Thanksgiving Recap

This year was our turn to go to Prineville for Thanksgiving to visit Brad's grandma and other extended family. We left on Tuesday afternoon to drive to Portland. We stayed the night at our friend's house. They have two little kids. Their oldest is a month younger than Brody and their youngest is 4 months younger than Colt. It is always great going to a place with lots of different toys and accommodations for little ones. Plus they are great company and its fun to catch up on life with them. (If only we lived a little closer).

After spending most of the morning with them on Wednesday we loaded up the boys and drove down to Prineville.

We arrived at Grandma Denton's around dinner time and had yummy pizza for dinner. Thanksgiving morning was exploring Grandma's house and watching a little of the Macy's Thanksgiving day parade (I turned it on because it was a favorite in my house growing up).

The rest of the day we spent at Brad's cousins house. They had a nice playroom for the kids and delicious food so we were all happy.

The rest of our time in Prineville was pretty relaxing. Brad hurt his back so was a little immobile for part of our time there, but I'm happy to report he is doing much better now.

Our trip home took a lot longer than we had hoped for. We made it back safely and are starting to get ready for our month of Christmas.

(Once again my camera was being temperamental so I only got a few pictures while we were down there)

Brody was lucky enough to get to ride on a quad with cousin Scott. He loved it.



All three of the grandkids. Colt is actually smiling for the camera. He usually has a serious look on his face.



Brody and Abi dancing to Christmas music.

Day at the park

On Saturday Brad and I made a great attempt at getting Brody to his first Lil' Kickers session (a long story I will save for later). We did not play soccer and instead went to Robinswood Park with the boys.

Brad & Brody on the slide


Brad & Colt on the slide


Brad & Brody on the teeter-totter.





Colt is a little more fearless when it comes to exploring the playground. He doesn't hesitate to climb on things or slide down the slide. He probably would have walked down the slide if we had let him.


This is how Brad sends Brody down the slide.


We were lucky to miss the rain and had a fun day being a family.

Toolbox

A few nights ago we went to the Interlake High School Cross Country Banquet. (Brad coaches the team). As you can imagine the boys are always the highlight of these team events and all the parents and runners (students) love them. I was lucky enough to have some people watch Brody during the banquet so I only had to chase one of the boys around.

At the end of the night they gave their team mascot (Brody) an end of the year gift. One of the girls (Michelle) made this really nice tool box for him. As soon as he got it he knew exactly what it was. Although it was really late when we got home we let Brody find all his tools so he could put them in his new tool box. Thank you Interlake Cross Country Team! He loves it.

(Mom Disclaimer: Brody is wearing underwear. He had just gone to the bathroom and was almost ready to put his diaper and pajamas on and I was too lazy to put his pants back on too.)

Fall Yard Work

Last weekend we had a cold, clear Saturday morning. We spent a fair amount of time outside doing some yard work. Well, I didn't do much but Brad worked hard raking some leaves and pruning trees. He had his little helpers nearby to make his job a little easier.

Brody raking some leaves.


Colt trying to decide what to work on next.





Time for a break after all that hard work.

Bible Verses

I am so excited that I finally got some video of Brody reciting his bible verses. I have worked a little bit with him on these but I am truly amazed at how much he can remember. Sometimes we go a week or two without going over them and he can still say them pretty well. The videos are really dark but I can really only get him to say them right before he goes to bed. I think he knows he gets a little extra time awake if he says his bible verses.

He does get a little prompting from me. :)

These are mostly NIV versions but there is a little mommy interpretation in there.

Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.


Ephesians 6:1 Children, obey your parents in the Lord for this is right.


Proverbs 3:5-6 Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him and he will make your paths straight.

(Brody is very good at this one because we also know a song that sings it)


John 3:16 For God so loved the world that He gave his one and only son that whoever believes in him will not perish but have everlasting life.

(For some reason Brody often says his only wife and son. We still aren't sure why he says that)


Psalm 107:1 Give thanks to the Lord for he is good, his love endures forever.

(This is our latest verse to go along with Thanksgiving)


Philippians 4:13 I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.

(This is my all time favorite verse and the first one I did with Brody)

Catalog Shopping

We received the Target toy catalog in the mail the other day. I gave it to Brody so he could look at it and get some ideas to put on his Christmas list. (Throughout this year whenever he would beg and plead for us to buy something we would say "sorry, we aren't going to buy that today but maybe you can put it on your Christmas list." The time is finally here. Although I don't think he quite gets it yet.)

After he had his lunch he laid on the floor and looked through the catalog. It's pretty cute because he will say "Mom, I want to borrow these cars." I have to talk to him about buying it not borrowing it. If only life were that easy then maybe we would have less toys around our house.




Hmmm...what do I want?


I am pretty sure there is a very similar picture of Brad doing his Christmas list, but his was probably with the Sears catalog.

14 months & 3 weeks

I am getting a little behind with taking monthly pictures of Colt. It doesn't help that I have a temperamental camera that is now working again.

A quick health update... Colt came down with a 104 degree fever last night. I thought it was going to be a long night of no sleep but he slept great through the night and had no fever this morning. He played pretty well for most of the day but was a little fussier than usual. He seems to be back on track. Here is hoping we continue to stay healthy.





(I also realized, after uploading these pictures, that Colt is wearing the exact same outfit he was wearing in his 13 month pictures. We don't need more clothes. I guess there are some outfits that I just like better than others. :) )

Working at ONRAX

One of the things we do often is bring Brad lunch at work. It usually happens when I get a phone call from him.

Brad: Can you bring me lunch, I'm dying?
Me: What did you have to eat for breakfast?
Brad: A yogurt.
Me: Of course you are hungry. What do you want for lunch?

Brad's office is only 7 minutes away so it isn't too inconvenient for us to bring him lunch. Plus, Brody & Colt love going to work for him.






Pictures of Brody will be coming soon (when I get my new camera).

Bob & Apolo (with new pictures)

My camera is still broken. I'm very frustrated by all of it, especially the idea of having to buy a new one and trying to find one I will really like. Thankfully I had other people taking pictures of our cute little boys and their Halloween festivities.

Brody was Bob the Builder. He loves this show (it's one of his top two favorite shows....and also one of the three shows we let him watch). He did have Handy Manny tools because real tools were a little heavy for his belt.



Colt was a turtle...or Apolo (who is our pet turtle and is currently very neglected but is still being fed every day). This was the same costume Brody wore for his very first Halloween. (I'm very excited that I was able to use it more than once).



Our Halloween festivities started on Thursday with a little playdate Halloween party with Cousin Abi and our friend Gunnar and Emiline. On Friday we had our playgroup/preschool Halloween party.

Friday evening we went to our cul-de-sac pumpkin carving party. We didn't carve any pumpkins but the boys had fun playing with our neighborhood kids.

On Saturday Uncle Justin, Aunt Jessie and Gunner joined us for a trip to Gilman Village. All the shops were handing out candy. This was absolutely perfect. The kids loved it and we didn't have to walk too far to get to the next shop. Colt and Gunner (who was dressed as Tigger) were two of the cutest dressed kids.

The boys getting ready for their candy. I was surprised at how quickly Colt caught on to the idea. When someone handed him a piece of candy he threw it into his bucket.



After Brad got home from his cross country meet (where both his boys and girls teams placed 2nd and qualified for state), we went trick-or-treating in our neighborhood. We really can't do much more then our little cul-de-sac and the next one over. The boys got lots of candy (for little boys) and had fun. After our neighborhood we went to a cross country celebration party. We were the only ones who dressed up but everyone loved it. Brad quickly dressed up as Bob Marley the Builder. I had my standard Snow White costume. (a pregnant looking Snow White)







It has been a busy few days but very fun for all of us.