I am soooo thankful for four-day weekends!  This Thanksgiving holiday was such a great time to catch up with family and to spend some special time with the kiddos.

Thursday we camped out at my in-law's house for most of the morning and all of the evening.  We ate a wonderful meal, watched some not-so-wonderful football, caught glimpses of the parade, woke the bug up from a two-and-a-half hour nap, and watched and laughed as she played with her cousin. 

Friday I took the bub shopping while the rest of the fam enjoyed a daddy-daughter date to breakfast and target and the pet store!  Saturday was my mommy-daughter day and we went to the park and the library for story time.  While she napped I somehow managed to clean the downstairs, hang Christmas decorations, and then watch a movie while holding the baby!  (I love love love holding sleeping babies - after all, babies don't keep!)  Then we enjoyed Mass and dinner Saturday night, beginning the first day of Advent.

Sunday we took the kiddos to see Santa and reindeer!  How is it that children know when you are putting them in dressy clothing and instinctively throw a royal fit?  Even at the ripe ol' age of two the bug started a tantrum when I got out the tights and the dress (although she loves the dress shoes).  We miraculously made it out of the house and were the first ones in line to see Santa...haha.  We ushered a few families ahead of us so that we could demonstrate that they would be sitting with Santa, but alas no luck with the bug.  At least we didn't wait forever in a long, long line!  And despite that meltdown, there were reindeer to see and other fun activities to be had.  My daughter (aka my husband and I) make a "snow globe" in one of the craft rooms.  I think we are both a little (well, A LOT) rusty on our crafting skills because it. looked. terrible.  I'm so glad she is still too young to realize that and instead praised our effort!

Sadly we did not visit with my family for Thanksgiving this year, but we are looking forward to seeing them at Christmas!

In other news, the bub started crawling!  Second to holding a sleeping baby, this is another one of my favs.  I'm mesmerized as I watch him explore his world in a whole new way.  He will crawl from one object to the next from one end of the room to the other in pure joy and wonder.  I can tell he is pretty darn pleased with himself, as am I!

We also enjoyed several home basketball games and turned the bug's car seat around so that it is facing forward (that's kind of a milestone too, right?).  My daughter and mother-in-law also made national television during one of the basketball games!

From our weekend...

ra-ra and lu-lu

 enjoying the parade

 happy guy!  (oh is that laundry in the background?  playing with the kiddos is much more fun!)

love.

new shoes :)

trying on her brother's hat

these two :)

 during her first trip to the library (pardon the blurriness)

 singing....always singing :)

this turned out much better than the "snow globe" which I will not be sharing!

priceless.

our little cheerleader!

the TV debut.

Now we happily welcome the Advent season!

Autumn Outings – Pumpkin Patch!

We are so lucky to have a great pumpkin patch nearby!  And it offers activities in addition to picking your own pumpkin, which tromping through a pumpkin patch may not have been so convenient with a toddlers and a double-stroller and a wagon.  The fact that is was a blazing 85 degrees didn’t add to the excitement of picking a pumpkin, either.  But thankfully the kiddos loved the activities and kept us running to the point that we almost forgot it felt like summer (almost, but not really – it was hot).

the farm

the bug excitedly tells cousin lulu about something she sees

bub looks like a little baby model

so I mentioned previously that I’m not very photogenic…well unfortunately neither is my adorable little girl at this age.  she has a smile that lights up the room with sparkles in her eyes…I promise!  but capturing that smile is another story.  we generally end up with faces like this, because she is just too busy and life is just too exciting to stay still longer than 2 seconds.

she desperately wants to ride the hayride….

russ and neice lulu

little boy blue…

doesn’t seem so little riding the tractor

slightly out of focus, but we are all looking forward so I’ll take it!

she is accustomed to a bike with pedals…what is this push with just your feet stuff?

russ takes a ride in the wagon….yeah, not really.

bug wasn’t quite ready for the tire swing…”no like it” (more like “no yike it”)

playing dinner….

wait, where did she go?

this is the closest I got to capturing a smile - when my daughter was pretending to the eat the communal plastic play cheese…eek!…but see those sparkles!

this is also right before we lost her hair clip and then found it by looking back through the pictures and seeing when and where she last had it.  just saying…sometimes taking an obnoxious amount of pictures comes in handy.

And we ended the day with a cute little pow-wow and skipped home! 

Actually, the girls got fussy because they were hot and tired, the bub was hungry, I ran to the nearest picnic table to feed him, the rest of the gang walked through the already picked pumpkins and grabbed a few for the houses, I was a bit cranky as well because of the heat, and if you weren’t cranky yet then pulling a wagon of crying toddlers to the car would probably do it.  ha! But over all very fun and I’m thankful for pictures that captures those happy, fun moments so I can forget the rest before we go back next year.  :-)

Autumn Outings - Zoo!

Today we had a very fun autumn (well, it was 80 degrees) zoo trip.  The animal exhibits were mildly interesting, but my favorite cuties on exhibit were my kiddos.  :)  They looked so darn cute in their coordinating brother/sister outfits (this happened partially by mistake) and I was obsessed with our new Maclaren stroller which makes walking about with both kiddos so easy.

The bug’s favorite was by far the kangaroo that she got to pet.  The kangaroo exhibit actually lets you walk inside of an area where the kangaroos run free, sort of like a kangaroo petting zoo!  But I didn’t see any hopping about – mostly they just laid in the shade, but who could blame them.  The bub was amazingly content and laid-back (amazingly as far as babies go, this is standard for him) which actually makes me more antsy at times.  I was constantly adjusting and re-adjusting him in the stroller because I’m afraid he simply won’t let me know if he’s uncomfortable!  Silly, I know.

The husband and I’s highlight, other than seeing the kiddos enjoy the morning, was the bottomless icee that we shared and refilled at least three times.  And we can bring it back next time and pay even less for then endless goodness.  I’m sure this is marketed toward the younger crowd, but boy does this make me want to visit the zoo more often!

One of a whopping total of three animal pictures that we took.

My favorite exhibit!

Oh and, randomly, Abe Lincoln riding a “cycle” as the bug says.  Yes, this was at the zoo.

Potato stamping fun.

The most that the bug would stick her head through the wooden board.  My guess is she thinks we are crazy for asking this stuff of her.

Holding daddy’s hand and strolling through the garden.

Smelling the flowers after having “mommy smell” too.

Little scarecrows in the garden.

And old-fashion juice maker.  They were turning apples through this thing, then pressing them into juice.  This was the best apple juice ever and we now want to get a juicer or at least a make-shift juicer for the house.

Historic house at the zoo that I really want to tour but that I highly double is stroller accessible.  One day we will see the inside.

Always has a smile.  What a trooper, this one.

My goofy wave as I try my best to make the bug smile…she is not yet a fan of the carousel.  Again, she’s probably thinking “this makes no sense, why are you making me do this?”

Now she’s a happy one!  Loves to sing!

So photogenic!  He does not get this from me.  I am the very opposite of photogenic and cannot for the life of me be “casual” or “normal” when someone is taking my photo.  It’s just impossible. 

Kangaroo!!!

The bug pets a kangaroo!  Apparently they are very very soft.

Again, my favs.

Looking forward to visiting the zoo again.  Maybe around Halloween?  Maybe next weekend so I again have an excuse to drink a bottomless icee?  Hmm, better wait.  Besides, next weekend we are visiting the pumpkin patch!