Lucky the Elf

We woke up to a very special breakfast on Dec. 1. Santa had visited and left us an elf! He also left a letter… he explained this particular elf had been naughty and he hoped he could spend the Christmas season with us. (He’d been fired from his two previous jobs at the North Pole). The boys decided to name him Lucky. Santa also left matching Christmas jammies and a special ornament for each boy. Every morning the boys are having fun looking for Lucky. They had really been wondering how a family “got” an elf so they were very, very excited Santa decided we needed one!

Christmas Decorating

We got all the Christmas decorations out the day after Thanksgiving. The boys are old enough now that they remember all the special decorations and we had a great time getting everything out. Here are some of the things they love…

Musical Ornaments – Pretty much every year Aunt Chris gets us a singing Hallmark ornament. We keep them all in a special basket next to the tree so the boys can play with them whenever they want.

 

Nativity Sets – We have two sets: one that we got as wedding presents and one that Grandma Pat and Grandpa Bill got me when I was six years old. They were excited to be able to unwrap my very special set from Grandma. Henry thought Rudolph should be in the nativity scene also.

Christmas Tree – They love helping put the ornaments on the tree and remember their own special ornaments.

Christmas Books – We are so lucky to have lots and lots of Christmas books. They love reading them over and over again.

“Their” Trees – They each have a tree in their room and they love decorating them and setting them up just the way they want them.

North Pole Village – We have a huge collection of North Pole Village buildings (thanks to Grandma Sue and Grandpa Bill!). They get so excited to unwrap each building and they spend lots of time just standing staring at the detail in the buildings and the elves.

Christmas Dishes – We are also very lucky to have Grandma Pat’s Christmas dishes. I love using the dishes I remember using when I was a little girl.

By the end of the day we were definitely in the Christmas spirit! They are so, so excited for Christmas this year.

Thanksgiving Fun

We kicked off Thanksgiving week by going to Henry’s Thanksgiving celebration at preschool. Grandma Pam and Grandpa Glen even got to come this year! The kids sang a few very beautiful songs and then they joined us at our table for a Thanksgiving feast of fruit salad, popcorn, mini-muffins and candy corn. The kids worked very hard to create all of the beautiful table decorations. Here’s Henry and his best buddy Cameron (and Cameron’s little brother Cole!).

And here is Henry’s class and a picture of him with Mommy and Daddy. I love the Thanksgiving celebration!

On Thanksgiving Day we went to Baldwin. We kicked off the day with a yummy breakfast and then we headed out to visit Grandma Pat. When we got back we did our annual craft (which was pretty awesome this year). After the craft we had our big Thanksgiving meal. It was a very fun day, but we missed Will, Grandma and Zeke. It isn’t the same with them there.

Nathan’s Birthday

We had fun celebrating Nathan’s birthday a couple of weeks ago. The boys bought him the most awesome shirt ever (Sriracha hot sauce) and he got a super-cool beer cap map of the United States. And they decorated his cake all by themselves!

Curious George Comes to Visit

Last week Henry got to bring Curious George home for the week from preschool. Each week a different child gets to bring him home, take pictures with George and create a scrapbook of their adventures. Henry was very excited for his big week. First, they played outside.

The next day George helped us deliver Meals on Wheels.

On Wednesday we went to the pumpkin patch and Henry shared his pumpkin donut with George and they played in the corn pit.

The next day Henry and George celebrated Cameron’s (Henry’s best friend) birthday at Fun Run.

Their last adventure was carving pumpkins and trick or treating.

Cousin Fun

Aunt Lindsay, Uncle Anthony, Luke and Landon (and Grandma Sue and Grandpa Bill) came to visit a couple of weeks ago. We loved seeing them and packed the weekend full of fun, including Luke’s birthday party and going to the Fairy Tale Forest at the nature sanctuary. We miss them already!

Loose Park

The boys and I spent a great fall afternoon at Loose Park recently. We walked all around the park and then found a group of three, perfect climbing trees. They played for at least an hour there. Jack climbed the trees and Henry gathered sticks and leaves, swept dirt in piles and created his own house. They loved it… I did made them stop for a few pictures.

Halloween 2015

We had a fun Halloween with our Ninja Turtle and SWAT team guy. Grandpa Glen came over and we went to trunk or treat at church and then came back to our neighborhood. Then we ate chili in the family room and watched the Royals!

Jack - 7 1/2

Last Monday we celebrated Jack's half birthday... Now he is 7 1/2! He wanted to eat supper at IHOP to celebrate. He also wanted a M&M cookie cake, only half of course.


I'd say 7 1/2 is treating him pretty well. He's really enjoying school, along with Cub Scouts and flag football. He looks so cute in his uniforms... He is a sweetheart and keeps us laughing.

Apple Picking

Yesterday, after the boys' soccer and football games, we headed out to Alldredge Orchard to pick apples. It was a beautiful day and we also fed the chickens and goats and went on a hayride. And got some cookies from their bakery. And the boys chased lots of chickens. They just couldn't resist, no matter how many times we told them to stop. Poor chickens. Now we have lots and lots of apples to eat!

They also had a great time at their first games of the fall. Henry scored 5 goals and his team won. Jack got to be the quarterback and his team won also.