Sunday, November 20, 2016

Carol of the Bells


Cole's 2nd ever piano recital (Harry Potter)


Max's 1st lost tooth and 6th Birthday!!

November has been a big month for sweet little Maxy!  He lost his first tooth on November 1!  It had been loose for a while and was getting pretty wiggly.  We were sitting down at dinner and he was eating a whole apple.  I looked over at him and said, "Max! Your tooth fell out!"  Luckily he found it on his plate.  He was so excited to put it under his pillow that night and in keeping with tradition, the tooth fairy brought a gold $1 coin!


 Helping Mommy make his and Grayson's birthday cupcakes to take to Great Wolf Lodge!  Just love those eyebrows so much!! :)
 Max really wanted to go to Great Wolf Lodge for his birthday this year with family.  I think it's so sweet that he likes being with family on his birthday.  The last two years he has wanted to go to Topeka and celebrate with GG and Poppy at "Puppies Galored" so this year when he wanted to do Great Wolf, we knew it was a big treat but he has never asked for much for his birthdays so we decided to do it.  Connor, Grayson, Jack, Auntie, Uncle, GG and Poppy went too.  We did a dual celebration with Grayson and the boys thought it was so much fun!  Connor, Grayson and Chris stayed in our room and the boys had a little kid cabin.  No one got much sleep but it was well worth it, they had the best time!
 The kid cabin in our room


  Birthday boys!!








 In addition to the waterpark, they loved the arcade too, but I guess I didn't get any pictures of that part.  What a fun weekend!  It's now been 3 weeks since we went and Max is STILL wearing his wristband from Great Wolf and doesn't want to take it off! :)
 School book fair was the week of Max's bday and this is the book he picked out :)
 Max and buddy Hudson (his hair reminds me of what Cole's used to be like!)


 Tried to make puppy, bone and dog house pancakes his bday morning, but they didn't turn out the best :)







 This balloon wall was fun!  It was Craig's idea.  We were up late watching presidential election coverage and Craig thought it would be fun to do this balloon trap when Max woke up in the morning.  The only thing was that Cole was the first to open the door, so most of the balloons fell on him.  But they thought it was pretty fun.
 Craig was the "WatchDOG" at Max and Cole's school on Max's bday, so that was pretty special!  And I got to come bring lunch (Jimmy John's was Max's request) to them and celebrate with treats in Max's class.  He had a sub teacher that day, but Mrs. H left great instructions for celebrating Maxy. :)

 Maxy wore the bday crown the whole rest of the day until bedtime.  He loved this sketch book that Noah gave him.
 The boys went to Topeka the following weekend for a special overnight with GG and Poppy.  We had a major issue because Maxy forgot Love Puppy.  It was only the second night ever since he got Love Puppy on his 1st bday, that he has slept without him. (The other time was a couple years ago when we accidentally left him at Dr. Slaymaker our pediatrician's office and by the time we realized where he was, they had already closed.)  Anyway, we were almost to Lawrence when we realized Love Puppy was in the dryer at home. Max wanted to turn around and go get him, but he was so brave and did just fine without him.  I sent him pictures of Love Puppy throughout the weekend so he would know I was taking good care of him for Max. :) He was so happy to see him when he got home the next day.
 Maxy got a little mini drone for his bday.  We took them out to the field by school last weekend to fly them.
 So cute how sometimes they crawl into each other's beds to sleep and this night we found Maxy holding onto Cole's arm.  They are so precious.

 We've been doing lots of community service projects lately.  This was a fun one where we made no sew blankets for Children's Mercy.  The boys did a great job!


 The next day was a talent show at Homestead Assisted Living.  We do an Adopt a Grandparent program though school and have a different activity with our "grandparent" each month.

 Boys night, pizza party with buddies
 Cole's 2nd ever piano recital.  He did amazing!  He played the theme song from Harry Potter.  I could tell he was nervous beforehand (and so was I!!), but he handled himself so well.  He introduced himself in a loud clear voice, played flawlessly and took a nice bow.  I am so very proud of him!!
 GG and Poppy came to the recital too!  We celebrated afterward at Winstead's (Cole's choice!) and got a skyscraper for dessert!

 Cole and his piano teacher, Mr. John
More leaves... they never end with all the big trees around us!  The boys aren't complaining, though! :)  Fall is always my favorite!!!

Halloween Fun

Pumpkin Patch fun with friends at Johnson Farms



 Art club reunion... painting pumpkins at the park... I don't think we've had an art club since the kids started elementary school, so it was fun to do it again!
 Kappa 100th Anniversary in Manhattan, such fun with Pledge Class of 97/98!

 Me, Jessica, Gretchen
 The room we used to live in!

 Fun in Aggieville

 Back home at the park with the boys, testing out their new toy
 Lots and lots of leaves!


 Pumpkin carving - Puppy and Pokemon :)


 Jumping into the leaves from the swings!  Glad no one got hurt!

 Halloween Parade at school!  Max with Mrs. Hoelscher




 Love my little Gator football players!!!!

 Trick or treating with lots of buddies in the neighborhood!



It was a very warm evening on Halloween this year!  The boys were getting hot running from house to house and Max kept asking for water! ;)  You never know what kind of weather you are going to get on Halloween in Kansas, but I'll take warm over cold and rainy for trick-or-treating any day!  We had a fun time!