Gobble Gobble Part One

For those of you who read my friend Kate's blog, this will be old news. And I have her to thank for these pictures (thanks Kate!). We joined Kate, Wilson, Hannah, and Sarah at the Lees' house on Saturday for our second annual pre-Thanksgiving gathering. Last year we gathered at the Doyles, who are now living in a place that celebrates Thanksgiving on a totally different day. They started the tradition, and we're keeping it going in their absence. I hope we keep doing it for a long time - I am a big fan of traditions, and this is a good one. I am also a big fan of the turkey and all the fixins' that go alongside it. It turns out our boys are also big fans of Thanksgiving dinner. Here are all the kiddos waiting patiently (shocker) for dinner to be served:

And here are our attempts at some group shots:

It was pretty challenging to get one of the whole crew (minus Sarah, our photographer), but we got some surprisingly good ones of the kids. You can tell which two are not big fans of sitting still...

Thanksgiving always brings out my inner cheeseball, so forgive me. But I do love this opportunity to reflect on everything I have to be thankful for. Spending Saturday celebrating with some of my dearest friends reminded me that I am so grateful for these relationships, and for the budding relationships forming amongst our kids. It's so fun to watch. On Thursday, we'll eat and celebrate with both sets of parents and other family. We are truly blessed. Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Clean Water

Sorry for the lack of posts this week. We have been up to our elbows (not literally, thank goodness) in all things plumbing and septic. After visits from plumbers and septic companies, the guy who did our septic inspection when we moved in finally diagnosed and fixed the problem this morning. After many days of having to be very cautious with our water usage, we all REALLY enjoyed our baths tonight.

The Devils and the Details

I'm not really sure when it happened, but I believe someone broke into our house and swapped our two little angels (ok, they were never angels, but we can pretend) with a mischievous, sneaky duo. All of the sudden, this band of brothers has decided that making mischief is a lot of fun, especially when they do it together. They are adorable little imps, but imps nonetheless, and when Mom and Dad turn their backs, these imps get into T-R-O-U-B-L-E.

"Push, Adam, push! I bet we can snap this thing in two."

"You listen to me, Mom. I am an expert in this department."

"Hey Adam, bring me that chair. I'll climb up and undo the lock, and we're outta here!"

I'm not sure what they were trying to do here, but I don't think it involved helping me change a lightbulb:

Oh yeah, it involved taking turns pushing each other around the house on a chair.

All kidding aside, these emerging brotherly antics are fun to watch. I'm sure we'll be eating those words in a few years (or months), but for now we'll enjoy watching these two play play play.

And I challenge anyone to find a better cleaner-upper than our Ethan. Check out this sorting:

He must get his "attention to detail" (some might have another word for it) from his father. Take a look at this lawn after Ben's leaf clean-up yesterday. Seriously, there is not ONE LEAF left. Not one.

One of my favorite things about Ben is that when he decides he wants to do something, he DOES it. There is no halfway for my husband. We complement each other very well in this department - if the lawn had been left to me, I would have gotten really sick of gathering leaves about a third of the way through, shrugged, and said "good enough!". You should have seen the one and only time I was allowed to try to mow the lawn. Anyway, Ben's other big project of late has been building this state-of-the-art compost heap:

It may not look that impressive to you, but I assure you - it is. If you come to our house, you will be invited to stick your hand into this heap of rotting produce, leaves, and hen manure to feel that it is piping hot inside - a sure sign that the compost is doing its thing and we will have nutrient-rich compost to make our garden very happy next year.

Weekend Off

Ben and I got to play hooky this weekend and head a few states over to our friends Dan and Meghan's wedding in Vermont. We had a great time catching up with old friends, dancing our pants off, and eating way, way too much ice cream. (We were in Ben and Jerry country and Saturday's big activity was to share a Vermonster with 12 or so of our friends. I don't recommend this activity.)

Catching up with friends and enjoying wedding festivities is much easier without two little boys in tow, so my wonderful parents came to watch the boys at our house so we could travel unencumbered. We were pretty happy with our decision to leave the boys behind when it took us four plus hours to get over to Warren Vermont, the last half hour of which was windy mountain dirt roads (note to those traveling to rural Vermont: do not use google maps to find your way). We definitely would have had some whining (heck, I was whining), and most likely some lost lunches too. From Papi's pictures and Ethan's stories, it sure sounds like a good time was had by all back home.

There was swinging...

and pushing Adam around in his little car...

Then Adam got a turn pushing Ethan around (with Papi's help).

My parents have an unusually bad record with Maine weather, but they got lucky this time - gorgeous fall weather and warm temperatures. They even took a trip to the beach...

And Papi was nice enough to loan Ethan his gloves.

It seems like the boys had a ton of fun playing with their Noni and Papi, and Noni and Papi seemed surprisingly energetic and unscathed when we returned home yesterday afternoon. Let's hope that means we can do it again soon...

Simple Joys

Ethan has a new preference for eating everything whole. No more cut-up food for this toddler - he's a "big kid" now.

And Adam wants to do whatever Ethan does, which can sometimes be a little challenging without teeth.

But he gets the job done eventually.

Kids have a way of reminding you to slow down and enjoy the simple stuff, like sitting together on the kitchen floor, just eating apples and laughing. Often it's these uneventful days that hold the most meaning, and create the best memories.

Boo!

There isn't much that ranks higher on the cuteness scale than wee ones dressed up in costumes. We got a lot of use out of our costumes this year, with parties at school and music class, and an early Halloween party last weekend. But yesterday was the real deal, and Ethan and Adam had their Halloween spirits in full force. We represented the reptile family this year (are dinosaurs reptiles, actually? hmmmmm), with an adorable little turtle and a tiny fierce dinosaur. We spent Halloween morning carving pumpkins, of course.

Can you tell which one is Ethan's?

After naps, Grandma and Grandpa stopped by to see the kids in costume.

And before we headed out trick or treating, our neighbors stopped by with their adorable little puppy.

As you will most likely be able to tell, I made Ethan's costume this year. About two months back, we started talking about Halloween and what he wanted to be. He insisted on being a turtle, even after I had no luck finding a turtle costume in the stores. So with my super-crafty friend Melissa's help, I attempted my very first Halloween costume. I think it turned out halfway cute, and the wearer loved it, so that's all that really matters.

You can also probably tell that Adam's costume was NOT homemade.

The requisite attempt at a family shot.

A dinosaur up to no good.

The little reptiles caught with their hands in the cookie jar (or bread drawer, actually).

Cupcakes

Having celebrated with family and friends last weekend, we had a quiet day on Monday, Adam's true first birthday. Ethan and Adam got to play in the spectacular autumn weather while Mom and Dad raked leaves, and then we all came in for cupcakes and milk.

After practicing at his party, Adam got right down to business this time and knew just what to do with that tasty cupcake.

All done!

I'm pretty certain that Adam had no idea that it was his birthday, but this guy sure did:

We were serenaded with encore after encore of "Happy Birthday to Adam!" ALL DAY LONG. And the "cupcake party" could not come soon enough for Ethan. I can't even imagine what will happen when his birthday rolls around come January...