It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

It took us an entire week to get our Christmas tree & decorations up! There's a whole assortment of reasons, including but not limited to: lack of patience, non-working lights, hauling boxes up & down the stairs, ...the list goes on. Regardless, it's finally done - and looks pretty decent!

Helping Daddy put together the tree:
The finished product!
I'm also going to take this opportunity to introduce you to Charlie, our "Elf on the Shelf". I don't know if everyone is familiar with these, so I'll give you a quick description... Last year, an Elf arrived at our house right after Thanksgiving...he came with a book that told all about him. He is an Elf from the North Pole who helps Santa keep an eye on the kids. He doesn't talk, he just watches and listens. Every night he flies back to Santa to give him a report, and by morning he is back at our house (usually in different places of our house). There are more details to the story, but I assume you get the drift. :) In my opinion, this is one of the best things EVER! The boys talk to him, and tell him what they want for Christmas! It's so cute!! He's also very helpful...When the boys are being naughty, all I have to say is "Charlie's watching" and they usually stop what their doing! :)
Now that the decorations are up...it's time to get serious about shopping!!! :)

John Deere + Santa = Joy!

Santa stopped in for his annual visit at the John Deere store a couple weeks ago. Nick was super-pumped!! He loves Santa, and he loves anything John Deere. Trey...well basically we had to bribe Trey with the cookies & punch they had set out for the kids when they finished talking to Santa! They ended up taking a really nice picture, and we got some Christmas ideas for Nick! If anyone out there has kids who are into John Deere, you should definitely stop out. It's pretty much mind-blowing, the amount of toys/books/shirts/hats/etc...they have out there!! Ok, enough of the John Deere store plug (you're welcome, Rabbit)... Here's the picture I took of the boys with Santa:
Cookies & Punch!
PS This was the morning of the OSU/Michigan game, if you're wondering why all the OSU attire...

Guess what time of year it is???

IT'S ELFYOURSELF TIME!!!

The folks over at JibJab changed things up this year, andI can't figure out how to get our 2010 dance embeded on here...so I've posted the link to our elves below. Enjoy! Make some of your family and send them to me. I would love to see them!!

Here's our dance! Enjoy!

Thanksgiving

We had a very nice Thanksgiving this year! We didn't get together with Bill's side of the family, so we went to my parent's house for breakfast. We relaxed most of the day, then headed to Grandma Betty's to see the Uncapher clan...and wow, what a clan we're becoming!

My Mom had this displayed at her house, and every time I read it I realized how true it is.Here's my Mom taking some delicious food out of the oven :)

Fast forward to Grandma Betty's house...and here is my Aunt Dian & my Mom
My cousins Nikki & Tessa, making the "Facebook Face" :)
There were so many more family members there...hopefully I get some more pics at Christmas!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!!

Gingerbread Junction 2010

And here we didn't think we were going to get to go this year! I actually forgot to get the boys signed up, and when I finally called (3 days before), they were booked. So, they put us on a wait list and told us they'd call if there were cancellations. Just when we thought there was no chance...they called...but we had to be there in 10 minutes!! Yikes!

Both boys sure had things figured out this year! About halfway through, I realized they were both sitting there mowing down candy and supervising the construction of their gingerbread houses. Bill & I were doing all the work! Ha!

Here's Bill "helping" Nick:We had to track down a wet wipe towards the end because they both had frosting all over their faces!!
Trey's posing with his house...and it looks like Nick is trying to lap up the frosting from his face before it gets wiped off and wasted!
On the way out, Santa was there to visit with the kids. As I'm sure you know by now, Nick loves talking with Santa....Trey, not so much.
Here's Nick...
and here's Trey...
We laughed quite a bit at the fact that Trey was sitting on that chair as far away from Santa as he could get!!

Happy Birthday Grandpa Bill!

We had the last of our string of birthdays last week...Grandpa Bill's! They came down to our house for supper (he picked the menu!) and birthday cake! I found a sugar-free cake & frosting mix, so he was able to eat his cake too! (haha!)
Helping Grandpa blow out his candles:

Birthday Bowling Bash

Trey wanted to have his birthday party at the bowling alley this year. I thought it was a fantastic idea!!

Here's his Batman cake, which he chose from the cake book all by himself:The first thing they did was bowl. Nick encouraged a new friend, Brendan, to bowl! He was a great coach! :)
Some pictures of the kids bowling:
...and doing a great job of waiting their turn!

The Figleys, minus Avery. It must have been her turn....
Ryanne & Kendall

Opening cards/presents
Singing Happy Birthday!!
I can't believe I got another great shot of Trey blowing out his candles!!
Thanks to everyone for making Trey's party a blast! I know he enjoyed it!

Trick or Treat, Smell my Feet.....

We had this year's round of Trick or Treating last weekend! Since the boys have been old enough to talk, we've let them pick out what they would dress-up for to go Trick or Treating. Usually, Nick is the one who surprises us with his choice...and Trey chooses something predictable. Not this year! Nick chose Buzz Lightyear:And Trey chose a Pirate:
But if you want to hear (& see) something really unpredictable, check out the pictures of my Dad below:
He dressed up as the Mad Hatter from Alice in Wonderland to pass out treats!! His costume was awesome!! I remember seeing a picture of my Dad dressed like a girl for Mock Homecoming when he was in high school. Other than that, I don't believe I've ever seen him dressed up for anything, so I was pretty shocked! He really went all out! I think the boys were a little shocked, themselves! Trey was okay with it, but Nick wasn't so sure....
After all that excitement, we headed down the street.
I think this is the first year we've been able to stand out on the sidewalk while the boys went to the doors...
Nick was an absolute trooper! He was knocking on doors right up to the end! Trey pooped out after an hour or so...
The weather was great, and we had a good time. We now have about 10lbs of CANDY!!

Happy Birthday to Trey

It's been a week now, and it still seems strange to say that I have a 6 year old! That's right, last week Trey had his 6th birthday!

Unfortunately, Bill had to be out of town on the day of Trey's birthday....however, he was there for the party we had for him the following Sunday. (More on that to come) Grandma Cathy, Grandpa Jim & Uncle Steve came over for dinner (Trey's favorite; spaghetti) and a little party!

Here he is opening a present, which I believe was the Leapster game he got from Grandma & Grandpa - and LOVES!Uncle Steve
I thought this was the cutest picture ever!! He's making his birthday wish before blowing out the candles. :)
I think the next one is pretty self-explanatory!!
Happy Birthday Trey!! We love you bunches!!

Trey & Nick's New Toy

Well, it isn't so new anymore! Geesh! I'm not keeping up with my posting!

Anywho, some friends gave us a trampoline several weeks ago, and guess which little boys were ecstatic?!
It makes me so nervous when they're on it, but they sure have fun!!

Bill's New Toy

Sometime at the beginning of August, Bill had one of his dreams come true...He bought a Harley! He's wanted one for as long as I've known him (and then some).

I realized today, that I haven't shared this news on the blog - or posted any pictures!

A couple weeks ago the Bollenbachers stopped over for a visit, and Bill gave Ryanne a quick ride...then we goofed around a little with pictures....

Lincoln Ridge Fall Festival

A couple weeks ago, on a very beautiful Sunday afternoon, we went to Lincoln Ridge for their Fall Festival (I don't know if that's the correct name, but that's what I'm calling it). One of the first things the boys wanted to do was ride in the barrels
This is what they called "Straw Mountain" They climbed the straw bales, and went down the slide dozens of times...until we dragged them away!
All the boys got a kick out of the "Punkin Chuckin" ...especially Bill! I have to admit, it was entertaining to watch them launch pumpkins and then see them explode when they hit the ground!

The Pumpkin Playground

A corn husk tee-pee
Next up was the corn maze. I wasn't sure the boys would enjoy this, but we let them lead the way and they got a kick out of it. A couple times, Bill jumped out of the corn when they weren't expecting it, and scared the living daylights out of them!!
Wanda Witch's house
I had to take a picture of all the mums sitting out! They were beautiful all together like this!
Our last adventure was riding the haywagon out to the pumpkin patch, to pick out perfect pumpkins.

Weighing, and paying for our pumpkins


And here's what they did with the pumpkins when we got home: