Holiday Cheer

Since Thanksgiving weekend, we've been busy getting into the holiday spirit. Here's a sampling of some of our Christmas fun thus far: First Santa visit w/o Jess and I having to be in the picture - we did not care that Ben wouldn't smile. Baby steps, people.
"Snow" at Atlantic Station.

The Macy's (formerly Rich's) Pink Pig and hot cocoa are an annual tradition.

The boys had their church Christmas concert last week. Here's a short clip of some of Noah's "performance" - quite the ham that one. He's on the bottom right in red. Ben is on the top right in green, but for some reason your eye may be drawn to Noah ...

And one more of our growing girl!

Ride 'Em, Cowboys!

We spent a gorgeous fall day last Saturday at Ms. Debbie's horse farm. Debbie is the children's pastor at our church, and she was so kind to invite everyone out for a day of fun on the farm!

The fresh country air put little Eliza right to sleep. We were so glad to have Uncle John and his girlfriend Kristen come spend the day with us!

And one more of E, just for giggles.

Halloween 2010

It seems that Halloween has become a several-weeks-long holiday - pumpkins and parties and parades ... all leading up to the BIG night. At least the boys got some real use out of their costumes - they got to wear them to school, to a couple of parties, to trunk-or-treating at church, and, of course, for the main event.

Eliza slept through her first trip to the pumpkin patch. The boys happily picked one out for her.
Our little cowboy, SWAT police officer, and ...
blooming flower baby!

Playgroup Halloween Party - Year 6!

Ben's class from last year got together for some Halloween fun. Noah loved bobbing for apples - he was completely drenched afterward, as you might have guessed.

The boys had fun making pizza mummies one night for dinner.

On Halloween, as tradition has it, our friends Ava and Eli came over for dinner and trick-or-treating!

Getting ready to head out.

And reaping some of the rewards afterward.

Let the sugar high begin!

School Pictures

School pictures have come a long way since I was a kid. No more mottled gray backdrops, Olan Mills style, thank goodness. Here are the boys' pictures from this year ...

Smiles!

Ben helped me catch a few smiles on camera the other day ...
Eliza loves laughing with her big brothers!

Ben's Busy Fall

So, I try not to be the mom who overschedules her kids (and I don't think I do), but Ben has had a very busy fall. In addition to serving as assistant coach for the Teal Turtles (see earlier post), he's been singing in the children's choir at church, taking a few cooking classes, playing tennis, and taking a class at our community garden (okay, so maybe a little overscheduled, but he loves them ALL). The children's choir sang during worship a couple of Sundays ago. The picture's dark, but Ben's on the left.
About to eat the "cowboy cookie" he made at cooking class. Our budding chef.
Ben's been doing a "munchkin tennis" clinic for about a year now, and he's showing great improvement!

Ben took the "Wild Things" class at our community garden last spring and wanted to do it again this fall. It's a sort of hippie, love-the-earth, peace-to-all kind of experience, and he LOVES it. He's tie-dyed shirts, made and eaten stone soup with herbs from the garden, dug up and eaten sweet potatoes, and eaten honey from bees in the garden. He informed me the other day that "apples give us love and light." Too sweet.

He picked me this gorgeous bouquet at garden class a couple of weeks ago - best flowers I've ever received.

Kickin' It and Camping

A couple of weeks ago, Noah started soccer, his first-ever organized sport. Ben played when he was 3 and wasn't real interested, but we thought Noah might be more enthusiastic because this summer, as Ben was playing t-ball, Noah spent the entire season doing this: Poor guy. He was DYING to get out there and play. So now he has his very own team - the Teal Turtles.

Our little Teal Turtle at hist first game (and assistant coach in background).

Warming up. Not sure you can see, but the tongue is out, which means total concentration ... be the ball.

Last-minute tips from Coach Daddy. Then it was game time.

A bit of a slow start. "Where'd the ball go?"

But then he got into it, putting some moves on the opponents.

We'll have to work on the no hands thing.
Gooooaaal!Uncle John and his girlfriend Kristen came to watch the game last weekend. As you can see, Eliza's an avid soccer fan.

Right after the game, we packed up and headed out for our first-ever camping adventure. Ben's class does an annual camping trip, and we thought we'd give it a try (we are so NOT campers). We borrowed a tent and sleeping bags from some friends and set out. The boys were, to put it mildly, very excited.
The kids spent a lot of time "tent hopping" (think bar hopping on a 5-year-old level).

Sitting by the campfire with pal Catherine.

Eliza even made it out for her first camping trip. She and I headed home after dinner, though, because she didn't want to sleep in a tent. Sheesh - she's such a baby sometimes!