I'm Thankful for.............

For the past week or so, we've been talking a lot about what it means to be thankful, and we've been giving examples of things we're thankful for. This morning we gave the boys the true test. Daddy posed the question first thing this morning...... What are you thankful for??

Here's how the conversation went..........

Dad - "Happy Thanksgiving!! What are you thankful for?"
Kyle - "I'm thankful for Brock, my toys, my tools and my house!"
Brock - "I'm thankful that Christmas is coming!! I'm going to have Christmas tree in my house with lights, and get presents!!"

I think that he's a little mixed up on our holiday conversations, either that or he has decided that he really, really likes Christmas. Who can blame the kid!!

We did eventually hear, along with many other things that they are thankful for, that Brock is thankful for his brother, but not his house. Too funny!

My little firefighters

So, I confess...........Halloween came and went, 3 nights of Trick or Treating, and I forgot to take a picture of my firefighters:(. Not a single shot!! I guess we were just too caught up in the fun of it all:). Thank goodness, their costumes were easy to recreate (they've been wearing the hats around the house ever since Halloween, and the coats are their real coats - courtesy of Grandma Leman for their 2nd birthday) so we redressed them on Sunday afternoon and took some pictures. Our neighbors might have thought that we were crazy, but I got my pictures:).

Brock and Kyle really enjoyed their trick-or-treating experiences this year. We started in P'ville on Friday night, headed to Roanoke on Saturday night, and then just went to a couple of neighbor's on Sunday night. We didn't hit more than 5 places each night, but you would never have guessed that by the amount of candy that they had by the time it was all over:).

They were screaming, "Firefighters!!" as we took this picture. Yea, I'm pretty sure the neighbors think that we're crazy:).

Love B's face in this one!!

And K's face in this one!!

After a few shots on the front porch, we headed across the street to the fire hydrant that they look at and talk about so much. One day this summer, we were headed out to run some errands. When we opened the garage door, I could hear the engine of a large truck, so I told the boys to go check it out. Much to our surprise, there was a fire truck parked in front of our house, and the firefighters were flushing this hydrant. The boys were in awe. Our trip to the store was immediately canceled, and we settled in to watch the firefighters do their work instead. They definitely didn't mind the audience - they came over and talked to the boys at length. They were so nice to them, and even gave them both stickers that looked like a fire fighter's badge. So fun!! Ever since that encounter, both boys see and point out fire hydrants continually as we drive. And every time we walk up and down our street, they stop at the fire hydrants and tell me exactly what each part of the hydrant is for.

"Now, if only we had a wrench to turn this thing on!!"

"Right here, Mom. This is where the wrench goes!"

Kyle is spraying the water from his imaginary hose.

One last Halloween funny - The boys say some of our pre-meal prayers, and after our 1st trick-or-treat night, Kyle prayed to go trick-or-treating again. It happened that night - his prayers were answered!! He was convinced that if he prayed for it, he would get to go again, and he's been praying almost daily to go trick-or-treating again. I keep telling him that we're done for this year, but he's still believing:).

For Grandma Leman

Thanks, Grandma, for all of the cozy jams that you gave us. We will be snuggly warm all winter:). Love you!!

P. S. We had fun at your house today!! And, the tools are a hit. We played with them all evening:).

His brother's keeper:)

I was unloading the dishwasher one morning this week when Kyle came into the kitchen:

Kyle: "Excuse me, please."
Me: "What do you need??"
Kyle: "I need to throw this away." - (the open dishwasher blocks the garbage can)
Me: "What is it?" (I'm always curious as to what is being thrown away - sometimes they find "garbage" to pitch just for the sake of getting to throw it away:)
Kyle: "This Kleenex. Brock had snot, so I wiped it for him!"
Me: "Ummmmmmmmmm.......... I'm sure Brock appreciated that."

I guess it's good to have a twin brother to wipe your runny nose when Mommy's not around:).

If I'm lucky...........

.........this will last until about 8:30am:). It started at 7:20am - their attention span is definitely increasing!! Their new favorite programs on PBS are Caliou and Super Why, both of which are okay by me. They are learning more and more about letters, words and how they sound with Super Why, and I can see more pretending going on since they have been watching Caliou (the little boy with the big imagination:).

They needed their "special beds" this morning - it was a cold one!!

Brock is focused, but still sees the camera and smiles:).

"Shhh, mom, I'm sleeping."

"Please!! I'm watching my show!!"

Maybe this could be a daily occurrence this winter when we don't have to be somewhere early. That would be okay by me - I might actually get to drink my coffee while it's still warm;).

Wind Song

In honor of this very, VERY windy day, Kyle sang an original tune at breakfast this morning:

(sing to the tune of "The Wheels on the Bus")

"The leaves on the tree go blow, blow, blow,
Blow, blow, blow,
Blow, blow blow,
the leaves on the tree go blow, blow, blow, all around the town"

Ahhhhhhhhhh......I love how his little creative mind works.

Yep, the leaves are blowing, and everything else as well:).

Lovin' the carmel-n-apples!!

Some of my favorite things about fall are the special treats that we only make this time of year. I'm not sure why we don't make them year round, but I guess it makes them taste extra special when we do!! Grammy made us a batch of caramel to dip apple slices in, and the boys are loving every drop of it. They've always liked apples, but boy, do they REALLY like apples these days:).

This picture may not be focused, but the boy sure is!!

Take a look at those sticky hands. This guy knows how to get into his work!

"Could you please stop with the pictures?? I'm trying to eat here!!"

Cheese ball!!

"I think my lips are stuck shut from this sticky caramel."

Closer look at the hands. "I'm saving this for later:)."

Open wide!

Watchin' my brother in action.

"Really, no more pictures!!"

So good, you don't even need apples - especially when you have fingers:). Thanks Grammy!!