Thankful for Thanksmas

Time flies, eh?  Sheesh!  What a fun weekend - fun but exhausting!  Wednesday morning, the turkey fun all started with a little contest between my friend at work and myself over our boys' lunches.  They both ended up fabulously awesome.

She won, with the amazing fruit by the foot corn cob.  That thing was impressive.

Ethan and I were pretty proud of our Pilgrim and Native American donut holes.  They were pretty cute.  The pilgrim donuts were dipped in chocolate for the hair, and then fruit by the foot made their hat-thingys.  The Native Americans had cut up fruit rollup headresses.  Too cool.  I enjoyed the cheese leaves too!

We left as soon as possible after school to head to Cole's house.  It was supposed to take us 3 hours, but traffic was horrendous and it took us 4 and a half.  By the time we got there, the boys were ready for some cousin fun.

And Cole was excited to see them too!

They played for a while and off to bed we all went.  The next morning we had some cute pancakes for breakfast.....

And since the eyes were chocolate chips, the boys kept asking for more eyeballs please!

There was quite the wiled rumpuss up in our room, on the big foam mattress.

Add in a light saber, and you've got a party!

The boys also enjoyed playing with every single one of Cole's toys.  This drum was particularly obnoxious, but since we bought it for him, I guess I can't complain....

There was lots of snuggling and watching movies together...

And it wouldn't be a holiday without some cute art project....

Naps were important and much needed - though Ethan spent the time with me learning how to make PowerPoint presentations.

My favorite thing was when Cole squirmed around until he had a hold of his bellybutton-  it's his best friend.,

Ethan thoroughly enjoyed playing on the computer and made an awesome star wars book, complete with this cool author's photo....

We had a delicious feast and then it was time to bring in a little Thanksmas.....  The tree was up and the boys loved decorating - though everything was about 3 feet tall...

Angie even let the new baby put up an ornament with her (in utero).

I could not believe how focused Lucas was.  He took his job very seriously....  And really enjoyed it.

The boys were all smiles - and are now much easier to bribe for pictures with sweets!  Way easier!

We watched this movie a few times....  Knew it was pushing it when Lucas was able to tell us when we needed to start singing along to help Santa get his sled up!

The next morning it was time for Thanksmas itself!

We like getting to play Santa and filling each other's stockings!

The boys were super excited to see their transformers!  Poor Grandpa was sick though, and had to just participate by listening from upstairs.  Poor guy.

I think it's awesome how excited the boys get over their ornaments from Grammy.  I think now that they've seen all of Brian's and Angie's from over the years, they see how special a homemade yearly ornament is.  Lucas ran right over to put it on the tree.

Cole took out one book and then refused to do anything else but read it.  Too cute.

After a fun, but exhausting morning, the boys all gathered to play a game Brian got - Heroica.  Think Legos meets Dungeons and Dragons.  They had a blast.

Lucas snuck away to go play in the covered porch area.  He had a blast out there by himself.

The boys looked great in their new sweaters from Grammy, so we gathered them for some shots with their cousin.... 3 boys never seem to all be looking at the camera and smiling... but if you somehow combine the shots....

We managed to get one of the 4 of us as well....

Finally Grandpa was feeling a little better and managed to come downstairs to open his gifts - including a very cool platter we made with all the boys' hands.

I found mini nerf-like guns to go in all the adult guys' stockings and they were a lot of fun.  At first it was just target practice.

Cole had a lot to say about that, and Lucas was not too thrilled...

Then it turned into all-out war.  I could not believe that Brian used Ethan as a human shield!  That is low!

We had a blast and, as always, it ended too soon!  Grammy, Grandpa, and Brian left early the next morning, and the boys and I went home after baths and lunch. We were all tired and worn down, but were thankful for one more full day to recuperate!  And now I cannot believe how close we are to Christmas!  The next few weeks are going to go way too quickly!

The Plague of Sprague Part... Who Knows....

The week started out great...  Lots going on...  Fun reading night at Lucas' school....  Found out Lucas can recognize and match a lot of his letters!  And then....  It was Thursday night and our bud Nadia and her mama came over to make some cool Christmas crafts...  And this joyous picture (where yes, I do realize you cannot see their faces) came right before Ethan ran to the bathroom and was sick the rest of the night with the stomach flu.  Ick...  So Friday was all about getting him better (Brian stayed home as he was also feeling sick - though a chest cold, not the stomach bug).  Then Saturday hit and we were so excited that Grammy and Grandpa were flying in!!!  The boys all went to the zoo while I ran around and did some last minute errands in preparation...  I got home after looooooong lines at Toys r Us and Old Navy exactly 5 minutes before the stomach bug hit me.  And I was down for the night.
Sunday was better, we all went to church together and then out to dinner with Uma and Upa - very fun!  Except that I had forgotten fiber for Lucas on Saturday, which led to tummy problems of his own.
Today Brian stayed home because he is still feeling pretty cruddy.
We are a mess.
And we are down to one more day before Thanksgiving and Thanksmas!  We must recover and be ready to celebrate!
In other news, Ethan had a great story from school today:

"It really stunk in reading class today.  Everybody had their nose plugged, even the teacher.  Only one student didn't.  So... Mystery Solved! "

Hilarious!  And then there was this song:

"She's not my sister...  So I kissed her...."

And I'll leave you with that.

Conversations

The boys and I have a lot of meaningful conversations and it seems I forget them before I'm able to blog, but this one I want etched in our family memories.....

Okay boys, what are you thankful for this year?

Ethan:  I'm thankful for school, and my teachers.

Me:  Anything else?

E:  Well, I'm thankful for you and dad, and uma and upa and grammy and grandpa and cousins...

Me:  What about your brother?

E:  Yep, I'm thankful for the weather.

Me:  No, I said BROTHER.

E:  Oh.

And then he was silent.....

Me:  What about your arm.  Are you thankful it's all better?

E:  Yeah, but I'm not thankful for all the money it cost.

AMEN.

Me:  Lucas, what are you thankful for?

Lucas:  The house.

Me:  That's great!  What else?

Lucas:  The stoplight, the tree, the car, the road, the store, the sign, McDonalds.....

Me:  Are you just saying everything we are passing?

L:  Yep.



Crazy Fowl

 Right now there are angry birds flying around my head.  It started innocently enough....  We build a structure with the big legos......

 And then place the piggie on the top...  Let er' rip!  Knock him off with the yellow and red birds that happened to be angry.

Lots of fun except that now it has morphed into just crazy bird throwing.  And as I attempt to accomplish things around here, I am being pelted from all sides....  and not just by my children....  I guess I can at least be excited about all the giggles - there are many....  And there is some great gross motor skill development here....  But I'm not sure I can take it....
The boys had to find something to entertain themselves, as I was otherwise engaged this week... Last week I apparently got a pill stuck in my throat (I have an abnormal little shelf in there caused by some aortic something or other) and had to have an upper GI endoscopy to check it out.  I was sure it was a spider in there, but the doc insisted that the only thing he found was a football...

I now know that I have to drink two glasses of water with all pills and can no longer take pills at bedtime.  And I also know what the inside of my esophagus looks like.  It's beautiful, I say.  

We are in the throes of preparing for Thanksmas.  So much to do, but we enjoy it all.  Except for this musical turkey thing Uma and Upa loaned the boys.

There are singing turkeys and there are birds flying at my head.  I'm giving up now.  On to bigger and better (and safer) things....  Although now they are balancing the pig on each other's heads and trying to knock it off.  I can't decide if this is better or worse...

Monday Halloween = Craaaaaazy Week

 It all started with the Pumpkin Patch Party at church - indoor trick-or-treating, and lots of games in the gym.    It was hard for me because I had an exhausting day, but the boys had a blast.

 The rest of the week was recovery - and then it was two late nights for me in the form of conferences.  By the time Friday came I was dead exhausted and it was movie night at school.  Cars2, so of course the boys wanted to go and I saw it for what it was....

 Cheap entertainment and a chance for me to half-sleep on the gym floor....  while eating freshly popped popcorn....

 Lucas took great pride in patting my back and snuggling and Ethan loved sitting with his classmate buddies - especially one little girl he is particularly fond of.
Saturday was wheelin' toddler morning at church.  I broke out Lucas' bike and he had a great time riding around the gym and hanging with a couple of his buddies.  I love opportunities like that, when Lucas gets to do something just for him.  It's not easy being the youngest :)  I should know!

 After lunch and haircuts for all, Ethan and I headed out for a reading date.  We like to go out every now and then and get hot cocoa and read books together.  I'm amazed at how fast he's growing up... I love it, but I hate it....

 He is doing so great and learning so fast!  I wish I could just stay in the moment...  Where learning is soo exciting for him and he is just so intrigued by the world of books.  I hope he never loses that.

 Saturday night my parents took the boys and Brian and I had a great time getting started on Christmas shopping.  It was great to have no set schedule, just to go out and search for things to make those we love happy.
We went out to Mongolian for lunch today and Lucas was a riot.  He decided he was our teacher and could not stop yelling.

His voice is loud.  Always.  But today, the restaurant was pretty quiet, so it echoed especially bad.  He was trying to make us tell us what shapes different items in the store were - the table, the floor, the lights....  And then he'd yell that we were wrong and correct us.  Again and again.
I'm thankful that my boys are such great kids.  And that my husband is such an understanding, helpful guy when it all gets to be overwhelming for me.  Next time Halloween starts off a week - we're skipping it!  I can do that, right?