Cutting Down Our Christmas Tree

For the first time ever, our family went to cut down our Christmas tree this year.  (Normally Daddy goes to Home Depot or somewhere like that to get it.)  It was a gorgeous day today, mid 50's and we had such a nice time.  We went to a nice tree farm in Eudora and the family that runs the place was so friendly.

 

 Scoping out the trees...

 Getting a dolly to haul our tree

 Here's the one I picked out!  (They were all pine trees.... we like the Douglas Fir, but apparently those aren't grown here.  If you want to cut down your own tree, the choices are pine or pine.) ;)

 Daddy using the saw to cut it down!

 By our nice little pine tree

 After we got our tree, we went home and decorated the tree and the house.  "It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas!"  What a fun, fun weekend it's been so far!

Thanksgiving

We had such a wonderful Thanksgiving at Auntie, Uncle, Connor and Grayson's!  We got to pretty much play the whole day!  There are several "takes" of the pic below because Mommy thought they were all so cute!

 Poppy "reading" a train calendar to Maxy and Grayson

 Auntie and Mommy

 More of us boys!

 Ages 5, 4, 3 and 2 (in that order... and Baby Jack is in Auntie's tummy and about on his way!)

 Daddy fried a turkey and it was my favorite part of the whole meal.  I told him so too!

 The men...

 The mommies....

 Eating Poppy's special chocolate shakes for dessert!  We also went to the Plaza Lighting Ceremony and watched the lights turn on and fireworks from Uncle's office, but we didn't get any pics.

 And today we got to go down to Union Station with everyone to see "Twas the Night Before Christmas" and we got to see all the pretty Christmas decorations at Union Station.

 We even rode the little train at Union Station

I'm thankful for my brother and best friend and my whole family!

The Tooth Fairy Makes an Early Visit

I was such a brave boy on Tuesday.  I had to have surgery to remove two extra permanent teeth in the palette of my mouth.  We found out about the extra teeth at my first dental appointment when I was 3.  The dentist said we needed to see an oral surgeon.  We went and saw the same doctor that did Mommy's jaw surgery.  He recommended we get the teeth taken out before I started losing teeth.  So, now that I'm 5 and could be losing teeth in the next year, Mommy and Daddy decided it was time.  They told me I'd get to eat lots of ice cream and watch lots of movies.  I also got to eat breakfast in bed the night before since I couldn't eat or drink anything the morning of the surgery.

Pretty fun eating breakfast in bed at night!

 I was happy as could be to go to the actual surgery that morning with Mommy and Daddy.  I drank some "juice" that I thought was pretty good and it made me really sleepy.  I didn't start crying until I was waking up and then I was really upset because my mouth "felt really funny and puffy."  I cried most of the way home and said to Mommy and Daddy, "I thought that was going to be fun, but that was NOT awesome at all!"  When I got home, GG had a really special gift for me from her and Poppy.  It was a playdough ice cream maker!

 

And I even got to put the teeth under my pillow that night and the tooth fairy came!!  She brought me a gold dollar coin for each tooth and something extra special since I had to have surgery to get the teeth out.  The special gift was a Batman lego set that Mommy and I had a blast putting together.  Daddy and Mommy were amazed that I was already wanting to eat solid foods the night of the surgery - chicken and rice and Cheerios!  I recovered like a champ and was pretty much back to myself by the very next day!!

Catching Up on Random Stuff

Catching up on the last couple weeks... these aren't necessarily in order.

We went to see Peter Pan with Mommy last weekend while Daddy was at a work seminar all weekend.  It was at the same place where I did my Peter Pan camp last summer!  Our friend, Xavier, and his Mommy went too, but unfortunately we didn't get to sit with them.  I dressed up as Captain Hook and Maxy dressed up at Peter Pan.  It was a great show, but a little long... almost 2 1/2 hours.  We LOVE Peter Pan, though!

Max even wanted to get his picture with the REAL Captain Hook from the show.  I was a little bit afraid of him, though.  When I first saw him, I said to Mommy... "Mommy, is that the REAL Captain Hook that came all the way from Neverland?!"

 One of our favorite activities is swimming.  Quite often, we'll go play in the playroom at the gym while Mommy works out and then we get to go swimming afterward.  We are getting so good at swimming that sometimes Mommy doesn't even get in.  She just watches us from the side!

 A couple weeks ago Mommy took Max to the mall for a date and they rode the carousel and had lunch at Nordstrom Café, one of Mommy's favorites.

 During nap/quiet time last week, I drew this picture of Mommy and me on my dry erase board in my room and put this picture of us on it too.

 We've been working hard on a couple challenging things lately... Max has been working to "mind his manners" and I've been working on "Cole keeps calm"... working on being calm instead of having outbursts.  We had charts that we filled with stickers after a few weeks, so we each got a new costume.  I got a ninja costume and Max got a wolverine costume.

 Last week we went bowling with our buds, Maya and Nolan and had a blast!

 And on Friday we had Connor for an overnight and got to go get ice cream with him.  It was so much fun being with our cousin buddy.

Movie time before bed.

Today we did our annual once a year swim at Matt Ross.  We love that pool, but it always wears Mommy and Daddy out.  There are tons and tons of kids and the water is usually a bit chilly.  We had an awesome time, though!

Max's First Dentist Appointment

These are from a couple weeks ago.  Max had his first dentist appointment the day before his 3rd birthday.  He was a little bit apprehensive, but I told him all about how fun it is and how you get tokens for the toy machine and ice cream afterward.  Max did really great!  He brought puppy along, of course.  And they have you wear these cool sunglasses so the bright light doesn't shine in your eyes.

 No cavities, looking good, Maxy!

No cavities for me either!

Max's 3rd Birthday Party

We had a small birthday party for Max at our house yesterday.  He's been talking about a bubble gum theme for close to a year now because he knew when he turned 3 that he could have bubble gum for the first time!  When he woke up and had his first piece, he said... "I couldn't wait to turn 3 and I couldn't wait to have bubble gum!"  I gave him his own bubble gum machine for his birthday.  He is very excited to join the gum club! ;)

 Love those eyebrows!

 Sweet cousin, Grayson!

 We spent most of the party playing in the leaves!

 Noah and Cooper making pizzas

 Jack and James making pizzas

 Miss Jennifer and Coco

 Playing a game where you try to walk and keep the gumball on the spoon

 Make a wish, Maxy!

Happy 3rd Birthday, Max!  We love you more than anything!