Thanksgiving 2014

We had a such a fun time celebrating Thanksgiving this year. First of all, we had several glorious days together as a family. Both Carl and I had time off of work and the boys had a break from school. It was wonderful! We decorated the tree, watched movies, ate dinner with our families, played, spent time with friends, and watched U of L win against UK in the annual football game. It was fantastic. I was super sad on Monday morning when it was all officially over and we all had to return to work and school. Thankfully, we have another big break from school and work coming up in a few weeks and we will be spending time together in Key West!

Preston's Thanksgiving Feast

Thanksgiving at Grammy and Granddaddy's House

Preston really liked the fire. He would not pose for a picture, because he was too busy watching the fire and getting warm!

Back at out house, Evan was happy to participate in all parts of decorating the Christmas tree, including getting the tree set up, putting the lights on, etc. He is so helpful!

At first, Preston preferred to watch "The Grinch" instead of helping with the Christmas tree.

 

Preston soon discovered the switch to turn the Christmas lights on and off, which he found fascinating. (He has since discovered the joy of playing with his favorite ornaments on the tree. This makes for lots of redecorating fun!)





 

On Friday, Evan and Vera were cuddle buddies, as always. Evan insisted that I take a picture!

When Preston saw me taking a picture of Evan and Vera, he requested that I take his picture too! SO cute! He even yelled, "Cheese!"

We had  more Thanksgiving fun on Friday night, when Bonnie Mom, Grandpa, Aunt Rachel, Uncle Teddy and Caroline joined us for dinner.

We loved a Cards win, especially when playing UK!

French Lick Water Park and The Polar Express

We spent two days in French Lick during the weekend before Thanksgiving and it was WONDERFUL! We met up with our dearest friends, the Congletons, at Big Splash Adventure Indoor Water Park. Everyone loved being together and the boys spent hours on the slides and in the lazy river. We even got to celebrate Lucas's fifth birthday with a pirate party!

On Saturday night, we rode the Polar Express and it was AMAZING! Preston LOVES trains right now and so he was thrilled to get to ride a REAL train! Also, both of the boys love Santa this year, so getting to meet Santa and receive a special bell was truly magical! We all enjoyed the ride, which  had hot chocolate, cookies, singing and dancing!

"All aboard the Polar Express!"

Evan was sad to leave Levi to go on the Polar Express, but he cheered up within minutes of riding to the North Pole!

Preston was fascinated with the train and enjoyed the slow ride through the train station, where he could see lots of other trains.

It may look like Preston is unhappy, but he was actually really happy and announcing that he was riding a train!

"Look! Hot chocolate!"

"Yummy!"

I was trying to get Preston to smile for a picture and he smiled for me, as I made funny faces. Unfortunately, he was not looking at the camera. He was having fun though!

The elves were so much fun! They boys loved them!

Preston had recently hit his head, so he had his paci for comfort. It doesn't make a great picture, but I love that he is letting the elf hold him. He is beginning to show signs of not being so painfully shy and attached to Mommy! I am so happy for him!

Everyone had fun, including me and Carl.

 

 

Preston showed no fear at the water park! Although he enjoyed going down the slides with his brother or his friends, he was perfectly happy to go down alone too and was ALL SMILES!

 

"Whee!"

Evan and Levi - Best Buddies

At the water park, even snack time is fun!

 Having fun sure is tiring!

We have been BUSY! - Fall Fun, Part 3

So, I sat down to work on our blog and realized that we have been super busy and I have not been able to write for a few weeks. That means, I have another really long post with lots of pictures!

Our neighborhood had their annual Halloween party and it was better than ever! In addition to the usual activities, such as pumpkin decorating and a bounce house, there was a petting zoo, pony rides, a hay ride, and trick-or-treating through the "spooky forest." The Amshoffs were able to join us for the party and we all had a great time!

Preston loved riding the horses. He rode three different times and of course, he wanted to do it all by himself. I walked right beside him, but he did NOT want me to hold him on!

Giddy up!

Preston's Pumpkin

Evan's Pumpkin

The hay ride was lots of fun!

Spooky Forest Fun

Carl and I went to the Paul McCartney concert and we had SO MUCH FUN! We went downtown and had dinner at The Hard Rock Café. The weather was great and we got to sit outside and hear a few different bands that were playing Beatles songs. Afterwards, we walked over to The YUM! Center and got ready for the show! We had some really great tickets and the show was AMAZING! Paul played for three hours straight and each song was wonderful! He put on a truly great show and it was clear that he loves performing. It was the best concert I have ever been to and I would love to see him again!

We carved our pumpkins right before Halloween and both boys had lots of fun. Preston really liked using the small tools to "carve" his pumpkin and he spent a lot of time "carving." He was REALLY into it! Evan was also really into carving this year. He did not want much help, so we helped when he needed help and otherwise, we just let him have fun creating his masterpieces! I think they turned out pretty good too!

Evan was eager to clean out the pumpkins, but Preston kept saying, "Eew! Yucky!"

Preston LOVED "carving" the pumpkins though!

"Hmmm. Can I do it myself?"

"Yep!"

My Master Carver

Evan's pumpkins looked great!

Aunt Karol gave us this Yoda set and we were able to use it this fall. What a treat for our Star Wars fans!

Evan and Preston had a GREAT Halloween! I was able to join Preston for his Halloween party at preschool in the morning and I was able to join Evan for his Halloween party at school in the afternoon. Both parties were lots of fun and I had about as much fun as the kids! It was REALLY cold on Halloween night and I was not sure that the boys would want to be out for long, but they were both really into trick-or-treating. After visiting each house, Preston would happily run to the next house while yelling, "More candy!"

Preston loved the candy and cookies at his party!

"Buzz Lightyear" loved his party and was still smiling once we were ready for home!

Evan and Emma

"My party rocked!"

Trick-or-treat!

Preston got to watch Toy Story when he was finished trick-or-treating. He LOVED his costume and wore it as long as he could!

Evan's last soccer game was quite interesting. There was a mix up on the schedule and we ended up with three teams ready to play at 10:00, instead of 2. Since it was the final game and everyone wanted to play, we just made two new teams! The kids did not mind and everyone had a ball. Evan was super excited that he received a trophy after the final game.

Carl and I went to Bowling Green to join our friends for WKU's homecoming game. I had not been back to campus in years, so it was really nice to back and to hang out with some of my dearest friends. We had so much fun tailgating and we really enjoyed the game and hanging out with our friends after the game. Unfortunately, I woke up in the middle of the night and I missed my boys terribly. I tried to go back to sleep, but it was useless. I missed my boys so much! I was SO ready to get home and see them. Of course, they barely missed us, because they stayed with Grammy and Granddaddy and had a great time playing, making crafts and going to Chuck E. Cheese! Preston was excited to see me, but poor Evan wanted to stay! I was just so happy to see those cute little faces!

We had our first snow of the season and our first snow day on November 17th. The boys and I enjoyed the extra day at home and we had fun playing in the snow, coloring, reading, cuddling, etc. While I love a snow day here and there, I do hope that we have many less snow days than last year! Making up snow days for a couple of weeks in the summer is NO FUN!