Thanksgiving

I'm thankful for my helpers/ potato peelers. My boys and their daddy are the absolute best! 

I'm thankful for a close-knit extended family.  I'm thankful for Pappaw and for the influence he had on my life.  I miss him so much.

I'm thankful that my kids have plenty to eat.

And have cousins to play with

And have adults who love them and set good examples for them

And for chocolate cake

And bucket feet

And my little jockey.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Lickin the Batter

Mammaws' Birthday

 This year for Mom and Mammaw's birthdays we had a dinner at our house.  It's kinda cool to have a place to be able to host family functions.  Uncle Bill came too, which was awesome. He just loves the boys (but who doesn't??)

When Mom was leaving, she kissed Ty and he wiped it off (of course).  When she told him not to wipe off her kisses he said, "But, Mammaw, when I wipe it off it goes into my heart."  Which, of course, was followed by a chorus of "Awwww's" by those of who heard him.

My Little Indian

 At Ty's preschool, they had a little Thanksgiving program where the kids dressed up and sang songs for the parents.  It was so cute.  Ty's Indian name was "Big Lion."  When he was wearing his headdress, people kept asking him if his name was Big Lion and he kept responding "No" with this curious look on his face.haha

 After the program, we had a Thanksgiving feast in his classroom with the rest of his classmates and their families.

Update on Dallas...

Dallas is growing like a little weed and learning/doing new things every day.  He amazes us daily with his verbal and motor skills.  The other day, Ty had been playing with this helicopter that you put together with this screwgun.  Dallas got ahold of it, and Justin went into the playroom and Dallas had lined up all the parts and put holes in all the screws.  You can see it on the corner of the train table. He's so stinkin' smart!  Oh yeah, and cute as a button too.  His forehead is healing up very nicely from his dog bite, by the way.  Doesn't look like he's going to end up with much of a scar (hopefully).

Easter 2011

These next 2 posts are completely out of order, but when I was going through my pictures for the year, I realized that I skipped Easter and the circus when I updated posts for the year.  So here they are...

Easter baskets

Out of order

 Dallas's First Trip to the Circus

Murat Shrine Circus

With grandpa, Aunt Hilary and Halli

Sick and Tired

This week we've had one boy who is sick (with a cold and an ear infection)...

...and one boy who is tired.  He konked out on the living room floor watching the Waltons with me.

Daddy and Dallas doing their evening paperwork.

 My boys enjoying "A Bug's Life" (aka "Hopper")

A few updates on what the boys have been up to: Ty is loving preschool and comes home every day talking about new things.  Yesterday, when I picked him up he said, "Mommy, did you know that Jesus lives in our hearts?"  He's starting to recognize letters (he's particularly excited when he sees a "T" or "Y" because those are HIS letters).  He saw an "H" the other day and got all excited and told me that was an "H" like "ha...ha...ha...HAT."  (They had hat day last Friday in preparation for learning the letter "H")

Dallas' most impressive skill is his speech.  I don't know of any other one year olds who speak as clearly as he does....and in full sentences sometimes too!  His absolute favorite thing to say right now is "Watch this!"  Which is always quickly followed by, "See that?"  When we were dropping the boys off for their "grandparents' weekend" last weekend, Dallas said, "Ty go Pappaw Taylor's."  He such a little smarty pants.  They both make me so proud!

Amish Acres

I just love this picture.  And this man.  Justin and I went to Amish Acres in Nappanee, IN this past weekend BY OURSELVES and it was AWESOME!!  Ty and Owen stayed at my dad's and went to see Pinocchio at Beef and Boards, so we had Dallas go to Mom's for the weekend.  As much as we missed the boys, it was great to have a little time to just hang out with each other without the distraction of kids.  We had such a good time.  Two of our favorite things that we did together were driving around out in the country looking at all the Amish farms and eating lunch in the Restaurant Barn.  The food was awesome (I had chicken and noodles, and Justin had beef and noodles) and our table was next to the window so we could sit and look out over the amazing landscape.  The sun was shining through the window on my back, adding just a little warmth (always a plus for me).  It was so peaceful and relaxing.  We spent the rest of the day checking out Amish Acres, shopping in the shops there, and enjoying "The Odd Couple" in the Round Barn Theatre.  Very awesome weekend! 

The Headless Horseman

This is our second annual trip to the Headless Horseman at Conner Prairie. We had a great time this year! It wasn't quite as cold as it was last year so that made it really enjoyable. And neither of the boys even got scared on the hayride (unfortunately, I can't say the same for poor little Miss Ellie.)

Trick or Treat

Getting ready for trick or treating and showing off our costumes at Aunt Peggy's

Giddy up!

Grandma and Grandpa Barnhart's

An Indian and his pony.

Grandma Shirley's

Mammaw's

Pappaw Taylor's