Christmas Traditions

This time of the year is definitely one of my favorite times of the year!

It starts getting cold outside, which I love!

The holiday seasons are well under way and there is Christmas cheer everywhere you turn!

This is also the time of year where tradition is going strong! I am very much in to traditions and some of my favorite ones happen during the Christmas season!!

One of my absolute favorite ones is putting up the christmas tree and watching the kids have so much fun decorating it!

Nate and I get in on the decorating too!

 Christmas music is always playing in the background and everyone drinks hot chocolate or apple cider!!

The stockings get hung and the kids put on santa hats and everyone gets a little crazy and wild but we all have fun!

Another tradition we started years ago was taking turns placing the star or angel on the tree. The boys always forget who's turn it is each year so we go back and look at all the pictures to see who's turn it is this year. 

Caleb had that privilege this year! And he is finally tall enough to reach up to the top on his own.

He wasn't very excited when we told him we are thinking about getting a taller tree next year! :-)

Happy Thanksgiving

Hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving!!

May we remember and be thankful for all the blessings we have been given!!

Brotherly Love

My two youngest sons have a love-hate relationship.

 They are generally bickering or fighting over toys and this or that.

But there are those moments where they completely get along and are having a great time together.

I LOVE watching and listening to these rare precious moments. 

It amazes me how sweet and kind they can be with one another when they want to.

There's just something special about brothers!

Trick or Treating

With three boys trick or treating is always an adventure!

 It's a busy night of going here and there and visiting friends and family and of course the actual trick or treating itself. 

By the end of the evening we are all just worn out and hyped up on candy. It seems no matter how hard I try to limit the amount of candy they can have, they always have just a little too much! :-)

We always get ready a little early and travel around to the houses of whatever Grandparents are in town so they can see the little ones in their costumes!

Great Grandma dressed up as a witch this year, the boys thought that was pretty funny! Plus they love going to her house on Halloween cause she always has little goodies waiting for them!

Caleb and Levi's friend Carson came trick or treating with us this year. 

Here are the boys with their cousins and some friends.

We trick or treat in our small town down the main streets. They close the streets off and the kids just walk up and down them going door to door.

This particular house had this awesome set up in their front yard of toys soldiers. The boys doing it did such a good job that I didn't even realize they were real people until I got close enough. 

Derek wasn't too sure either, he stood there and stared at them for quite some time until the guy in front smiled and turned his gun on Derek and shot him with water!

Derek laughed and screamed and would have stayed there all night staring at them if we let him!

A little ways down the street we caught up with our friend Melanie and her two boys!

Jaxson was an adorable pumpkin.

And Logan was the cutest little cowboy I've ever seen!

Jax and Derek were the lucky ones to have a place to chill and relax while being pushed up and down the street!

The boys after trick or treating getting ready to head to our neighborhood to do some more!

After that we headed over to our local church to help the youth group with a halloween event happening there. There was games and hayrides and of course, more candy!

Needless to say the boys had a blast that night and it took a long time for them to calm down for bed that night! 

It was a fun night and my husband and I have since been enjoying sneaking in to the kids halloween bags for some candy every now and then! :-)

Business and Halloween

Life gets crazy sometimes.

Before my post yesterday it had been a few weeks since I posted.

It's gotten busy around here, and I'm afraid it's only going to get busier the next few months as the holidays approach.

Last week was spent doing laundry, cleaning and preparing for a yard sale we are having this weekend.

As I posted yesterday I realized it is well over 2 weeks past Halloween and I still haven't posted any Halloween pics of the kiddos.

So here it is...

 

 

Hope everyone had a safe and fun Halloween!!

A Boy and His Dog

My youngest boy, although being allergic to dogs, LOVES to go outside and play with our Cocker Spaniel Daisy.

He bosses her around and tells her what to do.

But he adores her as well and it's so sweet when I hear him say to her:

"Hi my Sweet Daisy"

Daisy loves him too.

Otherwise she wouldn't put up with what he sometimes does to her!

Derek loves to put Daisy on this makeshift "leash", which is really a small rope he found in the backyard.

He fashions the rope to her collar.

And I've seen him using it to lead her all around the backyard.

This particular day, I heard Daisy barking from the backyard. When I went out to investigate what she was barking about I found her in this predicament. 

Although completely unharmed she didn't particularly like being tied to this tree.

 

She pleaded with me to PLEASE let her free.

I of course had to go grab my camera first and snap some pictures.

But I did eventually let her loose. 

She bounded all over the backyard so excited to be free.

She kept looking up at me with those beautiful eyes.

"Thank you for saving me!!"