Thanksgiving

We did our usual this Thanksgiving.
We've given up the driving all over town and just spend the day at my mom's the entire time instead of leaving and going to Josh's two other aunts' houses. We love getting to see them on holidays too but it just ends up being way too stressful.
My Uncle Mike and his girlfriend Marcy were in town for Thanksgiving. It was really great to see him. He has made some big changes in his life this year and it was really amazing to see what a difference there was in him. My mom really had a great time with them while they were visiting. 
The boys were stoked to watch the Thanksgiving parade with me this year. I've always loved watching the parades so it was nice to be able to share that with them this year.
Josh brought the mashed potatoes again this year....he really does make the best. We brought a potato bar this time with three different flavors. He made horseradish mashed, country style and a garlic and mushroom. They were a big hit.
All of the food was amazing as usual. My mom made some of my grandma's appetizers that she always would make during family functions. It was delicious!!
The boys had a great day playing and running around. Floyd found this remote control dump truck that they played with non stop all day long. 

I was passed the torch this year and informed that this will be our last year for Thanksgiving at my mom's. Next year will be at our house since we have more room to be able to put a table that we can all sit at together.
I have to get on the hunt now for Thanksgiving decorations for next year!

Halloween 2011

So, for Halloween we go to my mom's house. I skipped class that night, I miss enough of the boys' lives I just couldn't justify missing getting to see them trick or treat too.
I got to mom's early since I went straight to her house from work since the bridge situation between Indiana and Kentucky has been hell lately.
I got to relax and get ready before everyone started showing up and the boys came over with Josh and Nana.

We all had a really great time trick or treating this year. The boys really got into it. They were running from house to house. It was so different than the last few years where we made it to a few houses and it was really slow going. My sister's sister-in-law came over with her husband and her son Max. Max was able to show the boys how to really do it.
We had a huge troop of adults with the kids this year. We had of course myself, Joshua, my mom, her best friend and her sisters, my sisters, my brother-in-law, my aunt, cousin and her husband, my mom's neighbors and their son, and a few more I don't remember. My step dad always stays behind and gives out candy.

My mom really goes all out every year. Her decorations have turned into an obsession I think. She is always on the look out for new awesome Halloween decorations. She has something like over 10+ large bins of Halloween decorations in her basement and it takes her a few days to get everything up.
The house always looks amazing.

Mom & Nana



Mom & Ash



Mom feeding the boys chili before we head out



Taylor



Wario, Mario & Luigi





Peach & Luigi















Mom & Cousin Bri



Ash & I



Callum



the boys had us draw on their mustaches once they were done wearing their stick on ones.

Taylor

Visit with Grandpa John

My dad visited this week from Australia for his yearly visit.
He came in pretty late Friday night and the boys couldn't go to sleep and stayed up late waiting for him to get in. They were SO excited to see him. Ash had planned the next day for us to go to Huber's up in Indiana to the pumpkin patch and they also have a winery there.
It was a beautiful day, a tad cold but a beautiful sunny day.
We went out to the pumpkin patch, did some shopping, got a pitcher of Sangria and went into the kids area for the boys to play.
Taylor navigated us through a corn maze and did a great job. We let him lead the way and decide all our turns and he found our way out pretty fast. He was so proud!


It was another pretty low key visit. We didn't really do a ton, I had to do my clinicals Monday and Tuesday but I took the days off work so I could see him during the day and then head out to clinicals at night. Sunday we went to the mall for a while, had lunch and went down to the Riverfront park to walk around.
Monday we went to an antique mall and walked around and talked and then had lunch at a Mediterranean place in our neighborhood. When we were done I had to head home and change and go up to Sellersburg for my clinical that night and they all went to some more antique and thrift shops since my sister was still on the hunt for some costume stuff.
Dad and I went up to the boys school Tuesday and had lunch with them and walked around the track during their recess time after lunch. They were beaming and so happy that he came to school to see them.
It was sad to see him go again, but there's always next year!




























I have no ass!

Five Year Olds!!

The boys turned FIVE Monday!
My does time fly. I know that every mother says this and it's so true. I just can't believe how big they are. I remember them as my little squishy big headed babies!

The boys were so excited to go to school Monday on their birthday. I couldn't help but chuckle and think that this definitely won't last forever. I took Monday off so I could decorate the house and go up and have lunch with the boys and bring cupcakes for their class.

They decided early on that they wanted a "Toothless" Birthday, meaning they wanted it all to do with "How to Train your Dragon". Let me tell you, this was a feat. Apparently they did market this movie when it originally came out, but there is hardly ANY toys on the shelf anywhere for it. It's such a cute movie, we actually took them to see it when it came out in the theater (back when they didn't scream about how loud it was). I found out that WalMart had some toys on clearance and I ended up breaking my golden rule of never stepping foot into WalMart. I ended up going to three WalMarts in one day. I think it's the most I've been there in years.
I found them each a small Toothless dragon and each a Hiccup toy. They also had little plate sets and got them each one of those and the movie, which I was surprised we didn't have in the first place. They also had a giant Toothless dragon that makes all sorts of noises on super clearance and of course they only had one. The scramble was on to find a second one and I ended up having to order it on Ebay.

Anyway, so I got the decorations up that morning and then headed to their school for lunch. It was so adorable. I got to see them go through their lunch line and was so happy with their choices for lunch. The boys have been buying their lunch even though I would prefer to pack it they really like being able to choose what they want and I have trusted that they would make good decisions with how we've raised them and they sure do.
Sure, Callum has chocolate milk everyday but they chose the fish option of lunch that day instead of a hotdog or a grilled cheese sandwich and they both chose carrots and a banana with their lunch. I was so proud.

Their classmates were so cute and talked non stop during lunch. The boys were wearing cute rubber bracelets that said Happy Birthday that the teacher gave them. Ms Davidson their main teach came up and hugged me so hard I thought she was going to squeeze all the air out of me! She told me what a joy they are to have in class and thanked me for bringing them to her and how much they love them. It was so nice and reassuring to hear that from their teacher. It was good to know that they're so loved at school when I have my freak outs about them being in school!

After they came home from school I had to go and take a Pharmacology test and then left school right after my test so I could come home and see them open presents and have more cupcakes.

They were so stoked on their presents and it was awesome to watch their faces light up. Josh got them viking helmets and I am pretty sure that was by far their favorite.
After dinner and cupcakes we watched "How to Train your Dragon".

The boys birthday party is tomorrow at KaZoing at 4:15 and they're so excited. Taylor asked specifically for a place they could bounce. We didn't invite any of the kids from school since we would have had to invite ALL of their class, all 47 kids. Since they just started and I don't really have contacts for any of the parents I figured this will be our last year of inviting our friends and their kids exclusively and after this year it's going to be all about their schoolmates.