Are they cute or what??? After they finished the house, they had a lot of fun playing with the dog, chasing her around the house. Not too much picking on each other- just good brotherly fun!

Gingerbread house

After dinner and baths, the boys put on their warm pajamas, we turned on some Christmas tunes, and got ready for some holiday fun! I guess this has become a tradition around our house; building the gingerbread house from the wonderful kit you buy! The boys love it and we all enjoy decorating it! Jeff was in charge of icing and we went crazy with the candy! Well, Jeff got a little carried away with the icing... smearing it on the boys noses and of course the boys thought it was pretty funny when he got me with the icing, too! The boys worked on it for quite sometime and eventually Jeff and I were left adding the finishing touches. Lots of fun for a Thursday night!

Well, the thanks- giving break went by so fast and now it's Wed. already! Wow! Christmas will be here before we know it! Thanksgiving day we only had to go to my family's because Jeff's Parents were still in Michigan. So, we put up the Christmas tree... the boys could hardly wait! We got out the big tree this year and it turned out so pretty. It is mostly covered with ornaments from the kids and I love it! We took it easy most of the day and ate lots of good food that evening! Friday after I got home from shopping we relaxed by watching Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Jeff and the boys put up the outside decorations while I was gone. We went to look at the lights in the park and then we went out to eat at Culver's; it was pretty good! Saturday morning was spent doing a little (much needed) house cleaning. We all pitched in and got the house cleaned in a few hours. We took the boys to the conservation center for something to do. Even though we've been there several times they still enjoy going again and again. Since we were right there at the park, we had to look at the lights again. After church Sunday we had to shop for Jeff a shirt and tie for his graduation dinner. He finished his schooling early this year and the hall provides a nice graduation dinner and small ceremony in St. Louis. This was Monday, yes Monday we drove right up after work and didn't get home until after midnight! Yet, it was worth it. The place where the meal was held was decorated beautifully with Christmas decor and the meal was great! Here it is Wed. already! Monday it was hard for Preston to go back to school which made it hard for me to leave him again! He just wanted to keep giving me more hugs! Luckily, it's almost the weekend again!

School's out (well, for a few days anyway)!

Well, today was our first day of our Thanksgiving break; so, the boys woke up and immediately wanted to decorate for Christmas. It's been tradition to put up the tree and decorate the house the day after Thanksgiving as a family. Yet, I thought it would be OK if we just put up our decorations inside today (I don't think Jeff's feelings were hurt too much by us doing this without him- haha). We will probably put the tree up tomorrow when Jeff is home. Well, I'm sure we will because Preston is just so excited to put the tree up this year he can hardly wait. This afternoon I took the boys to Pottery Ewe to paint a few ornaments for the tree. After two ornaments each and whale they were finally ready to go. We love going back a week later to pick it up and see how their finished artwork turned out. After dinner tonight we decided to make homemade chocolate chip cookies (Heather had mentioned making them with Hailey and I thought it's been a really long time since we made homemade cookies). Preston enjoyed mixing in all the ingredients and I heard Austin tell Jeff later, " these are really good, their homemade" you know he's really not used to that homemade stuff anymore! I think we baked more when I stayed at home and I just don't think about it as much anymore! Well, when we do it's normally a mix that you just add a few ingredients. Anyhow, we had a great day (only a few brotherly spats between the boys) and we are looking forward to all the good food tomorrow brings.

What a week!

The week started out good; yet by Wednesday I started to feel another cold coming on! Thursday and Friday I felt miserable! Needless to say, there wasn't much going on at our house. Saturday I felt the best I had in a few days and was missing some quality time the kids; so, we took a bike ride to the park. I walked so I could help Preston up all the hills. The weather was nice- sunny and close to 60 degrees. We enjoyed the beautiful fall colors, stopped at the park to play for awhile, collected different colored leaves, and the boys were fascinated with the ladybugs that were everywhere! We finally made it back home after a trillion pit stops for water drinks. Preston was getting very tired. When we got home I made Preston a grilled cheese sandwich and while eating it he fell asleep on the the bar stool. It was so cute. He heard me laughing and mumbled half awake "what I do". I picked him up and held him for awhile as he slept before I laid him down. I know I will not have to many more moments to just hold him while he sleeps. He's getting so big and really maturing lately. Lately, I've been in the baby mood, I would like to have one more child; however, Jeff doesn't feel quite the same way as I do. So, we will pray about it for several more months because it would be nice to get pregnant in May so the baby is due in Feb. That way I can just take the rest of the school year off or close to it. If it happens than it was meant to be, only time will tell! This reminds me, Friday it was just the boys and I ( Jeff was helping Steve on his bathroom), we were looking through old photo albums- which only makes me want a baby more by he way- and I pointed out a picture where Austin was holding Preston when he was 3 or 4 months old, they both just woke up and looked so cute. Well, they were both standing next to me and Preston looked up to his big brother and give him a hug, it was so sweet! Later that night out of nowhere Austin looked at me and said, "You're the best mom ever!" it was good to hear after feeling like I had not been much fun for the past few days! Back to Saturday, after church the Fisher's came over for pizza and the kids had a great time playing with Molly and each other! To say "a great time" is probably putting it mildly, they just had a blast! Running around, getting the dog, just being kids. So, since we went to church last night, we will try to relax and have a fun family day together!

The boys all in camo!

How cute, they all had camo p.j's!

Sleepover

Austin's first sleep over! Parker and Tyler came over for the night and they made their own pizzas which was a lot of fun. Parker brought over his new fondue maker and the boys melted chocolate and had chocolate covered marshmallows. They had tons of fun playing and being boys. They're settled down now to a good old flick, Tom and Jerry! It was a great first sleepover with the boys! Actually, he did have Sydney sleep over a long time ago! I forgot about that!

Molly

How could I forget to post this! We got a dog! And if you know me, you know I'm not much of a "dog person"! However, she is growing on me! Jeff thought the boys needed a dog to help them overcome their fear of dogs! And actually it is helping already! Yet, training a puppy is not much fun! Well, Jeff is really the one doing all the work! The boys do love having her around!

A Fall Bike Ride

Preston and Jeff took a nap on this beautiful fall day, so Austin and I headed out for a bike ride through the town to enjoy the wonderful signs of fall. Preston was so exhausted from being out late the night before and it's nice to get to spend one-on-one time with each of the boys. Austin and I enjoyed our ride through the park. On the way home we visited Grandma Great and Austin played with Tyler and Micheal for awhile. Preston and I got to spend sometime alone time together, too! He wanted to take Molly to the park; so, that just what we did, just Preston and I! And Molly, too. A perfect day!

Halloween Night

Austin was a ninja turtle and Preston was a monkey. I guess next year I will have to let Austin be something scary, he wanted to this year but it was actually Jeff who discouraged it! So, he settled for a ninja turtle! Preston would still be Thomas the Train; however, since he was that last year, we went with the monkey! We went to our friends house to trick -or -treat! It was so fun, they hooked up a wagon ride to their 4-wheeler and all the kids piled on -getting on and off throughout the neighborhood.