Thanksgiving in Richmond

We spent our Thanksgiving in Richmond with my family. Here are some of the pictures from our time together. We spent Thursday night at my mom's and Friday night at my dad's. We packed in a lot of fun in just a few days.

Mom's house...

We played football outside, but the pictures didn't turn out very well. Here are two picture taken on the front porch of my mom's house. The people seen here are my sister, Patricia, two of her children, Betsy and Philip, and my brother, Harrison.

After football we came inside and decorated gingerbread houses. Grace helped me set up the decorations while the boys played outside. Then we all went a little crazy with frosting, candy and sprinkles. In the back ground you can see some of the grown up treats that were available. :)

Dad's house...

We got a surprise when we showed up at Drampa and NuNu's house for Thanksgiving. They met us at the end of the driveway with the tractor.

Ben, NuNu and Noah

Leaves

One beautiful Saturday in early November our family spent time outside in the leaves. I think leaves are a lot more fun when you are a kid. Drew did not enjoy cleaning them out of the gutters (which he has to do way too often). But the boys spent hours playing in the pile in front of our house. They wrestled for over an hour and NEVER CRIED or got carried away and never needed parental intervention. Praise God for making leaves and giving our family a few hours of pure fun.



This is what playing looks like at our house....











For those of you who only have girls...the boys are not fighting. They are having a blast together.

Ben in his Superman clown costume

Ben finally rides a horse

Ben has been asking to ride a horse for months now. So during our church's Fall Festival, I gave Drew the one goal of getting Ben on a horse. Drew is not a big fan of large animals, so I am grateful for his willingness to help out while I was running some games during the festival.

Speaking of running...Noah didn't bother wasting time riding the horse but instead ran from game to game collecting as much candy as possible.

Speaking of candy...both of the boys raked in the candy over Halloween. They each have a gallon size zip lock bag full of candy (and that is after I took out all of my favorite things).

Our Trail...

In the past few months, we have started taking a lot of hikes as a family. We usually head up to the Shenandoah National Park for a 2-3 mile hike. The boys have been doing a wonderful job on these hikes. With Drew's encouragement, Ben has moved away from being carried some of the time and has become a "good mountain climber" (a self proclaimed title). It also helps that part of the hike involves a Swedish Fish reward for making it to the car.

Two weekends ago we spent a night at a lodge in the SNP and enjoyed a yummy dinner and breakfast together. The sleeping was a little less enjoyable due to flailing arms and legs. It is amazing how much little kids move in their sleep.

Here is a picture from the balcony of our room.

The highlight of our weekend was the discovery of our own personal trail...

Noah usually carries the backpack at some point during the hike to make him feel important and give that extra motivation to keep going. Ben decided he wanted to help out too and carried the pack for the last 100 yards to the car.

September...

September started with Ben's first day of preschool...

In typical Ben fashion, he decided to sleep on the floor the night before preschool. We frequently put him to bed at night (in his bed) and find him in another spot in the morning. Sometimes we move him back to his bed when we check on him and still find him on the floor again in the morning. Drew found him at the bottom of a sleeping bag in the boy's play closet the other night.

Noah gently woke Ben to tell him to get ready for preschool.

Noah and Ben had a great morning together before Noah headed off to school.

Then Ben got dressed for the day...

It took multiple tries to get the pants on.

Ben was asked to make a picture of himself to bring on his first day of school.
Here he is holding miniature Ben.

September ended with a trip to the beach to celebrate my mom's birthday...

Drew, the boys & I went down a day before everyone else showed up. We got to the beach late at night, so we all took a huge nap after lunch on our first day there. Drew has the magical touch...I would never have gotten the boys to sleep like that on the sofa with me.

The house where we stayed had a pool and Noah spent a lot of time in there.

Cannonball!

My poor photography skills missed the big splash.

Drew enjoyed thinking about what he was missing at work while he lounged in the pool and later at the beach.

Ben stayed out of the pool and enjoyed playing with the toys at the house instead.

Pregression of...

...hole digging...

...and dumping on mom.

Noah was determined to catch a sand crab.

I let him have fun and never mentioned the fact that the holes in the net would make it impossible to catch anything smaller than a baseball.

A fluke rain storm came by while we were at the beach. People only a 1/4 mile down the beach were totally dry, but we got drenched walking back to the house. This is a picture of the boys sitting in the outdoor shower waiting for the rain to stop. We got so wet it looked like we had jumped in the pool. :)

All smiles after showering and drying off

Cousins having a quiet moment together.
From left to right: Grace, Noah, Philip, Betsy and Ben

Adults enjoying the quiet moment while the kids watched the Disney channel.

It was overcast the rest of the time, but that didn't stop us from getting out and enjoying all that the beach has to offer. We went bike riding, hiked around a lake, jumped back and forth between pool and hot tub, and enjoyed time at the beach. my brother even took a kayak out a few times.

My mom, brother (Harrison) and sister (Patricia)

brother-in-law (Steve), Betsy, and Harrison

Ben having fun with his Uncle BoBo

Getting a little snuggle time with my youngest...I love it!

September was a great month!

Riding in the Scout

Drew put a roll bar in the Scout this past year. Now it is safe enough for the boys to ride in. We drove it to the pool multiple times this summer and even drove all the way into Harrisonburg to get take out from Qdoba one night.

The last time we had a picture taken in the Scout was when Drew and I were driving away from our wedding. I love the two additions we have in this picture. :)