As Traditions Go...

One of Dave's favorite traditions of the Thanksgiving Holiday is his MAN TIME playing flag football on Thanksgiving morning with all the guys from church and friends. He looks forward to it every year, and has played now for, I think, 5 years in a row. (at least!) This tradition has taken place in the rain, snow, freezing cold, and good weather. Today is a blustery 36 degrees and he is having a great time. He's still out there as I post this! The 'guys' were a little unforgiving as I, a GIRL, showed up to take pictures! I hope Dave doesn't get razzed too much! Although, someone did want me on their team! haha - yeah right! Anyway, I'm glad that Dave has this tradition he looks forward to - and then 'FEELS' the next 3 days! (from the pain! *wink wink*)

Dave and the guys. (the ones who thought it was ok that I was there taking pictures of my hubby!!!)

His most excellent play!

What a HUNK!

Ian's 6th Birthday!

Happy Birthday to IAN!!! Today Ian is 6 years old! Because it is Thanksgiving and Ian is getting older, we have decided to have a birthday party for Ian off of Thanksgiving. He will have his party on Saturday, so more pictures are to come! But today, I made him a birthday breakfast so far which consisted of (don't laugh because I really tried) 'Death Star Pancakes'. As you can see, they don't REALLY look like the Star Wars Death Star, but hey, they are what YOU SAY they are! He liked them and thought it was neat to have a 'birthday breakfast'! He also got to open Great Grandma Jensen's birthday card today, which he was really excited about and is excited to go to Walmart to spend his birthday money! Happy Birthday Ian!

More Snow Pictures

Well, it hasn't snowed for a week, but I forgot these pictures were on my camera, so I thought I'd post them anyway! Luke had a great time 'sledding'!!! These were taken the second day of the snow last week!

Mason at Five Months

So my little guy turned the big 5 months old today! So sad... he's growing up! But he is a complete joy (other than the spontaneous spit-ups multiple times a day) - but he is awesome! He is rolling over, eats baby rice and oatmeal from a spoon very well, loves to eat his fists, smiles a LOT, sits up with support, and looks WAY cute in his little snowsuit! He's a little 'squealer' when he wants to chat with you and the boys love him so much! I love this little Radio Flyer outfit, and HAD to take his picture with it - yes, he's a big boy and is already in 6-9 month clothes. What a chuck-a-lug! But I love him so much!

Oh yes, and I have to credit this way cute collage to my blogging buddy, Janessa! I already had picassa, but she informed me how to do these cute collages using that tool! I love Picassa! Thanks Janessa!!!!!

The First Snow...

Last night it started snowing, and Ian was really excited about the 'flurries', but by the morning, there was 5-6 inches of that wonderful white stuff on the ground! Ian was so happy and kept saying that it was December now and Santa could come! haha... too bad he has to wait longer. Anyway, after school, Ian and Luke got to play in the snow. Luke really doesn't know what to do in it yet, and Ian just throws snowballs at Luke and makes him cry. I tried to get them to pull each other on the sled, but that didn't last too long. Maybe I was a little older, but I remember playing outside in the snow for hours with my little brother. We'd play GI Joes, make roads with the sleds, try to build igloo's, have snow ball fights, and make snow angels! I always had SO much fun in the snow. But as of now, Ian just runs back and forth in the yard, and plops down and eats the snow. Luke will just walk around and kick his feet in it. But they had fun today until one of Ian's giant snowballs landed right on Luke's face and went down the front of his coat. Needless to say, snow time was over.... *wink wink*

Smiley at Bedtime

One of the things I LOVE about Mason - and all my boys actually - is that they actually like going to bed. Rarely do I have problems getting them to go to bed! It's great - and I don't mean to rub that in to anyone who struggles with their children. I think that the Lord knows by the end of my day, the thing that would put me over the edge would be kids who didn't go to bed. SO, anyway, this picture was taken a few nights ago, and, really, NO LIE, as soon as I swaddle up Mason and lay him in his cradle, he gets the biggest grin, and seems to say to me with his eyes and grin, "oh thank you - I love my bed!" It's the cutest thing, and I hope it lasts forever!

Last night, Dave and I were at our wits end with trying to entertain the boys. And I feel really bad, because between Dave's school projects and my work things, it seemed as if we didn't spend any time with the kids yesterday. So, Dave had a brilliant idea and the boys absolutely loved it. Dave brought the tent into the house and set it up in the living room while the boys were taking their baths, and we 'went camping!' It was fun just to be all together in the tent and we let the boys play with the flashlights and we read stories and talked. It was awesome for me to imagine the upcoming years with a house full of boys and going on fun family camping trips! Ian fell asleep in the tent and Luke wouldn't settle down long enough to go to sleep, so he had to go to his bed. Dave even fell asleep in the tent for a few hours until he finally woke up with a sore back at 10:30! It was really fun, so I thought I'd share!

HALLOWEEN 2008 - TRICK OR TREATING!

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

HALLOWEEN 2008 - KINDERGARTEN PARTY!

Ian and his Teacher, Miss Dulin

Ian's school does a Halloween Costume Parade every year and then their classes have treats and games at the end of the day for Halloween. I got to visit Ian's school (good thing my background check checked out!) and it was fun to see him in his school enviornment. The kids were all lined up to parade around to each grade level, and Ian was excited. There was another Iron Man in his class, and he thought that was neat! After the parade, they gathered in the cafeteria and had cupcakes and punch, then off to their classroom for games. Ian had a good time and was happy, I guess, to see me there to show my support!

HALLOWEEN 2008 - THE PUMPKINS

Luke and his 'Jack the Pumpkin King' Pumpkin.

Ian and his 'mad Jack the Pumpkin King' pumpkin.

Mason and his happy face pumpkin!

On Thursday evening, we got out our pumpkins and sharp knives and went to town with carving pumpkins! This, as a matter of fact, is one of MY favorite parts of Halloween! Probably cause we had so much fun doing it when I was growing up, I just love this part of Halloween. Ian and Luke have BOTH gotten into the movie "The Nightmare Before Christmas" and absolutely LOVE Jack Skellington. SOOOO they both wanted a Jack face on there pumpkin. Ian OF COURSE chose the mad one (he has a thing for bad guys) and Luke like the smiley one. Mason, probably got ripped off because his pumpkin was very hard to carve, so we did a standard face. But I'm sure he loved it! ;) Luke did NOT like the 'yucky stuff inside' and Ian finally got his hands dirty this year! It was a great time and I hope that my kids really enjoy these memories I'm so desperatly trying to create!