The Thankful Tree

This year we started a new tradition... The Thankful Tree. I picked this adorable thing up last year and finally got it all done and put together for this year.

We all had a good time making leaves and posting the things that we were grateful for. Gavin and Henry would ask all day when it was time to put more leaves on the tree. Next year I will know to make twice as many leaves.

We are thankful for everything from milk to legos to Baptism and even for a great kindergarten teacher. I put this years leaves in a bag, so that we can get them out next year and reminisce. 

Super long hair

For Halloween I let the boys grown their hair out. They both insisted it would be part of their costume, and it did seem to work well. Tho after the costumes were all over, they still didn't want to get hair cuts and got Caleb to help them gang up on me so that they didn't have to for a while longer. I did get fed up and cut above their ears and at their necks, but they still looked like this most of the time.

Even Wyatt was extra hairy.

I finally took them to get haircuts the day before Thanksgiving. The best part was that it was the first time that Wyatt didn't cry or scream or flail around while getting his hair cut and then he kept saying, "Wyatt handsome." It was a nice change.

My Little Baby at 4 months

At 4 months Finn is definetely our smallest baby.

17lbs and 25 inches

inherited the Cardon head, and can rival his brothers for that one.

He is such a good baby and we love having him around, he is such a cute snuggler.

Eating rice cereal and loving it.

Hanging out in comfy jammies with Wyatt... one of them is enjoying it more than the other.

And even getting to be held by Claire. What could be better.

The first big snow of the season

In the last day and a half we have gotten about a foot of snow. Luckily, the boys had the day off from school on Friday. So we were able to just settle in and wait for the snow to slow down. It didn't until this afternoon. It was snowing hard all day yesterday, and at first the boys were mad at me for not letting them go play in it in the morning. They were plenty happy they had waited when they got to go out and enjoy the first 6 inches.

Here they are this morning on their way to go sledding, we were near about a foot at this time.

Gavin has out grown most of his snow gear over the year, so we will need to invest in more, but he stayed quite happy running around and just ended up a little wet at the end.

He wanted to build a snow dragon, patterned after and old photo he saw of a sand dragon built by Aunt Natalie in Oregon a couple of years ago. But we just aren't that patient with our snow creations so we ended up with a distorted snowman.

 Everyone had fun throwing snowballs at Caleb while he worked on shoveling.

 Wyatt on the quest of some "Snowman" to throw. Somehow he get the idea that all snow is actually called "Snowman," so he has gone around all weekend saying things like... "I walk in snowman." "I sit down on snowman." "I eat snowman." He just looks at us weird if anyone tries to correct him. And even though we don't have photos to prove it, he was apparently a sledding maniac today. 

 Henry spent all of his time laughing hysterically while he tried to sneak up on people and hit them with snowballs and then dive into the deep snow. He loves getting all dressed up in his gear so he can just surround himself with snow and not even feel it.

 The super tall snowman built by Wyatt and his Dadddy... or mostly his Daddy.

 It does help me to have a better attitude about all of the time it takes to get them bundled up and then all of the wet clothes and shoes after when they have such a super great time being crazy in all this white stuff.

We didn't take advantage of all this snow to give Finn his first snow experience. It just didn't seem like something to rush into. He enjoyed staying inside in the warm and cozy house.

And just because it is funny- Henry and Finn really love each other, and Henry loves to help take care of Finn. This is how he was burping him this morning. So cute.

The Final Days of Fall

One big disappointment for my boys when we bought our new house is that we have a big yard, but it has no trees. Really it is a strange thing, but aside from a few small trees in the distant parking strip, there is not a single tree in our yard. Lucky for us there are several very large trees in our neighbors yard that are right near our fence and provide us with a lot of shade... and as it turns out, A LOT of leaves. Gavin and Henry were beyond excited at the growing number of leaves and spent our last week of fabulous fall weather piling and then disrupting all of the leaves. They were even joined in the fun by Wyatt and Finn occasionally. Great times and lots of laughter.

The Trick or Treat Night

A little late, but just a couple of awesome shots from Halloween night. The Willardsen's came to join us for door-to-door candy in our new neighborhood. Everyone had a great time and looked great too.

Parker and Gavin... seriously awesome costumes

 All the boys showing off their awesomeness.

We didn't get a photo with Gabby and Wyatt since they weren't out playing in the back of the truck, but they were here too and I think they both had a great time.