I am thankful...

For the opportunity to host my parents and my sisters and their families for Thanksgiving!

It was great having the girls together,

having the cousins together,

the grandparents with us,

and it was great having LOTS and LOTS of yummy food!

Even though it is only temporary,

I love it that my sisters and I all live on the east coast 

at the same time.  A first time for all 3 of us for sure.

The centerpieces Creed made at school. I was surprisingly  impressed that they were actually nice enough to make it past the kid table
and be added to the adult table. Brownie points to the room moms in his class! 

The cousins in DC



The boys inside the natural history museum. We are all trying to endure
Mack's new pose of choice in every photo he takes. I can't wait for him to get older
and look back at every photo of him at this age and wonder what he was thinking.

Sleep over time for the boys  with Jax. The most exciting part of the holidar for these guys..



Callan's fun fall

Although Callan isn't in school or sports he still leads a very fulfilled life.

He loves life and isn't afraid to show it.

He spent the fall getting potty trained and following his

brothers around. He also spent the time trying to

adjust to the life of nannies. He suffered some anxiety

and mommy withdrawals which made us both sad.

But by the end he loved his sitters and his time with them.



what a dapper looking young man!

Celebrating being potty trained at Chuck E  Cheese!

looking like the ever 3rd child in mismatched jammies out in public, because Mom is
just too tired to care about the small stuff.

Mack's Fantastic Fall

Mackguires fall was filled with school, soccer and doctor visits.

We can't believe how much he is growing. It is sure fun to be apart of

all these new stages in his life.

It looks like he got a little over excited and forgot the ball is usually on the ground not in another players lap. ;)
Luckily no one was injured in this picture,

He is one determined kid when he wants something,

A day in the backyard leaves

We spent the fall trying to figure out what was causing him to break out in hives.  We never did, but after 6 weeks or so
they eventually never returned. Good news I guess.

Our loveable Mack!

Creed's Fabulous Fall

This past fall the stars all aligned and somehow both Cam and I

had a day off from training and it enabled me

to go with Creed and his class on its field trip

to pumpkin patch. And Cam to hang with Callan at home.

There were these huge slides they slid down on with carpets,

a tracor pull through a kid friendly haunted forest,

various play structures shaped like pirate ships,

trains, cars, rocket ships etc.

and huge plastic pipes that the kids could

climb in and roll each other down the hill.

Oh... and I think they had some pumpkins there too.

I love when I can get one on one time with my boys!

  

When we were down by the Potomoc one afternoon Creed found this
massive leaves and said "Mom, this leaf looks like a lions head" and thus
his school leaf project was born.

There was another fun season of soccer season played. My boys sure try hard bless their hearts.

GOAL!!
Creed is such a great team member cheering for his friends.

Creeds day at goalie. There sure wasn't a lot of action coming his way.

Don't you just love this kid!!

The Halloween Mom failed...

This is the first year since I have been a mother that I didn't take the kid/kids into a photo studio

to get their pictures taken in their costumes.

Although it may not seem like it I am a little disappointed in

myself. But on the other hand I also feel a little liberated by it too.

There was just TOO much going on this fall for me to pull

that one off. I didn't think the boys would care at all

because what little boys love getting their picture taken.

And to be fair every time we attempt photo shoots

it is like a scene from "boys gone wild".

Unfortunately I have the knack for always doing the exact

opposite of what I "think" my kids want.

It was mentioned or maybe  excessively whined to me

 (its been so long who can really remember)

multiple times that pictures at the studio is what they wanted.

Oh well, once again I given my kids good fodder for

their therapy sessions as adults. The year mom didn't get professional

Halloween photos taken.  Can you sense the horror in the Shrinks office?

Hopefully my at home shots will help heal their wounds a little.

IRON MAN, CAD BANE, and BOBA FETT!
Another Star War year for the big boys.  I wonder if they will ever stray from those characters?

Mack's costume really disturbed some of the young girls at our church trunk of treat.
It kind of made me laugh a little, yep, I said it.
Sometimes I just gotta allow my boys to be boys. And what better night then Halloween!

This costume was such an ordeal to come by, I hope this boy will remember while in therapy
 how much work his Dad and I went through to obtain this costume.

This boy had Iron Man picked out months before the big day. What a fun night
to share with a toddler.

Luckily for Callan he found his  "Super Hero squad" at church.
Isn't it cute how many 3 year olds wanted to be super heros.

We invited some new but lifelong friends we have met since living here to our church party.
I think the boys had a great time!