Please Keep the Water in the Tub!

Does that face look guilty to you? It sure does to me. Just moments before this picture was taken, Brayden asked if I could get him a drink. I agreed and asked him very nicely (I may have yelled a little bit...) to please keep the water in the tub. I offered to shut the curtain so he could splash without making a mess, but he said, "Oh no thanks" while smiling sweetly. This is what I found when I got back. Not a big deal, but kind of hilarious.

Putting Up the Tree

As awesome as our Present Tree was, we felt that we needed an actual tree this year.

For some reason, Craig let me buy a fake tree this year, which is a really big deal if you know Craig. It will be nice to have even if we don't use it very often. Brayden was really excited about the whole process of decorating the tree and he was quite helpful.

Now we have a home for all of our presents and Christmas can truly begin. Merry Christmas!

The Disney Tree

Now that December is finally here, it is time to start enjoying the Christmas season and I know of few better ways to put you in the holiday spirit besides going to the Festival of Trees! I love wandering along each aisle basking in the sights and smells of the season. This morning was extra special because we found a Disney trees and anyone that knows me at all knows that I have a very soft spot for all things Disney!

This is almost the exact tree that I would like in my front room someday. Mickey was in every detail of that tree. It was beautiful and you can't keep from smiling as you walk past it.

They even had a cute Mickey snowman (above) and an adorable bench (below) next to the tree. I'm pretty sure I need that bench on my future front porch. Anyway, we had a great time and now I can't wait to go home and set up our Christmas tree.

Thanksgiving with the Furse's

My parents invited us over to their place for Thanksgiving dinner this year. Dinner was absolutely amazing, as usual. My parents are pretty incredible cooks when cooking for large groups. They included some of the traditional favorites like my mom's homemade strawberry jam and her spinach salad, but they added candied yams this year. I've never found a recipe for yams that I like, but this one was incredible. I'll have to remember to get the recipe!

While everyone cleaned up/goofed around after dinner, Brayden played with my parents' Marble Works set. Kira and I used to play with this when we were younger. It's fun to watch my son enjoy one of my favorite toys.

And for the best part of Thanksgiving...dessert! I've found that people become very nice to you when you are the person holding the pie and ice cream. We had a lot of fun playing with my family. And I can't wait to celebrate the holidays when there are a few more grandchildren running around. In the meantime, here are the people that were there.

Craig (and obviously Brayden and me)

Dean and Travis

Mom, Dad and Kira

We really missed Haylie this year. Happy Thanksgiving!

Bouncin' Off the Walls

Today, Brayden and I spent the morning at Bouncin' Off the Walls. I really love that they have a time set aside for kids under 5-years-old. His favorite thing here is the obstacle course and bounce house. He still has a lot of warming up to do to the ginormous slide, but we are working on it.

Trick-or-Treating

Since tomorrow is Sunday, our neighborhood decided to get together today to go Trick-or-Treating. It's fun that they all meet at one house and then they travel around the neighborhood together. Well, mostly together. Obviously the older kids are much faster than the kids Brayden's age, so everyone kind of splits into groups depending on how old their kids are.

Sadly, it started raining pretty badly, so most of the younger kids were taken home. The rain didn't last too long, but it left the evening pretty chilly and wet. We met up with one dad that was still willing to take around his little boy. Since he had a double stroller, he offered to let Brayden sit down with his son. Brayden didn't take long before he had made himself at home. Notice that his pumpkin bucket is on a small shelf above his head so he didn't need to carry it.

It was so much fun to watch the kids walk up to the doors together. And I loved walking with someone that really knew the neighborhood. He knew which houses to avoid and which path was the most effective. There were two houses on either side of the neighborhood that offered a warm up/resting place. One offered hot cocoa and a movie in the garage and the other offered hot cider and an open fire on their driveway. It was awesome to have a couple of breaks so the evening didn't get miserable for anyone.

The funny thing about this was that I have been trick-or-treating in this neighborhood before. My favorite cousin, Heather, used to live here and I had spent one Halloween evening over a decade ago with her. This brought back lots of memories.

By the way, my favorite thing passed out this evening were funny noses. Some people get so creative. You can see Craig and I playing with Brayden's below.

1st Annual Pumpkin Carving

I used to really hate carving pumpkins. It's so messy! The problem is, Craig loves it. However, a couple years ago, Craig and I had a few friends over to carve pumpkins with us and I discovered that this holiday tradition is much more pleasant when done with friends. So this year we officially started a new family tradition.

This evening marked our first annual pumpkin carving. The tradition is to get as many people as will fit to come over and carve pumpkins. After that is completed and pictures are taken, we all watch a scary movie while sipping hot chocolate and eating freshly roasted pumpkin seeds. I really look forward to doing this again next year.

Top row: Justin, Kayla, Kelsi

Bottom row: Charles, Deana, Craig, Jen