Operation Christmas Child

Nick complaining because the box is too heavy.

This year we made a box for Operation Christmas Child which is an organization that sends packages to needy children in third world countries. Nick had such a great time helping fill his box with stuff. We went to Wal-Mart to pick out some stuff and he kept picking up all these big toys and asking if we could get them but I had to keep reminding him the stuff needed to fit in a shoe box. He also wanted to get the boy a DVD and it was a long conversation explaining why they couldn't watch TV because they didn't have electricity. Nick thought that we should send him electricity in the box. We did the next best thing and sent a flashlight with extra batteries. Hopefully, we are instilling in the boys that there is more to Christmas then Santa and presents. I really want them to understand the true reason for the season.

Thanksgiving Week in North Carolina

We spent Thanksgiving week at my friend Cheri's house in North Carolina with her and her two kids Zack and Kate. Cheri was one of my best friends in California and continues to be a great friend today. Zack was one of Nick's first friends and they had a blast being reunited. Aidan and Kate had met when they were babies and surprisingly got along so well all week. Cheri's husband Steve is deployed to Iraq so it was such a blessing for us to be able to join her this week and keep her company over the Holidays. We had a blast and it went way too fast. Here are a few favorite pictures from our week.

We have so much to be thankful for this year. Since moving here to Alabama we have been blessed with great neighbors, teachers, doctors, so many friends and a great new church. We have also been enjoying the blessing of Jeremy's new work schedule which allows us to spend lots of time together as a family. We hope everyone enjoys all the blessings in their lives this Holiday season.

McWane Science Center

Nick playing on the giant walking piano.

Nick in the Thomas the Train Conductor cut-out.

Nick and Aidan on tv forecasting a hurricane.

Aidan inside a tornado.

Nick hiding out in the Magic box.

Aidan digging for dinosaurs.

Nick using a air to move the balls through the hoops.

Aidan repairing the car.

Nick changing the tire on the car.

Nick underneath the car repairing the muffler.

Nick in a wheelchair race.

Nick and Aidan in the magic mirror box. You could see them on the tv outside the box.

Nick helping Mommy pull Aidan up in the rope chair.

Nick on a bed of nails.

Today we went up to Birmingham, AL to the McWane Science Center since Nick and Jeremy had the day off for Veteran's Day. We went with my friend Meg and her family. The boys loved every minute of it. They had all kinds of fun exhibits from lasers to making clouds to dinosaur bone digging and a train exhibit. Nick and I made slime to take home and we played a tune on the walking piano. Nick and I did a lot of the little hands on projects while Aidan played in the playzone with his friend Grant. We hope to go back sometime soon because it was sooo busy that we didn't even get to go to the bottom floor which was an aquarium filled with tide pools where the kids can touch the animals.

Fall Pictures

We attempted to take some Fall pictures today to put on a Christmas card. 200 pictures later and there really weren't any good ones where they both were looking in the same direction and smiling. I have a couple favorites that might work on a card. I will have to play around with my photoshop and see what happens. Two crazy boys are way too much work when taking pictures so I am not even going to pretend that I can get all 4 of us to look in the same direction at the same time.

Trick or Treating

The boys had a good time trick or treating this year. We have been spoiled in the past trick or treating on base because almost everyone gives out candy. Here is was like maybe every fourth or fifth house would maybe have candy. So we only made a few blocks and then gave up. Jeremy took Nick for a little extra time while Aidan and I passed out candy. The best story of the evening was the old man who passed out Christmas candy. So you know that was pretty old. Sadly, it was their favorite thing they got because it had a nutcracker toy attached. We got a beautiful evening for trick or treating as it was in the 70's all day and probably high 50's while we trick or treated. I am glad Halloween won't come around for another year because I think I have gained 10 pounds from all the candy I have been eating.

Pumpkin Carving

We finally carved our pumpkins on Halloween morning as that was the first free Saturday we had all month. I made the mistake of letting the boys color a face on their first in permanent marker so their drawings kind of overshadowed the actual carving. Jeremy who usually carves the pumpkins was fishing in a tournament so I had to scoop out 3 pumpkins all by myself and it was a lot of work. We made Emeril's spicy pumpkin seeds with all the seeds and they were spicy hot! Next year we will try not to wait until the last minute.

Fall Fest at Church

After the candywalk we headed over to our church for Fall Fest. The boys had such a blast. This was by far the best Fall Fest I have ever been too. For one it was 83 degrees outside and just a beautiful evening but they had so many fun things for the kids to do. They had hayrides, pony rides, bouncy houses, all kinds of carnival games, swings, a carousel, a puppet show and all kinds of free food and drink. The boys both waited in line for cotton candy but it was so hot it melted before they even finished it. I didn't know cotton candy could melt like that but it made a serious sticky mess. They also had a live band playing music. After a couple hours my boys were so exhausted that they both fell asleep in the car on the ride home.