Lollipop Sadness

Parker thought he had discovered the wonders of lollipops today. Unfortunately, his brother had another idea...

Da Bears

Did you know the Chicago Bears beat the Philadelphia Eagles last night? Well, you would have if you had been in our house. Brian had all of us dressed up in our Bears jerseys in support of the big game.

Payton and mine are #34, Walter Payton jerseys, so they both say "Payton" across the back. Pretty cute! Brian's jersey is... well... I'm sure you could have guessed it... #89, Coach Ditka.

 Go Bears!

 

Thanksgiving Craft - You can do it too!

Have you been on the web site Pinterest yet? If so, you know how intimidating some of the craft ideas can be. However, once in a while I come upon an idea that I think, "Now, I can do that!" This is one of those... and you can too! It's very easy, and fun for the whole family.
The idea is that you create a "Thankful Tree." Basically, it's a tree that holds a bunch of pieces of paper that lists things you and your family are thankful for. Here are the simple instructions:

1. Find some branches in your yard and strip off any remaining leaves. Then find a large vase that is tall enough to support the branches.

 2. Fill the bottom of the vase with something heavy to support the branches. I used rocks, but you could use shells, marbles, candy corn, the possibilities are endless!

 3. Arrange your sticks however you want your "tree" to look.

 4. Grab some paper (I used some Harvest-themed scrapbook paper) and a circle cutter if you have one (I borrowed this one, but I have it on my Christmas list - hint, hint). Then cut out however many circles you want. I did 15 for each person in our house, and then punch a hole through the top of each one so you can hang it on the tree.

 5. Then, the fun part! Have each person fill out their circles with things they are thankful for. We did ours together after dinner one night, so I ended up writing them all, but Brian and Payton told me what to write. Parker told me his a little earlier. :)

6. When they're done, hang them on your tree!

And "Voila!" Just like that, you're done. I love looking at it throughout the day. It reminds me that it is the season to reflect on all the things we are thankful for, and it makes me pause and think about just how many things we have to be thankful for.

It also makes me chuckle when I catch a glimpse of some of the papers, like one of Payton's that says "Dad's Super Deluxe Chocolate Pancakes." Or some of mine...

"Watching my boys play together"...

and "Sleep".

I hope you will consider making a thankful tree for your house too. :)

Lots of Pics!

If you're not in the mood to look at pictures, just go ahead and skip this post. However, if you are in the mood to check out some recent pics of lots of different stuff, read on (and click on the "read more" button at the bottom).

Lots of fun fall activities happened at school last week. As you saw from my previous post, they had the character parade on Monday for Halloween, followed by Fall Centers.
Then on Friday, all of the 1st grade classes went on a field trip to the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center to see a Junie B. Jones play. I'm not sure what Payton was more excited about, the play, or riding a bus to the play... I think it was the bus ride.
After the play, they walked from the school to the park by our house for a picnic. (Side note: can you imagine trying to walk hundreds of 1st graders from school, across the street, through a neighborhood to a park??? No thanks! But they all made it safely there and back.)

Here are a few pics from the picnic:

Miss Adams leading the class across the lawn to the picnic pavilion...

 Payton eating lunch with his best friend in class (not sure why he's holding his head)...

Burning off some energy after eating:

 My mom was also in town, so she helped occupy Parker at the park:

 That evening, the school hosted their annual Fall Festival. It's mass chaos, but the kids have SO much fun. There are eight ba-jillion kids running all over the place, hyped up on candy, and running through bounce houses with their hair spray-painted 10 different colors. It's quite a scene. Unfortunately, these are the only shots I got of Payton playing the festival games...

 Because this guy wasn't so into the chaos...and was cold, and tired, and very ready to go home and go to bed.

 So my mom and I walked home with Parker and the boys walked home a bit later, after lots more candy and running around I'm sure.

In other miscellaneous news, Parker has discovered the television. I really think he thinks he can grab the images and play with them. He was literally babbling and squealing at the Backyardigans tonight. 

Here he is with Yo Gabba Gabba...

And Mickey...

 He also loves to watch his brother play Beyblades. Brian and Payton were "battling" in his Beyblade stadium this afternoon and Parker happily sat there and watched the whole thing.

As did Rohy...

 And then the boys got really silly after dinner and Payton decided he would try on one of Parker's bibs. Much to his surprise, it fit!

 Parker doesn't look too happy in this picture, but it's still cute:

 And now, the house is quiet. The boys are asleep. And I'm hoping it stays that way until 6:30 a.m. :)

New Fav

Have you seen this in your grocery store?

It is SO good! I've eaten it toasted with butter, used it for french toast, and eaten it right out of the bag. Mmmmmmmmmm! 

Pick up a bag if you can find it, you won't be disappointed. :)

Busted!

Look who I caught emptying out the pantry this morning...

This boy is FAST! But he inspired me to clean out the pantry, so I guess it wasn't all bad. :)

Lots of Halloween Fun!

We had a great time celebrating the last few days of October with all sorts of fun activities.

We started out Halloween morning with some spooky ghost french toast:

Then, Payton's school had their annual "Storybook Parade" which allows the students to dress up as a book character. Fortunately, there are numerous Pokemon books, so Payton was able to wear his Halloween costume.