we did crafts......

and iced cookies.........

and played in the bounce houses. Good times.

Thanksgiving Day

BEFORE.......

AFTER........
This is pretty much how it is with these two. Liam is also incredibly sweet and loving though. This was where Anna spent most of her Thanksgiving break. These are sadly all the pictures I got of the event.

Cruis'n

This is pretty much what Liam does when at his Grandparents' house. He loves to make the bike spin out. He rode the bike most of the Thanksgiving break.

Thanksgiving program

Liam's Preschool Thanksgiving program was adorable. Of course my camera batteries ran out after the first picture. I was able to get a few short films and these shots anyway. so cute.

AArrrgggh! Not only does the batteries die, but it loses focus several times. Technology!

so this one is super short, but I had to give you a taste of Liam's ability to make boring things fun. Also, if you are a fan of the television show "Heroes", you will see Hiro feeding off of Liam's silliness. No kidding, his name is Eugene and he even acts just like him. It's trippy....

My Mom and Dad and my "cozy house". That's what he says that will not be forever saved in digital time.

Anna O.

Anna is so adorable right now. She is a very efficient signer and is starting to speak. She says "Maaam" translation Mom, Boppy-puppy, DaEee-Daddy, and Waaayyeeee-WALLE. The last was taught with great effort on Liam's part. He is a very proud brother. She can also perform a variety of sounds including, sound of a monkey, sound of a monster, sound of an owl. Her favorites list includes, pushing her stroller, monkeys (stuffed or real), running as fast as she can and flopping onto the lovesack and bathtime. Does not like bedtime. Understands the word nap and violently shakes head "no"giving very clear signs of her comprehension and defiance, and drawing. Really into drawing. This activity as you see demonstrated here occurs an average of 2 hours a day on and off. It has been decided through scientific analysis that test subject is a lefty.
We love our lefthanded, monkeyloving girl.

Autumn colors

So, i've always wanted family pictures like these I took of Anna. I wanted to see how they would look and I love the colors against the black. Anna was super difficult to photograph but I got a few cute ones I think.

Liam and his good friend Mackayla. They play together pretty much every day. Mackayla said she was being a princess in this picture. Very demure.

Happy halloween from our galaxy

This year we decided to be Vikings! Liam was so excited. We went to Value Village to get our gear and Liam exclaims " I don't need that. I'm going to be a space robot this year". Unbenounced to us he had obviously decided this long ago and not said anything until that moment. It was decided we would all be a galactic family. Eric vies that we are a B movie galactic family actually.

I made all of Anna's costume this year. I bought a cheap princess costumea and some boots at value village which I sprayed. the tube around the bottom of the dress is added. It's just stuffed with cotton very tightly. Then the star and cape are made of cardboard and her helmet was done wo hours before we left. I didn't have time to make what I wanted so I made a tinfoil hat on her head and cut a pattern out of it and glued the seams. I couldn't quit looking at her. she was so cute.

Anna watched everyone play musical matts for about 10 minutes and then she finally jumped in and tried to play. It was so cute. She spent most of the evening stepping from matt to matt.

Liam and Eric hung out together and went pumpkin bowling, fishing for apples and other such fall festivites. They were a cute little team. Eric made Liams entire costume. Liam designed it out on a piece of paper. He had something very specific in mind. Eric made it look just like Liams design. Liam was totally into the character of a robot. It was soooo cute.

Eric had a magical star added to his face to complete the galaxy look.

Liams favorite candy of the night was a sucker. Aaaarrrr Matey!

Getting ready to go. Anna ran around for a little bit while Liam finished getting ready. She was so excited to go trick or treating.

Anna was amazed by all the costumes that were running by her. She never got scared surprisingly. She usually scares easily. She climbed up all the steps and would take one candy out of everyones bowls. She knew just what to do. She also spent alot of time showing everyone her loot.

This is Liam Trick or Treating at his good friend Mackayla's house.

This ones a little dark, but they sure were cute. We have one of those neighborhoods that you see in Halloween movies. All the neighbors out chatting, houses decked out with orange lights and cobwebs, kids running around making the night feel alive. It was so much fun.

After walking the entire 2 hours of trick or treating Anna works very hard to find just the right spot to settle in and eat her beloved sucker.

Harvest Party

The Annual Chili cook off and harvest Party at Grandpartents' Eltons house was a fabulous time. The kids loved the hayrides but not so much the Chili. Eric designed an all white Chili. All white beans, white corn, mushrooms and a light tandori base. It was pretty tasty. He won most original.

Gramma Chelle, as she is called by Liam, has a little bench in her back yard that Anna loves to sit on. She sits contentedly and swings her little legs.