Dear Santa,

I would like a new camera!!! We met my parents in P.R. tonight for a little parade. I sure wish I would've gotten a picture of Noah's sad little face as he was walking back from not getting any of the first round of candy. Luckily, there was more right away. When the parade was done, we walked around for a little bit, and the boys got cookies from the bank and hardware store. Then we finished with the best hot chocolate, cider, and spiced wine drinks. Thanks Mom and Dad; we had fun.

Thanksgiving day at our house

We were missing Joel's family yesterday!! My family all gathered at our house for Thanksgiving. It's always a crazy day when the cousins get together, but they have a lot of fun! We had to take a little trip to the park after dessert!!!

Thanksgiving Feast

Joel and I were the parent helpers for Eli's preschool Thanksgiving feast today. His teacher asked me if he likes to do music and stuff. I guess they're working on things for the Christmas program, and Mr. part-shy, mostly stubborn isn't doing much. Will this be a repeat of the Bible School program where he held his hands in front of his face the whole time???
Thanks Uncle Craig for watching the crazy one! Eli thought that was pretty cool that we were both there!

choosing my battles

Noah has been wearing these same Spiderman undies for the past two days (over his diaper). Yesterday he wore his Spiderman shirt with the underwear, but he wouldn't keep any clothes on today.

Craft Day

Eli and I went with Jen and Katelynn to their church for the "Advent Fun Shop" today. The kids each did four "projects". Eli was VERY proud of his Hawkeye snowman!

sleepover

After a long week of work, Jen asked Craig to find them something fun to do on Friday night. His idea??? Pizza, beer and cards at our house. We put kids to bed and let the boys win two games of cards before we let them each win a game of Clue. I'm not sure sleeping at our house is what Jen had in mind, but I think she ended up having fun. The kids slept well, so that was a bonus!!

It looks like someone could've taken Noah's bed. He slept on his floor all night.

HAPPY FRIDAY

FASHION STATEMENT OF THE WEEK

Cute kids

I love, love, love, listening to kids "read". Ella- (reading a Bob the Builder book) "Can we build it?.... No, we can't".
Noah- (reading Green Eggs and Ham) "No (turn page), I don't like it (turn page), No..."
Katelynn was sticking pretty close to her Dora story line.

KLEPTO

This dinosaur "magically appeared" (that's his story, and he's sticking to it) at our house. It belongs to Eli's preschool. I spent a lot of time trying to get him to understand why it is not okay for it to be at our house. I must not be doing a very good job. He is now VERY scared of the police, but he's pretty sure that he's keeping the dinosaur.

12:03 am

I went in Eli's room to check on him as I always do before I go to bed. I stepped on something.


Eli: Mom??
Me: what honey?
Eli: (in a very sleepy voice) Does s-e-e-p spell sheep?
Me: No, its s-H-e-e-p.
Eli: Oh, okay. I'm going back to sleep now.

breakfast with my boy

What could be better than my daily bagel-ful and coffee (hot chocolate for the little one) date with my youngest????

girls vs. boys

This is probably the closest I will ever get to having a girl. And then there are the boys!!! Eli was at preschool or he'd probably be in the middle. Just kidding. He might be, but more than likely he'd be reading with Ella.


Mommy Ella did join in after a while. She is just so darn cute, and she can hold her own against these big boys (as long as they don't sit on her).

burning energy

Noah had his first gymnastics class tonight. He was shy for about 1 minute, and then he was off.

This is how he waited for his turn. I know he really should've been sitting, but I thought it was pretty good that he actually stayed in one spot (we'll work on the sitting thing next time).

bookworm

Eli got the first 4 books of The Magic Treehouse series from Grandma Cathy in the mail today. I let him take one to bed at naptime. He read the entire thing in a little over an hour, took a little nap, and was so excited when he woke up. He said, "that was the best book ever!". Thanks Cathy; we'll have fun reading those with him.

Happy Monday!

Ella says this is Joel.

This kid cracks me up

Me: "Noah, please stop drawing on your hand."

Noah: "It's a bracelet"

Trick or Treat

Last night, we went over to Craig and Jen's for a pumpkin shaped pizza, lots of goodies from Jen's family, and trick or treating. Eli was the designated door bell ringer, but then he would hurry and run behind Katelynn before the door was opened. Eli and Katelynn were ready to be done after one trip down the block. Noah went to the last house by himself.

This was my mom's idea!!

Is it Halloween or Christmas??

A big box of goodies showed up on our doorstep. Thanks Uncle Fred and Aunt Jensine!!!

Big boy!

Noah got his first issue of the Animal Baby magazine in the mail yesterday. He thought it was pretty cool that he could read magazines just like his big brother. Thanks Grandma Cathy!

On another big boy note... TMI, I know, but he pooped on the toilet for the first time yesterday. Joel thought we needed a picture, and not just of him sitting on the toilet (thanks honey!).

"Yay, woohoo one hundred dollars!"

This was Noah's response to the $10 dollar bill in his Halloween card from Grandpa Jim. Joel and I took the boys to Walmart to spend their money tonight. Can you guess who bought the fire truck and who bought the books?

Yep, out of all the toys in Walmart, Eli decided on books. Thanks Grandpa!