A KC Thanksgiving

We went home for Thanksgiving this year!

Gammy was in town for a few days before our trip and flew back home on the same flight with us.  It's always nice to have an extra set of hands when traveling with kids.

Riding the train to our terminal.  He was only slightly nervous.

Old flying pros, hanging out before our flight. I love how they are all preoccupied with their favorite past time.

Oh hey Gammy! Even though we booked our flights separately we ended up in the same row.

Whenever I go home I go off grid. I barely check my phone and just enjoy the time with my family. So there's hardly any pictures of our trip and I have exactly ZERO pictures of our actual Thanksgiving dinner.  Whoops.  I did get pictures of some of our adventures with Tata!

We decided to visit Santa in KC so we could get a cousin photo.
 

We ate at Fritz's so Camden could see the trains in action. For those of you not familiar with KC, Fritz's is a restaurant where trains chug around on tracks above the tables and bring you your food.  It is cool, especially if you are a mega train lover like Camden.  He wouldn't even look at the camera because he was too busy watching the trains go around.

You also get to wear these adorable engineer hats.

Riley was the only child that wanted to ride the double decker carousel at the mall. Here's a peek back at her first ride on this carousel.  Oh how the years go by.

They had a few opportunities to "swim" in Gammy and Gampy's tub after their nightly circuit training with my Dad. I wish I had gotten a photo of it, but he would take all three kids and pull out three random pieces of exercise equipment like the push up bar, twisting circle, and free weights.  Then he would cycle them through the activities until they were worn out, seriously, this went on for thirty minutes at a time.  The man is a genius.

We did a standing rib roast dinner night at Aunt Tata's per tradition and the kiddos opened their Christmas gifts from the family early.  I know there are photos of that somewhere, but I think Tata must have them.  One of them was a priceless photo of my child opening a gift that she really wanted.

As always, the trip was over in a flash and it was time for us to leave.  I always look forward to seeing my family and I dread the goodbyes.  Gammy and Gampy took us to the airport and I did remember to get at least one photo of the four of them together before we left.


My poor, patient husband was consoling my heartbroken self for a while on the plane.  Once I mopped up the tears we both looked over and realized that for the first time ever our kids were in their own row, happily occupied, and QUIET.   They were not squeezed into our laps and TG dubbed us in "poor man's first class".
 

Fall 2013, part 2

Trips to the craft store were just part of everyday life this fall as I was constantly in need of supplies for the painting business. Riley and Camden were troopers about it as long as I let them browse the kids section every now and then.

Thomas was Camden's fall obsession and we spent many hours building tracks and watching trains chug chug chug.

Riley lost her first top tooth! At this point we're up to six with two more wiggly.

She and I spent a nap time working on her turkey disguise for school. Meet Rapunzkey!

We visited TG at a Sunday soccer game to cheer, "Go Daddy!" very loudly from the sidelines.

There were frequent trips to the park as the last of the warm fall days lingered into November. Cam discovered barefoot track running.

I snuggled my babies every chance that I got.

This little fellow got his first (probably last) tuxedo t-shirt.

We saw a movie in our pjs.

Riley showed off her handy work at American Education Week .

She dabbled in cheerleading this fall for a few months and loved it!

Then it was time for Elfie to come again! He came bearing gifts of new Christmas jammies and special Christmas pillowcases to sleep on for the month.

Halloween Festivities

We had a busy Halloween season this year so I made sure to buy their costumes early. One Saturday after brunch with family I took Riley and Camden to the Disney Store so they could choose. They were expensive, but for as many times as they wore them this fall it was worth the money and they live on in our dress up collection.

Meet Merida and Buzz.  Just look at those happy faces as they modeled their choices for TG when we got home.


After skipping Air and Space for a year I talked TG into going again.  I got in on the fun and went as a cat.  They were so excited that I dressed up with them (by drawing on my face with eyeliner and wearing a $2 Walgreens headband).  It's the little things.


We checked out all the planes and exhibits and at one point when I asked Camden if I could take his picture he gave me this pose.

The whole museum is set up with treat stations, crafts, science experiments, story times, and character photo ops. They even had a Stay Puft marshmallow man - but neither of them would get close enough for a photo with him.  Riley was more excited to meet a fellow princess!

I should mention that when she chose Merida she insisted on having the red wig too.  We found out in the Disney store that they no longer made the wig so TG and I searched several stores before finally finding one.  However, once we put the wig on for the first time Riley was less than pleased and said "I look crazy!"  It was a crazy wig, but we convinced her that red, very curly hair is part of Merida's look and she relented.


Camden could not have been happier with his entire Buzz Lightyear get up.   Our little space man with a version of the real deal.


I'm not sure Buzz Lightyear would approve of an alien face paint, but then again maybe he would if it was an act of subterfuge.


At the end of the night they both had shed at least part of their costumes and TG and I were so tired, but these two were going strong. 

Halloween was on a week day so they both had parades and parties at school where they wore their costumes again.  TG was able to sneak out of his class and see Riley at her parade and hang out for part of her party.


She's pretty cute but that Ninja turtle kid in the background is killing it with his shell game.


After resting up for the big show we donned the costumes one last time and headed out to trick or treat.  Somehow this is the only photo I got of them dressed up that night.


The best action shot I could get.  These two were a blur of activity as they ran from house to house.  Camden said "Happy Halloween!" in the sweetest voice at every house and charmed most of the people into giving him more than his fair share of goodies.   Thankfully the weather cooperated and we were able to visit about three streets worth of homes before their little legs were done and their buckets were full.

Fall 2013, part 1

I'm so behind on blogging there is no way I'll be able to blog all the things that happened this fall so here's a recap of what we had going on!

We were ready for some football! This is the only time we're a house divided. It was a sad year for our Steelers, but we're already excited for next season.

We visited Great Falls one sunny weekend. We hiked further than we've ever gone before and the kids were beat by the time that we made it back to the car.

There were lots of kayakers out that day for us to watch.

We decided to paint pumpkins this year instead of carving them. The kids both had their own idea and did a pretty good job, plus it was much less messy and they were able to be more involved in the actual process.  

Cam's was Rafael and Riley's was a minion.  I loved them and they lasted forever outside!


There were many hours spent scootering and stride biking around our neighborhood.

We had fun at a local fair.


Cheered for Daddy at his annual staff softball game.

Slept…a lot.


Played at the park as often as we could.

Dressed up for her first picture day at school while her brother bounced on the trampoline in his ninja turtle footie pjs.  Let's be real, the kid probably only got dressed 50% of the days this year.  He's happiest in his pjs.


She also had her first rock wall experience at the Bluemont Fair where for the first year ever I was a vendor with my business partner and friend.

And she mounted up for a horseback ride that my dear friend was kind enough to take her to while we were busy working at the fair. She looks so grown up here I can hardly believe the first time we went to this fair she wasn't even a year old!