s.n.o.w.

Got my snow tires on just in time...

 *drool*

I totally wasn't expecting this much snow in November... but snow it did- I love how magical the first snowfall of the year is for kids, especially when they really don't remember it from last year.  We woke up to 2-3 inches and it continued to snow all day.  I promised the boys that if they ate breakfast and got ready really quick, we'd have time to play outside before school... I thought Eli would be on board- especially 'cause his snowsuit this year it RED- and red is, hands down, his f.a.v.o.r.i.t.e. color.  But he resisted every part of getting his snowsuit on!  First he protested on the floor in front of the fridge...

  Then he stood at the front door and cried and cried...

 And then finally decided to go out on the back deck...

 he loved it... but got cold pretty quick.

The next morning we had a few more inches and the boys played before school again-

 For some reason, Eli was happier in snow pants with his winter coat!  I'll never get that boy.  All that he really wanted to do was to eat the snow.  After his brothers left for school, he wanted to stay out, so I put him in the backyard...

He laid like this for at least 10 minutes, just licking the snow.  And no, it wasn't yellow snow.  All in all, we got at least 13-14 inches.  Very surprising for November.

Dallin was happy as can be with a bowl and a spoon... 

 

Eli decided he wanted to join Dallin for a 'snack' on the back deck, so he got himself dressed...

in Bryson's snow pants. 

tummy time

 hmmmm... hello tag.

I'm bored. I don't love tummy time, but I {heart} my bottom lip

 now how did I do it last time...?

tummy time is for chumps.

Nosey

The last night we were in Kentucky, Eli fell off a chair.  Fortunately, his fall was broken by a stool.  The square edge of the cross bar of the stool stopped him via the bridge of his nose, to be more specific.  His entire nose instantly swelled up... he cried and cried and then, fell asleep.  Once he was asleep I could apply ice and examine it a little closer...

This picture does not do it justice.  The swelling made his whole nose look totally disfigured, almost like his whole nose had been shoved up into his forehead.  But what could we do?  It was 10:30 in Kentucky on a Friday night and we were flying out the next morning. 

Once we were back home, the swelling had mostly gone down, but to be safe, I brought him in to see his ENT... he said that if it was broken, it was straight and there really wasn't anything he would suggest doing.  Thank goodness- we've had enough medical expenses this year!

Eli's residual double black eyes did turn a few heads in the subsequent days...

Good ol' Kentucky

I saw this whilst in Kentucky and had to take a picture...

Where else but in the south, is all soda uniformly referred to as 'coke'?  Like, when you order a drink at a restaurant, and ask for a coke, they'll ask what kind... Pepsi, Sprite, Root beer... they're all coke.  And Coke is coke too.

Kentucky Halloween

We love our trips to Kentucky.  And the kids are getting old enough that they really anticipate the trip... they were asking about it for days and days... and the only reason it wasn't weeks and weeks was because I didn't tell them we were going until about week before.  I've learned the hard way *grin*

The night before, the boys didn't get to sleep until after 11- the anticipation was too much- Bryson got up at least 4 times, just SURE that must be time to go.  Our flight left at 6:20am... so we had to leave our house at 4:45... our plan was to have the kids sleep in their {comfy} clothes so we could just get them out of their beds and put them straight into the car.  Except that Dallin was up at 3:30am, ready for action... and he was a BIG helper and woke his brothers up by 4:15 for us...

Fortunately, their lack of sleep didn't cause a problem on the way there.  They slept some, watched a movie, but mostly were transfixed by flying... it never gets old to them.  We had a stop where we didn't change planes, and the boys got a peek in the cockpit-

all those buttons! *drool*

At one point, Dallin was sleeping 1/2 way on my lap, with Hailee on the other 1/2... and she found something new... hair.

She had a glorious time feeling and pulling and exploring his hair... and he slept through it all!

As soon as we got to Grandma and Papa's house, Dallin found Liberty, their yellow lab he calls "Livery"- so cute.  He was attached to her most of the time we were there.

We got in on lots of Fall and Halloween fun.  At our first fall fiesta, the boys donned their costumes and we enjoyed chili and a jump castle, even a bonfire... never mind the record breaking drought that Kentucky had this summer and the burn ban... not to mention the windy conditions, BRING ON THE BONFIRE!! I was a little freaked out, but fortunately, nothing burned that wasn't supposed to.

Dal was a pretty convincing Spiderman... he didn't want to take off his mask for anything.  He sat on this bale, mesmerized by the fire, for at least 15 minutes.

Our little ninja... His costume was a few sizes too big, but he thought he was for reals!

Bryson put his own costume together from stuff at grandma's... he was Indiana Jones.  Not real sure where the fascination came from, 'cause he's never seen any of the movies.  Papa ended up giving him the hat to keep- he wore it most the time we were there.

  On the actual Halloween night, the boys trick or treated at all seven exterior doors at Grandma's house... they had so much fun running to each door and thought it was so funny that we pretended that we didn't know them.

 Hailee didn't love the piggy costume... but it sure kept her warm.

We also had a Halloween party at Grandma and Papa's with all the family.  It was jam-packed *grin* We carved pumpkins, painted faces and hair... the kids went on a hayride...

Eli dreamed a little...

We had a pinata...

 And enjoyed family- we wish they all lived closer- we have so much fun when we're together!

Our house in Kentucky was 1 1/2 blocks from the Louisville Zoo.  I used to have a season's pass, and went a lot.  I just wish my kids had been old enough to really enjoy it when we lived there because it's a great zoo.  We ventured there one day and got out a lot of energy.

Measuring up to the gorillas...

And the typical picture on the rhino-

And 'cause it was too cute and funny- Dallin vs. Go-gurt:

I can't believe that I didn't get a single picture of Dallin with Liberty the dog.  I'm pretty sure that leaving her was the hardest part about coming back home for Dal.  It *almost* makes Nathan and I think about getting the kids a dog.

The boys have asked so many times since we've been home just when we get to go back.  They love visiting (as do Nathan and I!!) and it's so great to see them having fun and making such wonderful memories with our far away family that we love and miss so much.

Family Pictures

We had family pictures taken while we were in Kentucky, so for your viewing pleasure:

Nathan and I haven't had professional pictures of just us since our wedding!  I loved how these turned out.

A few funny notes:
Dallin put his shirt on and then took a drink from the water fountain and the entire front of his shirt got soaked!!  So his shirt is on backwards in all the pictures...
Hailee would NOT smile!  She is usually pretty easy to coax a smile out of, but not that day, she was totally somber, until we started taking off her clothes- then the smiles started!
Getting family pictures taken is e.x.h.a.u.s.t.i.n.g.  But I love having them.

Look who's sitting up!

Well, mostly...

'nuff said.

Workin' overtime

We've (mostly Nathan) been drywalling the basement... but I've hung a few sheets myself *grin*

 The boys had fun the other night breaking up the drywall scraps...

Ya know, just boys being men.

First Hair Cut

So I finally cut off the faux-hawk today.  Moments after this picture actually.  The hair right at the crown of her head was 3 or 4 inches longer than everywhere else and u.n.r.u.l.y.  It's pulled up into an elastic in this picture... I ended up snipping it off just below the elastic, and now it's pretty much the same length everywhere (except for where she's rubbed it bald in the back).  I'm just hoping its still curly when it grows back!

Love the Catholic-school-girl dress.  Another one I've had since before Bryson...