Thanksgiving, Skating and Bentleyville

We had quite the Thanksgiving weekend.  Three days of food, family and fun.  Since we didn’t eat and visit enough with Mike’s family on Thursday and Friday, we spent Saturday afternoon at my brother’s house for more turkey and conversation.

Here’s the recap of the weekend:

Day #1 – Thanksgiving – Not many pictures from this day.  Too busy cooking, eating and cleaning up.

Thanksgiving Table
The Bird
Watching A Movie Before Bedtime

Day #2 – Skating at the DECC

All twelve Sullivans, plus our friends, The Pellers, embarked on the DECC to skate off the turkey and dessert ingested the day before.  We had a great time skating, shooting pucks and watching Mike P. make a skate train with the kids.

Hop Aboard the Skate Train
Shooting Pucks
Sophia The Skater
Will The Hockey Player
Little Lewis With Big Sis
Max And Big Sis
Family Picture
Nana, Papa And Grandkids
Nana, Papa And Ella

Still Day #2 – Bentleyville

The 120ft Tall Bentleyville Tree
Rudolph
Papa's Favorite - Popcorn!
Rudolph And The Kids
Rudolph, Nana And Papa
Bentleyville Tree And Lift Bridge
Bentleyville Ships
Mrs. Claus With The Boys
Mrs. Claus, Mike And Sophia
Mom And Sophia
Bentleyville Lights
The End

Day #3 – Say Goodbye to the Cities Sullivans – Say Hello to the Johnsons

Mike spent part of the morning deep-frying a turkey to take to my brother’s house.  After the Cities Sullivans left, we headed over the my brother’s for Thanksgiving with my side of the family.  We had a chance to see some nieces and nephews that we hadn’t seen in a while, including Adam and Ana who are expecting their first baby in April.  Congratulations to you both!

We were all pretty tired by the end of the day, but grateful that we had family and friends to share our Thanksgiving weekend with.

Mr. Bones – Our Milk Jug Skeleton

I was taking Daphne for a walk a couple of weeks ago and noticed a cool Halloween skeleton hanging from a neighbor’s porch.  The skeleton was made from translucent gallon milk jugs.  The next day I Googled “milk jug skeleton” and found a few different sites that had instructions and/or photos showing how to create one.  I was actually hoping for a pattern or template that I could trace on the milk jugs, but couldn’t find one that would make it that easy.  I printed off a few pictures and a couple of sets of instructions, sent out an email to co-workers begging for them to save their milk jugs and hoped that I could collect enough to make the skeleton.

I receive one milk jug from a co-worker the next day and our Chef at work had four more.  Sophia and I made plans to start our skeleton when the boys went to the Friday night hockey game.

We cut out most of the pieces that evening.  Head, chest, pelvis, leg bones and arm bones.  Our hands were sore from cutting, so we hung up our scissors for the night.

Ready To Start Cutting
Skull
Head and Chest
Head, Chest and Pelvis

We didn’t have time during the week to finish, so we left the pieces on the dining room table.  It was a bit creepy having his skull laying there.  Finally on Friday night, two days before Halloween, we cut out the remaining pieces.  Sebastian was at a sleepover, but I was able to convince Mike (and Sophia) to help put him together.  We used a hole punch to cut a hole in each piece and tied the bones together with fishing line.

Ready For Assembly
Putting The Pieces Together
Sophia and Mr. Bones
Just Hanging Around
Relaxing On The Couch

We had a great time making Mr. Bones and will be able to use him again next year when we decorate for Halloween.  Now we just need to find a place to store him.  I think we may “hang” him from the ceiling in our storage room…or maybe we should find a box and tuck him away until next year.

Soccer Season

Sophia played her 2nd year of soccer this summer.  She began the season at the end of July.  Somehow we managed to find all pink clothes (except the shoes) for her first practice. 

Ready For Practice

 Last year’s team consisted of several boys and Sophia.  This year, not only were there three other girls on the team, one of them was her best friend.  Games were once or twice a week, with practice on Sunday afternoon.  She had a great time learning about the game, chasing the ball and she even got a few kicks in there. 

Warming Up
Big Kick
Run Sophia, Run!
Time For A Break

The season ended last week with a final game and a party afterwards.  Her coach hosted everyone at his house and served Sophia’s favorite – Subway!   

Here’s the team.   

The Team
The Silly Team

Now that soccer is over, Sophia is taking a break from sports for a little while.  She has to decide if she wants to sign up for swimming or gymnastics next.  For now we are hanging out at the football field and cheering Sebastian on at his flag football games.