Turkey Day

We had two Thanksgiving's this year.  My family had theirs a week before Thanksgiving and John's the day after the holiday.  Did I remember to take pictures of anything other than my children?  Nope. Landon and Will had new sweaters that they insisted on wearing and then I of course insisted on pictures.  You can't blame me...they are so handsome.  

Gabriel wore a cute sweater too.

 My big boys. I can't get over how big and good looking these two are.

Prepare yourself for the onslaught of pictures of my cuter than cute baby in his turkey onesie.  I made this shirt for Will's first Thanksgiving. He was 6 months old at that point, it was a little tight, but Gabriel is rocking it at 3 months.  

 So happy!

 This is his "I'm precious" face

 Daddy was being very silly.

 This is his smile when he just can't contain himself anymore.  I love it!

 What is that silly Daddy doing now?

Gabe passed out on his Uncle Adam.  Uncle Adam has a way of putting babies to sleep very soundly.

I hope everyone had a happy holiday!  We made out like bandits with two, count them, TWO turkey carcasses.  Woot!  No one else wanted them, crazies.  This week we will have wonderful soup from those babies. Gobble Gobble!

Digger Dan

If you recall many many posts ago I was romanticizing my old elementary school.  I do love that place.  It had it's 100th birthday before it had to meet its end, at least it was able to celebrate that.  My mom has been keeping me in the loop about the progress of its demolition.  They started tearing it down and so the boys and I went over to see all the big construction equipment doing their job.  A very exciting trip for them! (you'll notice I accidentally put this out of order.  The snow came after this lovely day)

 The front of the building.  The oldest section of the school is that pile of rubble. 

And yes, I snuck in the gated portion to get this.  I wanted to get further,but I thought they might catch me.

The boys loved watching this big "digger" working

I love this picture of Will

He was so meticulous with this huge thing.  He was able to grab small pipes out of the ceiling or wires.  It was amazing to watch.

 Gabriel was less enthused.

 Enjoying watching together and with MaMa

Goodbye Marion Elementary School.  

Snow day!!!

The boys were thrilled that we got snow and the fact that they had new boots and gloves made it even more exciting.  If they could live outside in the freezing cold they would do it to be in the fluffy white stuff. Last year Will screamed and cried about it, but not this time around!

Will kept falling over because his snow pants are too small.  Both of them have outgrown their snow pants, it was a bit comical.  

Digging in the snow was the favorite activity.  I'm not sure what they were digging to find.

 My snow boys!

 They both needed to show me chunks of snow.

A day out

We took a trip to Bass Pro during the first snow of the season! We bundled up in our boots and hats and had a fun trip.  The store had all sorts of fun things to do and it kept us entertained while Daddy shopped.

Wild life carousel!

Checking out the fun toys below

TRAIN!!!

Just meeting the reindeer

Learning to shoot with Daddy. They loved this shooting range.

We came home to find our pumpkins with a nice coating of snow.

Gabriel:3 Months

So I'm running behind getting these up, but I did take them on time. I promise!  He's nearly 4 months at this point, but I can't be a slacker and not put these up.  Check out my cutie patootie pants!

 He's at that age where he's very skeptical of the camera.  Getting smiles out of him while the camera is up doesn't seem to happen.  

 My big boy!

I sat him up in his bumbo so he could reach his toys better and he was thrilled!  By the time I grabbed the camera he had stopped grinning. But he was in love with being able to see his lion up close.

I can't believe he's already three months old!  Time is flying by.  He loves to smile at everyone and watch his big brother's running around.  Once he can sit on his own he will be one happy little dude!

Pumpkin carving

We are parental slackers when it comes to Halloween traditions.  We used to carve pumpkins all the time....before there were children.  We carved intricate designs with our friends.  Spent hours working on these things that just rot.  Once kids came along we just never did it.  Sharp instruments in the hands of children seemed daunting I guess.  But this year we knew they would actually enjoy it, so we bit the bullet and carved pumpkins (after halloween).  

Landon wasn't too grossed out by the guts, but wasn't loving digging it out either.

I think this was one of the only handfuls he actually dug out. He was not a fan of the guts, Mommy had to save him.

Will helped Mommy carve his pumpkin.  He loved pushing the carving tool in each time it needed reset.

Landon helped Daddy carve his pumpkin. He was a little bit more into the sawing action.

Gabriel obviously loved the pumpkin carving experience.

The finished products!  They both picked what design they wanted.  Landon wanted a "scary jack-o-lantern".  Will wanted a happy face on his. 

Checking out their masterpieces

Landon had his "class pet", Chip, home for the week.  So he helped with the pumpkins and posed for pictures for his journal.

I don't think we will get away with not doing this again next year.  It looks like we will be back to carving pumpkins every year!  Maybe next year we will get them done in time to put them out to be enjoyed.