Thanksgiving

We got to spend our Thanksgiving holiday with these wonderful people. The food was delicious, the conversation was great, and the company was even better. So glad we have been blessed with wonderful friends to spend our holidays with when family is so far away.

Now on to the moving marathon. Wish us luck!

Thanksgiving Playgroup

Last Thursday we had our annual Thanksgiving Playgroup and it was a blast. Karisa was the host and she always plans the best little playgroups.

The party began with two Thanksgiving stories. Marshall was thrilled that he got to sit on the top bunk with Benson. Bridget was pretty captivated herself.

After that it was time to "Pin the Tail on the Turkey". Marshall refused to participate in this one, oh well, maybe next year.

Next on the docket was a couple of clips from Disney's "Pocahontas". I had not seen this movie in ages. As you can tell, the children were mesmerized.

The next activity was dancing in the basement. The kids all got to choose an instrument and Karisa played some Thanksgiving spirited songs. Marshall found these shakers and had a ball.

After all of that motion we found ourselves in the kitchen frosting delicious pumpkin cookies. This was probably Marshall's favorite activity, and mine too. :)

After cookies there was a craft activity, but I couldn't keep Marshall away from Benson's magical room of toys anymore. So, Marshall played with the trucks and trains while the other kids made a turkey.

It was a great little celebration! Thanks Karisa!

Bridget's Hat

With winter weather upon us I pulled out this furry white hat that was given to us when Bridget was born. All of us love the hat and as you can tell, have found many photo opportunities. She is darling!

Adorable. My little snow baby.


The following pictures are Richard's doing, but they are hilarious!

Such a good sport!

Art Class

This summer some friends and I bought a Groupon for a Gymboree class for our little boys. We saved it until the weather turned cold and we needed more indoor things to do. Katie and I ended up enrolling Duncan and Marshall in the same art class. It is once a week for an hour and they get four classes and after class they get to play in the open gym. Marshall has gone to class three times now and he loves it! The first week he was a little hesitant to go in, but I only stayed with him for a few minutes. But, the last two weeks he has walked right in, no hesitancy at all! I am so proud of him. The teacher always gives me a glowing report after and I know that he is having such a great time in there. Here are some pictures I took before and after class last week. As you can tell, Bridget also loves the gym. :)

Why is it that Duncan is always so eager to smile for my camera, but not my own son?!

Not quite sure what Marshall is doing here...


Hooray for art class!

A Visit From My Father

Last week we got a 48 hour visit from my dad. It was short, but it sure was fun and it was great to have him here. Here's our 48 hour recap:

When my dad arrived the weather was beautiful! After we got home from the airport we had a quick lunch and then headed outside to soak up the sun. Marshall rode his bike and we ended up at the park. (Sorry, no pictures). We played on the toys, the swings, and Marshall did a whole lot of running around amusing my dad with his wild imagination.

That night for dinner we ate at Le Reve. Love that place and I'm glad my dad finally got to try it out!

The next morning as we were all trying to get ready to get out the door Marshall and Grandpa Toney shared some quality time together. Marshall had my dad read all of his library books.

Once we were all ready (Richard was able to come along too because he was working that night and had the day off) we packed up and drove to the Milwaukee Central Library right downtown. I had heard great things about this place so I wanted to check it out, and let me tell you, it did not disappoint! The front entryway is gorgeous and the children's section is phenomenal. I didn't get a picture of the outside because it was pouring rain all morning, but here are the pictures from what we did inside.

My dad loves the babies.

Meanwhile, Marshall was in heaven with the awesome train table.

They had about 50 of these hand puppets and a little area where kids could put on a show. Bridget loved the frog.

Do you remember those huge books that your early elementary school teachers would read? Well, I do, and I thought they were so cool. This library has tons of them and we think you can check them out because they have a sticker that says, "Please do not return in book drop"! I am going to go check out some of those books. Anyway, here's my dad reading Bridget a family favorite, "The Napping House".

As you can tell, this picture was failing...

So we set Marshall free and snapped this one instead.

After lunch at home we left Richard and Bridget to take naps and the three of us drove back downtown to go to the children's museum. My dad had never been and Marshall adores that place, so it was perfect. Both boys had a great time.

Look at my dad's face in this picture. Yes, he really did love this place. He was very impressed with the real hoist.

More pictures of my dad; he had as much fun as Marshall did!

After the museum we had a delicious dinner at home. Richard had to work that night so after we got Marshall and Bridget to bed my dad and I just played card games and visited.

It sure was a great 48 hours! Thanks for stopping by dad; we love you!

Halloween

Marshall was a tiger for Halloween this year; the same thing as last year, but hey, his costume still fit and we are cheap. :) Anyway, here is our little tiger being silly for the camera.

Finally, an entire face!

After that crazy photo-op Marshall and I headed to MCW for the annual trick-or-treat. (Richard had to work that night so he stayed home with Bridget and they both took naps.) I was so excited to finally be able to attend this grand event. Marshall has gone the last three years thanks to Richard and baby-sitters, but I have always had to work...not this year! Anyway, we met up with the Irions and Hassells. Isn't little Max Hassell the cutest skunk you have ever seen?! Yes, definitely.

Marshall and all of the other kids had a ball running around collecting handfuls and handfuls of candy.

Marshall and Duncan at the end of it all, what cute little boys.

After the MCW party we headed home. My original plan was to take Marshall trick-or-treating in the Irion's neighborhood after dinner, but after seeing Marshall's candy stash I decided to just take him around the cul-de-sac to a few families. Well, Marshall had other plans. He fell asleep on the way home from the school, but when I was carrying him inside he was talking to me about dinner and that he wanted to watch "Curious George". When I got to the top of our stairs I put him down and this is immediately what he did...

Being the good mom that I am I let him stay there for a few minutes while Richard and I quickly ate our dinner (Richard had to get to the hospital). After dinner he was still snoozing soundly.

I moved him to the couch, but that didn't do anything. I took off his tiger jacket, but he still didn't wake up. So, at 6:15 I just put him in his bed and hoped for the best. After Richard left for the hospital it was just Bridget and me. As you can tell, she wasn't too thrilled with the whole evening either.

So, at 7:00 I put Bridget to bed and I had a quiet house and what felt like a very anti-climatic Halloween night. Richard was working, no trick-or-treating, no picture of my kids together in their costumes, and our house was silent. So after being sad about it for two minutes I realized what an opportunity I had-my time was completely my own and it was only 7:00! I quickly started enjoying myself. But, guess who woke up at 8:00 pm, bright-eyed and ready to go? Yep, you guessed it, Marshall. Oh well, we had a fun evening together. I put him back in bed at 9:00 and he was asleep again by 10:00 pm. An interesting Halloween night!