Holidays

love our little town. we bumped into santa right on main street.

 and frosty and rudolph! what a great town.

 watching the tree lighting and carolers in the town center. (really just waiting for the free hot chocolate and cookies.)

we made some cookies too. there will forever be sprinkles all over the house.

the most fabulous gingerbread house in the world.

leading up to the big night, we did a lot of the usual...

and then, someone thought they were nice...

  (must not have remembered this face.)

lots of fun this year. especially since they all slept past 6 for once.

matthew realizing his 1,000+ Lego set is really 1,000+ pieces. he did it all. in three hours.

 two totally tuckered out twins.

 and their big brother. 

winter wasn't that bad. for the first 6 months.  

 new toys help.

we traveled to virginia and new york too. will add those pictures soon--happy happy!



turkey road trip

we've finally realized only crazy people go on road trips with three little boys.

only 9 and a half hours to go!

thank goodness for iphones...we scouted out a large playground with a real treehouse in somewhere, PA.

of course ben would not run around. he prefers to roll.

 and some trails and a waterfall. a perect pit stop.

and after an incredibly restful night... 

 ...we made it to roanoke! 

and realized it was worth it to see this face:

 and this one. auntie kk, babysitter extraordinare! (ha ha ha ha ha)

 we had a visit from gigi claus...the thanksgiving candy cane hider! 

 and great auntie joan. love that our visits overlapped. don't love that ben snapped the only pictures.

 we even scored some gorgeous southern weather.

 (monkeys see...)

of course it was 20 degrees out the morning of the turkey trot, you know, the one everyone was going to do....

 and i remembered why thanksgiving is my favorite holdiday. with the best buns and canned cranberries.

gobble, gobble.

happy and merry and turkey and trees...

such a busy time...lots of memory-making going on here.

occasionally we bring the animals to the zoo:

Grrr...

 the greenberg train show is always a hit with this guy.

 the little ones like the train ride.

 and the popcorn of course.

a whole order of steamers.

 and he ate them all. that's a mama's boy for you! 

 jack and ben had their first dental visit.  

ben loved his blue teeth.

jack loved his cool lightning mcqueen sunglasses.

 little boys will sit still, open wide, wait, gargle...anything for an oversized balloon at the end.  

playing at the museum of science.

lunch

 hanging out at school.

 playground

 ben stripping at the playground with a splashpark. it was 40 degrees out. thankfully the water was off. sigh.

jack and ben playing at the elementary school playground while waiting for dismissal.

looking at cloud shapes

the wonderful school-wide walk days usually happen on the worst weather days...

and yes, the construction is still going on. and on. and on. good entertainment for the boys!