The Boys are Back!

My boys are back and I am a happy momma again. When Austin saw me last night he ran and jumped into my arms, have me the biggest hug ever, and told me how much missed me. It felt wonderful.
We celebrated our Christmas this morning and will soon be leaving for his birthday party followed by a family dinner tonight. Despite not being to fall asleep til very late last night both my boys have pretty good attitudes today. I am so happy to have them back!
Here is a picture of the "inger red" house Danny colored and glittered this morning.

Lunar Eclipse

I woke up at 4:45 this morning, on purpose, to see the lunar eclipse.  I wasn't able to see the full eclipse before the moon set down in the trees, but what I did get to see was very beautiful.

In this picture the moon turned out completely blurry, but I loved the effect of how it higlighted the branches of the trees.

Multi Colored Truck

Danny found this truck at the thrist store and thought we should take it home and paint it.  So that is exactly what we did.  He really enjoys projects like this.  I think it turned out quite nicely.  After it was all painted he wanted it turned into a pull toy.  So we did that too.  He has had so much fun playing with it!

Popping Bubbles

Danny was facinated with popping the soap bubbles in the sink.  Maybe next he will think that washing the dishes is the coolest thing ever!

Ready for Christmas

Danny was so excited to put up our Christmas tree this year.  He was such a good helper.  He thought that since the tree was up that meant we got presents the next day.  No wonder he was so excited!

Here is Danny hugging the tree

the boys and the tree

Danny showing me his favorite train ornament

One of our Nativity scenes

Snow globes

Our Christmas book basket.  The boys love being able to unwrap a book each night.  I was excited to find the number wrapping paper!

Austin loves to work out in the wood shop with Papa.  

This is the latest creation he had Papa help him make . . .

Coco Gets a Girlfriend

 The cousins decided Coco was lonely and needed a girlfriend.  So they decided to draw him a girlfriend (or two, so he had choices).  I love the Eiffel tower and fireworks; such creative extra touches!

Thanksgiving

For Thanksgiving, we went to Oregon again this year, as did every one else in my family.  It was crazy, chaotic and lovely!

Scripture and prayer time

 making cinnamon rolls with Steven

 Mark bundles up Maysie so she can go outside and play

 My sisters  :)

 Mark and Tanya arm wrestle to decide whether or not he will wear his hat for the family picture

 Maysie plays chess

 Hallie reads the funnies

 The boys play poker with legos

The whole family

Me and my boys

Little miss Hallie

 Trev and Hallie

{Halloween}

This year I went as a witch again.  I think this is the third year straight.  Danny really liked that I was a witch.  I think I just like getting to wear bright green and black striped tights!

Austin was a ninja.  He loved it and really enjoyed getting to help create his costume.

Danny was a Pirate Thomas.  He found the Thomas costume at the thrift store and begged me (tears and all!) to get it for him so he could wear it for Halloween.  Normally I am a bit of a costume snob.  I always have to have their costumes be homemade.  I guess it is because that is how my mom did it growing up, so I will blame it on her  ;)  But anyway, I decided to give in and buy him the Thomas costume.  Then come Halloween time, he doesn't want to wear it!  He wants to be a pirate instead.  I reminded him that he choose Thomas, so that is what he needed to be.  He came up with a compromise and decided to be a Pirate Thomas.  And then, when it came time to take pictures and head out the door to trunk or treat, he didn't want to wear any costume at all.  I had to bribe him just to get this oh so sad and miserable shot!  Luckily, later on the incentive of a whole buckets worth of candy convinced him to put it back on again!

Spooky and Colorful Sugar Cookies

The boys and I decorated a batch of sugar cookies yesterday.  They taste soooo good!  It has been too long since we have had some!  The boys of course, being boys and all, wanted spooky cookies.  It was a big, huge, colorful yummy mess but we were pretty pleased with our skeleton gingerbread men, they were the clear favorite!

I love getting to watch General Conference at home.  I wanted to make it a special day for the boys, so we started out with the most delicious cinnamon rolls I have ever made!  But I also wanted the boys to realize that it was still a time to be quiet, listen, and not play around so I made up activity packets for them, and had all their art/writing supplies ready to go.  The activity packs helped a little bit for a little while but by the end of the morning session I was a bit discouraged.

Surprisingly the second session sent much better.  I finally got both boys to settle down and be quiet!

Here is Danny on one end of the couch . . .

And Austin and I at the other end . . .

Found!

I have been searching for awhile for the perfect hutch to go in our front room.  The price, the size and the style had to all be just right for me.  I would find one on Craig's List only to get no response back, or find on at a garage sale only to find that it had been sold 5 minutes before!  Well, I finally got lucky, and found the perfect one, on Craig's list.  The lady responded right away, and I went down and got it that night.  I took my dad with me because I am always nervous about going to some random strangers house with money in my pocket.  Turned out there were no worries in this case, the lady was a total sweetheart and the hutch was even better in person than the picture!

It will eventually be painted black to match my table, chairs and kitchen island, but I ran out of black paint!  I love that the doors are tin and not glass, so much better when one has energetic boys.  Now I am all organized and even had some room to display some of my favorite white/milkglass/hobnail dishes!  I am so happy that my patience paid off!

Pinewood Derby

Austin had his very first Pinewood Derby last month.  His car didn't win at all so it was a very upsetting night for him.  I am so proud of him though, of how much work he put into his car.  He had a bit of help and a lot of guidance from Papa, but he is the one who did the work!

I told Austin that he was the winner when it came to the most supported scout there.  He had Oma, Papa, Uncle Mark, Auntie Tanya and Maysie, me and Danny, so he was super lucky.  That made him happy again once he realized that!

Halloween Prep

The boys love Halloween.  About halfway through September they start asking me when we will get out the Halloween decorations, especially the pirate dishes.  I make them wait until Oct 1, but then they get a whole month of feasting at their Pirate table!

 We also carved our pumpkins this week.  The boys loved pulling out the pumpkin guts!  Austin kept staring at himself in the mirror while scraping and removing the guts.  Danny kept picking up the little carving knives every time I wasn't paying attention and was trying to carve all on his own.  Austin did his pumpkin all by himself this year, all I did was help a bit on the final scraping.  He did a really good job and did not give up when it got hard!

 Kitty Bat - my pumpkin, 

The King - Austin's pumpkin, 

The Haunted Castle - Danny's pumpkin