Thankful

Just a few of the reasons I am thankful this year. 

Our kids are bad influences

Last weekend (or was it the weekend before?) our animal cracker crumb covered goddaughter was baptized. It was a lovely ceremony and I don't want to brag, but the prayer I read might have been the best reading that church congregation has heard. 

But back to Baby Girl. She's precious, even when her parents neglect to wipe her face. 

And we have so much fun hanging out with the parental unit that I'm always glad to see our boys play with Baby Girl and her brother Big Boy Alex so well. But lately I'm noticing our kids are a wee bit rambunctious at times and are probably going to corrupt the sweet calm nature of these two kids.

This thought came to me when we enjoyed brunch with Baby Girl and her parents and I tried to get a picture of the boys and Baby Girl. See how she is cooperating?

And for a second, just a second, I thought I'd get cooperation out of the elder two.

But no, they got really silly, so I cropped their cross eyes, tongues sticking out and silly faces out. She's cute, eh?

And then her brother showed up, and I felt brave and like a pillar of patience so I went for a foursome picture. Nice, Cole.

And then Kate sort of was over it. I don't blame her, there's only so much silliness a girl can tolerate.

So she chose to remove herself from the area.

And sure enough, the silliness went to a whole new level. Pretty sure Big Boy Alex doesn't stick out his tongue when he's home without these two around...you're welcome, Alex's Parents.

I did get one stellar picture a few minutes later...

Look how she smiles at her favorite Auntie!

Things, here and there.

Its that time of year when my head swims with to-do lists. Parties to plan, holiday meals to prepare, Christmas shopping lists to be purchased, and on and on and on. I love it. To mirror the random thoughts floating in my head, I thought I'd share some randoms with you. 

We had our most recent movie night and watch Lion King. Big hit, though Cole seemed slightly disappointed that Lightning McQueen was not in the movie. It seems, despite it being called LION King, he thought it would be about cars. He still liked it, though. We all piled onto the couch and some of us may have devoured some Halloween candy. 

Another day I made cookie brittle. Oh, delicious, delicious cookie brittle. The boys are in major question-asking mode, so for 30 minutes all I heard was "why is that cookie so big?", "is it cooked yet?", "can I eat it?". Followed by a pause, and then I was told "you know Momma, I wike cookies". As if I had no idea. My answers to the questions must not have been satisfactory because the questions were repeated over and over, until the brittle was done. 

I overcooked it just a wee bit, I think. Will have to make it again, you know, just to get it right.

That same night, we put the boys to bed and celebrated with a really nice dinner 'cause someone got a new job! We're so proud of him.

The leaves outside the kitchen window are really pretty right now.

We also started to hang some pics in the house. Here I am staging, with Grady and his lollipop assisting.

A dear friend of mine visited from Boston and brought her daughter with her. What a doll. The three played so well together, until a certain someone was mean to her. He's since said next time he'd be nicer.

Ok. That's all I've got. 

Another birthday boy

Today we wish a happy birthday to another big boy, Aidan. A big one year old today, congrats to the parents for surviving the first year.




At the end of the video you see Cole pointing to the drawer from whence the candle came, and that means he wants a candle of his own. So we did round #2, with me allowing each boy to hold his own candle. I'll spare you my cracking voice and will just show you a picture of them mesmerized by their candles.

  Ooooooooh, sire! SIRE! That means "fire", with a lisp.

So, like I was saying...

Over a month ago, it was Keith's birthday. So let's back up to that weekend. Good times. I love to make a good fuss, so we had a weekend of fun. Friday night was a really fun baby-free datenight, thanks to our Camp Keller babysitters. The boys even somewhat cooperated for bedtime. Somewhat.

The next morning we honored the birthday breakfast in bed tradition, and my assistants were happy to help. 

 

 Dont think Dada will appreciate this pic, but whatever, I can't mess with tradition.

The rest of the day Dada lounged about, and we baked a birthday cake. It's the same birthday cake I've made for Keith the last few days, this one, but with toasted coconut instead of the pecans. Deeeelishous. The boys were at the grocery store with me when we went to get the cake making items, and when they spied the bag of mini marshmallows, they were all "oooooooh, what is dat?" as if they don't really know. I've learned when they ask that, they really just want to have the item in question. So naturally I got a bag, and we put them to use on the cake.

 And tried a few, just because.

 And then they wanted to add sprinkles. But of course!

  We had to let Dada open his gifts.

 And then the next day we had some friends over. Very good times here.

 Lots of little ones.

 

 

 

This kid was NOT going to share his car ramp the entire afternoon, and sat hunched over the toy the entire afternoon. Don't even think about touching any of his cars, either.

  

 Grady loves the baby girls.

 The boys picnic'd on a blanket. Really, this is the best way to get kids to eat, I've decided. Let them all sit in a group on the floor, and for some reason they all eat all their food. Or most.

 

 

 Keith had some helpers with the cake.

 And I performed my hostessing duties to a receptive audience.

 Like puppies at a trough, here.

 And then, as most parties do, we ended up outside.

 

 

 

 

 Our friends left, and we ended the perfect day with some of our favorite YouTube videos.

 Some sat and listened, others climbed over furniture.

 

 And then occasionally broke into dance moves and a well executed gymnastics roll.

 

So there you go, Keith had a birthday.