November 2009

I guess I am going to do one big post today about our November. It was a fun month and pretty busy. It flew by, anyway.

At the beginning of the month, we took the boys and went with some friends to Spaghetti Works for dinner and then to a Creighton Volleyball game. We had a really good time and the boys enjoyed the game.

Also this month, we visited Lowe's and Home Depot quite a bit to do their kids' workshops. They boys LOVE this and always want to go back. So far they have made a trivet, snowman, race car garage and Charlie made a race track and Jack made a firestation bank. They are really proud of themselves after they build their item...not without a lot of help from mom and dad, of course.

Next we visited Bass Pro Shops to see their Winter Wonderland and Santa. They boys had a good time making reindeer ornaments, looking around, and seeing Santa. Jack wanted nothing to do with Santa and pulled away. Charlie told Santa he wants a Wii and some Transformers.

In preparation for Thanksgiving, the boys and I made our Thanksgiving tree. We cut out leaves from construction paper and wrote things for which we are thankful on the leaves. Then, we hung them from a tree branch that we found outside. The boys loved this and were thankful for some funny things. They listed the good stuff like mom, dad, grandparents, aunts and uncles, their pets, but also Red Robin, chicken, Scooby Doo, Freddy, Velma, Daphne, Shaggy, etc. Oh and they were definitely thankful for their teachers and friends.

We had a good Thanksgiving weekend, despite both boys getting sick. They each spent a couple of days with the stomach bug, but it didn't stop us from getting some fun stuff in. We decorated the tree and house with Christmas decorations. They were both really excited to do this.

Friday night of that weekend was beautiful weather. We headed down to the Old Market to have dinner at Zio's Pizza. We then took the boys for their first carriage ride around the area to see all of the Christmas lights. They really enjoyed this and it was evidenced by their complete silence on the ride.

Halloween!

We had a very busy, but fun Halloween this year. The boys went trick-or-treating one day at Village Point.

That same weekend we spent some time decorating a haunted house with frosting and candy. They love doing this and did a really good job this year decorating it almost all by themselves. These kids love their arts and crafts.

The day of Halloween Doug took them outside to carve a couple of pumpkins. We usually don't do anything fancy with ours. The boys just like to Doug cut the faces out; for some reason, they don't really care to participate.

The night before Halloween a couple of friends had a Halloween party at their house. It would be the first time Doug and I ever dressed up for Halloween together. A pretty momentous occassion! We had a great time.

And last, but not least, the actual day of Halloween. We had our old neighbors over and my parents and ended up with quite a few other neighbors over as well. Doug smoked brisket and we had a ton of food. Grace, Conner and Spencer all came over to trick-or-treat together. Charlie and Jack were so excited to have some friends over to play with. The kids all played well together in the basement while the big people ate and drank upstairs.

Charlie's School Halloween Party

Friday I took a half day off work and helped out at Charlie's class Halloween party. I am glad I did, because it was a good time. We had games, crafts and lots of snacks. It was fun to see his room and see him with all of his classmates. There is a little girl in his class named Sydney F. He came home from school a few weeks ago asking if we could buy Sydney F. some princess gloves. One night at Target, we found some little pink and purple gloves with the Disney princesses on them. We got them for Sydney and he took them to school to give them to her. She loved them and wrote him a thank you card that appropriately said, "Thank you for the gloves. Sydney F." He came home from school after that saying that Sydney liked to sit by him and always saved a spot for him on the green carpet in their classroom. It was cute. He says she isn't his girlfriend, though. Thank goodness for that. I got to meet Sydney F. and she is a nice girl. I can hardly wait until they start to be interested in girls. Actually, I can wait.

Charlie and Mr. Greve

Charlie and Collin

Lancers games, etc.

The boys love Lancer's games. We went to one a few weekends ago and actually stayed for the entire game. This was a first for us. Usually Jack or Charlie want to leave early. The boys got an actual puck that the team used, so they thought that was really cool.
Jack and I spent some time taking pictures of ourselves. This is the only way I could get him to be in a photo.

My Birthday!

October was a busy month, mostly with fun activities. I turned 35 towards the end of the month. It was a Monday and I had to work, so it wasn't anything exciting. We had dinner as a family and ate cake. The boys and Doug got me some winter running gear and chocolate covered strawberries and my mom and Bob gave me some new, really nice kitchen knives. Here are some photos:

The boys are into having indoor picnics, so we ate cake on the floor. Amazingly, enough, it wasn't too messy.

THE BIG 40!

Well, it happened and without much excitement. Doug turned 40! It sounds so old, but he's still the same. He doesn't need a cane or a walker. Not yet, anyway!

Doug didn't want a party or anything for his birthday and I had to teach at Metro, so he was stuck at home with the boys. Kind of stinky for him. My mom took the boys this weekend, so we could go to dinner and have a night out alone. We went to Blue for sushi and then to the casino, so he could play some craps. That's what he likes to do! And he won some money, so that was awesome!

On his actual birthday, I made a cake for him that didn't turn out too well. The cake was fine, but something went wrong with the frosting; I am embarrassed to say it just slid right off the cake. Oh well, still tasted okay.

Hmmmm, two of them don't look at all alike, do they?!



On Friday night of this weekend, we had an indoor picnic/family movie night. The boys love this. Recently, they have started to eat sub sandwiches, so we got Blimpie's and watched Monsters vs. Aliens. The had such a good time doing the picnic/movie night that we did it again tonight and watched The Polar Express and got Subway-yes, again. I could eat subs any day of the week. I love them and am really excited that they now do too!

Jack's 4th Birthday Party!

For Jack's party this year, we went to a local fire station. He wanted to do that and then go to a park with his friends and get them Happy Meals. It was a really good time and easy. The kids loved the fire station. They got to watch the firemen put on their full gear and then they got to go through the firetrucks.

Here are some photos!

There is my little boy! He's getting so big, but is still my baby!

Jack Turns 4!

Jack turned four this weekend! We celebrated the entire day and even Grandma Barb and Aunt Jessie came to town, too!

The day started with a birthday donut breakfast! The boys always enjoy their sprinkle donuts.

Then we headed down to Omaha's very awesome zoo! That was Jack's choice of things to do. We rode on the train, which we all enjoy.

After the zoo, Grandma Barb and Aunt Jessie headed back to Cedar Rapids. We all took a really long, much needed nap of several hours. After the nap, we made ice cream cone cupcakes that were peanut butter with chocolate frosting. These turned out well and were really good!

Late that afternoon, Nana and Papa came over for dinner and gift opening. We ordered in pizza, ate cupcakes and opened presents. Jack was very spoiled the entire day and Charlie was a great big brother! There were just a couple instances of jealousy over the new gifts, but overall, Charlie did a great job!

The best and funniest part of Jack's birthday is that he is really into fireman and firetrucks. Most of his gifts, aside from the Spiderman bike that we got him and a few others, were focused on the fireman theme. He got a couple of really neat firetrucks and a rescue helicopter. He also got a neat set of rescue vehicles. We got him some fireman pajamas and fireman rain boots. My mom got him a fireman raincoat. He was so very excited for all of his fireman gear that when he put it all on, which he did a lot that evening, he renamed himself "Firefighter Joe." This is what we are to call him when he is in his fire gear. When he's in regular clothing, he's just Jack. He ran around the house a lot throwing his gear on and saying he had a fire to go to or a job to do! Then he would take it off and just be Jack again. Later that evening, as the boys were outside playing with their Matchbox Color Blaster set, Jack decided he needed to get the hose out to help him fight fires in his fire gear. He is so animated that it's hard to capture the scene in words, but we took a few pictures.

Here are a few more photos from the day: