Fun Week

The boys finished school last week and have been on winter break this week. We've had our friend's daughter with us a couple of days. She's just a month younger than Alexander. She may be buddy-buddy with Alexander in this picture, but she really likes Glenn.

Last night, we had the children's Christmas program at church. The boys were really into singing out and doing the motions with the songs. Don't they look handsome? Glenn's doing his surprised face, I couldn't get him to smile. 

We did the advent calendar this morning and couldn't believe there are only five more days until Christmas. My brother and his family are coming tomorrow for a few days, and then my parents will be here on Christmas. We decided to take a year off from going up to CT. Besides, Bob is just way too busy with work to go anywhere. It's a good thing, though, because business is usually slow this time of year. Not this year!!!

In case I don't get back on here until after Christmas, I wish you all a Merry Christmas!

Early December Fun

We got our Christmas tree on Saturday and decorated it. The boys loved putting on the ornaments. We have the tree plugged into an outlet that can be turned on by a wall switch, so the boys enjoy turning the tree on when they get up in the morning.



We had a fun night tonight. After dinner, we went to the town square to look at the lights and see Santa. Glenn said Santa already knew what he wanted and did not want to talk to him (he never has). Alexander was very excited to talk to Santa and answered all his questions well.

We then went over to the big Christmas tree for pictures. I apparently need photography lessons because I couldn't get the lights to show up and get the boys in focus. But the boys still look cute.

 

 

We then went home and they got their pjs on. I made hot cocoa with marshmallows, of course. Then we watched Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. It's on so late (8pm, when they are usually asleep), but it's just once a year.

Alexander was so tired afterward, he was crying that he stayed up too late. So, I laid down with him until he fell asleep. It was awesome! He had his cheek on my hand and his arm around me. Just when I thought it couldn't get better, he moved his arm so his hand rested on my cheek. Love him!

November Activities

I am a bit behind on blogging. So, here's my first update of two tonight. Alexander wanted to make a car out of a box, so that's what we did.

Glenn and Bob were in a parade the day our town had the tree lighting in the square. Don't they look sharp? Glenn loved it.

 

Alexander had a Thanksgiving program. It was very sweet. They sang songs and recited a Bible verse. Then we ate pumpkin pie.

It's very difficult to get him to make a non-goofy face.

 

Bob's parents stayed with us for Thanksgiving. Can you tell they had a great time?

Bob and Glenn cuddling.

 

More Fall Fun

Glenn did not want to dress up for Halloween this year. He doesn't like all the scary costumes and scary decorations. But I found a costume he felt comfortable with and he decided he would go to his school's trick-or-treating. They had it the night before Halloween. They had 30 stops around the school and the teachers and staff wore costumes passing out the candy. The only thing Glenn was uncomfortable with was that he couldn't recognize his classmates when they said hi to him. Oh, and of course Alexander was Spider-man.

We had a fun Halloween! I thought it was just going to be a normal day for the boys at school. But Glenn came home with a certificate saying he was student of the month for his class. Each month the choose a student that has a certain characteristic. For October, it was respect! We are so proud of him. I spoke with his teacher. She said he was excited when his name was announced, but really excited when everyone started clapping for him. She said he's such a sweet boy. He is! He got a bracelet saying he was student of the month, which he wore today. He also got a certificate to get a free ice cream at lunch, which he got today. He loved it! 

After Glenn finished his homework, we went to Alexander's school for a fall festival (because the school and the church there do not celebrate Halloween). They had a bunch of games and bounce houses, and dinner (a hot dog, bag of chips and a drink all for a dollar!!!). We had planned on staying there only an hour, but ended up staying there for almost two hours. Here's Alexander with one of his friends.

Here's Glenn scaling the wall.

After the festival, we went home and went to a few houses to trick-or-treat.

Today, Alexander had a field trip with his school. They went to the fire house that is right down the street from us. Just when the kids sat down, they got a call. But thankfully the smaller rescue truck could take the call so we could stay. Here, Alexander is listening to the captain speak. He and the little girl to his right were together most of the time, holding hands. 

After watching an educational video, they had us go out to the garage to see a firefighter put on gear. They wanted to show the kids that the firefighter is not someone to be scared of. They want the kids to come to them if the kids are stuck in a house on fire. After he put on one thing at a time, he got down and let the kids touch him to be come more familiar with the gear. I thought it was a great idea.

You can barely see the back of Alexander's head, but he was touching the mask.

As they were waiting in line to go in the fire truck, I snapped this picture. The sun was a bit bright.

Alexander got into the fire truck and got to sit on the seat and look around.

 

 

 

 

 

It was a fun day!

It's All About the Pumpkins

Before I get into the quest for pumpkins, here are some pictures from Thursday night. Alexander wanted to sleep in the "Wii room" (aka, the Florida room) like he was camping. So, I set up his bed out there. 

Later, I went in to check on him and he was still sleeping, but in a different position. :)

Glenn saw a tiny spider in his room (not sure how he'd see that with the light off, he he), and didn't want to sleep in his room. So, I set up a bed for him in the Florida room, too. Later, I checked on him, too. His Taggie blanket is over his face. He sleeps like that all the time.

Now onto today! Glenn's school gave him two free children's tickets to a fall farm festival at Timberline Farm just south of Ocala. So, we figured that would make for some fun fall family time. Unfortunately, despite the tickets for them and the $16 we paid for Bob and I, the costs only started there. That was only to get you in the door, so to speak. We were able to go in the corn maze and the boys could play on some bales of hay. But everything else cost anywhere from $3 to $5 per activity (bounce house, cow train, hay ride, monster truck ride, and other activities). I really felt bad for the boys because there was no way we could afford that. But they still managed to have fun. First, we looked at the monster fire truck. They thought it was pretty cool!

Then we went in the corn maze. Now, if you've ever been in the corn maze, you know that there should be clear paths. Well, the corn was kind of falling down (didn't look like a very strong crop) and so the corn stalks were in our way the whole time. It did add to a spooky effect, though. And we still have wind from Hurricane Sandy, so every once in a while the corn would really sway. That made us feel like we were on a ride. The boys loved it!

Here are my goofy boys!

They played on the hay for about a half hour. I liked that there was a big tree with Spanish moss in it behind the hay; it made for a nice picture.

 

And, no, Alexander is not doing the heavy metal horns in the picture below. He is all about Spiderman. So, whenever he's being goofy, he pretends he's doing the Spiderman hands to spin a web.

 

 

Since the title of this post is about pumpkins, you're probably wondering where the pumpkin discussion is. Well, we thought there'd be a lot of pumpkins to choose from at the farm. There weren't. So next, we went to the Market at Marion, which is the largest, most organized flea and farm market I've ever seen. They didn't have any pumpkins, either. So, we stopped at a deli near our home that also sells local produce. We got our pumpkin!!! Here are the boys scooping it out. 

 

After they were done, Alexander decided he should paint it. So, I set him up outside. It took many positions to get it all painted. I don't know if you can see, but his tongue is sticking out in two of the pictures.

 

 

He painted it mostly blue and hopes that Nana and Papa will like it because blue is their favorite color. 

The boys wanted me to roast the pumpkin seeds (Alexander actually tried them raw- not so tasty). As I was cleaning them, I found these seeds below where they were already starting to sprout. I have never seen that inside a pumpkin before. So, we planted them. :)

 

Since almost everyone that reads this blog is in the Northeast, please be careful of Sandy coming your way. I'll pray that you all stay safe!