Thanksgiving/Early Christmas!

On Friday we said goodbye to my parents and sister and welcomed 16 members of Nick's family to our house for our annual Thanksgiving/Early Christmas celebration!  We had great company, too much yummy food, and a pretty awesome day.  The kids opened a few gifts and they were thrilled with the idea that Christmas will be here very soon!  Nick's cousins spent the night with us and we had a little after party so that was fun and Mama and Papa let the boys stay at the hotel with them so they could swim in the morning, so Nick and I got to stay up late and sleep in a little for once!  On Saturday, we had everyone back at our house for brunch and then it was time for everyone to start their treks home.  We had a great holiday and weekend with everyone!

Happy Thanksgiving!

On Thanksgiving Day, we went to Aunt Peg's and Uncle Brian's house to spend the day and have our "feast" as the boys keep calling it.  It was great spending the afternoon with our family and we had a wonderful time at Brian's and Peg's house.  We also got to see Great Grandma, my sister's family, and Nana and Gramps!  The boys were thrilled that Nana had made them some new hats... you can never have enough winter hats with two active little boys!  We had a wonderful evening talking about Christmas lists and December plans.  I am so thankful for my 3 guys who never fail to put a smile on my face and for the rest of our family and friends and the support and love that they provide.  Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Conner the Tooth Puller!

On Sunday night, right after dinner, Conner surprised us with the announcement that he had just pulled his tooth out.  We weren't even aware that he had one loose, but he apparently had been wiggling it for a while!  So he was pretty happy with himself and loved that the Tooth Fairy brought him his money Monday morning!  That was #7 for Conner!

On Monday, Conner came home from school with these cool Spider Man glasses. He loves them and I don't think he will be taking them off for a while!  Right  before dinner the little stinker started yelling that he had pulled out another tooth!!!  He ran over to me in the kitchen and showed me his mouth, and he had, indeed, pulled out another tooth!  The problem was that he was so excited that he had pulled another one all by himself, that he had dropped the tooth somewhere when he ran over to me!  Dad helped in the search and he finally found it in the carpet.  Whew!  Now he has lost 8 teeth (same as Ben) so we told him to leave his teeth alone for a while!  The Tooth Fairy made another trip to our house Monday night and left some more money for Conner which he put right into his bank.

Happy Birthday Marley!

Today we traveled to Des Moines to celebrate our niece, Marley's, 5th birthday.  She had a party at an indoor playground with lots of bouncy slides so the boys were thrilled!  The kids went down the slides so fast, it was hard to get good pictures, but here are a few.  Happy Birthday Marley!!!

13 Years!

Today is our 13th wedding anniversary!  Nick sent me flowers at work!!!  I think that is the first time I have ever been called to the office at school!  It was a wonderful surprise and then we took the boys out to dinner at Granite City!  It was a great way to celebrate 13 awesome years!  Happy Anniversary, my love!

Another Tooth for Ben!

Ben lost his 8th tooth Thursday morning!  We discovered it was loose Wednesday night at dinner when it bled a little and Ben refused to eat any more dinner!  He made Nick try to pull it out that night but it wasn't budging.  On Thursday morning, before school, Ben tried to pull it out and was in tears when I told him that we would have to leave it and try again that night.  Right before we left, he begged to try again and he pulled that tooth out all by himself!  He was very proud of himself!  The Tooth Fairy came, but the process wasn't quite as smooth as usual! I woke up at 5am to Ben yelling, "The Tooth Fairy didn't come!!!"  That jarred me right out of my slumber.  As most of you know, once these boys are awake, there is no going back to bed, so luckily, as Ben rested in our bed, the Tooth Fairy snuck in and left him his surprise and a note assuring him that she would never forget about him!