Breakfast with Santa

For the second year, we had Breakfast with Santa as part of the Mistletoe & Moss Market. Anna Kate LOVED getting to meet him. She asked him for a piano, a pink fourwheeler, a dollhouse & a trampoline. She will be getting 3 of the 4 of those for Christmas. The Trampoline will have to wait until her birthday when we have a place to put it!

We tried our hardest to get a cute picture of the kids with our cousins, Jackson & Caroline, but they kids were NOT cooperating. This was the best we could get!

What's America?

I sadly don't have any pictures from our Thanksgiving festivities, except for this one that was taken in my kitchen not even on Thanksgiving! We had four delicious events- Thanksgiving Eve at my parents, Thanksgiving lunch at the Perry's, Thanksgiving dessert at Nanaw's & Thanksgiving supper at Michael & Kari's. Our favorite dishes were Denise's Rosemary Turkey, Mom's Crabmeat casserole, & my Pumpkin Cheesecake.

Anna Kate learned about the first Thanksgiving at school and informed me of it on the way home from school one day. Out of the blue she said Mommy, I learned about the Mayflower today. It was a big ship with Pilgrims & they came to America. But Mommy, what's America? I was so taken aback that I didn't even know what to say. I tried explaining that we live in America. Her response was well where's the Mayflower? I have new respect for teachers as they try to explain concepts such as the states & America to a 3 year old. Anna Kate has such an imagination & absorbs things like a sponge that every day she is coming up with funnies & asking LOTS of difficult questions!

"Fall"ing Behind!

OK, so I haven't been good about keeping all of you updated on the Hankins Happenings for the end of Fall, but I do have a good excuse. We have been out of town EVERY weekend in November. Three weekends to Houston for a cousin's wedding, Nutcracker Market shopping & a visit to see Kate & Neil who were visiting to Chicago, then off to Dallas the last weekend in November for Jenni Lee's Bachelorette Party. As I'm clearing up my Memory card for the Hankins family Christmas in Marlin this weekend, I decided to give you a glimpse of the Halloween fun that we had.

Our church had its annual Halloween festival. I had the cutest little bumble bee & dragon ever! & there was even a surprise appearance by Mr. Gecko himself!

The Gecko Returns to Win Best Adult Costume! The Toddler Area- Adli, Will, Jett & Avery.

Cuties! Anna Kate's Buddies- Ava, Sarah, Allie & Anna Kate

Liz is So creative!

Anna Kate's PK3 class also had a little Halloween party. I was in charge of drinks, so I brought a "Witches Brew" complete with dry ice in a caldron. Well this was definitely an experiment and while visually it was a hit with the kids, I didn't realize the dry ice would disintegrate & contaminate the entire punch. Thankfully I had brought along a pack of Capri Suns so the kids didn't go thirty!

Finally, on Halloween evening we had a fun party at our house. Our neighborhood goes CRAZY for Halloween. We had an estimated 1000 children come through our neighborhood trick or treating. I am still finding tootsie roll wrappers from that evening. Our friends, Paul & Denise Perry got the award for most creative costumes. Paul was the Balloon Boy & Denise was Octo-Mom! I remember going to Halloween parties atheir old house (which coincidentally on my street) & how creative they always were!