Christmas Wish Lists

Tyler came home with this Christmas list from church. I don't think Santa is required to even consider bringing you an iPhone until you are old enough to spell it correctly.

He recently made me this sweet Christmas card.
Translation: I give you hug and kiss. I love the spelling he comes up with when he is working on his own.

The boys have been begging for an Elf on the Shelf but this busy (and forgetful!) mama has been hesitant to take on the responsibility. They finally broke me down when Tyler left this letter in the mailbox for Santa all on his own.

Tyler's list for Santa this year asked for a kid iPad, mp3 player, Headbandz game, Skylanders & Legos. Lucas had an extensive list containing almost every toy ever made.

Thanksgiving Weekend

We drove up to Libertyville on Thanksgiving Day. We've realized Colin is not as great of a traveler as the older boys were. He has a temper and usually ends up throwing all of the toys I offer him. At one point we listened to the same song for almost an hour since it was the only thing that kept him from screaming.

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Daddy decided a break from work meant also meant a break from shaving.

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We stayed at Joys house where the boys loved having a sleepover with their cousins.

The boys received some early Christmas presents since we won't be back up for awhile.

I love this picture of Colin walking to Papa.

We kept with our tradition of attending the Libertyville tree lighting cermony the day after Thanksgiving. Danielle looks so beautiful!

It was a cold wait and Colin wouldn't keep on his gloves or blanket. Eventually he and I headed to the warm car to wait for everyone.

Cousins!  

Fall Pictures

We meet a photographer at Forest Park today to take pictures for our Christmas card.



I like the relaxed feel of this one. 

Colin did not want to cooperate and wasn't in the mood to sit still. He either wanted to be held or running around so he cried through every attempt at a posed photo with just the boys. 

This is one of my favorites! I just wish you could see me behind Colin so we had the whole family in it. 

Tyler looks so old to me here! This photo of Lucas just begs me to kiss his cute checks.

 

 

 

I love the way Colin is looking at Tyler here.

Fall Fun!

Golden Gator

Tyler is loving Kindergarten! Today he came home super excited about winning the Golden Gator award. 

 

Happy Halloween!

It seems as if kids have been celebrating Halloween for a month with various parties, downtown trick or treating and neighborhood trick or treating.  The sugar high continues for one more day! 

Tyler's class took a field trip to Rhodes Family Farm to pick pumpkins and play.  I love going on his field trips but being chaperone and a PTO member are both things that me feel so old.

Next up- the school Halloween parade and class parties.

Followed by meeting my family at Edwardsville's Halloween parade.

 

Julia dresses as a cat to match Glam, Cole is a skunk & Ry is Captain Jack Sparrow.  

Glammie gets as excited about the parade as the kids and makes sure every float notices them and tosses candy their way.

 

Colin loves animals and is obsessed with dogs so he followed around this huge one at the parade. Colin, with the real police, who let our little jailbird off for good behavior.

Trick or Treating

Tyler wanted to be a police man this year.


So that meant Lucas had to be a police offer as well. I tried to convince him to be a fireman since we already had that in our dress up box but he couldn't be persuaded.


Since Colin is too young to have an opinion I made him their baby prisoner. 

Love this photo! 

 

We usually only make it to down a few streets but the older boys were much more determined this year. 

We trick or treated with their friends Jake, Andrew & Conner. Colin and I tagged along for a bit and then left the older boys to work on building up my chocolate stash.

Tyler's Kindergarten School Picture

 

Tyler's first Lifetouch photo. His class went from gym to photos so that probably explains the crazy hair. I love the fake grin. Exactly what I expected from a school picture!

Familial Resemblance

 

Lucas and Colin obviously look alike and I am starting to see more similarities between Tyler and Colin. 

Tyler's First Lemonade Stand

Our neighborhood garage sale gave Tyler the perfect opportunity to have his first lemonade stand. He asked us if he could sell lemonade and cookies and give all of the money to church so how could we say no?  

He made everything a quarter for easy math. I'm so proud of our little entrepreneur and his giving heart. 

Tyler's First Field Trip

Tyler had his first school field trip today. They visited the thrilling locales Glen Carbon Library and Yonda Log Cabin. 

Square dancing at the library. 

 

 This is a terrible picture of my shadow over Tyler's face but it's the only one I took. The highlight of the field trip for Tyler was riding a school bus for the first time. He has been looking forward to this for so long! 

Grandparents Day Lunch

 Tyler's school held a grandparents day lunch today and Glammie rearranged her schedue to be Tyler's special guest (Papa had to work). Thanks Glam!

 

O'Fallon Splash Park

After Tyler's 1/2 day my mom and I took the boys & Cole to the new splash pad in O'Fallon.

It was crazy hot but the kids loved it! There were several play structures also but my boys just wanted to be in the water the whole time. Cole was a bit more timid and it was so cute watching Lucas try to coax him into joining the fun.