The Tree

We ventured out to our favorite Christmas tree farm and enjoyed a cold, but super sunny day that included a really nice hay ride:

Zachary really pushed the cart with our tree on it! I love that he assumes he's grown & capable.

Allie got into the tree decorating big time. She was very specific about where she wanted her ornaments. If I suggested a different limb, she'd say, "no, no!" and nod her cute little head. She'd also say, "Daddy, holp me!" (yes, that's "help me" in Allie talk) when her ornament wouldn't stay in place. She loved it! I have a feeling she'll be "redecorating" the bottom third of the tree many times between now & Christmas.

Zachary enjoyed himself too. Most of his ornaments were all in one section. He & I had such a busy day working on several different projects (pictures coming soon). I really enjoy having him along to help and he loves it. My favorite thing is when he says, "Mommy, thank you for helping me today." He assumes the projects are his and I'm just along to help out. I love it!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

We had a super fun Thanksgiving week!!
Here's my sweet little lovie with his special preschool lunch "Charlie Brown Thanksgiving" turkey hat. He came home from school that day and said, "Daddy, look at my chicken hat!!"

We spent Thanksgiving with Aunt Jen & Uncle Dan at their house. They prepared THE BEST EVER turkey. It was yum yum yum!

Sweet little Allie Marie with mommy-to-be-very-soon Aunt Jen:

We went for a little walk before our big lunch and Allie was super cute. When you ask her to smile, this is the beautiful little face she makes...SOO darn cute!!:

Lotsa nice pics:

I think the most fun part of Thanksgiving day may have been this tiny centipede that crawled across the floor. The kids followed this thing for quite awhile. They were so funny:

Come on, Mom!

Zachary has a pretty neat little imagination. He's been making up games to play with me, Todd and/or Allie. This is really funny because sometimes he'll make up a game, insist that we play, yet doesn't really inform us (the participants) of the rules and regulations. Here's the most recent example:

Zachary: "Mommy! Let's play cowapeelur!" (he still says 'caterpillar' funny)
Mommy: "Ok, sounds fun."
Zachary: "I'll say 'cowapeelur cowapeelur cowapeelur' and you walk like a cowapeelur."
Mommy: "Ok, I'm ready."
Zachary: "cowapeelur cowapeelur cowapeelur"
Mommy wiggles across the floor in a fairly poor effort to look like a caterpillar.
Mommy: "Ok, your turn...caterpillar caterpillar caterpillar..."

Zachary does an even funnier impression of a caterpillar
Zachary: "Now do ladybug ladybug ladybug..."

We proceeded to repeat this same little routine for spider, and then Zachary decided he would do the imitations, if I yelled the creatures' names. I quickly agreed to this mid-game change, sacrificing my deep desire to wiggle, walk & squirm all over the place.

I yelled bumble bee, centipede, worm, snake, ant, beetle, and a few other creepy crawlies. At some point, I couldn't think of anymore and since I didn't know the official rules of the game, I just said, "Frog!"

Oops.

Zachary: "Mommy. No. That is not right. A frog is not an insect. BUGS are insects. Not frogs. Don't you know that? You have to say insects."

Weekend in Charlotte

Last weekend we headed to Charlotte to celebrate Aunt Jen & Uncle Dan's soon-to-be-here baby!! It was a nice weekend...minus the virus that traveled with us. Eck.
Me, Jenny, Grandma (Great Grammy Claire), My mom (Grammy) getting ready to go to the baby shower:

Allie playing in her carseat (apparently being strapped in it for almost 4 hours wasn't enough):

Grandpa & Allie (not sleeping...which was the trend for the weekend):

Zachary talking with his cousin:

...and pretending he had a baby in his tummy too:

While we were at the shower, all the boys put together the baby's crib. Zachary enjoyed the giant box that Grammy made into a slide. Up & down, over & over...So fun!:

Allie decided she wanted to wear some of the baby's clothes:

Uncle Dan made one of his awesome camp fires and we all enjoyed s'mores - yum!!:

Here's Zachary roasting his marshmallow & enjoying the fire (you can ask Grandpa what happened later, under HIS supervision, that changed the course of this enjoyment...):

Sleepy kids

Over the past 10 days, we have been so very crazy busy and I have been super lenient with the kids' usually-very-rigid schedule. Grammy Claire likes to take pictures of them sleeping, so I have some good ones I stole from her camera. Here are some pictures of them passed out after a few crazy days of non-routine. Love it!!