My kids...as defined in terms of coloring

Abbie: Outside the lines

Cooper: Inside the lines

Cameron: What? There's lines?

Grateful Friday

I figured a Grateful Friday would be a good day to return. I think I was so overwhelmed by all the things that I wanted to post about but missed. I couldn't figure out where to start, so Ill just start with today. I'm grateful for:

• The sunny day that gave me the motivation to get all my errands done
• My mom
• That the grocery store had the Thomas cake decorations in stock
• That the friends and family that are coming over tomorrow won't really care that I'm blogging instead of cleaning my house
• That I have friends and family that live close enough for me to see every day if I want to
• That right now all kiddos are off medication and healthy
• That our basement is officially finished as of today (except for the caulking I have to do)
• That I, quite unexpectedly, LOVE to caulk! I am the Queen of Caulk (don't say that out loud)

Grateful Friday

Today I'm grateful for:

• A couple of (semi) quiet minutes to blog


• My brother, who agreed to run with Abbie in her 5K tomorrow on his birthday :)


• The internet, so I can do my Christmas shopping online at 11:30 pm instead of going to Wal-Mart and Target 20 times.


• Starbuck's Cinnamon Dolce Latte


• Our Christmas cards from Costco that turned out really cute


• But most of all, that this is Tim's last weekend of regular classes, whew. He has finals the week of the 15th but the light is clearly visible at the end of the tunnel!!

Boys...what else can I say?

True...I swear...

Today Cameron comes running into the kitchen with his right hand behind his back. He looks up at me with his uniquely Cameron "crazy" face. With the ever present mischevious twinkle in his eye, he announced to me, "I have a surprise in my pants for you....BOING!!!" I found myself simultaneously breathing a sigh of relief that his hand was actually empty and dreading the day he starts Kindergarten. I was at the school yesterday and saw the principal in the hall. I feel the need to introduce him to Cameron soon in case he wants to consider early retirement or put in for a transfer to a new district.

Don't forget the lyrics...

It's been awhile since my last post, but I didn't realize it's been THIS long. There are a lot of things to catch up on...maybe this weekend. Tonight I wanted to post two cute song mix-ups that each of my boys did today before I forgot about them.

Cameron:

"A B C D E F G, wonder what you mean to me?" (his version of twinkle, twinkle little star). He has gotten better singing his ABC's on his own and sometimes it comes out: ABCDEFG JKJKJK MNOP WXYZ.

Cooper:

Tonight the kids took the Little People Nativity into the bathtub. Earlier today we heard "Shoo Fly" on Radio Disney. While I was cutting Cooper's hair after his bath, I heard him singing "Jesus, Don't Bother Me...Jesus, Don't Bother Me".

Happy Birthday Pappy

We headed off to the Kersey Valley Maize Adventure . I found it on the internet and although it's only 30 minutes from our house, I don't know anyone that's been there. We got a little nervous because the final couple of miles to the "farm" is not the most attractive. Then all of a sudden there is this little mini theme park oasis. It was fantastic. It was all set up like an old west mining town. We had a great day!! Hope you had a nice birthday Pappy!

There was a big bear and this huge jack-o-lantern carved from tree stumps.

Not sure who had more fun on the Jumping Pillow, the kids or Daddy!! I'd never heard of these before. It's like a giant balloon buried in a sandbox. So cool.

Cameron didn't want to jump, he was content playing in the sand.

The little kids went through the small maize maze and collected their ABC's along the way. The big maze was 4 miles long and can take several hours to get through, so we skipped that one.

After digging for dinosaur fossils, we cooled off in the water and panned for gems. This was Abbie's favorite part.

A beautiful day at the Amazing Maize Maze!!

The Big 3-6

Happy Birthday to me. Tim was in class and Abbie was at Girl Scout camp but I still had a fun day with Grandy, Aunt Cathy and my boys. We drove an hour or so to the Brushy Mountain Apple Festival. We had a great time and other than a 20 minute scenic route detour when we missed the sign for the shuttle parking, things went very smoothly. "We" enjoyed the obligatory festival indulgences of funnel cakes and cotton candy, a couple of apple treats of the caramel and candy coated variety, and the tad unusual roasted corn on the cob :)

The crafts were the best part. The pottery was beautiful, some photography and prints came home with me but my most favorite was some recycled art...glass bottle wind chimes from Bottle Benders. They either use flattened (how do they do that?) vintage bottles attached to driftwood (what I got) or they use newer discarded bottles and color them in all kinds of ways. Seeing a whole tent of them displayed in the sun and chiming in the breeze was so beautiful. So creative.

The boys enjoyed visiting with each and every single one of the hundreds of dogs welcomed there.

BUT, Cooper trampling through a pile of doggy discards was easily the lowpoint of the day :( It was quite obvious that the pile did not belong to the teeny doggie in the picture. It was much more likely to have come from some ginormous mutant dog/horse hybrid.

All in all it was a great day. And tomorrow wil be too. Off to a pumpkin patch adventure for Pappy's birthday. I predict more photos.