Happy Happy Merry Merry

We are fully in Christmas mode around here and I LOVE it!  This is by far my favorite time of year and we try to make it last as long as possible.  We decorated a week before Thanksgiving because we would be gone for that holiday (another one that I love!) and it's so nice to walk in to see lights and Santas everywhere.

The boys' elf came today and brought little soft elves for them to love until Christmas.  So far they have enjoyed having them to carry around and snuggle-and Nate, who loves all stuffed animals, is having a big time using his elf as a weapon. 

We were so lucky to have our friend Jody Mack take some pictures of us over Thanksgiving weekend and they are so good!  Here are a few of my favorites.

Sick

Ben was Patient X-he threw up right outside of the Carolina basketball game Friday night.

Next came Gil on Sunday.

Now it's my turn.  The couch is my friend. 

Help!

Why oh why can't I take a decent picture? 

I have such good intentions-and I have a wonderful camera-but alas, I lack basic knowledge.  We went out to the Horseshoe with Leslie not long ago to get some family pictures.  I have been wanting to do a family session with a professional photographer but just can't bite the bullet.  Last summer Leslie went with us and we got some great shots.  This year I decided we needed that soft evening light.  Bah Humbug.  I wasn't thinking that the beautiful light requires a slower shutter, so all of our pictures are blurry.  I have also been admiring sun flare on professional photographer pictures lately but I have no idea how to actually achieve that with the real sun! 

Basically I need to take a class on how to get out of auto on my camera.  And maybe get a tripod.

I spent so much time coordinating our outfits so we weren't too matchy matchy-but you can barely tell.  We are all in green and brown (inspired by Ben's shorts) but again, you can barely tell.

And then let's talk about getting more than one person to look at the camera and not make a monkey face.  Factor in that two of the monkeys are 3 and 5 and it's all over.  How do those professionals do it?  They don't get all this monkey face business??

This is probably the best shot of the session.   Should have given Nate a green lollipop at least.

Wow, are there any people in that mess of a picture?



Oh look, it's ants (grainy ants).

Enter the monkey faces.....

 Mom and Dad are looking, but what about the monkeys?

There are about 200 more, but not a one that begs for a frame. 

Happy Halloween!

Here is an oldie but a goodie.  Ben was 2 years and a few months.







Oh how I miss adorable costumes.  Now it's all Super Mario Brothers and Transformers around here-blech.  Ben does have a pretty cool pirate for tonight.  I'll be back tomorrow.  We'll see if Nate finally dons a costume-all signs point to NO!

Carnies!

Ok, so we missed the majority of the carnies! because we went early on a Saturday morning, but..

we went to the fair!!

  We hadn't really planned on it, Gil and I like to pretend our kids are too little to enjoy things that will just cost us a lot of money, but we went and it was fun.  Going on Saturday morning was great.  All of the rides were 2 for 1 so we really saved a good bit.  Aunt Leslie also had some discount tickets so that made it even better.  And it wasn't crowded-the best part of all.  Ben loved the rides, of course, and we were surprised at how many Nate would ride.

We also saw some cows, bunnies, chickens, and ducks.  Next year I hope there is a night football game so we can stay longer!

This little car ride was so funny.  The cars whipped around the corners so fast, the boys cracked up every time!



The obligatory picture of fair food. We had an elephant ear and it was good!

Gil was here too-he was happy to be the official photographer of the day (since it kept him from having to ride the rides). He we are with Aunt Leslie.

The daredevils went on this little roller coaster-we even sat in the back-yep, living on the edge.

Look at that sweet little face on the lollipop swings.  The kid loves to "swing high" on our swingset, but I did not think he would like this, but he laughed the whole time.  Ben and Leslie were behind us on this one.



Big liked the bumper cars, or he said he did-it looked to me that he spent a great deal of time stuck in a corner! 

We all know that he is just biding his time until he is tall enough for the SCARY rides. When he is, he will have a willing partner in his mom. I just have to get out of my mind that the rides came down the highway on a flatbed a day or two ago-that is truly the scariest part of the fair (besides the people that come at night).

Big Love

I have been in a state of BigHugeLove with these two little boys lately.  I have said it over and over throughout the past 5 years, but I just love the ages they are right now. 

Ben is so curious about the world and learning so much everyday. He is becoming such a "person" and it is amazing to see.  He loves school and is happy to go each day.  I'm not crazy about how I feel that real school is sort of pulling him a little away from us here at home, but that is a discussion for another time.

And Nate is all love and sunshine and light.  He loves to be around us, give and get kisses, and wants us to tickle him all the time.  He is my companion when Ben is at school and we have the best time together.

But what they both really love is playing together.  Nate gets a little lonely when Ben is at school and is pretty glad when he gets up from his nap and Ben is back home.

I've managed to catch them with the camera a few times lately together and it warms my heart.

Both super tired, playing Angry Birds and waiting for Dad to get home. 

This doesn't mean I don't want to thump the sometimes, but I sure do love the little stinkers.

And speaking of thumping, or wanting to do so-we are searching for one of Nate's crocs-the pot is now up to $7 for whoever finds it-and all are eligible.  If you have a few minutes to spare, come on over-we might even go as high as $10!

A rainy day

The boys are out of school today and we woke up to GLOOM.  The perfect excuse to stay in pj's and be lazy.  We did lots of little things, which may have included eating cake for breakfast and playing a game of real life Angry Birds with castle blocks and bean bags in Ben's room.

We all decided to build a fort, something we haven't done in a while.  As the boys get older, their fort requirements get more complex.  Today's fort had to form a complete circle they could crawl through-and have several skylights and trapdoors.  I guess we succeeded because they played in it for a while.

They have really played so nicely together all day, I keep catching them hunkered down together playing games they make up.  Their voices together (in these sweet moments) is one of the nicest things I have ever heard.  I love how Nate is always questioning Ben and Ben so patiently explains (most of the time).  It is so nice right now because Ben is the obvious leader and Nate is just fine with that.  I know that will not always be the case, so I am enjoying this stage of their relationship while it lasts.

We have enjoyed decorating for Halloween, thanks to the Martha Stewart section at Michael's.  Nate wanted to take pictures of some of our spooky stuff.

And some little bats landed on some of our pictures.  Yikes.

Books!

We are so lucky that our two little monsters love books.  Frankly, they weren't really given any choice in the matter, but so far....so good. 

Nate is currently in the stage where he wants to read the same books over and over.  He doesn't want library books, unless they are Maisy books (see the picture Gil painted above his bed?  That's Maisy)  and he wants to pick out his own books.  His traditional bookshelves were not meeting his needs (seeing all of the covers to choose) so his handy dad put up some shelves so he can see the book covers. 

The happy accident part of the new shelves is how much color it has added to his room!  Books are good decorating options.

**Somehow I forgot to mention that these shelves are made out of rain gutters-yep, cheap rain gutters found at any hardware store!

(And please pretend like my little corner of the blogoverse has not been a ghost town for MONTHS!)

Testing

My long blogging break is the fault of two things. 

 #1-Extreme laziness.  I have just been too lazy to sit down and write anything.  We have had a great summer, filled with fun and water-and sitting down to write has just not been a priority.

#2-My complete frustration with being able to add pictures to posts.  I still haven't figured out the photo limit problem I am having and have tried to work around it, just to be stopped along the way. 

So, I am trying this out-we'll see....

(Yeah!!!  Now to make a new header since I skipped a whole season!)

Silence

Hello out there.  Sorry about the silence around here-I continue to have problems with Google/Blogger/Picasa and can't get any pictures on here-and what is a post without pictures?  Boring.  I just wrote a post about Ben turning 5 using Windows Live Writer, and that didn't work either. 

So, for the 2.5 people out there that read-sorry about the blackout!

Jump!

We had a great day today at Kristen's house at the lake.  Ben went to sports camp in the morning and Nate and I got to hang out with Kristen's Mama Brunch friends.  There were a few littles to play with and some yummy snacks. 

Then we went to get Allie and Ben, gobbled some lunch, and headed back to the dock for some more swimmy time.  The two big fish kept wanting to jump off the dock, but each time they jumped, they had to swim back in and walk up and back out to the end.  It wore them out.   It is our goal to wear them out, so success!

Hold my hand!

And going back for more.....

For the record, Ben only used the float to jump when I was not in the water with him (when I was taking these pictures for example).  When I was in there, he jumped in and swam to me (while I held my breath the whole time).

Oh yeah, and Nate had fun, too.  His brand of fun is different from Ben's right now.  You won't find him jumping off a dock anytime soon, but this sweet boy is usually very content wherever he is.  He is happy to watch all the action and entertains himself well.  He is easy to find, all I have to do is look right beside me-and that is exactly how I like it!

Thanks Kristen!  If you hear rustling down at your dock on a sunny day, don't worry, it's not a big turtle, just some wild boys and their mama!

Happy Father's Day

No big mushy post from me today, even though I happen to know the world's best dad pretty well.  I have two little boys that are lucky to also know him well. 

Gil is the best dad-and I'm not kidding, I think he really is the best.  I probably should have gotten him a coffee cup like Micheal Scott's, but then it would have seemed like a joke.

When Gil walks in the door after work,  I am forgotten.  Those little boys attack him and do not leave him alone until their heads hit the pillow.  The love to do anything with him, from getting the mail, to playing Bull and wrestling.  Lately science experiments have been added into the rotation, thanks to a book I had in the attic in my teaching stuff.

As a mom, I feel so lucky to be a part of a generation that has a lot of very involved dads.  Gil did not shy away from any of the newborn duties (like changing diapers) that dads of the past did not help with, and he has always been right in the trenches throughout all of the stages-from sleepless nights, to potty training.

These little boys will have such good memories of their very involved dad, and that is priceless!

With Ben at the hospital (like the coordinating blanket and shirt?)

Ben at a year old.

Nate at 2 months old.

After Nate's Baptism (look at those fat rolls-yum)



Daddy in action (I don't know how his back does this-over and over and over again)

Snow!

Happy Father's Day Gil!

And Happy Father's Day to our great Grandpa's!

Happy Day to Bully and Jimbo!

Chirp Chirp

Do you hear the crickets?  I don't know what I was thinking,  I was informed today that my public (Gil) is demanding a new post so I thought I would finally share some pictures from when Gil's cousin Leigh's little girl Alex was here. 

We had so much fun with that sweet girl. 

This picture sums up Alex's feelings about the birds-she and her Gammy share the "love" of the feathered ones!

This was a very popular pose with these three little nuts.

The three amigos were also seen like this quite a bit.

Everyone little one should be lucky enough to hang out with their Gammy/Mimi/Granny C! (These two ladies have so many names we couldn't keep them straight!)

And the ever popular bunny ears.



And one last Nate sandwich for the road.  This kiddo gets and gives kisses all day long! 



That's it for now public (I mean Gil).  I'll be back later with some beach pictures, and a few of Ben's graduation.