Our latest ornament....

Only in a house full of boys will you find Buzz Lightyear underwear in your Christmas tree. Because of course - the natural thing for anyone to do when taking their clothes off to get ready for a bath is to just throw their underwear in the family tree.

Giving Thanks....

I love Thanksgiving because it's just fun to eat great food, spend time with family and get into the holiday spirit! :)  We are truly thankful for all we have and for having the most amazing little boys to spend our days with. It's always hard to believe that another year has passed, and that this year's Thanksgiving has already come and gone!

Grady participated in a Thanksgiving "play" (and I use the term "play" loosely!) with his preschool class this year, and it was so much fun watching him perform as a pilgrim! He had one line in the play (the last one), and we practiced it a lot. Not because he forgot the words, but because he needed to speak loud (something that is definitely hard for a shy little person...and I say that from experience!). We were really proud of him though because he did a great job with it! Of course he was on the complete opposite side of where we were sitting, so it's hard to see him in this picture.

We went up to Boone for an early Thanksgiving (the weekend before), which is really nice because it allows us to see both sides of our family and have a break from traveling in between. As always, we had a great time!

Hanging out with Annie!

We went to Pinehurst the weekend after Thanksgiving and got to spend time with out of town aunts, uncles and cousins, which is always really nice! The table keeps getting bigger and bigger as spouses and little ones are added, but we still manage to all fit!

And we are happy to share that we will have a new niece/nephew come May! Carleen and Kevin are expecting their first little one, and we are so excited!

Our Little Man is 2!

Landon turned 2 on Nov. 11, which is really hard to believe! The quote, "The days are long, but the years are short" is so true! Just the other day Landon told me, "Mommy, you have to put my high chair in the attic now." I responded, "Aww...what happened to my baby?" Landon then said, "You don't have a baby anymore." **Tears**  Yes, he is definitely a big boy now!

Landon is a funny little guy....he can be pretty sneaky and often times will look at us with this smirk on his face when he's about to do something he knows he shouldn't do. This includes climbing up on top of the couch (on the back) and standing up, attempting to "ride" Charlie, pulling toilet paper all over the house (while it's still on the roll in the bathroom), drinking bath water (ick!), running out the front door in an attempt to go to the mailbox, telling me "I'm going to hit Grady now"...just to name a few. Of course things like this kind of go with the territory when you have a 2-year-old! :)  Our "thinking chair" has been used quite a bit, although he doesn't like to "think" for very long. Usually he'll sit there for 10 seconds (okay, maybe 5) before he's running all over the house laughing again. And when we talk to him about why he went to the "thinking chair," we usually end it with, "Are you going to do that again?" And he usually replies, "Yes, I'm going to do it again" and smiles. Argh. :)

At the same time, he is definitely a sensitive little guy too and kind of shy with people he hasn't seen in a while or doesn't know. He's always been a mama's boy and isn't too thrilled when I leave (even if it's only to run upstairs to get something!). He also has several comfort items and likes them when he's the least bit upset....his blanket (which he refers to as his "bup"), his pacifier (his "tigger"), and several small stuffed animals. His favorites include his little doggie, garfield (which was mine when I was little) and a panda. Lately he really loves spending time with Brandon and likes for him to tell him stories at bedtime, do puzzles with him, and play outside (and only wants to hold Brandon's hand when walking outside!). His favorite activity is collecting rocks - he loves carrying them around, and we often times fnd them all over the house.

At bedtime he always asks us to talk about something in particular....."Talk about the beach...," "Talk about Harris Teeter...."  When we do this, we have to go through everything that happened when we were, say, at the beach, and for the store he likes us to talk about all the food we see when we're there. It's quite funny, and he loves to add little things into the story. I have to say that Brandon is much better at talking about these things at bedtime than I am.... after going through all the food in the entire produce department, I've about had enough and have almost put myself to sleep in the rocking chair! His new obsession is talking about the rotten watermelon that I cut up yesterday and subsequently threw outside for the deer. :) One day we will miss this routine! And speaking of bedtime, Landon has had a crib tent on his bed for a few months now... he decided a while back to take a nose dive out of his bed, so now he gets zipped in!

And I can't accurately describe Landon without mentioning how funny he is! He has an amazing sense of humor for just being 2 years old! He makes jokes all the time and loves making funny faces just to get a reaction. He talks a lot (in complete, full sentences), so it's always fun to hear what's going to come out of his mouth! He and Grady are quite the cute pair - their conversations are hilarious, and they just die laughing at each other (over the silliest things).  Of course they fight too (usually because Landon knocks something over that Grady just built), but they get over it pretty quickly.

For Landon's birthday, we had some of his friends from our playgroup over, which was a lot of fun! Kelly and Hannah were also visiting from Florida, so they were here to celebrate with us.

Then over the weekend we had a big family party. Granny, Gramps, Uncle Scott and Charlotte came for the day from Boone, and Mimi, Popeye and Ma came from Pinehurst. Aunt Carleen, Uncle Kevin, Aunt Kelly and Hannah were also there to celebrate. There is no doubt that Landon felt the love that day! :)

Hannah and Grady decided to assist Landon with his cake!

Landon told us repeatedly that all he wanted for his birthday was a juice box (because that's what he's had at the few birthday parties he's been to). He also wanted everyone else to have one too, so we made it happen! Here he is enjoying his...

Happy birthday sweet Landon! :)

Halloween Cuties!

Grady decided about 3 months ago that he wanted to be Buzz Lightyear for Halloween, and Landon decided he wanted to be a panda after seeing them at the National Zoo in August. I was happy that they both got costumes they really wanted! :)  While Halloween night started out a little rainy, luckily things dried up by the time we headed out for trick-or-treating. Grady was surprisingly confident with ringing the doorbell and saying "trick-or-treat," and Landon just kind of stood there and said, "I'm a panda."  I have to say (and of course I'm biased) that they were incredibly cute! :) Carleen and Kevin also came over to go trick-or-treating with us!

Because of Landon's milk allergy, he couldn't eat 99% of the candy he got.  That was not a problem though because lollipops are his favorite thing, so he was just as happy! He dosn't get too upset when he can't have something (b/c it has milk in it)....he usually just tells me, "I can have this when I'm 4" because that is what Grady tells him all the time (which is hopefully true!).

Holidays take on a whole new meaning once you have kids! It's neat because you get to see everything all over again through a little innocent person's eyes, and that makes it really exciting!

Pre-Halloween Fun!

A couple of weeks ago we decided to take the boys to a pumpkin farm outside of Raleigh - Vollmer Farm. The last few years we have gone to a different farm in Durham, but this one seemed to offer lots of activities that the other one didn't, so we decided to try it! This was really an all day affair, and of course our plan for Landon to nap in the stroller didn't work out very well (which is usually the case when we try to plan anything like that!). Despite him melting down at the end of the day, we still had a great time!

The corn is always a big hit!

The cow train was a lot of fun....it went suprisingly fast! Brandon rode with Landon, and I rode with Grady, so it was a little challenging to get a good picture.

This was a huge bouncy thing (not sure what else to call it), which the boys of course loved. Brandon was the lucky one who got to go up to the top with them. :)



Here are a few other pictures from the last couple of weeks (pre-Halloween)... In this picture the boys are busy looking through a toy catalog picking out what they want from Santa. Of course Landon wants exactly what Grady wants. :)  

One of Grady's new jobs is to feed Charlie... He always does this after we eat, so he usually ends up mixing up some leftovers from his plate with Charlie's dog food. He takes his bowl and goes in the garage and gets the dog food, and this particular night he came out with this (picture below). This might explain why Charlie has put on a few pounds in recent weeks!!  Of course Landon wants to help, so Grady taught him how to do it too. They go in the garage together, and Grady scoops the food and lets Landon pour it into Charlie's bowl....it is so cute!  

 

As Landon has approached 2, he has definitely been more adamant about what he wants and doesn't want. This particular night, he decided that he wanted nothing to do with sitting in his high chair or booster seat at the table. He pretty much demanded that we drag the little table from the playroom into the kitchen, and he absolutely refused to wear a bib. One thing we have learned with kids is there are some things that are non-negotiable (safety issues, etc.), but parents sometimes have to give in on smaller things and let kids feel like they have some control in a situation. This was one of those times, and honestly it really wasn't that big of a deal. In fact, it was rather cute seeing Landon so proud of himself for getting his way. :)  So, this is the picture when he just started his meal (well, his first course of corn).

This was about 5 minutes later....

Finally, (and I do realize I'm jumping all around here) Brandon ran another 5K for the March of Dimes, so we all went to cheer him on!



You might notice there is a new look to our blog! With the cold weather starting to creep in, I wanted to have something a bit more uplfting. Not that I don't love fall weather, but I have reached a point where I pretty much detest winter (well, January and February really) because I feel like we spend the entire season sick, which means we spend a lot of time in the house trying to recuperate! Hopefully this winter won't be too bad though!

We took a trip to FL the first week in October with my whole family, which was really nice. Kelly and Louis have a beautiful new house which can accomodate all of us. And a pool, so of course the boys were in heaven. :)  Here are some pictures from our trip...

We brought Grady's bike with us, so he had a great time riding it! Kelly and Louis have a paved driveway, so he got to get a lot of practice in (a treat for him since we just have gravel). :)



As always, everyone had fun at the beach!



Louis was a good sport and let the kids (well, and me!) bury him in the sand! 



We all went bowling one day, and Grady absolutely loved it! He got so excited every time (even when he didn't knock over one pin!).

And it isn't called vacation without some popsicles!

Despite the fact that we could not find one single pumpkin patch in Vero Beach (which I found shocking!), we still got pumpkins for the kids and had fun decorating them. Kelly got special decorating kits for Grady and Landon - Mr. Potato Head pieces! For those of you who don't know, Grady and Landon are kind of obsessed with Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head.  Grady decided to start off painting his pumpkin a vibrant.... black. :) 

Hannah is giving her pumpkin a hug! Poor Hannah had a fever the last day we were there courtesy of our boys...once again we managed to bring some nice germs down from NC.

The finished products!