Getting Ready for Santa!

Last Friday we got 10.5 inches of snow...no school too! The boys and I went outside to shovel the driveway as a surprise for Daddy, he still had to work. They each picked up their shovel and worked hard to help me out. When we were done we had made quite a pile of snow on the side of the driveway. One side of the driveway slopes down so I got a bright idea to try it with the sleds. I sent Jack down first. He decided to go down on his belly head first. Jack will happily tell you how Mommy sent him into a snowbank...cause that's what I did. I wasn't thinking things through first, surprise, surprise. The snow was pretty light and when Jack went down it buried him from his face to his waist. This is him walking back up the hill letting me have it. Luckily, after the intial shock, he thought it was pretty funny.

After we made some tracks the sledding worked and the twins tried it too.

Brad and I are excited that the boys are old enough to enjoy all the Christmas shows that come on. Here are the boys curled up in our bed mezmorized by one of our favorites, 'The Year Without a Santa Claus'. We love Cold Mizer and Heat Mizer.

Here's a short video of us frosting the cookies we baked for Santa...well, and a few for us too. If you're wondering why it's the middle of winter and my children are in their underwear, it's my fault. Mommy doesn't like to be cold so she packs the fireplace full of wood all day to make it toasty warm. Poor Daddy spends evenings chopping wood to supply my habit :)

We're getting ready for Santa and can't wait until tomorrow night!

Sledding

On Saturday morning we watched the snow falling and packed up for the park when there was enough for sledding. We had the hill all to ourselves. These first few pictures are funny because it captures the only time the boys all walked their sleds back up the hill. The runs after this they would get to the bottom and just yell for daddy to come pull them up.

Luke cheesing for the camera. We had a great time. Luke even let me go down a couple times with him. This was the first time that the twins had gone down a hill all by themselves. They thought they were pretty big kids!

Logan proudly pulling his sled. His reaction: This is sooo cool!

Daddy meeting up with Jack. Jack's becoming a pro. He's learning how to steer if he's heading for a tree and learning to roll off or put his feet down if he gets too close to a tree.

Luke letting mommy hitch a ride. With all the extra weight we didn't end up going very far and Luke told me that he wanted to ride by himself. I guess that's a hint I ate too much over Thanksgiving :)

This is a very cute video of the boys taking a turn going down the hill. This is soooo much easier now that they're bigger. Instead of going once or twice during the winter, we've already gone twice this weekend.

Our First Snow 2008!

Ok, so it wasn't really our first snow, but it was the first snow that we could go out and do anything in. All the boys have been able to talk about in the last two weeks is how much they wanted to make a snowman and put a carrot on for his nose. We worked at it today.

Luke is here helping get one of the balls going.

Logan is working hard to get another one started.

They're getting bigger mom!

Jack decided he would rather help out his dad by shoveling the walk for him. He did a mighty fine job...dad was proud!

The finished product...including the carrot nose! The boys think they're pretty big stuff now that we have a trophy in the front yard. We'll see how long it lasts...

We finished with a snowball fight, 3 against 1!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We had a busy holiday week! We went to Grandma and Grandpa Fish's house on Thanksgiving and the whole family was there...with lots of friends. We enjoyed seeing everyone!

Mom and Jack share a quick moment...then off to continue playing.

We didn't socialize very much. Grandma made a spot for us to play upstairs to get away from the crowds.

We love jumping off the beds! We use up lots of energy! Here's Logan.

Luke's turn!

On Friday we packed up and went to visit Grandma and Pop MacDonald. We got to enjoy another big feast. We enjoyed seeing our cousin Calum and Uncle Don and Aunt Sarah. We said hi to Calum, but he's still too little to play with us. It won't be long.

A Visit to Aunt Sandy

We packed up and headed to Mackinaw this weekend to visit Sandy. We haven't seen her in awhile. We got a great rate on a hotel room with a waterpark in it because nothing was happening in town. The boys love their Aunt Sandy!

Sandy's moving in 2 weeks so we said our good byes to her house at Wilderness State Park. We went hiking on our usual loop by the house. It started to rain, but luckily we were dressed for it.

The boys actually stood still for a photo.

This group shot is fuzzy...but it's the only one with me in it. The twins couldn't make the whole loop so we had to help them out.

Posing by a little river...we checked, no fish.

The waterpark at the hotel worked out great. There was a regular swimming pool and then an area with slides and other things to play with. There were so few people in Mackinaw that we almost had the place to ourselves. It wore the boys out well.

Logan loved these small slides. He just kept running in a loop.

Jack liked playing and adjusting the waterfalls.

Daddy gave one piggyback ride and it turned into a triple one. I wonder if Marquette has a hotel like this????

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween everyone! This was the first year that all 3 boys really got what was going on. Luke woke up this morning and yelled, "It's dark out! Let's go!" He was pretty miffed when I explained that it had to get light and then dark again before we could trick or treat. He even noticed that the neighbors had their porch light on. He kept saying, "But Mom, they're ready!" He wouldn't accept that the light was on so their kid could see waiting for the bus to come.

Even though Jack didn't want to go to school today, he also wanted to skip right to trick or treating, he had fun. This picture is Jack leading the preschool parade. Jack chose to be a police officer like 'Pop'. Grandma altered one of Pop's old uniforms so that he could be authentic. To understand the boys' choice of costume, you have to understand the beginning. The boys have always had a fascination with police/rescue vehicles. Last Christmas the boys each got a vehicle. So they wouldn't fight we gave them each a different one. Jack got a police car, Luke a firetruck, and Logan a rescue truck. Now they will only play with their one truck. They've really started pretending together. They all drive their trucks off to an 'emergency' and they each perform a job with their trucks. It's really pretty cute. Anyway, when Jack said he wanted to be a police officer, Luke wanted to be a firefighter and Logan a rescue truck driver.

Here they are putting up with some pictures in the front yard of Grandma and Grandpa's even though they know we can start trick or treating.

Michigan State Police officer Jack...

Firefighter Luke...

and Rescue worker Logan.

Posing in Grandma and Grandpa's house.

Finally it was off to start trick or treating. Look how light out it was at 6! Brad kept complaining it wasn't really trick or treating unless it was dark. If you look farther up the road in the picture you'll notice the pets coming along to watch as well, kitty 'Miss Minnie' and dogs Gus and Ben. We did a couple houses and then moved on to Grandma and Pop's house. Then we ended the evening, finally in the dark, in our own neighborhood. They each took in quite a haul. So much that they don't notice that Mom and Dad are helping them get rid of it. Hey...kids don't like the Almond Joys anyway :)

School Picture Day

We got the boys' first set of school pictures. Now companies are starting to sell you a cd of the pictures instead of being locked into a package. That's what I did and now I can go do anything I want with them. It's so much better to just go out and print what you really want. Anyway, I think Jack did a great job for his first go at it. It seems like he's grown 2 years since he's started school.

Here's Logan. Brad harrassed me about the color shirts I chose. Oh well, he can dress them next time :) Logan and Luke don't have the nice smile down yet, but they still turned out cute.

Luke was the first kid to go in his classroom. Apparently that's what usually happens. He's the gutsy one who'll just say 'Ill do it!' That's nice for now, but we'll have to break him of that by the time he gets to high school. I don't want any late night calls from the cops.

The boys are looking way too forward to Halloween. That'll be my next post with pictures of their costumes.

First Real Camping Trip

This past weekend we packed up and drove north of Chicago to the Sugar River Preserve campground, almost on the Illinois/Wisconsin border. We met Brad's cousins and Aunt and Uncle there for a fun weekend. We had intended to start camping with the boys next summer, but decided to get a head start by meeting everyone last weekend. This was our first true camping trip. We have camped at Wilderness State Park in their rustic cabins before, but never in a tent roughing it. Brad ran out and bought a tent. I guess 'tent' is an understatement. It's bigger than a hotel room. It turned out great because we could fit the boys on a queen blow up mattress on one end and we had ours on the other end. We'll be all set for rainy days camping next summer. If you know my family history, rainy days are a given.

We chose a campsite away from a large group of partiers celebrating Halloween early. We were right on the river. During the day it was beautiful. The sun was out and it reached the low 60's. The problem was when the sun went down. It got down to the very low 40's. This made for a very cold, very long, night. The boys weathered it like troopers. We piled on plenty of layers of sleeping bags. We all enjoyed a roaring campfire, and especially the smores.

For breakfast Sunday morning, Luke decided he would check and see if the camping stove was hot enough to start cooking pancakes....it was!

The whole crew at breakfast. Mike makes great pancakes! You can see how close the river was to us.

After breakfast we took a hike through the woods. Logan wanted to lead the way.

Logan thought this pose up himself. He called me over to take his picture. Luke jumped in too, and luckily Logan agreed. Logan's on the left and Luke on the right. No, I don't always dress them alike, but they love their sweatshirts from Grandma and Grandpa.

Jack liked the pose too, so he jumped up to have his picture taken too.

We did family photos at a scenic spot. Here are Mike, Cindy, Todd, and Jodi.

Here are Jim, Karen, Max, and Maggie.

...and finally, our crew. We put 13 hours into driving for this trip and it was worth every minute. We enjoyed spending time with family we only get to see a couple times a year. We soaked up the beautiful weather, before long we'll be buried in snow. To the rest of you...we now own a tent and will be coming your way soon!