Festival of Trees: Mommy and Son Breakfast

Mommy and her boys
Two vampires chatting up Santa and Mrs. Claus
The cutest Christmas picture ever...minus the fangs!
I love these guys!

The boys and I had a great time at the Mommy and Son breakfast! They ate lollipops and bacon for breakfast (along with cotton candy and pancakes)! They played games and had a balloon spider man and a balloon kitty made for them! Even better, I let them head over to the face painting table by themselves and they came back with vampire fangs dripping blood! Merry Christmas! After that they had pictures taken with Santa! The best part of the day is that they won a playmobil pirate ship in the raffle! Eli then proved he was the nicest boy ever by letting Nate have the pirate ship and only taking 2 of the pirates! These guys are my favorites!

The Magic House: St. Louis Children's Museum and a LOOONG day in St. Louis

Lewis and Clark Blazing a trail west!
Dr. Eli checking on a tiny patient in the nursery
King Brothers Auto shop
Nate is either repairing a car or sabotaging one by dumping sugar in it!
Little Stinker!
Water engineer Eli
President Elijah Talmadge King working in the oval office
Nate singing "Dynamite" at the congressional microphone
Top of the Beanstalk!

The boys and I went on a grand adventure the week before Thanksgiving! We loaded the car up with toys, books, and junk food and drove 3 hours to St. Louis! We went to the Magic House Children's Museum and spent two amazing hours exploring and unreal museum! The Lewis and Clark exhibit was the favorite and I wish I had been able to capture the dark trail adventure that we got to climb through! Other favorites were the car mechanics shop, the water and bubble tables, the baby nursery, and the Executive, Judicial, and Legislative branches of government were also a huge hit! The funniest moment was when Nate got up on stage where he was supposed to sign a patriotic song and bust out with "dynamite" by Taio Cruz (a terrible pop song)! Hilarious!

After the museum we headed over to St. Louis Children's hospital for Nate's follow up appointment and the boys were fantastically well behaved! (amazing)! We then turned around and drove three hours home!

This trip was made possible by the starbucks located exactly half-way between here and St. Louis! :)

Rainy Day fun

Nate showing off his shark and orange/red ocean
Sweet Eli and his island/shark scene
AHHH!!! Sharks in the water!

The boys picked up a couple of scary sharks at the dollar store and I then gave them each a tupperware container, water, plastic trees and see animals and some playdough and set them loose! They spent nearly two hours arranging and playing with their scenes! They loved how the playdough disolved and looked like blood in the water! Gruesome! These two have crazy imaginations and I love those days when something so simple turns into epic fun!

Halloween 2012

Trick-or-Treating at Eli's Kindergarten Teachers House! Marcia is the best!
Cheese!
A Jedi Knight, a puffy lion and a big cousin in the background!

What a Halloween! Grammy and Cousin Dru came and spent some fantastic days with us! Ghost train rides, trick or treating, and so much more! It was all topped off with a fantastic night of candy gorging and fun! Eli went as Anakin Skywalker and made a very convincing Jedi Knight! Nate was an extra fluffy lion! Could he be any cuter? At every single house Eli said "May the Force Be With You" to people who gave him candy and they loved it! He is such a dork (like his daddy)! Nate got a lot of "awwww's" because of his cute factor! These guys make every halloween an adventure!

Kindergarten Literacy Group Mini-Play: Chicka-Chicka-Boom-Boom

Rocking it out at the end of Chicka-Chicka-Boom-Boom
Eli reciting his line!

Eli's k-1 class put on a little mini play to Chicka-Chicka-Boom-Boom and it was darling! THe kids made the props and memorized lines and had to get organized and the result was comedy! Oh, they tried so hard but the little hijinks were the best part! Eli, of course, loved it as he belongs on the stage!

Nate's Field Trip to Busey Woods

Turning over a log on our hike to see what insects live underneath
Doing the prairie hookey-pookey
The frog lady is teaching them all about life in the woods
Put that camera down and carry me back to the car Momma!

I got to be one of the parent chaperones on Nate's Pre-k class field trip to Busey Woods and the Anita Purves nature center! It was so fun! They taught us all about the critters and insects that live in the woods and we then took a 1 mile hike through the woods. In the woods we actually saw a momma with two older babies! We then flipped over several fallen logs to hunt insects! It was a little boys dream come true! I love that I am able to share these moments with my guys!

Fire Truck with Fun with Awesome Aunt Valmere

Sitting in one of the oldest fire trucks in the area
Firemen Brothers!
Just some of the firemen hanging out after a tough shift
Ready for Action!

Oh, we had such a special day with Aunt Valmere! Fire Truck Parade Day! We got to go to an adorable little park in Bloomington and watch all of the old and new firetrucks line up for a fire truck parade! We got to climb into and check out all of the trucks and chat up the firemen! They firemen were actually mostly volunteer firefighters from rural towns which was unbelievable! After we got to check out all of the trucks we went back to Aunt Valmere's house and waited for the parade to start! We got to sit right out in front of her house and watch the fire truck parade go by! It is beyond special to have family living close by and Aunt Valmere is always so much fun!