Lovin' the lights

It was a perfect night for zoolights. There was no waiting in line, and no rain or snow this year! It was cold and Ben (Mr. Independent), refused to wear his hat or gloves. The lights were so pretty - the kids loved it and were super excited about riding the train. Sam tried his first elephant ear... he was a little hesitant at first as he thought it was a real elephant's ear! But soon discovered the awesomeness of warm, sugary-sweet elephant ears. It was a great night!

Tree hunt

We set out this morning to find the perfect tree. Sam was determined to find the BIGGEST, FATTEST tree he could find. After Ellen and Colin found their tree (in 5 minutes)... I spent the next 30 minutes roaming around trying to find our tree. The kids gave up and decided to "hunt for bears"...

Sam and Lizzie found this tree and thought it would be a perfect fit... YIKES!

The tree farm had this antique train that the kids loved. They climbed inside it and played with all of the gears and checked everything out. Ben was especially interested since he is our resident train guru.

Our best attempt at a family photo.

The boys and I decorated the tree after dinner tonight... Sam was so excited. He checked out each ornament and hung them all up. He wouldn't let Brian in the room until we were done. All of the lights had to be off and then he got to light up the tree and show everyone. He was a proud boy!

Thanksgiving

We had a really busy but good Thanksgiving this year! I volunteered EARLY that morning at Sam's school. Each year they put on a neighborhood Turkey Trot. I was there at 7am to set up the course and food table. They had a 1/2 mile run for the kids, and a 2 or 5 mile walk for adults. It was cold and wet!

Our turkey took 6 hours to cook! We were ready to eat but kept waiting and waiting and waiting... We had 11 people for dinner - and way too much food.
Here are the cousins in the fort they built with Colin.

Thanks Mom!

Thanks to my parents the boys now own a whoopie cushion! They think it is hilarious. Between that and a paper airplane, they were completely entertained for 2 hours the other night.

Indoor Camping

I came home the other night to a tent pitched in the living room.
Tonight they were having "a wedding" in the tent. They have no idea what that means, but they filled it up with blankets, pillows, toys, books etc. Sam read stories to Ben and they got their flashlights out and tried to scare each other. Looks like we will have to go camping again next summer!

Updates

My old laptop died... so I have a new Mac and love it. I am still in the process of figuring out how a Mac works including the fastest way to send photos to my blog etc! So... there hasn't been much action here lately. I will add a few photos this week.

Life in general is good. Nothing too exciting to report... Sam has another bug and was home from school today. Didn't they just get over the flu? Yikes and it's only November! Brian is done teaching his night classes for Providence which is great. We are hoping to start remodeling our master bathroom in the next few weeks. That about does it for news in our house!

The major excitement around here - Sam is having Lucy over Wednesday for a playdate!

Crushin'

My sweet Sam still has a crush on his little soccer friend Lucy. Every day he asks me when she can come over, when her birthday is, who her teacher is, what she is having for dinner etc. They ride the same bus and have the same recess at school, so each day he comes home and tells me if he had a Lucy sighting. Today he came home with a Thanksgiving card he made in class. Inside the card it says "I am thankful for... Lucy".

Kitchen Helpers

Brian promised the boys they could make cookies last night. They LOVE to help as much as they love eating the finished product. We had to take turns -- Sam baking powder, Ben baking soda, Sam vanilla, Ben flour etc.

Day trip

It was a wet and wild day in the Gorge. Multnomah Falls was our first stop and the rain was coming down sideways. Ben was a trooper. We then made our way to the Bonneville Dam and Fish Hatchery. He loved watching the fish!

He kept calling this huge sturgeon the "Grandpa". The photo below is one of the trout ponds.

On the way home we took the scenic route on Hwy 30 and saw several other water falls. It was gorgeous even though very cold and rainy! The photo above was taken at Crown Point - it was so windy!

Japanese Gardens

We have been showing our Arizona friends around Portland the last couple of days. Yesterday we went to the Japanese Gardens and they were so pretty with the changing leaves etc. I can't believe we live so close and I have never been there!

Day off

This is a short week for Sam because of parent/teacher conferences. Brian took him into work today while I kept Ben busy. We picked him up around noon and he was having a great time "working"....playing on the computer, writing notes on post-its, making paperclip chains and talking to Brian's students.

They came home for lunch and a nap, tore up the house, and wrestled away the afternoon.

Sam has been awarding us paperclips for doing good deeds... He has them hanging on the fridge in groups of 10. He is so his dad.