And, the Award Goes to . . .

To me.  I really am the worst blogger right now.  Writing and taking pictures hasn’t really been a priority lately.  In fact, I didn’t take one, single picture on Thanksgiving.  Thanksgiving was nice.  I just don’t have anything to show for it.  Just picture it:  Food, people, people eating food.  You get the picture.

In other news, we finished our first 12 weeks of CC today!  We’re all glad to be done.  Maybe it is due to the changes we experienced this fall, but we are all burnt out.  We are ready for this break.  In fact, we get 5 Mondays off!  Evan can sleep in.  Well, in our house it just means wake up a smidge later than normal (15-45 minutes), but I’m sure he’ll take it. 

Daniel had his dentist appointment today.  It is only his 2^nd time, but Evan said he did great.  Our dentist went to Ohio State for dental school, so of course, Evan made sure that Daniel wore his OSU jersey.  Evan and Nicholas (and probably one day Daniel) have a great love of going to the dentist.  The main reason is Ohio State.  Whatever makes the dentist a pleasant experience is fine with me.

We started decorating for Christmas.  Our tree is up.  Our house is decorated on the outside.  We just have a few items to hang on the inside and we’re done.  The boys both loved seeing all of the ornaments they have collected in their short years.  By the time they are ready to leave the house, they should have a nice collection to take with them.

We have several fun Christmas activities coming up.  Daniel has two performances in the next two weeks at various places.  Nicholas and my mom are ringing the bell with the Salvation Army this week.  And, we have a brunch with Santa in our future.  So, if all goes well and I pull out my camera, I may have something to blog about.  We’ll see.

3 1/2!

I don't know why, but the fact that Daniel is 3 1/2 makes him seem so big.  He is definitely not a baby anymore even though he is our baby.  He is funny, happy, and also a little sassy too.  He continues to do well at preschool and has even opened up more about what they do there each day.  It has been making me crazy that up until a week or so ago, he would only tell me only about snack unless I questioned him to death (I love details!).  Now he has volunteered some more information.

Both boys have loved that we've had another week of nice temperatures.  Our leaf raking is never ending, but luckily we have two leaf-rakers-in-training right now.  Of course, leaves are great for jumping into too!

The boys also painted some treasure boxes.  My sister took the boys to pick them out before we moved.  Unfortunately, it took awhile for us to get them painted.  But, they did have fun when we finally got around to it.

And of course, a silly pose!

Alert the media!  We actually found a restaurant that Daniel enjoyed!  Last week we went out to the local hot dog place.  Daniel could not get enough of the french fries and the cheese dipping sauce.  He also enjoyed the macaroni and cheese (off of his hot dog) and a chocolate milk with whipped cream and sprinkles.  Nicholas had a pizza dog and a creamsicle drink.  We went with my sister this time, but I think we may take a return trip to bring Evan in the future.

We are now down to 2 Mondays left of CC for 2015.  Daniel has a Thanksgiving Feast at preschool next week.  It falls on a Monday, so Evan is going to take him.  I'm so glad that Evan gets to be part of one of Daniel's activities since he usually goes to preschool on Tuesdays and Thursdays when Evan is at work.

We continue to make little changes to our house.  We had a dead tree removed in the front.  Evan took down the old, broken swingset in the backyard.  We changed out the light and mirror in the main bathroom.  My sister started painting our kitchen and I have a handyman putting in the new sink tomorrow.  I love crossing off items on our to-do list.  We still have some big projects we want to tackle, but it is nice a lot of the little ones right now are being finished.

It is hard to believe that November is over halfway over!  It doesn't feel like the holidays are right around the corner, but ready or not, here they come!

Trick or Treat 2015

Halloween was a success this year.  The weather was pretty nice.  It was a little cool, but nothing like the cold rain we had in the previous two years.  This was the first year that Daniel really understood the concept.  He learned that we only went to houses with their light on.  He said, “Trick or treat” and “thank you”.  However, after about 30-35 minutes, he was done and ready to go home.  He had the perfect amount of candy, so I gladly took him home.  Evan and Nicholas continued on for a little bit, but actually had just as much fun passing out candy as they did receiving it.

A Ninja

The Garbage Man

I’m doing my best to whittle the candy down.  I’ve taken some to CC.  I’ve thrown away some of the candy no one cares about.  And, I even sent Evan with some to leave at one of the tables at work.  Somehow we still have enough.

Halloween was not only about trick or treating this year.  We also celebrated our niece’s and nephew’s birthdays.  I didn’t have my camera on me to take pictures, but the boys had fun.  They got to paint pumpkins, bob for apples, and of course, eat a lot of good food.  We weren’t able to stay the entire time because Nicholas wanted to trick-or-treat at our new house, but the boys were happy we were able to come for a little bit.

Nicholas has been busy helping rake leaves.  Evan taught him how to do it this past weekend (we never had to rake leaves in our old house).  He did a great job and spent hours at it.  He must have enjoyed doing it too because the next day he volunteered to help rake Evan’s parents’ yard too.  One character trait we hope to develop is a hard worker.  If our kids want to do hard work, we’re not going to stop it.

It is hard to believe that it is November with the weather in the 70s, but I’m glad the boys are getting plenty of time to enjoy our new back yard.  This week is probably more low-key than it has been in a while.  Daniel only has one day of preschool because of voting, so we don’t have to run around as much.  It is a wonder we all survived in a 2-bedroom condo for so long.  Staying home doesn't mean we're all stuck in one room anymore.  I am thankful for that blessing!