Handsome boys on Christmas Eve

Love my little boys (who are 7 and 9, they don't always appreciate my use of the word "little") dressed in matching outfits. I have to enjoy it while I can, they are close to out-growning this stage. These were taken on Xmas eve, right before the opening of gifts commenced.

Seeing Santa at the Fire Department

Last night was our annual visit to see Santa at the Fire Department--we've been going since Paxton was only a few months old!! This year Beckett was really prepared--he brought his list on a yellow legal pad! Paxton always has his memorized: LEGOS! The kids always get a stocking filled with treats (up until this year there were always peanuts, but no more, and I totally understand why) and new this year was a little wrapped gift as well. Paxton got a lego fire kit (how fitting, right?) and Beckett picked a board game. There's always goodies and punch too. Usually Daddy lets them explore the trucks downstairs for a while, but he had to get back to work last night, so he owes them a trip =)

Videos from Santa

We have believers here, and I love it. (Although with Paxton being in the middle school, I'm pretty sure this could be the last year of his innocence involving Santa). A couple of years ago, a friend told me about PNP, or "Portable North Pole" where you can go, enter a few pertinent facts about your child and they will create a video from Santa. Watching the kids faces as they watch what Santa has to say to them is priceless. He "knows" that Paxton is supposed to be trying his best when doing his homework and that Beckett is supposed to by working on being nice to his brother. He knows just where we live, so he can find up on Christmas Eve too. There is also an option to make a video for a naughty child, but fortunately we've never had to click on that option =)

Flashback Friday

This picture is 3 years old already! I can't even lift one of these boys now, much less two. I know Daddy can handle one easily--not so sure he can reproduce this pose though =)

Labor Day Camping

We had the opportunity to camp a few times this summer. I even purchased a tent and big fat air mattresses for our "comfort". Kurt has to work most weekends, so the boys and I just glom onto where my parents are camping. They (them and my cousin Courtney) have the bulk of the necessary supplies, so we're pretty lucky to get to horn in on their plans! These are pictures of the boys "celebrating" Labor Day in style--HA! Paxton is our little pyro--it is his personal mission to be in charge of burning all paper products in the campfire. In fact, Courtney will hoard some things and when he thinks he's out of material, she'll pull it out in exchange for an "I love you" out of him =)

July 4th & Matching Shirts

Can it BE a 4th of July without little boys in matching shirts? No, I didn't think so! I'm not a HUGE fan of the skull fad that is EVERYWHERE in children's clothes, but I did think these patriotic boneheads were cute in their tophats and shades =) As usual, Kurt had to work for the festivities, so as usual, we camped out on Uncle David and Aunt Mary Lou's deck to catch the light show. This year was extra fun because Piper and Carson were there too! I stunk at getting any pictures of the 4 of them though! Suffice to say that they all had a good time together!

Annual Fire Department Picnic

A summertime must-happen here is the annual picnic that the fire department has for its volunteers and families. After an unGodly hot summer, it turned out to actually be a very nice day for this years event! As usual there was yummy food, games to play, face painting, rides in the ariel ladder and the big moment this year was that Beckett won the "Grand Prize" drawing of a brand new bike and helmet! Which was great timing as he was outgrowing his old bike. The helmet was a little big, but no worries--it fit Paxton perfectly!!

Attempting to get back in the groove

So my last published post was back in January =( I was having a TON of trouble getting pictures to post on my blog, and, let's face it, who wants to read a blog without pictures? Not me!!! So with any luck, I can get back on the blogging bandwagon and get a certain family member or two off of my back, HA!!On Saturday, Kurt and I took the boys to Cave of the Mounds near Mt. Horeb. It's a natural cavern filled with stalagmites and stalagtites (if I'm even spelling them right!), and is a very popular destination for area school districts for field trips---in fact, Paxton went there this past Spring for his. But the rest of us had never been. The tour was very interesting and of course there's the gift shop when you're done. The boys got to sift for treasure buried in bags of sand that we bought and they dumped that into screens and swished it in the moving water trough that's set up there. They each came home with a nice little bag of crystals!

Halloween 2011

And another Halloween is in the bag--along with a butt-load of candy! The boys/firefighters didn't really go to THAT many houses, but boy oh boy are their bags weighty! We hit the "loop" that my parents live on, another street with a cul-de-sac off of it and a short blip of a street and then headed out to the IL's. (they were disappointed that Brian's light was off--in case Brian is reading this).
On the home front, it was a VERY differnt story. IF I buy candy, I buy way too much. And this year, since we had NO trick or treaters (unless you count the HS girl that came for candy specifically from Parker, and NO that is not a metaphor for anything), we have another butt-load of candy here!! Guess who is going to be voted "most popular" tomorrow at work?

Ferry Time!

Saturday after our Trick or Treat adventure (and after Xmas card pictures---dang we were BUSY on Saturday!), we took the ferry across the Mississippi River over to the Iowa side. It had been quite awhile since Paxton had ridden and I don't think Beckett ever had. Needless to say, they had a very enjoyable ride--helped along by the lollipops that the nice gentleman collecting the fare gave them =)

Trick or Treat at Stonefield Village

Yesterday we did Trick or Treat at Stonefield Village in Cassville. SF is an old-time village made up of businesses that you would have seen from an era long ago: Milliner's, Saloon, Depot, Blacksmith shop, etc. There's an old schoolhouse, dentist office, post office, general store and more as well. Every year at Halloween the different buildings are "adopted" by local businesses, organizations and families and are decorated and "manned" to hand out candy. Last year they had over 2,000 people attend the event---a pretty big deal for a village of 900 (Cassiville, not Stonefield! SV was never a real inhabited place)
We got there nice and early, which means we were able to get out earlier as well, which worked for us =) The boys are firefighters this year! Police officers last year, maybe next year they need to emulate Momma instead of Daddy....

Wordless Wednesday

It's been awhile....