Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving this year was pretty quiet and laid back and we couldn't have asked for more!  We had a nice morning at home eating a big breakfast and watching the parade.  After nap, we headed to Mim and Poppa's house for Thanksgiving dinner.  The weather was perfect, a chill in the air but not freezing cold, so we went for a little walk down to the shops and the Christmas tree.  We walked around the "lake" and went the long way home for some dessert.  We didn't get home until around 9 and the boys were wiped out!!  It was the best day and I loved spending this special day with our little family!

The table is all set and ready for a feast!!

Jacob helped Mim last Saturday make our place cards.  Jonah's has a little mad face (that he often displays in real life!) and Jacob's has glasses!!

 

The beautiful tree!

This is totally my life-big brother trying desperately to keep little brother in check!

We had a tough time getting a family picture, this is the best we could do!

The really are sweet boys!

With Mim and Poppa

We enjoyed our walk on the quiet streets!

Warming up by the fire!

Of course, one of the biggest events Jacob looks forward to is our elf, Seamus, coming the day after Thanksgiving!  Seamus was very thoughtful this year and brought the boys Christmas Lego sets!

We are ready for the Christmas season to begin!!!

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas!!

A little over a month ago, Mim and Poppa moved to a townhouse at The Shops at Legacy.  Since then, we have been taking full advantage of their fun new location!

We met them for lunch after church on Sunday and they took Jacob with them to see The Grinch at The Angelica theater.  Nathan, Jonah and I went home for naptime and then met them up there after the movie.  Every year they have an event that includes the movie, face painting, food and drinks, a train ride, Santa and ends with the lighting of the tree.  It was such a fun evening and a great way to kick off the holiday season!  During the day, the temps were in the low 70s but definitely dropped when the sun went down.  We had the best time walking around, listening to the live music and drinking hot cocoa.  Unfortunately, the boys didn't last until the tree lighting, so after the parade, we walked back to the townhouse for soup and sandwiches.  I absolutely love holiday traditions, and now we have a new one!!

Mim and Poppa even bought the boys Grinch pjs to celebrate the occasion!

Fall Fun

I seriously think I say this every single year, but this year it seems to be more true than ever. The fall has flown by.  It feels like yesterday we were starting the new school year, Jacob in first grade and Jonah in the Get Set room.  Now here we are, just a few short days away from Thanksgiving!

The boys are growing like crazy both physically and in their sweet personalities.  Jacob is truly "all boy" and loves pretending and being silly.  He's still the more serious of the two.  He's doing great in school and loves first grade.  He particularly likes playing and talking with his friends (which sometimes gets him in trouble, like his momma!).  I still love having him at school with me and checking in with him at times throughout the day.  I love knowing that everyone is watching out for him and I have seen that school family come into play when he has gotten hurt on the playground and I had no less than four people tell me and offer watch my class while I checked on him.  Seriously the best blessing to being a teacher at his school!  Jonah is 2 1/2 now and is such a sweet and funny little boy!  He's got the GREATEST laugh ever and loves to make people smile!  While we've experienced more of the "terrible twos" with Jonah and he's certainly more strong willed than his big brother, we also see such a joyful spirit in him.  They love each other hard and fight hard!

Even though school and work has been keeping us particularly busy this fall, we've worked hard to add in plenty of fun!  We love the cooler weather the fall brings and seasonal activities that give us memories we know we'll remember forever!

Every year since Jacob was born, we've visited The Big Orange Pumpkin Farm in Celina.  We decided to go on a Friday after school this year and it was the best decision we've made!  The weather was on the warm side, but the farm wasn't over crowded (and we didn't have to wake up early on a Saturday!).  Jonah is the perfect age for all of these activities, he's getting really "into" them and is just the cutest! Jacob is now old enough to remember years past and anticipate the fun!

Next up was the annual Fall Festival at church.  It's held on the Wednesday night before Halloween which can be tricky with work and we were all pretty exhausted, but again, it's something we've attended since Jacob was born.  The boys loved putting on their costumes and playing the fun games that were set up!  Jacob wanted to be a pirate (I think his costume is actually a "buccaneer"- same thing, right?) so I bought the cutest parrot costume for Jonah.  WELL, he was having NONE of it!  Luckily, we had Jacob's triceratops costume from when he was almost three and Jonah was in love!

This sweet little girl was in the girl version of the buccaneer costume, so of course we had to snap a picture!

The night before Halloween we decided to finally carve our large pumpkin.  This year, Jacob drew the face on the pumpkin with a Sharpie and then daddy cut.  It was the cutest pumpkin face I've ever seen!

We absolutely loved having Halloween on a Friday this year!  Jacob and I headed off to school while Jonah stayed home with daddy.  Then, after school Mim and Poppa came over for a quick dinner before we headed out to trick or treat.  The boys had so much fun!!!  Jonah loved going and "visiting" the neighbors and really got into say "Trick or treat!", sometimes so much that he forgot to actually get the candy!

The Friday after Halloween, our school had a Superhero theme dance party.  Our theme this year is Superheroes, so we've had fun buying new tshirts and wearing capes!  We all got dressed in our Superhero gear and headed up to school for an evening of dancing and snacks!  It was such a fun night-Jacob had fun seeing all of his friends, I love seeing my students outside of school hours and Jonah loved charming everyone!!

I love Jonah's "cheese!" smile!!!

He really does look up to his big brother!

Dancing with his first grade friends!

Thriller!

The fall season may have been stressful, chaotic and exhausting but it's so important to enjoy the little things.  These boys are going to be all grown up before I know it and these days of simple fun will be gone.  It's easy to get caught up in the day to day stuff, but I have learned now more than ever the importance of putting that all aside and having some fun!!