LOVES!!! :)

Briggor

Briggor turns to me when walking out the door for school:

"Do we" live in a ONE NATION UNDER GOD?




Briggor walking out our room with his "KiKI" aka cuddlie and
dad's jeans that he was on a mission to take to the laundry room
downstairs. As he was walking out the bedroom door and closing
it behind him..........he caught his kiki in the door. From the other
side Briggor says:

"KiKi problem!! HELP!" LOL

Tasha reciting the Preamble of the Constitution

Tasha had to memorize the The Preamble of the
Constitution of the United States for her 8th Grade History Class!!

Good Job Tasha!!

THE PREAMBLE

We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic transquilty, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our prosperity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

Update on Andrew in Basic Training

Just an update about our son, Andrew. He is stationed in Fort Jackson, South Carolina.
http://www.army.mil/info/organization/jackson/

We have only had contact with Andrew through text messaging. We aren't sure if he is suppose to be doing that but it's nice to have short conversations when we can then not at all. Andrew arrived in South Carolina on Wednesday, November 3rd. We were able to text him on Saturday, November 6th. He said that it was cold and it wasn't fun! LOL He said they have to get up at 4am every morning! He was still processing and was not going to officially start basic until Friday, November 12th!! So, he was in limbo! He said to me, "MOM, I just have to keep my mouth shut and do what they say!" LOL I told him, "yes you do!" and "Andrew, you were built to be an Army soldier!" :)

The last text I received from him was a couple of days ago saying: "Everything is ok, don't worry!!"

So we wait til we hear from him again....We are very proud of him!

A Day At CALM

We have a place here called CALM - California Animal Living Museum.
http://www.calmzoo.org/

Ryan and Tasha have signed up to volunteer their time to help out at our zoo. Ryan wants to be a zoologist and Tasha wants to be a vet when they grow up! While they were volunteering on Thursday. The kids and I walked the zoo and looked at all the animals. We had a great time!

They have a children's area where the kids can feed the goats. There are also chickens, a donkey, lambs, a turkey and a miniature horse.



The brown bear exhibit was fun! They were really active! This bear wanted to get a better view of the world!

This was Megan's favorite exhibit - the Bobcats!

Ryan and Tasha working as Animal Keepers in the
deer exhibit. You have to start somewhere so it
is cleaning up the poop !!! LOL



The bald eagle -- always impressive!!

We ended the morning at the children's playground.
We were waiting for Tasha and Ryan to finish
their job.



After the morning out at the zoo, we stopped by
dad's shop and had lunch with him!

Another memory in the books..........

Army Boot Camp

Today is November 1st, 2010, and our oldest son, Andrew is on his way to Army boot camp at Fort Jackson, South Carolina! Tough day for this mom as she watched her baby boy walk away. A new chapter in Andrew's life begins today. I'm sure he is struggling with so many emotions right now. The tears are flowing out of my eyes - I think this is harder because my heart hasn't completely healed with the loss of my dad and now I am saying "see you later" to our son!! He hugged me so tight this morning! I told him to "kick ass and take names!" Andrew laughed. Since he left the house he called me twice before he couldn't call me anymore. I think he loves his mom!! Our family will miss him!

After Andrew left,
Briggor said to me "Andrew is going in the army?"
I said "Yes!"
Briggor said: "I will think of him everyday when he is in the army!!"

We are so very proud of him and he is going to do well! Andrew has drive and determination. When he puts it all together he is going to come out on top!

Andrew will be doing 10 weeks of boot camp which will take him through the holidays. That is going to be tough for this mom not having her boy home for Christmas. I've decided to take it in segments - boot camp, school, etc.

Mark reminded me this morning that I am now among an elite group of moms now. I am officially an army mom!! I kinda like that!! :)

Good Luck Andrew - We are proud - very proud of you!!! Can't wait to see how handsome you are in your uniform!!

Halloween 2010

Another Halloween is now gone. It was such a fun day!

Briggor dressed like Annikin Skywalker this year. (For those

who don't know, Annikin eventually becomes

Darth Vadar when he gets older)

Jade was a Dark Angel!

Look at these pics of Briggor and the real Annikin

Skywalker - pretty close huh?

Tasha dressed as a pirate girl!

Under this scary mask is our son Skyler - he did

a little 'trick or treating' then headed back to the

house to scare the kids that came by our

haunted house! He did a great job!

Dinner buffet was served: Jello Brain......

Witches fingers........

Witches brew stew........and popcorn chicken...

Our flying ghouls and goblins....quite frieghtening

at night but we had a little disaster....in the

middle of the night while the 'trick or treating'

was in full swing the cable broke! :( Mark scared

so many kids. 4 small kids dropped their candy

and ran away. The parents had to come back and

get the bags. These ghouls go much higher and

sit high in the night sky. Then they swoop down

at the kids as they walk up.

Megan went as Little Red Riding

Hood this year!!

Halloween at our house.......

One last picture before heading out for Trick or

Treating......
Briggor had the best time this year. As we were

Treat of Treating, someone gave him Skittles and

he proclaimed for all to hear "I LOVE SKITTLES!"

So the lady gave him another bag!!! :) The kids and

I walked the streets singing the song from "The

Nightmare Before Christmas" - "This is Halloween,

This is Halloween, Halloween, Halloween......"