Thanksgiving 2014

Thanksgiving this year was at our house. We were lucky enough to have Grandma Toni, Aunt Sarah, Uncle Jay, and baby Sophie visit us for the holiday. Doesn't Sophie look happy to be with his cousins?

We're thankful that the cousins could spend time together.  

The boys brought home crafts they'd done at school in honor of Thanksgiving. Nick made this necklace with things he was thankful for: family, food, cat. I think they're turkey feathers.

He could actually read most of the words.  :)  Another thing I'm thankful for.

Nick also made the infamous hand turkey, which was oh-so-obviously made by him with no teacher assistance.   :)

I love that he added the little waddle thing under the turkey's neck.

Henry made an adorable turkey hat with things written on the turkey feathers. He was a little more, er, egocentric in his thankfulness. He was thankful for Einstein (his stuffed penguin), Mat Man (a character at school), TV, and Darth Vader. Sigh.

Henry's hand turkey was much more polished, but obviously an adult helped with it. That's okay, though, since it was made using his hand and fingerprints. Adorable. I'm a teacher, so I have to like this kind of stuff.   :)

Here are the boys wearing their creations.  I'm most thankful for these two guys in green.

Yup. My boys remove wallpaper and add decorative crayon to walls. They're for hire, if anyone's interested.

Greg most of the cooking, and there was plenty of food. It was a pretty relaxed meal, which is a good thing because Henry didn't last long at the table. Everything was delicious, but my favorite dish was my mother-in-law's corn souffle. I forgot to take many pictures because we were too busy pigging out and visiting. I did, however, get a nice family shot of my sister-in-law and brother-in-law with Sophie.

She was laughing and smiling, but then Sophie would stop and look serious when I got ready to snap a picture. This was the best one I got of her and Grandma Toni.

I did get the boys to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving before our evening was over. Henry can say it quite clearly this year, though he more yelled it here.

It was a good Thanksgiving, though we were pretty tired when it was all through. Must be the turkey!

Nicholas had a birthday party!

This year, Nick asked for a Star Wars party. We gave him his wish, and the entire evening was Star Wars themed.

I baked cupcakes and added these star wars figures on top. Nick picked the decorations out himself, and I made chocolate, banana, and mascarpone-strawberry cupcakes.

The cupcakes turned out looking great, and for half the price I usually spend at the bakery.

Yup, I made white-chocolate covered pretzel light sabers, too.

If you look at the wall behind my adorable niece Sophie, you'll see the Star Wars wall stickers I bought. After the party, we transferred them up to the boys' room for decoration.

Nick was actually able to read a few of the words on each of his birthday cards this year.

Henry was a little jealous of Nick's gifts, so he hovered the entire time. Nick did end up sharing most of his new toys with his brother. 

The boys had a great time cuddling and playing with their cousin Sophie. Nick, especially, was really good with her.

The cupcakes were a hit with the birthday boy. They did fight over the little action figure sticks, though.

Nick had a great big goodbye hug for his Grandma Linda.

Nick had an excellent time, and he was pretty well-behaved and gracious, considering that he's only six. It was a great party, and I'm glad so many of my family members and friends made it out. I didn't take as many pictures as I usually do, though, because we had a, er, mishap during the party. Henry snuck upstairs into the walk-in-closet where the cats were being held. He took the entire cat litter box and flung it all over every piece of clothing Nicholas had in that closet. Thirty pounds of cat litter plus two very freaked out cats were left in the closet. This was one of those situations where I know it'll be hilarious in retrospect. At the time, however, it was pretty horrifying.

Happy Birthday Nick!

Nick turned six this week. My little man is growing up. Sniff. We celebrated by ordering him a miniature trampoline. I can't wait until it's all set up--they can bounce to their hearts' content.

Notice Henry eyeing the gift he got Nick. He's plotting to run away with it.

Henry really struggled with the whole "these presents are not for me" idea. I took him with me to the store to help pick out Nick's gifts, and I had Henry choose one of the gifts to be "from" him. He didn't quite get the concept.

Nick was happily ripping into his gifts. Henry. . . well, his daddy had to hold him back.

Yes, Henry is trying to snatch back the present he got for Nick. 

Thank goodness Nick loves to read! I snagged him some great nonfiction titles from my school's book fair a few weeks back.

Since Nick has been really into Legos lately, we got him a set of bricks. Henry picked out a Lego Star Wars ship for Nick, but he just wouldn't let it go.

We took Nick out for a special meal at Moe Joe's in Plainfield. Surprisingly enough, we've never eaten there before. The Cajun-style food was really yummy, and the decor was cool. Would you believe Nick called this the "lowercase t wall?"  My kid cracks me up sometimes.

I think this is the only moment during our entire meal that Henry sat still.

Instead of a birthday cake, Nick had birthday beignets! It was amazingly delicious. I wish we'd ordered more.

Happy Birthday to my big six-year-old!

Easily Amused?

This afternoon we stopped at Costco for a few things. It's funny how no matter how few things I need at Costco, I cannot leave the store without dropping $100. I'll console myself with the fact that I've stocked up on enough fiber bars, Splenda, and Vitamin Water to last months. Because it's so cheap, I decided to let the boys pick what they wanted for dinner in the Costco Food Court.

They chose pizza. But what they were really excited about was the front row seat to the pizza-making process. Henry was downright mesmerized.

Henry kept waving at the people, and I'd have to tell him to stop distracting them. The one lady got a kick out of him watching her, though, and she kept grinning at him as he stared. In a few years, this kind of stalker-like fascination will be weird, but at three he's just cute.

Their favorite part was the machine that swirled the pizza around and squirted the pizza sauce on top. They watched for at least ten pizzas, and after each time they'd squeal, "Again!"

See what I mean? I think that perhaps my children are just easily amused. 

Pizza and two lemonades: $5.50

A Costco cart with only seven items: $138

30 minutes of both children sitting down quietly: priceless

Fall Photos

I like to multitask. Actually, even if I didn't like to multitask, at this point in my life, I don't have much of a choice. I never just do one thing; there's always an agenda. Take my trip to the mall.

Yup. Greg dressed Henry in a pajama top. Not sure why.

I needed an oil change, so I dropped my car off at the Sears. While I waited for the boys, I shopped for boots at the Carson's. My husband met me there and delivered Henry and Nick.

Oh, and yes. They did try to steal the balloons. I wouldn't let them.

Recently, Fox Valley has been putting these displays for kids to play with in their center area. If nothing else, they provide a few minutes of fun and some cool photo opportunities.

So between buying new boots, getting an oil change, dropping my shoes off at the repair shop, and finding a new pair of jeans, I managed to entertain these two.

They never stand still at the same time.

But the leaves are pretty cute, I think.

I got them to behave (mostly) by hyping the play area as a reward. They could stay in this play area for hours.