Sticker fun

Eli had fun stickering Cole last night. Then they put them on Daddy!

Weekend at Grandma & Grandpa N's

The rest of our Thanksgiving weekend was spent hanging out and resting at Grandma & Grandpa N's house. I did a little Black Friday shopping (Joann's, Kohl's, Target - and it wasn't that crazy when I went, thankfully!) and then we were on the road by early afternoon. The boys did great on the way down, just one potty stop and we got there before it got dark. Of course, Eli & Cole took off running around as soon as we arrived.

Tim used to tell me that when he went to his parents' house, he would ride his bike and just sleep / rest / relax. Well, I think I've taken that philosophy over. I did a whole lotta sleeping down there! Tim & I both went to sleep with the boys each night and Eli & I ended up napping on the couch for two hours on Saturday. I totally needed that!

The boys loved running around, exploring and playing with Grandma & Grandpa. They also had fun playing at a local playground. Saturday night, Eli declared to me that he wanted to go home because he missed his monster trucks. We stayed until Sunday afternoon and he managed to make it without all five million of them and still have fun. However, we did take their dump trucks to run around so that helped!

I had a great time talking sewing and quilt stuff with Tim's mom. I've been doing a lot of sewing and want to "upgrade" my skills and try some new projects after the holidays. Not sure what yet but definitely looking forward to a new challenge.

Lots of fun at Grandma & Grandpa N's. Thanks for having us!

This was totally hilarious. While we were finishing packing and getting the truck loaded, Cole fell hard asleep on the couch.

Eli & Cole kept going into Grandpa's den to play. When I checked on them, this is what I found. Love that they were playing together and having fun.

Dump trucks and leaves...

complete with crashes.

What could possibly be more fun?!

Cole "driving" Grandpa's tractor. The boys both love wearing hats because Grandpa does.

Eli found a dolly in the shop and had fun running around.

Happily swinging.

Eli loved the climbing wall at the playground.

Cole grew right in front of our eyes. He started off climbing this "ladder" slowly with help.

My super silly boys

And before it was over, he was cruising up it all on his own. So BIG!

Cole wanted to give the climbing wall a go. He thinks he's as big as Eli.

Going again. I was so proud of him!

Sliding and colliding.

Swinging fun

Eli has so much fun swinging

Mommy had to give it a go.....has been a long time!

Grandpa's little guy - so much cuteness!

Cole, for the first time, was swinging in the big boy swing. I love this shot of him and his shadow.

So much swinging fun. May be time to take the baby swing down at home!

Cole watching tv with Grandpa.

This was awesome. Eli was circling things in the paper that he liked as Christmas ideas. He was so cute circling with Grandma. His little mind amazes me.

Hi Cole!!

The fish pond is always an attraction. Notice Eli's rolled up shirt sleeves?

He had to "fish" out turtle and frog that mysteriously jumped in when little boys came around.

Hanging with Buddha

Love our Grandparents!

Turkey Trot and other "Gobble"ing

We had a great Thanksgiving Day at home - our first one staying home. We started the day with a Turkey Trot 5k and ended it with a nice turkey dinner. Gobble Gobble!!

Tim & I ran the 5k pushing the boys in jog strollers. I pushed Cole, who fell asleep pretty quickly and Tim pushed Eli, who took it as his mission to knock over every single orange cone he could reach. The run was tough. I haven't run in months and our time wasn't that great however I'm pretty sure we won the "parents pushing 2 and 4 year old brothers in strollers" division. After the 5k, there was a 1 mile fun run and then a kids 100 yard dash. I had signed the boys up for the 100 yard dash thinking they would have fun doing the dash, having their own number and getting a prize when they finished. I thought I was right but then.....oh but then. When it came time for them to run their dash, both boys decided they wanted nothing of it. Cole sat in the road and cried. Eli stood on the other side of the road and watched everyone else. Neither ran so we climbed back in the truck and headed home. Eli knew I was not too happy about the ordeal so on the ride home, he decided to tell me why he didn't want to run his race. "Mommy, I want to tell you why I didn't run my race. When you & Daddy were pushing me and Coley for your run, it was fun. I didn't want to run on my own two feet." Although I was upset that we had hung around and they didn't participate, his rationale for not doing it made me laugh.

When we got home, the boys watched the dvr'd Macy's parade. I grew up watching it on Thanksgiving while my Mom cooked a super meal so for me, that is just part of the holiday. They loved it, especially after having been to our parade last weekend. After lunch, the boys took a good nap for us and then we had outside play time.

Another part of Thanksgiving (or any holiday) is yummy punch. I made some lemon lime punch for us and we enjoyed it as our appetizer to Thanksgiving dinner. We had turkey, dressing, mac & cheese, green beans and gravy. It was a nice dinner and a great family day. So much to be thankful for! On Friday, we headed to see Grandma & Granda N - stay tuned for those pictures. Time for Mommy to go to bed!

We hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving!

Numbered up and ready to go. Looks like Eli has "spirit fingers" (sorry, love 'Bring it on'.)

Cole wasn't very happy before we started.

Family shot pre-race

Daddy and Eli

Mommy & Cole

Lots of folks lined up ahead of us. We did manage to pass a few but stayed pretty far back.

And I saw Tim's back for a good bit of the run too.

Yay, we made it!! Cole fell asleep and Eli had a fun time.

My little cuties. Eli was funny b/c when I gave them their numbers, he said Cole was supposed to be #2. He didn't like that they were both #1.

Cole-Man

Daddy's racing crew

Mommy's non-running boys

While we were waiting for the 100 yard dash, Eli entertained himself in this tree.

Quite a little monkey - all boy!

Kids lined up for the dash - notice Eli standing away from them in the orange shirt.

Cole was upset so Daddy tried to help him. Unfortunately Cole had a "DNF".

And so did Eli. Or maybe it was a "DNS".

Post-nap punch time.

Everyone's favorite!

This series of shots cracks me up. Cole has the funniest facial expressions.

Cute and sweet.

Giggling

Quite tickled