Late Thanksgiving

Forgot to add a few from our Thanksgiving week...

Parker's class had a fun little party. 

Saying the prayer. 

 And then the director came in in a turkey costume. Beat that RBCPC (his San Diego preschool).

Austin is always the last one eating at these events.

 Mrs. Vaughn and Parker.

 The boys love Legos these days! I like that they use their imagination, but hate when I step on all the scattered pieces.

 We went to Charlottesville for Thanksgiving, to be with Scott and Abbey. Austin was grumpy, as usual, but he was rocking a sweet sweater vest.

 Parker loves all the light sabers Lance has. It's battle city the whole time we are there.

 I made my crapple pie as usual. Everything was so delicious and Abbey did the most amazing job serving many dishes she had made for the first time.

Cutie pies

The boys always want to take pictures to send to Grammy. Sometimes the outtakes are better than the good ones. 

Movies and more

There is a theater by us that does discounted movies on Tuesdays. We usually aren't big movie goers, but when the weather is cold, you are clamoring for indoor fun. We went to see "Big Hero 6." It was cute and the boys were laughing the whole time. We even had Pete there with us. Family fun!

 The next day, the weather was better so Austin was outside playing with the tennis rackets. He kept repeatedly hitting the balls and saying, "This game is easy to me." He was so proud.

 That afternoon we went to Mt Trashmore. It was about 65 degrees and everyone and their mother was there! The boys had the best time playing for almost three hours! I love how this move has made Parker even more social than he already was. He is quick to identify a child who looks about his age, and then say, "Hi I'm Parker, how old are you? Four? Me too. What's your name? Let's go!" He also brings extra toys to share. Sometimes I get annoyed at all the loot because it's hard to remember them all when we leave, but he always reminds me, "I need another one if I'm going to make a friend."

 Parker is such a crackup.

 One new experience for us are drawbridges. If you get stuck, you're stuck! There is one on the way to Parker's school, and on one bad morning we hit it both on the way there and the way back. Usually we time it better than that.

Fam photo shoot

We needed to take a family photo for my parent's Christmas card, so after church, we headed outside to find some fall foliage. Much to our dismay, it appears the leaves all fell off last night. No joke. We had a vibrant yellow tree in our front yard yesterday, and this morning it is barren. 

Anyway, we also have a forest-y area behind our house, so we went leaf stomping to find a location. Pete did an amazing job locating our tripod in record time. 

Parker was compliant with having his hair combed and smiling nicely. 

 Austin on the other hand had blue lips from a sucker, and was ready to do the OPPOSITE of everything we asked of him. The first few were okay...

 Oh the self-timer...

 Then things went downhill... the "shooter" poses began. Nothing says Merry Christmas like a two year old aiming a finger-gun like a gang member at the camera.

 If you can't beat 'em...

 Then the wind kicked up...

 And then there was nose-picking...

 Then we were done. Heading back home...

 I should really take the boys back here more. I think it's just community property, though the homes we were near did not have fenced in yards. Lots of leaves to stop and things to explore.