Mr. Star

I took the suggestion of a fellow blogger, Megan and purchased the book The Elf on the Shelf. I read the story to the boys right when we returned home. The boys didn't even take off their coats and were on the floor waiting for me to read the story. We first had to decide what to name the elf. They suggested names like Luke, Darth Vader, Hotdog... They finally decided on the name Mr. Star. It sounds a little better than Hotdog. Mr. Star is currently sitting on the T.V. watching the boys' every move. He magically can hear everything that goes on in the house as well. Camden, especially, is being extra careful about his actions tonight. We'll see how long that lasts. Tonight Mr. Star will return to the North Pole and report to Santa. Mr. Star will be back in our house somewhere tomorrow morning. Shawn and I will hide him somewhere in the house for the boys to find. I'll report back on Mr. Star's visit this holiday season.

Boots, scarves, gloves oh my!

As soon as the snow fell, the boys were ready. I personally am not a fan of the cold. I took 15 minutes to get the boys bundled up and ready for the snow. I told them they had to be outside longer than it took to get ready. As soon as they were completely clothed, off I sent them.

Camden was the first to fall in the snow and make snow angels.

Kai enjoyed eating the snow the best. I tried to stop him, but it was really no use. When he came inside he was eating the snow off of Camden's coat. I didn't realize snow tasted so good.

They undressed in the mudroom and Camden requested hot chocolate. So off I was to make the hot chocolate. Kai drank some, but preferred the snow.

Hauling Wood

It's that time of the year. Shawn split a load of wood and we all pitched in and carried it inside. Camden decided to put on his Santa hat & and sing "Ho Ho the mistletoe" the entire time he was working. Kai was snoozing so he missed out on the excitement. Lucky him.

He's singing his favorite song of the day. We looked for a mistletoe at the store, but we couldn't find one.

Thanksgiving

We went to the Hilburn's for Thanksgiving dinner.

The crew with Grandpa & Grandma.


The boys love to play with guns at Grandma and Grandpa's house.

Holiday Program

The boys had a Fall program on Tuesday, Nov. 25th for their school. They got all snazed up for their big day. They never would tell us exactly what they were going to be doing at the program. Camden just said, "You'll just have to come and see." We were hoping he would do a little better than last year. If you recall he sat with his head back like he was laying in the sun for most of the program.

Camden sang the entire time! He did all the hand movements for every song/poem.

And then there's Kai. Well, it was his first program. Considering it's Kai, we are just thankful he didn't fall of the riser. Which could be why they strategically placed him on the bottom row.

Camden did awesome this year. We were very proud of him.

Breakfast with Santa

We were invited by Shannon & Natalie to have Breakfast with Santa at the Rivercenter on Saturday. At the breakfast they saw Santa, a reindeer, a magician and lots of clowns. They weren't thrilled with the clowns. Can you blame them? Kai and Santa.

Camden with Santa

We rode on the Zoofari float after the breakfast. The float was an Arctic theme & boy was it cold that day! The kids (and adults) were froze by the end of the parade. As we walked back to the car, a few too many blocks away, most of the kids were crying. It was eventful for sure!

Up close and personal with Tom and some of his zoo friends.

Shannon, Natalie & Camden are trying to stay warm. Can you see all the happy faces?

Kai's dentist appointment

Kai visited the dentist for the first time November 5th. I decided to take him to a pediatric dentist because he's not always cooperative when it comes to his teeth. Dr. Egger and his staff did a fantastic job with him. He was a model patient, doing exactly what he was told. He had a perfect check-up and was happy to pick out a toy & get a new toothbrush.

Buddy Walk 2008

We participated in the 4th annual Buddy Walk supporting Down Syndrome. We sponsored Jacob Maxwell. Jacob is the son of a good friend's of ours. The boys enjoy all the activities they get to do at the buddy walk. Kai has a snake (that was tough to make), Camden has a crazy hat & Gage a sword. The balloons kept popping so they all ended up with swords at the end of the event.

Brandy, Elvia, Kiley, Tina, Lisa, Haley, & Camden

We're not sure what happened to all the other kids.

Brandy is showing Gage the inside of a police car. We told the boys this is the closest they better ever get to the back of a police car.

Kansas City

When we went to Kansas City we spent a day at the miniature golf course, arcade and go-carts. Shawn showed the boys how to golf, Camden did pretty well. Kai was all over the place!


Camden became a pro by the end of our golfing adventure.

We spent the day at Worlds of Fun. The boys had a fabulous time at Camp Snoopy, which was inside Worlds of Fun. They rode most of the kid rides at least twice. They were able to ride a few bigger rides with Shawn and me. The bigger rides kind of made Shawn and I a little dizzy. The rides didn't seem to bother the boys, they loved them!

They both LOVED the airplane ride. They were able to make it go up high or stay low. Camden made his go up as high as possible.

Aspen

Shawn and I went to Aspen, Colorado for a few days in August. Here is a view from Buttermilk Mountain. We hiked up the mountain the first day we were there. Buttermilk was right out our back door. We didn't make it to the top, we thought we'd save some energy for the rest of our visit.

The second day in Aspen we took a 15 mile bike ride. We started in Snowmass and ended up in Aspen. The first hour or so was all downhill. Now that's how to bike! We rode the bikes to a hot lunch spot by Snowmass. There were probably 50+ bikes parked there. We had a quick lunch and headed back on our bikes. A couple miles later we burned off our lunches as we huffed and puffed up the hills. It was a tough ride, but we made it. Along the rest of our trek we saw great sites such as the one above.

The third day of our visit we took the Gondola up Ajax Mountain in Aspen. The ride was about 18 minutes up to the top. At the top they had a large restaurant, lots of hiking spots, kid activities, nature walks, 4 wheelers, motorcycle trails and lots of other activities. We were still recovering from the 5 hour bicycle trip from the day before, so we took it fairly easy.

Here I am at the top of Ajax Mountain.


This was the beginning of our bike ride. We started in a little bit of weather, but it turned into a beautiful, sunny day. You really never know how to dress. It started off being 56 degrees and ended up being 79ish.

Loud Thunder

The boys went with their Sunday school class to Loud Thunder, a boyscout camp in Andalusia.
We pulled up to the pool and Camden saw the diving board. He was instantly excited. The first picture is of him doing a cannon ball. He's been working on perfecting his jumps this summer. Kai prefers to do a "Spiderman" jump, which he sprays webs as he jumps off the board. Kai is currently working on his cannon ball, but it's not quite perfected.

Camden's famous cannon ball jump.

Here's one of Kai's jumps. He always changes his up a little. You never really know what kind of jump to expect from him. The older kids at the camp thought the boys were pretty cool jumping off the board. Some of them were a little hesitant of the diving board until they saw a three and four year old climb up and jump off over and over again.


The next day after the swim party the boys headed to vacation bible school. Camden was so excited to ride the bus he could hardly believe it was really happening. I'm not so sure he cared about anything else that was going to happen that day.

Camden is still in shock of being on an actual school bus.

Kai is thrilled to be cruising on the big yellow bus like the big kids. When the boys came home they were sitting in the back of the bus with a lot of older girls having a grand ol' time. I thought they might be sleeping after all the excitement of the day. The bus driver told me Kai was entertaining all of the girls in the back of the bus. Let's hope this isn't a trend he'll continue once he gets older. :)