Thanksgiving

We have so much to be thankful for! Especially these 2 boys:

We hosted Thanksgiving at our house this year. It was wonderful to not have to travel. Yes, I had to clean and prepare food, but it was worth it. We only hosted our parents, so we didn't have to prepare to much.

Here is the table all decorated and ready to go:

After lunch, we were able to relax and take it easy. Grandma Cindy brought the boys reindeer antlers. Hudson had a blast with them.

Halloween

One of the boys always seems to get sick at Halloween. 

Wednesday was a very busy day. Charlie had a Halloween party at school. Then they were dressing up at daycare. When I picked the boys up, I found out Hudson had screamed all through his nap and never fell asleep. He had also started running a temp.

We decided to keep it low key for Halloween. I didn't want Hudson to miss it, so we dressed him up, took some pictures, and went to 5 houses. Then Mommy and Hudson came home and handed out candy while Charlie and Daddy went to a few more houses. 

Spiderman

The unhappy duck:

Which picture is better? The one where Hudson is not looking, or

the one where he is screaming his head off?

First stop of the night:

Charlie and his friend Aaron

Hudson is happier now that he has candy!

Carving Pumpkins

We have been looking forward to carving pumpkins for awhile now. Charlie has been asking every day, and Hudson loves playing with the pumpkins. We had been waiting so they would still be good for Halloween with how cold it is now.

We started by making apple cider to drink and popcorn to eat while we were working. Hudson found a creative way to drink his cider.

Here are the pumpkins they picked.

Waiting for Daddy to take the tops off so we can start scooping.

Charlie loved scooping the guts out. He kept calling them zombie brains.

Hudson was a little freaked out by the inside of the pumpkins. He didn't want to participate at first.

But then he found his saw and thought he would try that.

Here are the finished products :

Beautiful Weather

We are loving this warm fall weather. Fall gets really busy for us, so we were fortunate to be home for the weekend. We tried to spend the afternoon outside.

Spiderman has been at our house for a week now. We picked up Charlie's Halloween costume on Monday, and he has put it on everyday since. His friend that lives a few houses down has an Iron Man costume, so they have been keeping an eye on the neighborhood. Today he included a sword to help fight the bad guys.

Or maybe just the trees!

Hudson is happiest playing in his sandbox. 

Corey couldn't just relax, so he started a new project. Pictures will follow when finished!

Heading to the Cities

We went to the cities for the weekend a while back. We headed down on a Friday with Papa and Nana to visit Uncle Travis and Auntie Juls. 

All of the boys piled into the backseats:

We had to stop on the way down at Charlie's Cafe for some lunch:

While we waited for our food, Hudson thought he would snack on some butter:

Glendalough State Park

We headed for a hike on Sunday morning. It  was an absolute gorgeous morning. 


The boys are all ready to go:

We found lots of chipmunks along the path:

We also found a spider web:

There were some beautiful views of the lakes:

Taking a break:

Last Bits of Summer

Things have been a little crazy around here lately. We all were sick last week. The boys have started fighting a lot lately. I am getting anxious for the start of the school year and I feel like I haven't had enough time in my classroom. 

I realized that next week is my last full week of vacation for the summer. This has been an amazing summer. I have loved being able to spend the whole summer with my boys, but I feel like we are getting a little tired of each other. The boys are really craving some play time with friends.

I decided today to try to spice things up with some new activities. While Hudson was napping, Charlie and I made bread together.

Charlie adding the molasses to feed the yeast:

Adding the flour like it is snowing:

While the dough was rising, we tried an art project from Pinterest. You mix self-rising flour, salt, food coloring, and water. You paint it on cardboard. When you are finished you  pop it in the microwave for 30 seconds and the paint puffs up. Ours did not puff up that much, but I don't think Charlie used enough paint. He really doesn't get into art.

Friday night is usually movie night at our house, but Charlie and I decided to mix things up with a bonfire.

Corey built a great fire:

You can't have a bonfire without having s'mores. I tried putting Reese's peanut butter cups instead of Hershey's chocolate. I would highly recommend it!

I think we told Hudson too many times that the fire was hot, because he kept hiding behind this shelf we have on the patio. He would just happily stare at the fire from a distance:

After eating all of those s'mores, a boy gets thirsty!