Christmas Tree and Decorating Outside

Happy Thanksgiving!

We had a great Thanksgiving with the family, and what a nice day it was!  Part of our contribution was a pumpkin pie, which Lo and I made together.  We headed to my family's house for lunch and then did our traditional Christmas List exchange before our all-day (or most of the day) Black Friday shopping adventure. 

 

More attempts at trying to get a nice picture of my kids...

 

Lo was watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and wanted to play in the band. 

 

Darren had my camera and really thought the potatoes looked good!

 

The kids table:  everyone smiling and Lola eating...

 

...Everyone eating and Lola smiling.

 

Grandma, Papa, the grandkids... and "Ol' Blue"

 

Me and Logan

Cheeeeeese!

Bode was eating a chocolate donut the other day and was enjoying every single moment of it.  I got out the camera and said "Say cheese!" and this is what I got...

 
Kind of scary, but makes me laugh every time I see it!

Bode's First Haircut!

I'm not sure what it is, but Brian and I have kids that can grow hair quite well!  Lola was born with a ton of hair; Bode didn't have as much, but he certainly has caught up.  I love his long hair (which is starting to show curls at the ends), but it was starting to get in his eyes a little bit, so it was time for his first hair cut!  Bode went to Johanna, just like daddy!

 

(and yes... still a big fan of the pacifier)

Halloween

We had a very busy Halloween weekend this year.  Pumpkin carving with friends on Friday, two Halloween parties on Saturday and then Lo's birthday on Sunday.  Both kids were great and were absolute troopers! 

Lo fully embraced her cheerleader costume!  I had taken her to a few Clinton football games, so she was fully prepared!  She bounces around here all of the time doing cheers, telling us to put our hand on our heart for the "hand on your heart song" (then she can actually sing parts of the National Anthem too!) and then also has lots of our high school - school song memorized too!  That is impressive! 

 

Notice Bode's reaction to Brian's costume (the wig)

Lola's 3rd Birthday!

Last Sunday, Lola celebrated her 3rd birthday, and she had a wonderful day!  She was so sweet and truly loved every moment! 

She loves Disney Princesses, so she picked out princess plates / napkins and wanted a "pink and purple princess cake" so staying true to my desire to always make our kids' birthday cakes, you can see below what I did. 

She's loving her new Barbies, dress-up clothes, Disney Princess castle, new jammies / slippers and falls asleep every night to her Disney Princess music every night!

Bode & Lola Pics

After a few rained out sessions, we finally got the milestone pictures taken.  It actually worked out better just to have them both taken together - Bode's 12 month pics (taken at age 13 months) and Lola's 3 year pics (taken at age 2 years and 11 months). 

Have I mentioned that Bode really is a hard one to make smile for pictures?!