Elf Yourself

I do this every year and every year it makes me laugh!  I can watch it over and over and it's still funny to me.  Thought you all may enjoy a little laughter too.

Birthday Party

This Sunday was the big Birthday Party for Jesus at our church.  The boys were super excited and couldn't wait to get there and have a piece of cake!  They sang songs, watched a Christmas play, and of course ate cupcakes.  Fun Fun Fun!

Cookie Party

The boys and I were invited to a cookie decorating party again this year.  My friend Lindsay is one brave momma inviting a group of 12 young kiddos to decorate cookies in her house.  We had a great time making delicious cookies, and a giant mess!  Thanks Lindsay and family for including us in the fun.

The "hostess with the mostest" getting the frosting ready for the kids.

Cooper and Jackson decorating their cookies.

Grant busy decorating...in between bites of frosting and M&Ms.

All the Moms and their sweet kids.

Teacher Gifts

This is what Jackson and I were busy doing this afternoon...

Playing Chess

Jeff finally has a partner to play Chess with.  This four year old blows my mind with all that he can learn and retain!

Santa 2011

We visited Santa this past week at the Bass Pro Shop.  It really is the best place to see Santa, sounds strange I know.  We never have to wait very long and there are lots of other fun things for the kids to do while they're waiting.  Everyone was excited to see Santa, there were no tears, and everyone made their wishes known.

Telling Santa what they want for Christmas this year.

Poor Jackson had really chapped lips and refused to smile because they hurt so bad. :(

Football Fans

Jeff is a huge football nut!  He loves everything football, and the boys are starting to catch on.  They ask daddy who is playing every weekend, which team is suppose to win, which team he likes best, what city the team is from, what color they are, and on and on.  Jeff is a huge Giants fan, and last weekend for the Giants/Packers game our friend (who is a Packer fan) came over to watch the game.  The boys were dressed to cheer on both teams, with their Giants sweatpants and Packer sweatshirts. Quite the fashion statement!

Jackson announced that he wanted both teams to win. Every time a touchdown was scored he screamed and cheered no matter which team it was. Unfortunately for us, the Giants lost. :(

This is what my boys really love to do right now...wrestle!

They love to pile on top of each other and laugh hysterically.  I don't get it...I'm just glad I'm a girl.

Something to Think About...

This video was shown at our church this weekend. I thought it was powerful and was something to be shared.

[AC] Promo 2011 from Advent Conspiracy on Vimeo.

The Coach Part II

Jackson attended the Swim Banquet last night with Jeff.  He handed out awards to the girls and even gave a short speech telling the girls, "Good job.  Great Season.  Looking forward to next year!"  He had practiced what he wanted to say ahead of time, but of course needed some prompting from Dad.  The girls had a "coach's gift" for Jackson and he came home wearing it proudly.  He has already said that he wants to wear his shirt everyday!  What a great memory for my big boy!

Thankful

Our family made a "thankful wreath" last week to display the many things that we is thankful for this year.

Coach Jackson

As of yesterday the high school girl's swim season is officially over!!  I am so excited to have Jeff home earlier in the evenings and home on Saturdays, and I know the boys are thrilled too.  The Deerfield High School Girl's Swimming and Dive Team had an amazing season this year, finishing 12th at the state meet yesterday.  Although I'm slightly biased I have to say they may have done so well this year because of their latest addition to their coaching staff, Coach Jackson.

Jackson LOVED being a coach this year. He spent every home meet down on the deck with Daddy. He took the job very seriously!

The teacher and the student

The student has now become the teacher...

One of my favorites, look at him cheering!!

Like father, like son

Time to jump in the pool and celebrate the big win

Congratulations to the team and their coaches on a fantastic season! And many thanks to Melissa P. for taking these great pictures.

More Halloween

Jackson and Grant being goofy.

Even Batman and Superman like to play games.

Enjoying pumpkin faced bagel snacks thanks to LINDSAY.

Ready to Trick-or-Treat!

The G Family came over to trick-or-treat with us.
Patrick (Peter Pan), Kate (Wendy),
George (Captain Hook), John (Crocodile)

Taking a break to fuel up with candy.

Happy Halloween from our family!

Pumpkinfest Run

I was talked into running another 5k a few weeks ago at the Pumpkin Fest in Highwood.  I ran with two girlfriends and it ended up being a great race!  We had the most gorgeous day, chilly but sunny and a flat route, yeah!  I dropped almost 3 minutes, woohoo!!  I obviously have a lot of time to drop though. :)

The start of the race.  We were pumped and ready to go.

The boys eating their muffins and waiting for mommy to get to the finish line.

There were a number of people running in costumes.  Here is Beaker finishing the race strong. :)

The boys were cheering, "Go Mommy Go" to everyone who ran by.

Yeah we made it to the end!

Here are just a few of the 30,919 pumpkins that were carved and lit during the pumpkin fest to make the Guinness Book of World Records!  Pretty amazing!