December so far

Colin thinks it is the greatest thing ever to brush his teeth! Every time I ask the other two to brush their teeth he rushes into the bathroom so he can grab his own brush.

This months Koala Crate preschool box was all about baking. It was the perfect box for Brady since he already loves helping me in the kitchen. We learned about  measurements and color and even made some banana muffins. He even got his very own chef's hat.

 First activity we added different amounts of colored water to glasses to great all the colors of the rainbow.

 Activity two create your own bubble water. Both boys loved this and these homemade bubbles are way better then the store bought kind and so easy.

                                                    Finally making his Banana muffins.

                                                           yum!

annual visit from the firemen at Grandma's Grand kid Christmas party. As always the boys loved donating their toy to the firemen who then let them go for a short ride in the fire truck. Nathan loved it, Brady on the other hand wanted nothing to do with the truck and ended up just watching the other kids go on rides.

 This year we started a new Christmas tradition and visited Bass Pro Shop to see Santa.
                                        Colin wanted Nothing to do with being near Santa.

                                         Nathan having a conversation with the "real" Santa.

 Brady wouldn't sit on Santa's lap but he did have a nice talk with him. I love watching these magical moments.

                                                               Playing in the ball pit.

                                                                  Some shooting

                                                             Family Target Practice

                                                            Making Sugar Cookies.

Thanksgiving 2016

This year my family took advantage of having the Dickson cabin available for our small family gathering. Which sort of meant I put myself in charge of Thanksgiving day dinner. Not sure why I jumped at the opportunity because for some reason planning always stresses me out but at the same time I enjoy having a say in how things are run. I know I don't get it either. Dave suggested early on that since we were do Thanksgiving with my family this year we should have it at the cabin. There aren't many of us left in California so the group size was perfect for a quick weekend getaway.
Our family and my parents headed to the cabin Wednesday morning. My parents stopped on the way a picked up a few pies from Cover's apple ranch. A favorite of ours and so good, yum! Dave and Cindy along with Garrison and the Baerwaldts all arrived Thursday for the big meal. The food was great and we enjoyed visiting with family.
Everyone stayed the night and then the McNutts and Baerwaldts left to explore the area and head home.
We stayed one more night with my parents and the kids had a great time hanging out and playing games with Grandma and Papa. Dave and Papa even took the boys to explore Pinecrest while Mom and I went and saw Fantastic Beast and Where to find them.
Saturday after eating breakfast and cleaning the Cabin We followed my parents to a local choose and cut Christmas tree farm. That sure was a unforgettable adventure. Colin must have gotten a little car sick on the way because as Dave pulled into park he vomited all over himself and the car seat, yuck. After changing him and finding some snow pants for Brady to wear because he had decided earlier int he day he would only wear shorts. ( not even sure how shorts got in his bag, that kid is sneaky sometimes) we  hiked over to a section of trees. By this time it had started to rain but it was freezing so the rain quickly became hail. Unfortunately all the trees in that area were much smaller then we wanted so we left Colin with my mom warming by the fire and hiked over to the other field of trees. By this time it had started snowing and not just a few flakes. Pretty soon it was like we were in a blizzard and I was still not terrible happy with the tree choices but by this time we just needed to be done. So I picked out the biggest and fullest one I could find and it was still 3-4 feet shorter then I wanted and we got the boys loaded up in the warm car. Dave attempted to tie the tree to the roof of the car but the straps were not working so we ended up having my parents tie it along with the tree on their car. That took us much longer then we expected so by the time we made it back him it was time for a late dinner and a hot bath for the boys.
The boys really wanted to get to decorating the tree right away but I told them it had to wait until the morning. And what do you know first thing they were asking me to get out the ornaments. The boys loved hanging all the ornaments. I only had to spread them out a little.
Nathan decided he wanted to use my camera to take pictures of the tree so most of the pictures below of hte decorated tree are from him.

Soccer Season

Last Saturday the boys both played their last games of the soccer season. I was so happy that my mom brought her camera and got some really great shots of the games. You would not believe how hard it is to watch a game, a one year old, and still try to take pictures.
Nathan's team ended the season undefeated with 5 wins and 2 ties. He really work hard this year at being more aggressive and going after the ball instead of waiting for the ball to come to him.
Brady had fun playing but definitely never stayed interested the whole game. There was a whole lot of playing in the dirt. but what can you expect from a bunch of 3 and 4 yr olds. So entertaining.

                                                       Nathan's team warming up.

                                                    This little one sure is a handful!

                                               Got some of the Bell tongue action.

                                             About 12 min into the game and he is done.

                                                             He asked to be goalie.