Christmas at the Zoo

For Andrew's birthday, we went to the zoo to see all the lights. It was perfect night to go - not too cold!! The boys loved all the lights!

one of my favorite lit trees

Andrew and I

We decided to ride on the train - it was fun!

Andrew and Josh in front of a train

Happy 3rd Birthday Andrew!

Andrew's construction party was a hit! We had pizza, firetruck and truck jello jigglers, salad, cake, and ice cream. It was definitely all his favorite foods! Both our sets of parents were able to come up and join us. Can you tell he had fun?

dump truck cake

Grandma Betty and Andrew

Yeh Yeh and Will - of course we had to have hard hats!

loving presents!

Grandma and Andrew

WHEE-OOH WHEE-OOH!!!

For Andrew's 3rd birthday, Grandpa (and Grandma) made him a firetruck big boy bed. He LOVES it!! He was pretty excited and asked throughout the night, "Can I sleep in it tonight?" It was pretty cute! After Grandpa showed him his wheel drawers, he immediately started filling them with toys.

driving the truck

There is a removable ladder but Andrew prefers just to jump out the window!

Grandma, Grandpa, Will, and Andrew

the horses and pillows are all ready for the night!

Oh Christmas Tree....

After bundling up, we went to pick out our tree. There were some disagreements about which one to get but we finally settled on one. Now that we've had it a week, I can say that we picked poorly.... it has fallen down twice and broken ornaments both times. Right now, it is sitting in the kitchen leaning against the wall.....We did have fun decorating it though!

The boys loved putting the ornaments on. When they hung them on the tree, they tended to hang in groups. This is an example of the Snoopy ones. There were about 7 ornaments all in the same area. It was pretty funny!

Bob and Larry

We all went to the Matthew West concert last weekend. Bob and Larry made a guest appearance. The boys loved them! Andrew kept going up to them poking and hugging them. It was hilarious!! He wouldn't leave them alone!! It was great to see Matthew too (we went to college with him). We got a chance to visit for awhile after the concert. The boys got to bed about 11:30 but we all had a great time!

hug me, Bob

We love Larry!

Will's Christmas Program

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Will's school program was great. He is quite the singer!! His teacher says that he and another girl in his class are the best singers and love singing!

Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus

My parents took us to the circus Saturday afternoon. It was a lot of fun! I loved watching the kids faces - they were a mix of amazement and awe. I wish I could have captured them better on film but oh well! We all thought it was great!!

having a great time!

Uncle Blair bought cotton candy and it came with these neat hats!

the elephants...

A Trip Downtown

We were planning on going to the circus Friday night but couldn't get very good tickets so we decided to go downtown to look at the lights and the tree. Andrew's favorite part was seeing the blue flashing lights in our car thanks to a policeman that had pulled Josh over. Surprisingly, Josh did not get a ticket even though the policeman was not very nice.

There were all these neat German stands all around the Daley Center.

What could be better than an icecream cone after walking outside in the cold?

Happy Thanksgiving!

This is the only picture I took on Thanksgiving day - it was too cute! We went to my parents and we had some uncles, aunts, and cousins over for an early dinner. The boys didn't have a nap and just as we were about to fill our plates, Andrew conked out. I think he timed it right so he wouldn't have to eat any turkey. He had been telling my mom all week that he didn't like turkey (even though he hasn't had it in sooo long). He is so picky so I was expecting a rough dinner with him. After sleeping a couple of hours, he woke up and had a peanut butter sandwich. He had a great Thanksgiving because of it!

Stone Soup

On Wednesday, Josh, Andrew, and I went to Will's school for a special day. They had been collecting canned vegetables for the last couple of weeks. Then, they mixed them all together for soup. It was pretty tasty!

Pilgrim Will

Andrew and I

Our Hike and Fun at the Park

We decided to go on a hike with the boys. We enjoyed a picnic lunch next to a stream and even found a caterpillar. The boys were so silly that day!

This was their "action" shot as Will called it.

Andrew carefully carrying our caterpillar.

Happy Halloween!

We had so much fun on Halloween! The boys loved going from house to house. Each of them said "trick or treat" and "thank you" at every house. We got a lot of compliments on their costumes! What a great night!!!

scary faces...

Pumpkin Carving

This was the first year that Will actually stuck his hand in the pumpkin. He had fun digging out insides!

Pumpkin Patch

We went to the pumpkin patch this weekend with Josh's parents. It was pretty muddy but we had a good time.

Andrew likes the small pumpkins.

on the hayride

on the top of a big straw hill

Josh and Andrew feeding a goat

Yeh Yeh, Grandma and the boys

ZooBoo

We went to ZooBoo last night and had an awesome time! The boys loved dressing up and trick-or-treating there! Josh and I were a little worried if people could tell what the boys were and so many people commented on their costumes. If you can't tell, they are Legos.

They had a straw maze and the boys loved it!!

Andrew has this new thing of making up words. He makes up a word that he thinks is funny and starts cracking up. It is hilarious!! This video shows an example of it!

10 Year Millikin Reunion

Josh, the boys, and I went down to Millikin this weekend for my 10 year Homecoming. We went to a luncheon, had our picture taken, and went to the football game. After that, we walked around campus and let the kids run around. It was great to see the girls (and husbands) and the kids!

the kids

the girls in front of our freshman year dorm

the 4 of us in front of Shilling Hall

A Walk on the Canal

Saturday night we went to eat along the canal at a fun and unique restaurant called the Creation Cafe. Afterwards, we went and walked along the canal with our good friends the Walter's. It was the perfect night for a stroll!

Field Trip to the Andreson's Apple Orchard

On Friday, Will's class went to the apple orchard for a field trip. Andrew and I got to go along with them. We were lucky enough to have the chance to ride the bus with Will (it could have had something to do with Andrew screaming outside of it because I wouldn't let him get on with Will). We went and picked some apples. It was a great end of summer activity! I'm sure we will go back soon and get more - they are delicious!!

Andrew had 3 apples while we were there and Will had 2! Needless to say, we had a small lunch that day!

Will's class