Christmas Tree 2010

Last year we found Clark's Hilltop Nursey in Floyd County and we loved it for Christmas tree hunting. Hundreds of acres of trees. Almost all perfect. It would be hard to pick a bad one. You take a hayride out to the field, wander until you find a tree you like, then notify the helpers on-site that you've found your tree. They cut it, shake it, bundle it, and load it in your vehicle for you. All for the same price you would pay at the Home Depot! Plus you can get hot cider and other goodies back at the parking lot.

The boys got a little tired hunting for the perfect tree so they had to have a seat to enjoy some fruit snacks.

I'll have to post pictures of our tree all decorated once I get some on my camera :-)

Punkin Chunkin

I think this was the second annual Punkin Chunkin at my Mom's house post-Thanksgiving. We all brought our old pumpkins to throw down the hill in the woods. The kids had a good time with it. Steve almost took out Addie with one throw, but other than that it was fairly casualty free. The kids enjoyed hot chocolate and pumpkin cookies back inside after the big toss.

Cameron and Grayson - boys will be boys.

Peyton and Addie just getting the hang of it.

Luke was more into the gentle punkin roll.

Now we're getting it!

Halloween

I had dreams of something cute, creative. Thing One and Thing Two. Bert and Ernie. I mean, I've got two boys - let me have some fun with them. But no, Grayson is sadly already of the age where he actually has an opinion. He was a shark. OK, so maybe Luke could be Nemo - Bruce and Nemo. Not bad. But then Luke developed and opinion as well and wanted the Mickey Mouse costume Grayson wore last year. So I had a shark and a mouse. Steve did a great job with pumpkin carving with only moderate interest from the boys. We visited the pumpkin patch the day before Halloween and they were practically giving away pumpkins. A small flat fee for "as many as you could carry." So we had fun loading up Steve's arms. I think he was sore the next day. Unfortunately I didn't end up getting pictures of the finished products.

Here's Grayson with the ballerina from across the street. Not sure what I think of that look in his eyes! Really not sure what Caitlin's Dad would think of that look!

Pretty accurate picture of my two boys!

Our Trick or Treat Wagon. Eli didn't actually make the trek with us, but he was a cute prop for pictures.

About 4 houses into the trek, I look back and Luke is undressed down to his diaper. Said he was "hot." We compromised with just leaving it unzipped so for the remainder of the evening we had Italian Mickey....with Nuk.

And here are the three kids post-candy coma watching "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown." Note Caitlin holding the toothbrush - her favorite "treat" that she got that night!

Kim's Handiwork....

Kim took family photos of us at Sweet Briar a couple of weeks ago. I'll post more when I have time and when I can get the files from Kim, but here's one of my favorites!