Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow!

We drove up to Richmond Friday night in the rain, sleet and snow. It was quite an adventure, but we had a lot of people praying that we would arrive safely. Praise the Lord we did arrive safe and sound at 12:45 am. We got stuck in the snow as we pulled in the driveway. It was a good place to be stuck. Dan measured 8 inches on his parents deck Saturday morning. Yesterday was pretty cold, so we only took the boys out in the snow for a few minutes. Today was sunny and not too chilly so we played in the snow for a while. Here are a few snow pictures!

Atticus really enjoyed the snow

Isaiah was a little more reserved- which is not characteristic of him

Granddaddy gave them fun brooms to play with in the snow

Grandmother and Isaiah going for a walk

Granddaddy showing Isaiah the snow

A family snow shot

- Carrie

A Busy Month

I (Carrie) tried to post this under my own name, but I have run out of picasa room so I am posting under Dan's name and using his picasa album. I have been terrible about blogging this month! So I apologize to the handful of relatives that look for updates and are disappointed day after day. :) The boys have been very active this month. I will summarize most of this month by the following pictures.

On cold days we stare out the window and watch our neighbor who works in his yard all the time- the boys love his lawnmower.

Atticus love rides from Daddy

Isaiah doesn't know how to get on the right way...

Isaiah enjoying some bean bag time

Atticus finding Daddy's nose

I love the face Atticus is making in this one

Isaiah disappeared one afternoon, we knew he had to be in the living room but we couldn't see him, he had crawled behind the drum set- it was fun trying to get him out.

Isaiah likes to wear his bear hat a lot

Isaiah is considering taking up baby modeling- look at that those washboard abs

My mom brought them these boxes- they love getting into small spaces

They have learned where plugs go- I am very thankful for socket protectors

Atticus enjoys hanging out on this slide out shelf

Saving the best for last, the boys love to wrestle with each other, this is how I found them this morning

Atticus sitting on Isaiah, who is giggling....

On a side note I just wanted to plug a few websites that I have been enjoying.
1. etsy.com If you have never been there you should go, it is really awesome because all of the stuff is handmade. I could spend hours browsing this site and not have to buy anything.
2. grooveshark.com This site is awesome because unlike pandora you can listen to whatever you want for free. I have made several playlists depending on the mood: one for the kids (veggie tales, school house rock, raffi, etc), one for Christmas (with my favorite Amy Grant songs that I grew up on), one that is only hymns ( lots of Indelible Grace, Fernando Ortega ie. piano genius) and a new stuff list which I am adding to often, the latest favorites being Muse and Phoenix. If you are into music and you want to search a very large database of free music this is the spot.
3. Netflix- yes you have to have a membership to enjoy this site, but it is a favorite for lots of reasons. We got rid of our cable entirely because it is a total waste- there is never anything on. Instead we pay $9 a month for 1 movie at a time and free streaming anytime. The free streaming is what I get sucked into...and lately I have been watching a lot of BBC series. A new favorite is North and South (please do not confuse this with the Civil war movie with Patrick Swazye, they have the same title, but they are not the same!)- if you like Pride and Prejudice you will LOVE this movie and I will even venture to say you may come to love it more than Pride and Prejudice. I am sure that some of you devoted Jane Austen fans may have just gasped, but it is truly an amazing book and movie- so give it a try! A few other favorites are Bleak House (Dickens characters are amazing!), and Wives and Daughters. Speaking of British television another great show is IT Crowd- it is British humor, and at times a little crass, but if you are a fan of the Office you will probably love this one. I have come to realize that I like British television better than American- they are much funnier than we are....

Who knew?

Who knew that kids could have so much fun with spring form pans and an empty cabinet? I have a cabinet that I let the boys play in- this really comes in handy on rainy days or when I need to work in the kitchen. They usually take turns getting in the cabinet, but sometimes they both try to squeeze in. These pictures were taken two weeks ago, but due to a dead camera battery, and the frustrating delayed shipping of a new camera battery, I am just now posting these. I will post about Thanksgiving soon- everyone took pictures for me and I am waiting to get some more pictures before I post.

Isaiah with his new fashionable belt

Atticus offering me a pan

Isaiah throwing me a subtle hint that he would like a cookie

Atticus in the cabinet

A tight squeeze

Toy Box

The other day Isaiah climbed into a large plastic crate that we use for storing toys.

He read a few books and played with the toys in the crate.

Atticus tried to climb in the box too, but it's a pretty small crate.

Atticus was very patient and waited his turn. He was very happy when he finally got in.

Weekend Retreat

My dad, brother-in-law Ryan and Dan went to a men's retreat this weekend in North Carolina. My mom, sister and her two kids came to stay with us for the weekend. We had our own little retreat in town. My mom cooked lots of good food, which we were more than willing to eat. We spent a lot of time playing outside because the weather was so pretty. On Saturday we went to the park and had a picnic lunch, unfortunately I forgot my camera, so no pictures of that event. It was a great weekend to spend with family, perhaps we will make this a yearly tradition.

Isaiah, Atticus and Thomas in their matching pjs.

Thomas taking an important business call during his breakfast....

Isaiah and Grandma, ready to go outside

Thomas and Katherine playing outside

Atticus

This reminds me of those clown cars

Aunt Becky supervising Atticus

Isaiah and his ball

Katherine and Grandma

Little Helpers

The boys have discovered brooms. We had swept off the porch the night before and accidentally left one of our brooms on the back porch. They have radar for anything that is not a toy, so they both immediately darted for the broom when they went outside. They were content to play with the broom together for about 30 seconds....I had to go get another broom from inside to restore the peace. Here are a few shots of them "sweeping" the porch.

Daddy showing them how it's done

Isaiah's sweeping skills

Atticus' sweeping skills

Fighting over the "better" broom

Atticus with his game face on

Isaiah

Trunk or Treat

Today was a really fun day for our family. We started out the morning by painting our pumpkins. I had thought about doing this earlier in the week but I decided to wait for Dan because I thought that I would need the extra help, plus I thought that he would enjoy it too. It was a messy success. Dan's summary of the experience was, "It was 30 minutes of prep work for 3 minutes of fun." That's pretty accurate. The kids enjoyed painting their pumpkins, especially Atticus. He really got the hang of it and did not need much help painting his pumpkin. Isaiah was a little more timid, which is surprising for him. They got paint all over their faces, in their hair, etc....needless to say they got a bath at 11 in the morning. :)

Isaiah and Atticus painting pumpkins

Isaiah painting

We were going to go to a festival downtown called Jack-o-lantern Jubilee this afternoon. I was so excited about going that I accidentally locked us out of the house! Opps! We usually keep a spare key hidden, but we did not have one anywhere. Dan had to break the lock on the door and then get a new door knob from Lowes. So we did not make it to the Jubile... but there is always next year! Thankfully the kids did not know what they were missing.

The damage

Dan re-enacting the event

Atticus was so tired that he fell asleep in his highchair after dinner

After dinner we went to my parent's church for Trunk or Treat. The boys went to this last year, but they were too little to remember. They really enjoyed getting candy in their buckets and walking from car to car. Atticus kept sitting down on the ground to play with his candy. They had some games for the kids to play, Isaiah enjoyed putting rings around the little pumpkins. Both of the boys had a great time and did not seem to mind wearing their costumes the whole time.

Amber, Dan, Isaiah, Atticus and Grandma with Thomas the Train- my mom is laughing so hard because Atticus kicked his candy bucket on the ground right before I took the picture

Here is probably the best shot of the boys looking at the camera....kind of...

Atticus admiring his goodies

Dan and Isaiah playing pumpkin toss

Isaiah probably trying to tear down the sign....

The cousins- Thomas was dressed as Batman, but he got too hot so he changed.