Happy Thanksgiving

Didn't get many pics at Thanksgiving this year, but these are just a few shots of the post-dinner football game at Uncle Dan's house.

Nice form, nice form...

Look, Mom. I'm eating broccoli!

We have FINALLY convinced Ben to eat broccoli again. As a baby, he couldn't get enough of the stuff. (As a baby, he couldn't get enough of all things edible!) Somewhere around age two, he became incredibly picky. So, now that he's three, we have had to come up with some creative ways to get him to eat his veggies. We have discovered that three-year-old boys are fascinated by bodily functions (much like 37-year-old boys), so we told him that eating broccoli would cause gas. Now, he happily clears his plate of his broccoli every time I serve it stating that he loves broccoli because, "it makes me go tootums!"

Happy Halloween!

We had one of the best Halloween evenings ever in Carmel this year. It was 67 degrees and crystal clear all day long. Perfect weather by the evening for trick-or treating. Mike and Shellie Kneese kindly offered to come to our house (along with Patrick, the little green dragon) to hand out candy so Brian and I could go door-to-door with the kids and Java. It was so much fun! The kids had cracked into the M&Ms before we even left our front lawn.

By the time we had hit about five houses, Ben and Maggie had their fill. We came back to our house to enjoy the fire pit on the front porch and to greet the rest of the goblins. Below is my best carving effort to date. Thank you, Pumpkin-Masters!

Our nieces, Lexi-Red-Riding-Hood and Courney, live just one mile away, but we never get to see them on Halloween because their father (Brian's brother, Scott) is always up to some spooky antics in their own neighborhood. Scott, is that you in the body bag?

Jester Cole (I think) and Retro Lauren in Terre Haute.

Lauren reminds me of that line in Fletch... "Fletch stands 5'9", 6'4" with the afro..."

(... it goes something like that...)

Ethan, Evan, Steve, & Amy (West Des Moines, IA) have clearly developed a love of AC/DC that can't be explained!

Mermaid Mary, Sarah, and Shower-Poof Rachel in Batesville

These costumes are my personal favorite!

Ben's first sleep-over

Ben had his first sleep-over last night.

We were a little concerned that the boys might not get any sleep, but they actually did great!

Ben Hammond arrived at our house in time for br-inner (breakfast for dinner), which he exclaimed was, "Yummy yummy for his Tummy-tummy!" All three kids ate about two bites because they were so excited to play. They played basketball outside and climbed on our play set, and generally, had a ball!

Then, everyone got into pj's, and we played with the Lincoln Logs for a while. I was amazed at how nice Ben Hammond was to Maggie. Because he isn't her brother, he's willing to include her in almost every game. Maggie thinks this is the bee's-knees!

After Lincoln Logs, it was racecars in the tent! The boys finally konked out around 9:30 pm, both on the top bunk of Ben's beds with Brian sleeping on the bed below them. They looked so adorable. I wish I could have gotten a picture of them sleeping, but it was too dark, and I didn't want to wake them.

Pumpkin Patch ~ Saturday, October 11th

We went to Stony Creek Farm in Noblesville today. Total racket, but it WAS a lot of fun. We got away having only spent $20! Ben is the perfect age for places like this. He was excited about every little thing we did, and he couldn't get enough of the giant inflated caterpillar that they could climb through. By the time we got on the wagon to go out to the field to pick our pumpkins, the kids were red-faced and exhausted. (You can see in the picture.) They actually just truck in the pumpkins to the fields, and you're dropped off there to choose. This year, the pumpkins were scattered among the Christmas trees. How strange! In the last two pictures, you can see the results of 90 minutes of "fun" on the kids! Ben gulped down a bottle of water, got home, and ran outside to play with our neighbor, Carson. Maggie crashed!

Play Date w/ the Hammonds

Ben Hammond is Ben Martin's best buddy at daycare/school. It's because of Ben Hammond that our Ben refers to himself by both first and last name most of the time. What I find most adorable about seeing the two of them together is that they are at opposite ends of the size spectrum. Ben Martin is probably one of the tallest kids in their class, and Ben Hammond is one of the smallest kids in their class. This, however, is a trait that neither of them would ever notice. They just love to be around each other so much!

And when Maggie plays with the two of them, she thinks she's a three-year-old boy. No fear!

She's ROTTEN!

This is how Brian discovered Maggie this afternoon when he walked into our bathroom. Neither of us had been keeping a very close eye on her, and she managed to escape into our bathroom, climb into the tub, turn on the VERY COLD water, and enjoy some splash time! I have said it a thousand times before... She's ROTTEN! (and she knows it.)

Daddy has decided to remove the handles from the bathtub faucet.

Thank goodness she chose the cold water instead of the hot!

Park w/ Grandma & Grandpa

We had a great day at Batesville Memorial Park today with Gram Linda & Grampa Hank. Somehow, the park is even better than I remember it. Even though we have tons of great parks in Carmel and Indy, the park in Batesville is just "better." The kids were in paradise! Looks like Grampa Hank was too!