Gobble Gobble...

I have fallen behind in the Blog world while nesting and working on various other projects... Since this Blog also serves as a family album, I am going to catch up from the last month of events. Sorry for the back up!

We had a simple but sweet Thanksgiving gathering with my parents this year, but that is just the icing on the cake to celebrate everything that we have to be thankful for!  We constantly feel overwhelmed by this stage in our life because of the never ending chaos of little kids, but every night (after they are fast asleep) we talk about each child as if they are perfect in every way... They are gifts from God that bring us more JOY then we could have ever imagined- Thank you Lord for blessing us with them!  Thank you also parents for always being around to help us when we need to get away from it all for a couple of hours!

Now on to the dinner...

 Dad was in charge of the Turkey from start to finish

 Josh helping Grandma with setting the table

 Yumm... a plate for 3- Jacob, littlest guy and myself!  Not bad for being a simple dinner!

 Little J got to lick the whip cream beater from the banana cream pie, I think the turkey was setting in as he looks like he is sleepy.

 Josh made some calls to his cross country cousins.

 The boys helping grandma make coffee & hot chocolate later that evening.

 Kyle always looks so scientific when trying to figure something out

 It was a good day!

 Even Jacob thought so with hot chocolate in his sippy cup!

Bosque time of the year

Last year we had so much fun running though the 'big woods' of the bosque during the sun kissed colors of fall, that we had to do it again and again and again this year.  It is just steps away from a large church parking that is just a 5-10min drive from our house and there are several short easy trails to choose from.  We went a different direction each trip and never made it to the end of any of the trails, but the boys had lots of  fun climbing the fallen tree trunks, picking up sticks, running and collecting yellow leaves. 

I love this picture... Who loves who more?!

 Big brother lending a helping hand.

 Dad and the wee little ones!

 Best attempt for the day... I guess boys will be boys!

 This trip was taken several weeks ago when the leaves were just starting to change

 Jakey loved the freedom he had to run in the dirt!

 The curvy trees just looked too cool... Josh thought we were in a jungle, I guess it sort of looks that way?!

 Big logs to climb

 It is nearly impossible to get them to all look at the camera at the same time, let alone get them to all look happy :)!  I guess this lets us really remember how crazy it is with little kids!

 A visit about a week later... colors are really starting to come out and little J trying harder to keep up with his brothers!

 Best attempt this trip! 

 Yet another trip ~1 week later... Beautiful vibrant yellows everywhere!  Little J still running strong.

 At least they were all looking my way!

 action shot...

 BOYS!  Little J looks a bit confused.

 This one is kinda cute in a boyish way

They all wanted to ride this horse log 

 Climbing & being goofy

crawling on the trees.

 A walk to remember surrounded by color!

If you could not tell, I was trying to get a good coordinated picture of the boys since I have yet to get one in a long while... Oh well, we had lots of fun energy packed adventures to remember even if they all cringed every time I took the camera out.  Until next time!

Wall Friends

Last spring, almost every time we were outside playing, we heard a little squeaky voice shriek "HIIIII!".  We soon realized that it was a little boy that was just about the same age as Josh but there was a communication barrier because this little boy was from another country (it was later confirmed by his Grandmother that was visiting from Europe).  J would always say hi, but neither kid could understand what the other was saying beyond that.  After a summer of being in the states, this kid appears to talk English just as well as any 3-4 year old kid that I know (don't you wish that us adults would catch on to another language that quick?!).  Recently their friendship has grown and they talk and play games almost daily... The only problem now is this big wall that divides them!  J figured out how to stand on the top of his car so that he could barely see over the wall (it is that tall), his friend has a playstructure in the corner of his yard that he is able to see our backyard from.  They laugh, pretend to shoot things, talk about superheros & exchange toys every now and then.  

"FRIEND, ARE YOU THERE?!"

 "Come talk to me!"

 "Hi Friend!"

 Hopefully some day we can meet the parents better and plan a real play date! 

Seuss Family

Costume time, costume time...This year we had fun dressing as Dr. Seuss characters!  It all started with Josh's new skill- reading (or phonics blending, if you want to get technical).  We have been following the lessons from a great book called Teach You Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons by Siegfried Engelmann.  With some ability to blend phonics, I took out the Dr. Seuss books and Josh's favorite book for the week quickly became The Cat in The Hat.  He decided he wanted to be the cat himself for Halloween- we thought K & little J would make great Things, Thing 1 & Thing 2 that is... I was committed to making their costumes.  As an afterthought Mike & I decided to go along with the theme, see for yourself! 

They were reading up on how to play out their roles!

The 'Thing's' wigs were made with a blue feather boa (from Joann's) hot glue guned to a beanie hat ($1 section at Joann's)

J had to tickle Kyle to get him to smile!

We had a costume get together with K's playgroup... J had too much fun with his friend J & little miss O (the only girl in our group) was too cute in her little lady suit!

Mom's Club Spooktacular!  Mike was Sam I Am from Green Eggs and Ham and I was Cindy Lou Who from The Grinch that Stole Christmas.

Games, treats and friends!

Thing 2 (because he is 2 years old) could not decide what to do next!

Sunday Night... A visit to G&G R's house to start their trick or treat adventure!

Family Picture

Can't leave without a pic with the G&G!

On to G&G B's house for trick or treating, I just realized that I am 6 months prego now!

Fun, Fun- the scary jester is Grandpa B!

Thing 2 doesn't seem to mind!

They both dressed up! 

Fun times, great weather and way too much candy... At least I am a prego!