Giving Thanks

It's been a while since my last post…and boy did we fill it up with some adventures and milestones.  The biggest of which was our annual trip to Ithaca, NY with Joe's family to celebrate Thanksgiving. Thanks for a wonderful week and for the quality time spent with us and our little ones.  Charlie is ready for another trip…he alternates between wanting to go to Toronto and Kansas.  Watch out Kansas…we're coming in January. Miss you all.   

Family arrived at our house in preparation for the caravan to NY

So in a quick summary of words…here are the highlights from the past two weeks!  

1) Joe took a week off from work.  "It's a CELEBRATION!"  (That song line keeps playing in my head.)

2) Charlie decided he could climb out of his crib.  RIGHT BEFORE WE LEFT FOR VACATION!!!  

3) We enjoyed some much anticipated family time for Thanksgiving with Joe's parents,  aunt & uncle, siblings and our favorite nephews.  This was our 6th year spending the holiday at a lake house in upstate NY. 

4) Charlie is learning how to sleep in a big boy bed…AAHHH!!! After only two nights of standing outside his bedroom for an hour, he is finally crawling back into the big bed by himself and going to sleep.  Our first born is growing up…sniff, sniff. 

5)  And oh yes...Ben has started to growl.  Yep.  It's low, slow, rugged and followed by a huge smile.  He sure knows how to make his parents smile.

Pics are primarily from our trip…enjoy!

Road trip to NY.  2 going on 15...

Oh yeah…he's cute

Arrival in NY.  Enjoying some ice cream with the cousins.   

Playing in the mud at 24 degrees F and loving it.

Leading to snuggle time with Auntie Meg while new clothes were being found

 Happy to be with Auntie Laura…and not outside.

We took a trip to the Science Center in Ithaca, NY with the little boys.  Fun! 

George!!!

Watching coins spin and spin and spin...

SNAKE

A moving skeleton…George didn't get too close.

And the annual trip to Uncle Mark and Aunt Dottie's house leads to the largest train collection most people will ever see. As you can imagine…all eyes were on the tracks from the moment we entered the "station" room.    

They could have sat there all day.

The holiday wouldn't have been complete without the annual Trivial Pursuit game whereby the Women took the victory this year in record time.  

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving spread, thanks to Pat & Dottie!  

This is what happens when he says "Cheese"

Adorable

All together…great picture Henry. 

So while it looks like we were on the go most of the time…the best moments were definitely the "in-between" moments. 

Nom nom nom

Uncle Mark using a screwdriver to fix Thomas the Train…awesome

Mimi.  

End of day...

HENRY!!!

Handsome Jake

BATH TIME!!!

Love these two.  "Cheeeeeese"

We are slowly getting back into our routine here at home…Charlie is off to preschool today, Ben's Mom is remembering to feed him 2-3 solid food meals a day (as these feedings were sometimes forgotten while traveling, oops) and both boys are back on their nap schedule.  Heaven!  

It's funny how catching up on sleep, cleaning and watching/deleting all of your backed up DVR shows can make you ready for the next big adventure.  Hello Christmas decorations and Christmas shopping!  

Miss our Kansas, Wisconsin, Toronto, Indiana, Germany and Lisle families…we are looking forward to seeing all of you in the next two months.