There was also this thing called Thanksgiving...

I can't believe I forgot! Here are some photos of our Thanksgiving with the Staceys. 

Grandkids help Grandpa feed the pheasants

The kids found a branch stuck in the air and had some fun with it. 

Boys can entertain themselves for hours with piles of leaves.

This picture was accidentally shot a little late but I decided to keep it because this is how I always think of Ella. Her blonde hair blowing in the wind and she runs off to the next activity...

And of course a friendly game of flag football

When we got back from visiting family, we spent Saturday morning having one last hurrah with the McAllisters before they left. We thought Luke would love this "House of Bounce" filled with giant inflatables. As soon as we walked in he squealed with excitement and jumped off to climb up to the first giant slide. 

NOT!

No, instead we walked in and Luke dragged his near lifeless body to the soft cushions and lounged around, whining for about an hour.

Reece having fun:

Luke:

  

Little Duke having fun:

Luke:

Will having fun:

Luke:

Finally as things were dying down a little, he caught on to the whole "this is the coolest place ever" concept and spent the last 40 minutes or so having a blast. Maybe he was just having a shy day? Maybe he was sad because he realized this was the last real play date with his best friend? We'll never know.

 (I know, essentially the same picture, but he's just such a cutie!)

We also jumped the gun that weekend and found our perfect Christmas tree. I really loved our Christmas tree. We only got rid of it this past Thursday. I think I could have kept it up all year.

What I Missed

I'm a bit behind. I feel like I need to get through these kinds of posts because I get complete "bloggers block" until the little things are documented properly. 

We went on a lot of outings in December. In part, because the weather has been so unseasonably nice. The North Market is one of our favorite places to go downtown. I don't know what makes it so fun. Great ethnic food, lots of people, live indie singers in the background, exposed heating ducts. I love it.

We almost always end up going Italian. Andrew gets to speak a little Italian with the shop owner.

You have to love a place that sells fresh flowers (ummm, besides Walmart and grocery stores). Someday I want to make buying fresh flowers a weekly ritual (or I wouldn't mind growing them). Somehow the North Market has me convinced that these flowers were just picked from someone's garden that morning and transported in some old station wagon. That makes me want to buy them even more!

We've been playing outdoors a lot (up until it snowed a few days ago)

Visited a few libraries to check out their holiday train displays...

Luke found a little nook where he could spy James coming round the corner.

Much to my surprise, Luke really liked meeting Santa Claus. I think it helped that we were the last ones to show up and the library basement was pretty empty. It was like his own little personal visit with Santa.

And the obligatory COSI pictures (are you sick of seeing these all the time?). I never tire of them.

Cam really likes black beans. I have to remember not to put the bowl in arms reach.

We practiced putting the abc's in order. Luke gets a little stuck with b,d,p's and n,u and i,l but I'm impressed with how well he does with his letters. We practice spelling simple words with these cards sometimes. (And yes, that is a big bowl of cocoa puffs... we consider it an achievement when he eats junky cereal).

Potty training seems like some distant dream which will never come to fruition. But he will sit on the potty and announce loudly, "Now gimme a treat!". We make him re-state more politely and then follow through with our  end of the bargain. One day he is going to have to give us a little more than that.

Luke built this one all on his own:

Birthday Boy

At one point all three kids had their finger up their nose but I didn't get my camera out in time. 

Cam is very tolerant as Luke's pillow.