Thankful

 I feel very thankful for the life I live.  Thankful for my husband, my kiddos, my family and friends.  Thankful for this town we have chosen to call home and all the outdoor living we so easily get to enjoy.  I am thankful for the curiosity to learn and the motivation to become better and the grace to be where I am at.  I am thankful for good food, good beer, good honey and good bread.  I am thankful for beauty in the world and positive energy.  I am thankful for wisdom learned from challenge and strength earned from courage.  And last but certainly least, I am thankful for the day after Thanksgiving half off every sock in stock Fred Meyer sale!  =-)

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving celebration with Grandma Alice and Uncle Topher.  Super special for Alice to have her two boys together for the holiday.  It was fun to spend the day preparing the feast after a nice morning run with David and Mango at Shevlin Park.  Grandma Alice kept the kids busy painting, reading, IPAD gaming, and playroom playing.  The kids enjoyed lots of Grandma love during her stay.  Piper even scored two spend over's at Grandmas apartment.  Special time for everyone!  As for the Turkey dinner, it turned out perfect, though I think all Piper ate was a whole can of olives!  Where did these picky eaters come from?  "Ha", my parents are thinking, "I wonder!"  

As always Uncle Topher was a hit, even during an after Turkey dinner food coma cat nap!  All three kids couldn't get enough of Uncle Tophers attention.

We even managed to squeeze in a Christmas tree hunting outing.  It started out super fun, getting all bundled up and stomping through the snow, but then a little sibling pushing match spiraled the evening down hill.  Watch the video if you must, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Fi3gngC5kM but just know that no nap for Piper several days in a row leads to this beautiful display of emotion. We love you Piper!

Thankfully we had extra hands and Piper was able to pull it together in time to be carried out by the mighty Uncle Topher.  And Jett got a free ride with Grandma Alice, way to go what a strong Grandma!
 

We had quite an adventure finding this tree. Even though it was the first and only decent one we saw, it turned out to be a perfect fit in our living room. Thank you TREE for sacrificing your life to be enjoyed and loved by our family for the next month.  It is a beautiful display of all the ornaments David and I collected throughout our lives as well as the latest additions for Piper and the boys.

 I love this picture of Grandma Alice and the kids!

It was a successful tree decorating morning, now the trick is to keep the ornaments ON the tree.

Check out our sweet sock monkey tree topper!

A fresh tree in the house is such a fun tradition, even though is seems so wasteful.   Thank  you again TREE.

Calvin was a big help putting up lights outside!

This is really our first year actually putting up lights since we normally have traveled for the Holidays.

Well actually we stayed home two Christmases ago when the boys were born, but we were a little too distracted to be messing with outside lights that year!  =-)

We are excited to stay home this year, it is fun to make a nice display of lights since we are on a main road.  We (Dave) has more to do but looking good so far!

I love seeing the personalities of Calvin and Jett blossoming right now.  They are so sweet to each other, yet can just beat on each other the very next minute.  The other day Calvin started running towards the pantry door, Jett saw him coming, but wanted the door closed, so he slammed it shut just as Calvin was about to get there and Calvin slammed right into the door and fell to the floor.  Jett immediately crouched down and patted Calvin on the back so sweetly and softly saying sorry brother are you okay? Calvin cried but recovered pretty quickly and off they went together.

I am happy to say that words are finally starting to connect and communication is on the uptick.  In fact Calvin seems to be trying to tell jokes and loves to laugh at his silly sayings.  Today he and Jett were playing near the bee hive where there are lots of dead bees on the ground (don't worry this is a normal part of hive life).  Calvin came up to me and said "Bees poop potty....Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha!"  He thought that was so funny that a bee would poop in the potty.  By the way, yes, potty talk is on the brain right now, Calvin has pooped in the potty several times now.  Not every time, but doing pretty good!  YAY!

Piper had her first Tae Kwan Do class and seemed to really like it.  She was visually the youngest lil dragon in the class and has a lot to learn, but she seems excited about it.  "FOOT, FIST, WAY...SIR"

These silly boys were hiding in this bag before bed the other night.  So cute, they really thought we couldn't find them when we pretended to look all over the house for them.  Sometimes they will put their hands over their eyes and "hide," such sneaking little guys!  =-)

Here is one more video, this one is of the boys having fun on their fire engines.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c861qgK6Pf4