4 years old

How can it be?  How in the world can my little 5lb 7 oz & 5lb 11oz baby  boys be 4 years old?  Wasn't it just last week we were driving to the hospital wondering what or who they were going to look like?  I know, I know! Every.single.parent asks these questions and it will only get faster the older they get. 

OK - enough of the mushy stuff.  My boys went on their first fishing trip with David this year, so fishing birthday is what we decided to have.  Since this is their first year to be in school I wanted to do a little something with their class at school in addition to their regular party with friends. 

Caution:  picture overload ahead

Turkey treats for party bags

My sweet friend Vanessa helping me

I wanted to include the fish theme in the class party, too.  Fishing cupcakes :)

4.years.old.

Another silly picture required :)

The class ready to partay. Can't you see all the excitement ?

So excited to hear everyone singing to them.  Jackson is just ready to blow out the fire!

Jackson talking....again.......

Handing out the treat bags

Everyone get a balloon!!! WOOOO

Their favorite teacher, Mrs. Graham .
Jackson was proud of his stickers

Storytime for their birthday

Next up:  Let's go fishing!

Handy-man

When I need anything fixed who do I call?  Dave-o  That's right, he can fix just about anything!  Matter of fact his motto is "If I can't fix it, it ain't broke".  Usually this type of stuff I wouldn't normally blog about, but this one was a biggie.  When I graduated college my dad hand-made me a dining room table.  It's one of the possessions that I value the most.  My dad made it just.for.me.  That's special stuff!  My table has been moved 4 different times to 3 different climates.  Sadly we started noticing that the top was starting to split.  Over the past year it actually split all the way down the top.  I was upset, but there was no way I would ever get rid of the table so I was just dealing with it.  David had to find a fix.  After consulting with daddio, he had a plan.  He fixed it (took a little longer than I anticipated, but it's fixed)!!!! I am so thankful for a husband that can fix things.  Here is my beautiful table that looks new again. Thanks babe!

Thankful

I mentioned that we are trying to instill thankfulness in our boys.  I was told by someone that they believe that being thankful is the best quality that you can teach your child.  Because if they are thankful all other things will fall in place.  If you think about it, that pretty much hits the nail on the head.  I started out this month doing my thankful's on Facebook.  Well, I quickly got behind and felt it was too much to try to catch up.  However, we did them with the boys each night at supper.  It was always so much fun to hear what they were thankful for and why it was also a great reminder for David and I to vocalize things we were thankful for. 

I wanted to do more than vocalize this.  I wanted something tangible and something we could go back and read, so we made a jar full of thankfulness.   They are just strips of paper that we wrote on each day.  We are going to make a chain for the boys Christmas tree out of them.  That way we can think about what we already have when we start thinking about things we "need" as gifts. 

I am hopeful that we can continue this throughout the year

Our jar of thankfulness

Jackson had to help write his a few times.  This one was Mommy :)

Thanksgiving

I love Thanksgiving.  Now that we have the boys I find it to be such an important holiday.  For us to take a few minutes each day to remember what we are thankful of.  Something we are striving to do with them everyday this year is to name one thing you are thankful for that day. 

We were blessed to have family with us this year!  It was so exciting!  Normally we don't have any family on Thanksgiving so it was a special treat to have visitors.  It was especially exciting because it was the first time David's sister and family had visited us.  We wanted to make sure it was perfect.  We had such an awesome time with them.  So glad that took the time to come and see us! 

All of us!!  Ricky, Diana, Thomas & Lydia spending Thanksgiving with us

Table set for our special day





Most of the spread



David reading to the boys & Lydia!  Fun memories in the making :)

Cog Railway - Pikes Peak

We were invited to go up Pikes Peak via the Cog Railway with some friends.  David wasn't able to get off work, but the boys and I took advantage of the opportunity.  It was fun! 

All the kiddo's ready to get on the train

The train's comin'

Jackson's a little wide eyed :)  but they are excited to be heading up

So pretty

Getting close to the top

In the far distance  you can see the black trees (aka Black Forest).  Right about where the sun is reflecting is where Kansas starts.  You can see a looong way at the top

God's beauty

The trip down.....

November 14th A special day in our house!

I shared earlier that we have a very busy Fall.  November 14th would be a day that is very full!  It is David, Doug (David's twin brother), and Adolfo's (my bro-in-law) birthday!  I am thankful for these 3 men in my life.  They are all awesome people.  I love my hubby for a million reasons you don't care about knowing and I won't bore you.  Let's just leave it at I love him....a lot.  My brother-in-law Doug is an awesome person.  It is so fun to be with him and David together to see their differences and to see their commonalities.  It really is awesome.  I love my other brother-in-law Adolfo (aka AD, Fofo, Tio) because he is so perfect for my sis.  I mean, I know he is a great guy, fun to be around and him and my hubby are awesome together.  But I love him most for the way he loves my sis.  Awesome dude that man is!  Love all 3 of you men

This year I made one of David's favorite meals which included chocolate pie.  I used to think it was strange that someone didn't want cake on their birthday, but now I just roll with it.  If the man wants pie, pie he gets!

Birthday supper

Birthday boy with his boys

That's love right there!

Pie time

David & Doug

AD with Erin & Princess

Snow..again

I know I've already posted about our first snow day, but those pictures in the snow are just so cute!  Here is our last snow day that we had.  We had some awesome snow fall and got to go to the park close to our house for a little bit of sledding.  Fun times

About to have fun with friends

My cute boys

First time down....careful, there's a fence down there!

Oh good, he stopped before he hit it......this time

Beautiful girls

Daddy came to play when he got off work

Lovin it!

How fun is this?!?!