Only one post in November? How did that happen? I guess nothing extra special was going on, just the usual boys being boys! So here are some pictures for you to enjoy! Here are some of Eli's last soccer game. Uncle Steve and Aunt Laura came, and I regret that we didn't get a picture of them with Eli. Eli's team had a little medal ceremony after the game, too.
Jed loves my headbands
It's Boone!
Those last ones are of the boys at the park...I got some good ones! And we also decorated the tree after we got back from Thanksgiving. The boys really got into decorating this year.
The day before Halloween, we went with several friends to Bastrop State Park to go camping. We got there Saturday afternoon and left Sunday morning, so it was a short and sweet time there. I think it was the only available time back when we were booking the camp sites over the summer. I'm not too keen on camping, but I thought it would be a fun time to hang out with friends. I have a feeling I'm going to have to learn to like camping more since I live with three males! We all had fun and the weather was perfect...sunny, nice and cool during the day and cold at night. The boys did great sleeping in the tent, too. It helped that they were extremely tired from playing with their friends all day. I don't think we'll try and fit in a camping trip right before Halloween again, though. Too much going on in a short amount of time! Lots of memories made, nonetheless!
We had an eventful and fun Halloween! Halloween with kids is fun because of all the festivals and things and seeing all the kids dressed up in cute Halloween costumes. I'm not a fan of the scary, gory part of Halloween. Anyway, our festivities started last Saturday when we went to the Halloween Howl at the Austin Nature and Science Center. There are fun exhibits for the kids, like seeing a real owl and bat. John and Eli got to paddle boat there, I mean, they got to search for treasure on their pirate ship. Jed didn't get to go in the boat b/c he wouldn't wear the life vest, but I managed to get a picture of him wearing it. The boys also got to roast some marshmallows. I like Halloween Howl because there is no candy given out. The only thing we came home with were some real animal bones. Much cooler than candy in my opinion!
During the week, we (John) carved our pumpkin and made some Monster Mouths, which were apples cut to look like mouths with slivered almonds stuck in them for the teeth. Eli's pre-school had a Halloween Festival on Friday. They had a jumpy house and different games for the kids to do, and there was no candy once again. Thanks, school! The kids sang Halloween songs at the end of the festival. I've included some of those videos. Eli was singing, but with a straight face. He didn't want to smile or act like he was having fun. I don't know why he does that. My video work was not the best because my camera started running out of memory. Perfect timing again. Just look for Eli's pirate hat in the videos. He's toward the front on the right side.
And finally, on Halloween Sunday, we went to church in costume because we were planning on going trick-or-treating afterwards with friends from church who live near there. It was a short, casual service and all the kids wore costumes and did pumpkin activities there. John and I, however, were the only adults who were dressed up at church. It wasn't a big deal...kinda funny though. We weren't planning on dressing up until at the last minute, I had the idea that John could wear his old Baylor basketball uniform and I could wear some overalls that I had in college and dress up as a farmer. John was John of the past and I was Farmer John of the present. I thought it was clever!
Trick-or-treating was fun. We had quite a large crew with all the kids and parents! Eli was leading all the kids to each house while Jed was the last one in the pack. Jed waited until they all got their candy and cleared out of the way and then he would walk up to get his. Very patient! After we got to our house, we went to a few more houses to see our neighbors, and then we were done!
We now are the owners of a Ford F-150 pick-up truck! The males of this household couldn't be happier! As most of you know, we have had one vehicle for about 4 years now. It's been more and more inconvenient lately just having one vehicle, so we decided it's time for two again. Of course Eli wanted us to get a truck and had specified criteria that he wanted. John has secretly wanted a truck all his life (it must be something that is ingrained in most guys). So, with the justification that he wouldn't drive it all that much (still carpooling to work) and would use it for his landscaping business, John and I agreed it was a good choice for our second car. After truck hunting for weeks and weeks, John finally found a truck that met all his and Eli's criteria. AND it was a great deal price wise, too!
John has started a workout program called P90X, which he likes because you do all the workouts at home. I'm impressed with his dedication to the program so far. The boys have enjoyed exercising with Dad as well, as you can see.
I had to take a picture of this moment because I need a reminder now and then that it does happen! It's of Eli and Jed happily and quietly playing in the playroom by themselves while building houses and robots and things with their Mega Bloks. They were in there about 30 min. straight! And on top of that, it was at the hardest part of the day...about 30 min. before John gets home. It was a much needed break for me!
And this is Eli and Jed's favorite thing to do outside right now. They go around and around chasing each other on their cars. It seems like they get going so fast sometimes that their little legs are going in circles.
Jed is enamored with Band-Aids. Every single little bump, bruise, and scratch needs a Band-aid, according to him. He's even asked to put them on bug bites and freckles. I usually give him one even if he doesn't need it because it is a great distraction. He likes to tear the paper open himself, throw it away in the trash can, and then find a place on himself to put it. The whole process takes awhile, which gives me a little break! Win, win situation!
This is after Jed got hit in the nose by Eli, who accidentally hit him while swinging a plastic bat. The Band-aid made it all better!
Last week, we took our annual trip to the Pumpkin Patch at the Elgin Christmas Tree Farm with our friends, Jen and her daughters Mia and Eleanor. We had a fun trip again this year! The kids decorated pumpkins, fed the animals, navigated the mazes, went on hayrides, picked out pumpkins, had some duck races, and played, played, played. I love that there is one admission fee under $15 and so much to entertain the kids. I tried to get some good pumpkin pictures of us, but there wasn't much cooperation going on. I could not get Jed to look at the camera, and I kept getting crazy faces from Eli. Oh well! Some are okay, I guess. It's funny to Jen and I that Eli and Mia look more like siblings and Jed and Eleanor look more like siblings. You can see that in one of the pics of all four of them. It's fun to have friends like them! I'm glad pumpkin season is here! Now if the cooler weather would get here...it was a little weird taking pumpkin pictures in sleeveless shirts and shorts!
Here are the kids racing rubber ducks with water pumps. Go Duckeeee!
We had Jed's party the Sunday after his birthday at 9:30 AM. We did his party like Eli's...pancakes on the grill at Garrison park. It was another success! Many of our friends and family came, and the perfect weather made it even better! Jed's cake was decorated with markers and trains, two of his favorite things right now. The cake decorations were all Eli's idea, which couldn't have been more perfect! We didn't get around to opening gifts at the party, which I regret. So, I videoed Jed opening some of his gifts at our house and have included them below. I did a slide show of the birthday pictures since there were a lot of good ones. Watch for the picture of Jed being hugged by his friend, Naomi (in a yellow shirt). He's trying not to smile so that we won't see how thrilled he is to be hugged by her! Cute!
Thank You to everyone for the gifts you got for Jed and as always, Thanks for being our friends!
As many of you know, I love celebrating birthdays, especially mine and my boys! I like to celebrate birthdays for a least a week. So, on Jed's actual birthday, I made him a lemon cake, we sang Happy Birthday, and he blew out the candles. Jed got some gifts in the mail, so we opened those. I also took Jed to my favorite toy store, Anna's Toy Depot, where he picked out his own birthday present. He chose a trash truck named Rowdy.
Here are some pics of Jed eating his cake. I like the paparazzi shot. In the other picture, he's crying b/c he wanted me to wipe his hands. In other words, "Stop taking pictures and wipe my hands, Mama!"
Here we are having a little family celebration for Jed, singing Happy Birthday to him.
I took videos of Jed opening the gifts that were sent in the mail for you, Gramma, Grandad, Aunt Laura, Uncle Steve, and cousins Will & Alex. I thought you'd like to see his reaction and hear a Thank You from Jed himself.
During Jed's birthday weekend (more on that later), my sister and her boys as well as John's sister and her girls came. It was fun for John and I to hang out with our sisters and also have almost all the boys' cousins all together. I don't remember that last time we were all together like that. The older cousins got along great! We had a fun day chatting while the kids played, going to the greenbelt, and eating burgers at P.Terry's.
Here's all the cousins together
We intended to go for a hike in the greenbelt, but for the older cousins it turned into a swim...and wet clothes, but lots of fun!
Story time with Uncle John was a highlight for all the boys.
Somehow, me and my sister's lives have taken similar paths. Here are some things that we have in common: we both have minivans (that look very similar), both have Weimeraners, both have 2 boys 2 years apart, and both married our high school sweethearts. It's pretty crazy! I'm thankful for my sister and love being with her!
Remember when I posted about how much Jed loves markers? Here's a picture I got of him pushing them in the stroller like his babies. That is how special they are to him!
