Thanksgiving Week

These boots were certainly NOT made for walking-at least for Maggie. She climbed in on her own but then got stuck. It gave me enough time to run and get the camera though!
Maggie throwing out deer corn-the most we saw come to eat was 8, but they don't stick around long with Maggie around!

As I was trying to cut up a fruit salad, my little helper was eating it almost as fast as I put it in the bowl. It was about half the size I had intended it to be.

Will borrowed my shoe to kick a smoke bomb and ended up kicking my shoe on top of it! They haven't smelled the same since...
I do love sequence pictures. This first one is one I took without them knowing. See how they're both pulling each other's hair? The next one is the one I took immediately after the flash went off on the first one. Busted!


Maggie loved throwing rocks at this creek. At first I think she thought Will was tricking her-trying to get her into trouble.

It was such a pretty day, so we let the kids eat Thanksgiving dinner outside while the adults watched football inside!

Will and Ariel-I mean Molly-playing with their boxes. Of all the toys and things to do, they had the most fun playing house in a huge box. I think they were "making soup" in this smaller one.

Will loved riding the mules and I need one of these dogs-it's a labradoodle and it's the sweetest dog ever!
Maggie gathering eggs-she wasn't real sure about this whole process, but she loved eating those eggs!
The kids holding up their empty egg crates ready to gather some eggs-they weren't quite as excited once they made it into the coop.
Feeding the chickens-then trying to catch them. Not so easy!
Our first Santa sighting of the year at the retirement home we visited with our Young Families class at Church.
Molly and Will saying goodbye the morning we had to leave LR. Will was so bummed to leave his "cousits" but was excited to come home to his dogs!
Will and Allie Grace-how fun is her skirt?
Maggie excited about decorating the tree. Every time she "hung" one on the tree, she would dance around and sing "I DID IT" with this huge grin!

It's been such a busy few weeks around here with Eric out of town for work, then all of us at my sister's for Thanksgiving. We've had a great time and I have WAY too many pictures. Highlights of the last two weeks-time to reflect on my many many blessings, my 6th anniversary with my wonderful husband, a great week in Arkansas with my sister and her family, going Black Friday shopping with my sister and Eric-it makes all the difference having a driver and package carrier!, and getting out all the Christmas decorations and watching both my kids decorate the tree for the first time (even though they're all on the bottom two branches or on the floor (or broken)).
I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving

We have so much to be thankful for this year and hope everyone has a WONDERFUL Thanksgiving Week!

Bye bye baseball...

This proves that she DOES have hair!

Digging into the baseball cupcakes

Will receiving his certificate and trophy from Coach Eric

Hugging his Daddy at the end of the trophy presentations




Sadly for Will, our very first t-ball season is over! We had such a great time and made some fun new friends along the way! Our last game was Saturday morning in the freezing cold wind, then everyone came back to our house for the end of season party. I spent most of the time with the video camera instead of my still, so I have very few pictures.

The other pics are some of Maggie at her first haircut, and then her first ponytail (if that's what you can call it!). Someone told me if I put it in a fountaintop, it will make it grow faster. Since she actually likes it and it seems to fit her personality, it's become her new style.

Other than that, we're just getting anxious for the holidays and are enjoying the pretty weather. We had a young adult's retreat for our church this weekend, and I kept looking at the speaker thinking I knew him from somewhere and I finally figured out he used to lead singing in chapel at HU a lot-Pat Bills. Kind of a blast from the past-

Happy Fall Y'all

Hook 'em horns! This is Will in his "Colt CaMoy" jersey


Maggie was a little tentative at first-then she saw Will take off and warmed right up!

We had our first week of "fall" (you know, the holiday that follows Halloween?) here and enjoyed every minute. We raked leaves and jumped in them, made our fall crafts (fun with feathers and paint), went on nature walks for pretty leaves, picked tomatoes, and decorated the house with all the fun fall stuff (and for you KB and PP, we loaded up on sweet cinnamon pumpkin at B & Bworks). The kids have really enjoyed the weather and we've basically moved outside. It seems like every meal is a picnic these days.

Maggie got her first haircut this week. I know it seems like there really wasn't enough to cut, but I'd heard the "m" word (mullet) mentioned around (and about) her a few times recently, so it was time. Will's first haircut was so ceremonial, on his very first birthday at the place where you sit in fun cars and watch cartoons and he had an envelope full of hair to put in his silver keepsakes. Maggie's was a bit different, but I must say far more successful. We went to Miss Lisa, the only person to ever cut Will's hair without a fight, and she did great. All 2 centimeters that was cut off...but hey, no more mullet talk!

The Justice League

Ready for action. They started begging to go around 4, but I managed to hold them off until about 5. It was a struggle that first hour to find a house we could visit, but they had fun anyway.

The batkids "flying" from one house to the next

The Justice League and their siblings-Caleb and Ethan, Tyler and Maddie, Will and Maggie. Unfortunately we got no pictures with the rest of the league-Allie, Caroline and Carter
Tyler, Will, and Ethan

Will asked me what I was going to be for Halloween, and when I didn't have an answer, he suggested dressing up as Grammy and Chief. There are lots of private jokes in our outfits that some people may not get, but trust me when I say our impressions were a hit! My brother and his wife did the same thing, so my sweet Maggie was confused all night when she was looking for me or Eric and all there was were GrammyChiefs everywhere.
I'm sorry, Scott, but I had to put this picture on here...All night he kept tricking her into coming to him (remember she's a MAJOR mama's girl, but she will almost always go to her chief)-right before this picture, she gave him a sweet hug and kiss so I got my camera out to capture the moment and caught THIS. There are so many possible labels for that face! This sweet lady decorates her whole front porch every year, so I was determined to get their picture here-unfortunately they all kept getting caught up in that sticky spider web!
Maggie and HER baby, Maddie

Poor Maggie-she was a trooper with this mask, but it was sliding down all night!

At the Halloween light fest-the kids had a great time, but unfortunately I got very few good pictures.
Carving Jack-o-lanterns. This was fun for about, oh, five seconds, but he really liked them as a finished product.
We were cleaning things out of the garage and Will found these seagrass mats that we use at the beach. Now they're his "outside nap mats" for when he needs a "little rest" while he's playing outside. It started out kind of funny, but now he's started moving books outside to "read in bed" and having my dad get down there to tell him stories...

Our neighbor brought us a cord of wood the other day and the kids were intrigued by this for some reason. I felt kind of bad sitting and watching him carry the wood from his truck to our back yard, but that's what we did. It felt like watching paint dry to me, but the kids loved it. They even wanted a snack while they watched. Oh, to be three (or one).

Okay, nothing to do with Halloween, but one day Will convinced me that he and Maggie should take their nap together in his room. I must have lost my mind when I agreed to this. I told them some stories, scratched their backs, and tucked them in and they actually seemed almost asleep. I tiptoed quietly out, and within 10 seconds heard giggling, banging on the wall, more giggling, then screaming, then singing, and so on. I grabbed my camera and ran to his room. As I opened the door, all the noise stopped and I aimed my camera in the direction of his bed (it was dark so I couldn't see). I almost died laughing when I saw the picture. Needless to say, they went their separate ways.

So this was a week full of superheroes around here. The kids had several chances to get dressed up and practice their trick or treating skills before the big day, and it paid off! We have more candy around here than we know what to do with! They had such a fun week, complete with parties, Halloween light shows, more parties, baking with mom and of course, trick or treating. We also decided to throw in a birthday party, t-ball game, and a concert (Laurie Berkner band) for good measure.