Who doesn't....

smash all their leftover Halloween pumpkins the day after Thanksgiving in the street??  We do.  What little kid wouldn't want to hammer away at a pumpkin until they busted it open and the proceed to smash them all over the road?  I would. After Kev finished putting up our outdoor Christmas lights and went inside for a break I told the kids to each get a pumpkin and hammer and go at it.  They didn't believe me at first but I said quick before daddy comes back out (I'm the fun parent can you tell?).  They had a blast until every single bit of pumpkin was smashed and the street was covered with guts and seeds. We then did the responsible thing of cleaning up (you didn't think I was gonna just let them leave it like that did you, Kev would surely kill me).  They loaded up their wheelbarrel and dumped it into Miles' garden for compost and besides a few seeds you would never know.  I'm not afraid of a little mess and always want my kids to be kids while they still can.

look at the smile on Keira's face

Magnet School

This is one of my favorite toys I've gotten the kids, we got it for Owen when he was 2yo for Christmas and he still gets it out to play with quite a bit.  The girls like to play with it as well and can identify all of the letters on their own, a big step since they have the attention span of a gnat.  I got it at Target, not sure if they even still sell it but if you have little ones you should look into it, Magnet School by Parents.  It's a cross between a puzzle and a game, comes in it own tin container and is easy enough for the kids to play and clean up by themselves, even Norah is getting in on the action.

Weeee

We're in that awkward crawling stage with Norah, she doesn't want to sit with us anymore but wants to be moving (and putting everything in her mouth).  Finding stuff for all four of them to do is not easy these days but a playground seems to work.  Norah and Fin love the swings, Keira is our daredevil always on the move and O mostly hangs with her.

ten months

I am ten months today and ready to take on the world, I am finally getting the hang of crawling although I really don't go too far before sitting back down.  I will point to any airplane in the sky and say "ooooo" and can wave bye-bye too.  I am very interested in Mason but if he gets to close I let him know, he knows better by now.  I am a busy body and don't really like to sleep much, just like my brother (we're all in trouble).

Giving thanks at St Thomas

Here are a few videos from the kids thanksgiving performance

Girls "I'm a little turkey"

Girls "A turkey is a funny bird"

O "The pilgrims"

O "Lets be thankful"

Getting photos/videos of your kids at these types of things are near impossible, parents are hardcore and my flip video camera does not zoom well.  I am not the type to run up to the front to get the best shot, hence the crappy video (maybe next time I'll send Kev up with the masses).

After the show we got to go enjoy a turkey dinner with them, luckily daddy took the day off and was able to help this year.  You can see how they've changed since last year here.

nine months

I totally forgot sweet peas nine month post, a little late but here it is.  Not yet crawling but working on it, who needs to crawl when I have all these people to cater to my every need?  Had two teeth at eight months and got six teeth within a week = eight teeth at nine months.  Somebody better respond the first time I yell because I'll continue to yell louder until you do.  Can she get any cuter?

boyfriend already?

This little guy is exactly one month older than Norah, no kidding.  It was so funny to see them together, he kept trying to kiss her head and she was slightly freaked out.  Maybe she'll warm up to him in a few years..

Pretzel treat

We had a neighborhood block party to go to last weekend so I looked around Pinterest (my new favorite place to find recipes) for something to make.  I came across this super easy idea and decided to give it a try, the kids actually made the entire thing.  All you need are mini circle shaped pretzels, hershey kisses & peanut m&m's.

the girls were in charge of unwrapping the kisses

O lined up all of our pretzels and placed a kiss on top of each one

place into a 200* oven for 5-6mins

top each one with m&m and push down

let cool in fridge until chocolate is set

They were a big hit with the salty/sweet combo and couldn't have been any easier to make.  We used left over Halloween pretzels and m&m's so all I had to buy were the kisses.  You could top with any candy you like or any variation of kisses.  I'm going to try to top with rolos and pecans next time, how good do those look?

Blue Angels

Randolph had their air show last weekend, we go to go preview it on friday night - no crowds, perfect for us.  We got to see the blue angels practice up close, no earplugs (who's daddy is a pilot and knows how loud this would have been??).

Norah was miserable from the noise and Finley was none too happy either - time to move on to the static displays.

Owen wanted to make sure I got the machine gun in the photo.

The mighty Eagle, the best plane at the whole show of course!

Since we're not around heavy planes a lot it's amazing to actually see how enormous they are in person, pretty impressive.

The kids don't know how lucky they are to be able to see this stuff up close, it's a part of their life that they've grow up with and get to experience whenever they want.  Most of our friends are Air Force pilots as well so they think everyone's daddy flies fast jets, little do they know.