Thanksgiving 2011

Playing in the box from the new television

Riding in Santa's sleigh with Comet and Cupid

It was really cold, windy, and rainy!

Hanging some Christmas ornaments

Aiden loved the little snowman ornament

Getting the tree ready. Our tree still remains behind closed doors, but perhaps next year we will move it out of the office.

We had a nice Thanksgiving here in Minnesota. I wouldn't necessarily classify it as "relaxing" because I am not sure it is ever relaxing around here unless the boys are napping or in bed, but we had a good time. John enjoyed a few days off so we tried to get several things accomplished. We made a wonderful Thanksgiving meal with a turkey, dressing, pie, and other traditional items. We also put up the Christmas tree, hung some lights outside, and bought a new television on Black Friday. Yep, we had a small mishap with the flatscreen t.v. in our bonus room about a week or so ago and had to buy a new television. Aiden had a small, plastic, knee hockey stick and he hit the television screen just hard enough to crack something on the screen so that there were lines all over the picture. The picture looked pretty horrible and it was like slow motion for me as I screamed when I saw him raise the stick and swing. Lessons learned: 1) The t.v. is now mounted on the wall several feet above the ground and six little hands (not sure why we didn't do that years ago) and 2) No more plastic hockey sticks in the bonus room. I really do not have many pictures from our t.v. hunting, hanging, and organizing event over Thanksgiving so I will post some random ones from the weekend. We did manage to take a short sleigh ride with Santa and his reindeer on a super cold, rainy and windy Minnesota afternoon.

One more funny thing from Luke that I want to remember in several years so I am writing it down. We have been working on patience with the boys and trying to encourage them not to ask for the same thing multiple times, but rather to ask once and then be patient for the results. We were driving in the car this week and Luke asked me a question. I asked him to repeat it because I could not understand what he said. His response to me: "Sorry Mom, I can only say it one time." And to think he's only 3.5 years old?

The Snow is Coming....

Luke is hammering in the snow sticks with Daddy

Aiden managed to pull most of the sticks out as soon as we got them in the ground

Liam helping John with his tools

All ready to help...with goggles and tools!

Aiden and Daddy. Liam says John's hat has strings like a car wash!

Luke

Liam on the swing

In anticipation of our first snowfall, the boys helped John put out the "snow sticks." Now that we have survived four Minnesota winters, this is becoming a little more routine. Even the boys know what they are doing when we put out the sticks. They ran to get their toolbox and goggles when John asked for their help. Thankfully, the snow was short-lived and we only got about two inches or so. The boys were actually disappointed when the small hill on the side of our house no longer had enough snow for sledding. Luke was so disappointed, but we assured him there will be more snow soon. Lots more snow! It still takes us about 10 minutes to dress each of the boys in their snow gear and about 5 minutes for one of them to decide they are cold, have to potty, or just plain don't want to be out there for whatever reason. Have a very happy Thanksgiving!

Special Friends

Meet Georgie and Georgie. These are Aiden's favorites right now and he carries them (both of them) around all the time. They were a gift to Luke and Liam from Uncle Tom and Aunt Charlene, but AJ loves them too!

Meet "Bear and Doggies". These are Luke's special friends. The "Brown Dog" is his favorite that he has had since birth. The "Blue Dog" was a back-up for brown dog, but has become a regular. And, "Bear" was the lovey we put his pacifier inside of when he turned three. Picture is courtesy of Liam.

Meet "Brown Dog". This is Liam's one and only lovey that he is very particular about. Although it looks just like Luke's brown doggie, they can tell them apart somehow. I have no idea how they do it honestly. Picture courtesy of Luke.

Making some soup with Mommy and Daddy. Note our special friends in the kitchen with us.

Aiden and I frequently go to the grocery store when the boys are at preschool. When we walk inside this particular grocery store, he starts asking for the "football guy".

Touching the football guy's foot

We have some special friends that we have had since we were born. We may not always have these special friends, but right now they are pretty important. They eat with us, sleep with us, snuggle with us, and make us feel better when we are sick. They even get to go with us on trips in the car and the airplane. Mom and Dad will not let us take our special friends anywhere else because they are afraid something might happen to them. In fact, Mom has looked for a "back-up" special friend, but nothing is quite the same. We have some good back-ups that will work in a pinch, but they are still not our special friends. When our special friends are dirty, we give them a bath and sometimes they get an obligatory bath when we are at school or gone for the day. Let me introduce you to our special friends, because we never want to forget about them.

We are Thankful For....

Liam is flipping through a toy catalog picking out some Christmas gift ideas. Not sure about his "smile", kind of odd.

Liam's Thanksgiving "Thankful" Turkey

And Luke's

Crazy Aiden in the grass (so glad we still have grass)

After a fun-filled week with my sister and Calvin, it feels a bit like we are "settling in" this week. Winter feels like it is just around the corner and could hit anytime. It was the first weekend in November last year that we were hit with a blizzard that dropped about a foot of snow. My own person "weather goal" is to try to make it until after Thanksgiving without snow, but I think that has only happened once in the four winters we have endured since we moved here. The time change last weekend is also putting our time outdoors to a minimum so we are looking for some new things to do. This week we did a few art projects, got the snowblower ready for the upcoming winter, and talked about Christmas gifts. The boys made some Thanksgiving turkeys out of pinecones and put what they were thankful for on each feather of the turkey. Luke's list included: Yogurt with sprinkles, pizza, Daddy, Mommy, Calvin, Pinecones, Ms. Beth and School, and Friends. Liam's list included: Friends, Sprinkles with Yogurt, Art Projects, Calvin, School, Pinecones and Feathers, and Family. There were a couple of random ones in there, but overall the project was a success. Yes, we had a pinecone for Aiden but couldn't get him to sit still long enough to really participate. Maybe next year.

Halloween Extravaganza with Calvin and Sarah

Sampling some candy from our pumpkins

Monkey

This is how we roll

Sarah and Calvin

Here's the gang

Family picture

A few of our neighborhood friends

Luke, Liam, and Calvin

Sarah and Calvin at the Halloween parade with the firetruck

Enjoying some lunch at the Apple Orchard/Pumpkin patch

We had a week full of fun when my sister and our cousin, Calvin, came up to visit. They were here for Halloween and watching all the boys trick or treat was quite a sight. They loved the candy and trick or treating so much that they asked to do it again the next night. They were just a little disappointed when they realized that it only comes around once a year! They are already talking about costumes for next year and Luke has decided he wants to be a "Rainbow Dragon" just like Calvin with a long tail and wings.

The boys played well together this week despite a few (or maybe a lot) of sharing battles. Seems everyone always wants the SAME toy when you are 3.5 years of age and the 1.5 year old knows how to run off with it. We had two minute turns for everyone and managed to find some peaceful moments amid the chaos. I am posting a slideshow from shutterfly that will hopefully work because we have so so many pictures that were all so good. In addition to trick or treating, we went to the gymnastics open gym, the apple orchard/pumpkin patch, played outside, climbed trees (Luke, that is), went swimming, jumped, ran, laughed, and took long naps! Such a fun week!

Sarah and Calvin's visit Oct 2011

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