Pirates and Cowboys

We visited Grandma & Grandpa Jones Saturday. Randy got a pirate for his birthday and the boys love it.



They got to "walk the plank" and jump off the boards into feedsacks - WAY fun!

They also had a little machine that you could shoot cans with and when you hit the trigger, the cans would shoot up. Nothing like close range! (notice the curled tongue here :)

This is their good dog - Ms. Shelby.

Later in the morning Ed's aunt brought her grandchildren over (would that be 2nd cousins? I'm never good with that :). We hadn't seen them for a long time so that worked out great. The kids had fun chasing chickens and checking out their goat Scooter.

Brady & Blaine - happy to have caught one

Randy had just done his trick and "put a chicken to sleep" - I was just a little slow with my camera. Love how they're all on the ground watching the chicken though.

Meet Scooter - it's so fun to watch him jump around and go crazy

He went into the chicken house for a short time to get away from everyone. I don't blame him.

Thanksgiving

We had a great time in Lebo with family - lots of eating, dog walks, and more eating. Brett especially enjoyed this Blue Cheese Bacon dip - I had to promise him he could lick the bowl so he would stop eating spoonfuls of the dip before I even cooked it.



And of course, the highlight for the boys was hanging out with their cousins. Brady has already asked if he can go over to Garrett's house at Christmas.



At the end of the night, Garrett and Brady took the wishbone outside. I don't think Brady really knew what they were doing, but Garrett told him to make a wish and Brady immediately wished for a new Bokugan. I sure hope Santa brings one!



Friday we headed to Emporia to get pics taken with Santa (NO line and cheap, this year FREE - Mrs. Claus didn't even really want to take the picture and charge us so we all lined up and just took our own photos. Fine by us!)



And I have to include this pic of Ed and his trophy - he found it on my grandparent's farm. . . . we all went back the next day so we could find the entire skeleton. . . . .and we were successful. That's all I have to say.

Craft Day

Dedra and her boys came over the Wednesday before Thanksgiving to make stuff. It was really fun - I think she was more productive than I was (and she was nice enough to share!) but I did get a dress finished for Brynna and helped Becky make a fabric bracelet (hers turned out cute, but I gave up on mine).

During the Thanksgiving break, I also made my niece Whitney a scrapbook to chronicle their 2009 season (2nd in state!) and made a new pillow for our couch (one of my favorites! I'll post pics soon. Dedra, I made one for you too . . . .)

Here's a pic of our craft corner :)



She brought letters for us to make "Joy" and our monograms - I have my "S" on my front door wreath already and I love it.



The kids had fun playing (and crafting!) too.



Lookin' good Miles!



Thanks for coming over and sharing your great stuff Dedra! I had a lot of fun hanging out and hope we get to do it again soon!

Swimming in November

My parents and nephew were in town on Sunday so we crashed their hotel in the afternoon - it was really nice because we were the only ones there.

It was not one of Brett's good picture days. Maybe I should go one step further and say it was not Brett's day. I don't think he appreciated his brother having another playmate - especially in HIS house . . . . . . but everyone else had fun. We were so proud of Bro going potty like a big boy!

Some things never change

It's been more than 20 years since I've been to a skating rink, but I'm pretty sure they still all look exactly like the one I went to as a kid. EXACTLY.

Same wall to wall carpeting, same black lights and disco balls, same games and I'm pretty sure the same skates and toilets.

The boys were really excited to go Brady's school skate party, but I don't think Brady realized how hard it was going to be. I'm pretty sure he pictured himself whizzing around the rink, so there were some tears and falls and just hanging out around the games.

We stayed on the hallway carpet a lot, but eventually Brady figured out he could tag along with his friend in the rink if he hung on to the wall.

He was feeling unusally confident when I took this shot -

The cutest thing I saw was when it was "girls only" skating, the boys lined up against the wall and stuck their hands out for the girls to high-five.

Brady wants to go again. He wants to go fast. I think it was a good lesson that things take practice. I told him he might fall sometimes when he's learning to ride his bike without training wheels too and he said "That's okay, because I really want to do it."

Beautiful weather

We have been so thankful for these last few days of nice weather! Last weekend/week Ed was motivated to finish painting the last few places of the house - which included the tall peak he couldn't reach on his ladder and taking the screens off and painting the window trim (the fun stuff, ha!).

After much thought, he decided the only way he was going to get the tall peak painted was to sit his ladder on top of the picnic table. He didn't feel good about it - he just wanted it done.



Luckily our neighbors came over and offered their ladder pretty quickly. Aw, much safer!



Ed took Friday off to work on the house/leaves so he rode Brady to school on their bike. I've heard several people mention the "boy who rides on the tandem bike with his dad" :) And Brady is definitely getting interested in riding his bike - he wants the training wheels off. We will conquer that next spring!

True Colors

I wrote about the first book I read of Kristin Hannah's - Firefly Lane - awhile back and wanted to mention the 2nd (one I've read) as well in case anyone is looking for a great read. I thought it was just as good as Firefly Lane (my manager disagrees). I think it might be a book that some think is great and some think is just good (depending on where you're coming from.) Either way, you'll be glad you read it!

Here's a description of the book.

Halloween 09

It was magical! Well, I probably wouldn't go that far . . . . .but the boys enjoyed wearing their wizard costumes and got to wear them at least 7 different times the week of Halloween and most of the events were fun. So I think we it's safe to say we had a pretty good Halloween!

The Friday night before Halloween we went to a pool party and carnival in Mission. We got to swim in the dark and they had spiders and pumpkins around the pool. It was fun to go swimming in October and the boys loved jumping in.





Wednesday night we went to the Merriam Marketplace and enjoyed their Halloween activites - pumpkin painting, pumpkin bowling, candy scramble, etc.





Brady & Cameron (our neighbor) finding candy during the flashlight candy scramble - I think Brady found 25 Airheads! He thought he hit the jackpot.





Thursday afternoon we went to Ed's office party.

Brett had a school party Friday afternoon that Brady attended as well (since his school was closed). And then Friday night we went to Brady's school's Trunk or Treat. They were asking for more "trunks" so we volunteered at the last minute. I had no idea you were supposed to decorate your trunk! Oh well, the kids didn't care as long as they got candy. It was a cold night though!





Thankfully Saturday was a warmer day and we found our neighbor's shortly after going out so the boys had a lot of fun. Brett was wound up! He would run back after getting candy at each house screaming with joy.





After trick or treating, the Lee's had everyone over for treats/drinks. The kids had a lot of fun playing and decorating cookies!



And that was the end of our Halloween festivities - THE END.