Monday, December 28, 2009

Playing in the snow




I know I owe a lot of posts between the last one and this... I promise I'm working on them this week! But until then, here are some pics from our first trip out in the snow this winter.

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Grandma's 80th Birthday

Last Sunday (November 22nd) we went to Grandma K's 80th birthday party/open house. Everyone did a great job with all the food and decorations. We showed up towards the end and there were still a lot of people there to celebrate with her. Someone did get a picture of all of us with Grandma. The boys were rather shy when we first got there (and did not want to pose for a picture) but quickly warmed up once we let them down to run around. And run (and run and run) they did! They ran all over inside - cousin Chloe helped us keep them corralled and out of the kitchen at least. Thanks Chloe! They even made a few breaks out the door, but were quickly brought back in. We took them for walks around the building when they got a little too bored with inside.

I think their favorite part about it was the chocolate cake. Nick and Alex talked about chocolate cake for days after that. Thankfully, we took home a few chocolate cup cakes for them to have later. Logan didn't really care for the chocolate - he was fine without cake. It's no wonder he's smaller than his brothers!

Happy Birthday Grandma (even if this is a little belated!)! 80 years, 9 kids, 19 grandkids, 23 great-grandkids and still a smile to show for it!

Happy Thanksgiving - Family Style

We had a great Thanksgiving this year! We actually celebrated with two different meals - on different days thankfully! We started by going to the Kreher Thanksgiving last Saturday. Grandma hosted this year at her new apartment complex's recreation room. It was just the right size for all of our family (with quite a good turn out) and the boys still had room to run around the room. Alex found Grandma's walker and had a blast pushing it around. The boys even did great sitting at a big table without booster seats or anything! After dinner was over, we packed up the boys and took them to the Christmas parade. They were very calm for the whole thing. Logan would wave if we told him to. Otherwise, they just sat and took everything in - but at least they seemed to enjoy it!
On Thanksgiving day we went to Grandpa Brandy's house and the whole family was there - including a surprise appearance from Angela, Sydney and Halas! They drove up from Alabama on Tuesday night after work to surprise us all. The boys were so excited to play with their cousins. Halas has grown so much since we saw him last! He and Alex hit it off quite well. They both were sharing and everything!
A great time was had by all. I am very thankful for all of my family! And speaking of family... stay tuned for more posts coming shortly about all our other adventures this past week. Too much to fit into one post!!

Sunday, November 29, 2009

Stickers

Tonight the boys found some VHS tape labels and discovered some creative uses for them...
Nick liked to direct where they should go. Logan enjoyed putting them on Adam and taking them off. Alex (in this case) enjoyed attacking Logan with the gator.


This one is my favorite :-)
Everyone was having a blast. The boys all tried the stickers on too, but it was way more fun to put them on Dad!

We had a very busy week with family visits, Grandma K's 80th birthday party, Thanksgiving and Barry & Judy's 50h wedding anniversary celebration. More blog posts to come!

Monday, November 16, 2009

We love to read!

Books are some of our favorite things. The boys read their books all day long and love to have people read to them. They have also been known to carry around a favorite book for an hour or so, even though they're playing with a different toy - you never know when a brother might steal your book! There are typically two types of reading styles: 1. read the book front to back, flip over and start again, and again, and again; or 2. read the book, throw it aside, pick up a new book and repeat until all the books from the box are out on the floor!

Here is a slide show of some of our recent (past couple of months) reading moments (caught on camera). Enjoy!

Of course, some books can't handle the "love and care" the boys give them. We have had to recycle a number of books that were no longer in one piece. There are a number of books that don't have covers any longer either. Oh well. It just gives us another excuse to have to go to the bookstore and buy more! Buying kids books is fun.

Sunday, November 15, 2009

Saturday, November 14, 2009

Working in the Yard

Today is such a beautiful day outside - we went outside to play. The boys were even excited to help dad clean up the leaf pile!
Alex and Logan wanted to help sweep with the brooms too!
Let's hope they keep this interest/enthusiasm as they get older!

Sunday, November 1, 2009

Happy Halloween

Wow, what a weekend! The boys had a great weekend with all the trick-or-treating activities. On Friday night, some friends came over and we tried to get pictures with them. Their little girl was dressing up as (a very adorable!) Dorothy this year and since the boys were the Scarecrow, Tin Man and Lion from the Wizard of Oz, we thought a picture would be perfect. The boys on the other hand had no interest in sitting still for a picture. Here are a couple of the best ones I have (with everyone in the frame at least). And of course, no one wanted anything to do with the hats that go with the costumes.

On Saturday, all the grandmas and grandpas and aunt and uncles (in Illinois) came over to help us go Trick-or-Treating. We dressed up last year, but didn't go out. This was a new experience for them/us. The good news is we had the right adult to kid ratio - 2 to 1!
They loved going out for a walk and would go up to the door. But once someone came to the door, they wanted down. They didn't really care about the candy but were pretty good at putting it in their bags. Well, eventually they would put it in the bag. Logan and Nick liked to hold on to it for a few houses and then put it in the bag. They did get better at taking the candy as people handed it to them. Alex liked to ask for more (or try and take more - they were just giving it away after all) after he put his in the bag. Logan tried that a couple of times too.
One of the houses we stopped at had built a small "haunted house" in their garage. It was a pretty awesome idea! The boys went in and saw all the ghosts and skulls and the "funny face" guy. The funny face guy was a big hit. It was a high school age boy dressed in one of the Scary Movie masks - with his tongue hanging out to the side.
31mcbfdOpBL._SL500_AA280_.jpg The boys loved it! They kept wanting to go back and see the funny face again. Nick would even try and imitate it by sticking his tongue out!

We finally made it around the block (took about an hour) and they were ready to be home. They were out of their costumes in less than 5 minutes! I think everyone had a blast, I know Adam and I did. Back at the house, the boys "helped" hand out treats. They came to the door with us while we gave out treats, then they took candy out of the bowl too. Logan did that the most. Eventually, he grabbed 2 candy bars (one for each hand) and went to sit with Grandpa and watch the movie we turned on for them (It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown). When it was time for jammies, he still had the two pieces of chocolate (still in the wrappers) in his hands - very, very melted! Since they don't usually eat candy, they don't really know that the "stuff" they got is edible. They do love chocolate though as is evident any time we give them a couple of M&Ms - "more choclate, more choclate".
Tonight we took them to Boo at the Zoo in Decatur. They walked around to the different stations and got more stuff and saw a couple of animals. The trail was lined with pumpkins (tons and tons of pumpkins) and ghosts and other decorations. The boys did pretty good at going around and looking at everything, making ghost sounds, hooting like the owl we saw eating his dinner and of course howling at the big moon. We ended the trip with a ride on the Boo Express (a train ride) and even talked to the talking pumpkin on our way out. The boys seemed to enjoy it. They were so exhausted from a full weekend of fun and play (including some playing in the big pile of leaves Grandpa gathered) - Nick and Logan fell asleep in the van on the way home!
Thanks to all of our family that helped out this weekend - you're the best! We all had fun and look forward to next year!

Thursday, October 15, 2009

Happy Birthday

Yesterday the boys turned 2! I can't believe how fast the time is flying by. I'm working on a full post with details on how much the boys have grown and what they're doing now. For now, I'll leave you with a short video of Alex singing happy birthday and some pictures of the little cakes I made them. Nothing fancy, but individual cakes. Alex devoured his (and went straight to the bath tub when he was done). Nick and Logan both ate the M&Ms on the top of the cake and some icing, but not much cake - easier clean up at least!

Tomorrow we're taking the boys to play at the Children's Discovery Museum here in town. It should be a lot of fun for all of us (and make for great naps tomorrow afternoon)! Then on Saturday (assuming it's not raining) we're taking the boys along with grandparents and aunts/uncles to a local pumpkin patch for some fall fun. 2 much fun!





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Sunday, October 4, 2009

Saturday, October 3, 2009

Who's in which bed?!

It is pretty common to go into the boys' room after we've put them to bed and find them in different beds than where they started. Tonight was a first...
Logan and Alex sharing Logan's bed:

And because it's so cute the way kids sleep (and find comfortable) - Nick in Alex's bed:

Notice that even though Alex and Logan are in the same bed, they both have their own pillows. The question is... do I go and separate the two of them?

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Bouncy House and Rain

A couple of weekends ago, we took the boys down to Decatur for the DMH Family Picnic. My mom works at DMH and each year they throw a picnic for their employees and their families. There is free food (hot dogs, hamburgers, walleye sandwiches, corn dogs, French fries, lemon shake-ups, funnel cakes, etc.) and games for the kids. The boys tried a little bit of everything for lunch. Alex loved the corn dogs. Nick liked the French fries and Logan preferred to just hold his food in his hand, although he did eat a little walleye at one point (he was in need of a nap!).

They are still a little young for some of the carnival games, but they did get to ride on the ponies and bounce in a bouncy house. It took a little coaxing at first to get them in the house, but once they went in and realized what it was… they didn't want to get out! Thankfully, cousin Chloe was there to go in and bring them out. Thanks Chloe!!! We forgot to take a camera, but we did have our camera phones!

All 3 in the bouncy house:

Logan mid-air, Alex, Chloe:


Logan going down the slide (into Nick):


Later that weekend, I decided to show he boys how to play in the rain. They had just finished eating dinner – or more like wearing most of it. So we stripped them and took them out in the rain to play. Grandpa wasn't interested in getting wet but Grandma and Uncle Brandon were willing to help. Thanks dad for getting some great pics! We all had fun and of course, they did not want to come back inside!
Splashing in the water:

Logan and Nick in the Rain:

Logan:

Next time, we'll find a big mud puddle too! I can't wait!!!