Thanksgiving Weekend

I sure could get used to four day weekends. It was so nice to have Luke around for awhile. We had a wonderful weekend with family. On Thanksgiving day, we went to Dave & Linda's house for lunch. We got to see some of Luke's aunts, uncles, and cousins that we hadn't see for quite awhile. It was a great relaxing day. Boaz enjoyed playing with Charlie & Bailey. I had so much fun that I forgot to take pictures of the family!! Here's one of the boys on Thanksgiving day though.
Friday we decorated the house for Christmas! Our neighbors have had decorations in their yards for quite awhile, so Boaz definitely already knew what snowmen and lights were. He helped me put up the tree, handed me ornaments, and helped me set out our snowman decorations. He is so excited about all of this stuff! I can see now why people buy hideous gigantic lawn ornaments and things... to see the joy on kids' faces!! Here's Luke helping Boaz put the star on top of the tree. On Friday night, we went out to Dennis & Terry's house for what Luke calls "the most amazing meal of the year." Terry is a fantastic cook. Friday morning, Luke looked at Boaz and said "Do you know what today is? Today is the best meal of the year." Boaz was pretty entertaining at their house. Here he is trying on Andrea's shoes.

Desserts were dished out as Boaz was already way past his bedtime and getting hyper to stay awake. Sugar & tiredness = funny. Boaz, of course, was begging for pie from his grandpa & uncle justin. Grandpa Bartlett taught Boaz to say "Justin, shovel it in" as he was asking for pie. Here's a little clip of that.... (boaz has since said this and then laughed at himself at our house several times this week)

Dennis & Terry got out their Wii for some entertainment. Boaz began watching bowling but got really distraught when the pins fell down and had to go sit in the kitchen and color with his grandparents. We helped him figure out that boxing was just a silly game and he liked immitating what they were doing.

And here is Boaz wishing you a Happy Thanksgiving!! Gobble, gobble!

More November Happenings...

11/18/09- I painted some canvases for Cainan's room and had Boaz work on some 'projects' with me. He enjoyed painting also. I didn't actually have paint, so I put a bit of koolaid in water and let him use that. He enjoyed his first painting experience.

In the following picture, Boaz had found our camera case. He walked by me, slung it over his shoulder, and said "See ya!" I said the same back to him. He then turned and said "groceries." He proceeded to walk to the garage door and try to get out of the house to go to the car and get groceries!!

11/19/09 A couple pictures of daddy & Cainan rocking and snuggling while watching football.

Boaz and Cainan sure love their Uncle Justin!

11/23/09 Our friend, Teresa, came to visit us for a day! It was so great to see her again. Boaz enjoyed some storytime... Luke purchased a computer for one of his stores and let Boaz play with the inner packaging. We turned these foam things into a 'car' that he drove in the living room for the better part of a day.

Brothers...

Cainan 1 month

11/16/09 - Cainan turned one month old!! He's growing so fast! He continues to be a good little guy... pretty mild mannered and very sweet. He likes to cuddle- I love that! Here he is with the dog that Grandma & Grandpa Glace gave him when he was born.

Boaz helped me give Cainan his first bath in the baby bathtub. (What do you call those things?) He handed me the soap, shampoo, and washcloth. Cainan actually really enjoys his baths.
All snuggled up.

Our little man hanging out on the couch. He's getting more and more alert!

More catching up...

It seems like I'm playing a lot of catch-up these days!! The blog is no exception. Here are some early November happenings.

11/4/09- Cainan sleeps and sleeps and sleeps. I'd forgotten how much newborns sleep! Had to take a few snoozing pictures of the little guy. Here he is at 3 weeks old.

11/5/09- We are so blessed to live in a neighborhood filled with good friends. Colleen, Teagan, & Kiera came to visit us and brought us some yummy dinner! Boaz loves these gals and talks about them frequently. He often 'calls' Teagan on his fake phones. We are excited that they are going to have a baby sister soon!!

11/8/09- One of my favorite times of the day is going in to get Boaz out of bed. I often sit on the bed and we talk about the previous day, how he slept, and what is on the schedule for the coming day. Now Cainan joins me in these fun chat sessions! Here are the boys talking it up. Boaz giving Cainan a high five. Cainan started becoming more alert this week. It's fun to interact with him and watch him stare at you.

11/2/09- We are also blessed that all of our relatives live so close to us! I can't imagine having kids and having all our family states away. Katie and her kids stopped by for awhile one morning and Blake was wearing a shirt that we also had for Boaz! I dug Boaz's shirt out of the closet and we had this photo op...

Fun on a walk...

We have LOVED this warm weather lately and are taking advantage of every minute outside that we can. A couple weekends ago, I took both boys for another walk around the neighborhood. Boaz had his hooded sweatshirt on and insisted that he put the hood up himself. This is the result...

I felt a little silly walking up and down the streets with him like this... but he thought he was really cool and I enjoyed the precious memories we were creating and the laughs we got from friends! I love my silly little man.
Here's our little Cainan bundled up in his cute bear suit.
A bunch of our neighbors put out their Christmas decorations. This gives us lots of good entertainment on our walks. A few houses down, they have an inflatable snowman on their porch. The snowman waves his mittens in the air as the wind blows. Boaz thinks it's waving at him. We say hi to the snowman daily. They happened to be playing Christmas music outside the day we first saw it... Boaz froze in his tracks and this was what we spent 15 minutes doing... neighbors stood outside and watched Boaz boogie. :)

Food funnies...

November 1st was an exceptionally beautiful day here. That Sunday afternoon, we took advantage of the warm weather and took the boys out for a walk around the neighborhood. While walking out the door, we heard the distinct sound of the ice cream truck! (It plays "The Entertainer" here) Neither Luke nor I have ever bought anything from an ice cream truck, so we decided it was time to give it a try. Luke grabbed some money in case we saw it while we were walking. Boaz could hear the music from far away and was very excited. (he's excited about any music he hears) Sure enough, the ice cream truck pulled up beside us! Boaz stood on the sidewalk and danced to the music. The ladies thought he was hilarious. Boaz & I shared a chocolate bar. This is his chocolate covered happy face once we got home.

Boaz is learning to take bites of his food with his teeth. Until now, I have mostly been cutting his food up because he isn't patient enough to take bites and would shove the whole food item in his mouth. This is a picture of his first sandwhich! He's doing great with 'bites' and it is revolutionizing our meals!! He gets to try all kinds of new things now! He thinks he's pretty big stuff.

If Luke or I ever have a snack or food, Boaz gets as close to our faces as humanly possible and says "Hi! Hi, Daddy! Hi!" over and over until you acknowledge he's there. (Or 'Hi, Mommy.') It's his way of letting you know "I'm here and I'd like to try your food." It's pretty funny. I love this picture of him bugging Daddy. My dad used to share ice cream with us when we were little. It's fun to see that tradition continued in our family. The video below captures the process....
He thought Dad had a bowl of potatoes "Tatos", but then discovered it was ice cream. And I apologize for the camera shaking... I crack up every time he says "Yeps." It's probably one of my favorite words he says... along with "was sat?" (what's that?!)

Boaz is a VERBAL little guy. One of his favorite things to do is have phone conversations with friends. I don't know who he was talking to here, but it's a glimpse of what he spends a bunch of time doing. I hope to catch a good long 'conversation' someday, but never seem to have my camera handy when he's making his daily calls. :)

Halloween '09

It was another beautiful Halloween this year. The weather was bit on the chilly side, but warm enough that we got to take both boys outside for the night!! Boaz was a cute little bumblebee that said "bzzzz."

Cainan was just bundled up in a warm suit... although it looked like a bear, so we'll say he dressed up like a teddybear! Grandma Glace came over that morning and helped Boaz 'practice' wearing his outfit.

Our two cutie-pies.

Grandpa & Grandma Bartlett came over in the evening to help with trick-or-treating since daddy had to work late. Grandpa showed up wearing this crazy hair & beard. Boaz thought it was pretty funny.

We set up some chairs and Boaz's picnic table at the top of the driveway. Boaz perched there watching for kids. He was so excited all night long. Those of you that know him, know that he can talk pretty loud. People could hear him up and down the street. He'd see a group of people coming our way and yell "comin' kids!" (kids are coming!) He yelled "hello" as they walked up the driveway, yelled "thank you" as he put candy in their buckets, and yelled "Bye! See ya!" as they walked away. We had parents in stitches. :)

We left Grandpa in charge of candy distribution for awhile and went to a couple neighbors' houses quick to do our own trick-or-treating. We got quite a bit of our own candy in the cute bag Grandma Glace made him.

Here's Boaz checking the pumpkin to see if we have candy left! Our neighborhood is a hot spot for trick-or-treating. This year numbers were down a bit, but last year a neighbor counted over 300 kids at their place. I'd guess it was around 150-200 this year??

Handing out candy was so much fun, we might make that our routine for the next few years... until Boaz decides he needs a pillowcase full of candy for himself! Next Halloween, if you need a laugh be sure to stop by our place!!! Myabe I'll have two boys yelling "Hello!" Enjoy a couple videos of all the action. You can sort of hear Boaz saying "hi" and "thank you" in the noisy background.