From Old Traditions to Red Neck Turkey Frying

After we left Pete and Grandma's we came home to prepare for our next meal. Nate's dad, Pam, Pam's parents, my grandma, Aunt Debbie, and cousin Jessie came for dinner. Nate is not a fan of oven cooked turkey, so our turkey was to be deep fried. Of course just as Nate's dad got here with the bird it decided to start raining. So being the genius engineers that they are they built a tent out of tarps. It was pretty fun watching them devise the plan. I do have to say that it was successful and the turkey turned out wonderfully.

Just Like The Old Days

We had a very relaxing and peaceful Thanksgiving this year. We started our day out at grandma Rosie's and Poppa Pete's. We had a wonderful meal. Following the meal as has been the tradition now for quite some time we celebrated Christmas. The boys of course enjoyed opening presents and playing with all the other kids, from rough housing to playing bubble gum bubble gum in a dish!! It was nice to see everyone this year, usually by the time we get there most everyone has left.

Building With Poppa And Painting With Grandma

My dad is good at and enjoys woodworking, so when we went to the Home Depot for the first time and saw that the project was a fire tug boat we thought the boys would enjoy making them with him in his wood shop. So on a recent Friday off of work the boys and I did just that (of course only after a brief visit to the mega farm, we pass by a very large dairy farm on the way to my dads house and we are not allowed to go to his house without first stopping at the farm). The boys had tons of fun using all the tools in the wood shop and I think the best part was getting to paint them when they were done building.

An Unexpected Late Night Visitor

After a recent late night shopping trip I was coming down stairs from putting the kids to bed. I hear Nathan calling me "Am, we have a visitor". I could not imagine what it could be, it was 10:00 pm, so I didn't figure it was a person. As I walked into the kitchen I see this teeny tree frog hanging onto the edge of the grocery bag. Nathan decides that we need the fearless frog catcher to assist with the removal. Leland was delighted to assist with the frog removal!!

Grandma E. Turns The Big 8-0

My grandma celebrated her 80th birthday last week. As we have done for the past couple years we celebrated with dinner and cake. Sutton wanted to help blow out the candles, so much that as I lit them he blew them out.

Bargin Shopping

When is the best time to buy Halloween costumes. About 1 week after Halloween when they are 75% off. The boys enjoy dressing up so this was the perfect time to stock up on dress up items. I paid anywhere from $3 to $6 for the costumes and only ended up spending a little over $20 for 4 of them. I was able to find a captain, a swat team officer, an astronaut, and superman.

Spice Rack Building Gone Wrong

The Home Depot does a free kids building clinic the first Saturday of each month. For the month of November we built spice racks, well some of us did. Nate helped Leland and his turned out beautifully. I helped Sutton and well what can I say his didn't turn out so beautifully. When I turned it over, Nate instantly says how is that going to hold any spices (like we were really planning to use these to hold spices)? I took a close look and responded "I don't really know". Some how Sutton and I had managed to place the dowels for holding the spices in the rack directly against the back of the rack. Thank goodness Sutton didn't even notice and was exclaiming right after completion of the project "I did it!!!" I think next month I will read the directions!!

Retired

We finally retired the crib and Sutton is now prince of his queen size bed. He has been asking for awhile to sleep in the other big bed that we had upstairs. I was dragging my feet because that has been my spare bed when Nate's snoring becomes too loud to bear. When I mentioned this Leland was quick to offer me a space in his bed. Sutton has done very well in the bed so far and now has more room for all the items he now has to take to bed with him.

Fall Clean Up

It is that time of year again, time to rake the leaves. The boys actually think it is fun to "rake" the leaves. I think they were also more intrigued this year because we burnt them.

Trick Or Treat Is Complete

Long before Halloween arrived Leland wanted to know what everyone would dress up as, including Winston, Nate, and I. So just to surprise him Nate and I got a little into the Halloween spirit, but only for a couple photos. We took the kids the fire department and then we did a trunk or treat in our old neighborhood. I think before we even got home Nate had eaten most of the Reece's Peanut Butter Cups!!!

Giddy Up Horsey

Oh to be young again riding on the back of your dad with your younger sibling!!! The boys thought it was great fun to have dad pretend to be a horse, complete with sound effects. But boy oh boy hold on when the horse starts bucking!!

Free Fun

Our friends from Kindermusik invited us to a free event at a local elementary school. They had all kinds of activities for the kids. The boys enjoyed the play dough the best I do believe. They also had fun doing some gross motor activities, painting, and story time.

Swim Lesssons Times Two

We signed up for swim lessons again, this time including Sutton. The first week was a bit rocky, but the boys were still recovering/suffering from the mystery illness. Leland was having issues with his teacher, she has her hands full with 2 other boys. Sutton was very shy and didn't want to do anything that was asked of him. The second week we decided that I would stay home and Nate would take them alone. I know it is hard to believe, but sometimes they both act very different when mom is around!! So this week has gone better. Leland ended up getting moved back down to Sutton's class, which seems better for him. Nate sent me some pictures of Sutton and he was actually participating, hopefully this continues.