Turkey Trot!!!

Thanksgiving means Turkey Trot time for our family!!!! With the exception of last year because of our tiny twin turkeys, we spend Thanksgiving morning bundling ourselves and all of our children up, jumping on the TRE and heading into downtown Dallas alongside 40,000 other people to participate in the annual Turkey Trot.
I truly think that half the fun for everyone involved is the train ride. This was the boys' first trip on a train and they seemed to enjoy the experience quite a bit! Of course times are always fun when there are Aunts, Uncles and Grandparents aplenty!!
Laney was so excited to be riding the train.

Plenty of room to get cozy all in one seat.

She and Claire were checking out the view.

I am not sure what this hysterical expression from Miles Man is all about.

The brothers were doing some twin talking at this point.

Sam's attempt at making a silly face like his brother.

Kevin took bunches a pictures during the race, but I think that I did not make it home with the disk that he made for me :(
I will have to come back and update this post once I get my hands on it, so that I can at least have one picture of our entire crew at the finish line.
The boys fell asleep pretty early on and slept for about half the walk. They were so awesome the whole time!!! Laney and Claire walked together for about a half a mile and after that, Laney wanted me to hold her the rest of the way, which I did. Luckily, she is a lightweight and carrying her made our snail's pace a little more of a workout, which meant more goodies/less guilt later!!!
(not sure about Todd's expression....maybe this is where Miles gets the crazy!)

On the way home......... And this was before any tryptophan!! I guess all that "walking" wore everyone out!!!!

A Night at Bobbis and Kevin's

This picture of Sam is so perfect! He makes this face ALL the time. It truly seems like he is making a little smirk like he is trying not to smile at us. Whatever he is actually attempting with this little grin, he is definitely melting all of our hearts!Me and my silly boys.

Kevin was outside working on the deck that he is tirelessly building in their backyard. The kids spotted him out there, started knocking on the glass, and a fun game ensued!

They ran back and forth across the back window chasing him!

He slowed down to play with the boys since they weren't as quick as the girls at chasing him.

Sunday Nights!!!!

Everybody loves and looks forward to Sunday nights at our house. That is when Todd gets home!!! We stay up a little bit later on Sunday nights because it is just so exciting when Daddy is finally home. We have to play for a little while.
A favorite game for our kids, as I am sure it is for most kids, is riding horsie, with Daddy playing the part of the horse!
There are usually at least two children on the horse at a time!

Like I said, we really love Sunday nights around here!

One Last Time!

I am pretty sure that this was the last time for a stroller ride for one of the boys in Laney's baby stroller. She actually tried this first with Sam, but he was less than interested. Miles, on the other hand, was happy to plop right in and go for a ride.

Laney was fine pushing Miles in a straight line, but his whopping 21+ pounds was a bit of a challenge for her to try and maneuver in any kind of turning motion. It was on a turn, in fact, that Miles got tumped out of the stroller and it was determined that there would be no more toy stroller rides for the brothers.

Baby Races!!!

The boys are both great at walking behind their little walkers. Laney has instituted a game that we have titled "Baby Races" that she pretty much sets up every day at some point for the boys to participate in. She starts them at one side of the living room and shouts, "Ready, Set, GO!!!" and they try to make it to the other side of the room.

Everyone involved loves this game!

They almost always need some redirection, and Big Sister is happy to come to their rescue and turn their walkers away from the coffee table, wall, chair or whatever else is in their way!

She is their biggest fan!!! Lucky brothers!

Happy Times!

Fun times are being had at Grommy's house on the boys' new trikes. Laney reclaimed one of her old toys, this old walker/pusher, to join in the fun.


A couple of days later, I had the vaccumm cleaner out, and Laney couldn't wait to have a turn with it. She really took care of most of the living room all by herself. Awesome!


The boys were giving me some pretty happy faces while big sister was hard at work!

Graham!

We got to go to Graham last week to visit Jared and Jill. Even though they live way too far away from us now, Laney still loves her Uncle Joy-ra and Aunt Jill. Laney had a cavity in one of her molars. She hadn't been to the dentist yet, a fact that I feel really guilty about, and I knew that the experience was not going to be a pleasant one. Laney is really really timid in new situations and really shy around strangers, so I was imagining some pretty terrible scenarios involving her having to go to a pediatric dentist. Enter our amazing friend Jill who just graduated from dental school and is a partner in a dental practice in Graham! Laney loves Jill. I love Jill. It was a pretty quick decision to plan a trip out to the Carters for a quick visit and some dental work for the Bug.
Jill and her assistant were A-MAZING!!!! To say that Laney was freaked out is a huge understatement. I have no idea how she even knew to be anxious about the dentist, but the she was as happy and playful as can be while we were in the waiting room with Jill, and the minute we stepped back into the office she became like a spider monkey clinging to me like crazy and refusing to look at or talk to anyone. Jill and her assistant started introducing Laney to all their "friends" like Mr. Shower and Mr. Vacuum that were going to help make her teeth have lots of sparkles!! They were so so patient with her. It probably took 20 minutes before she would let them put the mask on to start giving her the laughing gas. I was sitting with her in the chair, and she started acting so silly. She started staring, completely entranced, at my hair as she ran her fingers through it. Once she had some of that "special Dora medicine" in her system, she was good to go! She pretty much giggled through the procedure and was as happy as can be the whole time. Then Jill gave her like 20 prizes out of the prize drawer. She has asked me at least every day for a week if her sparkles are still there as she opens her mouth huge for me to check.
And that incredible experience was just the beginning of our fun in Graham! We got to go to lunch right after that with Jared and Jill and then, when they had to go back to work, we went over to their cute house for the boys' naptime.
Todd discovered Guitar Hero and once he got started, I couldn't tear Laney away from watching him. She was a total daddy groupie! Too bad Todd's rock star days are gone. Laney would have been a dedicated fan!


The boys woke up and joined Laney in some daddy adoration.
cute cute moo man!
I have to document this thing that Sam does all the time. He frequently leans his head way to the side like this whenever he is smiling at someone. It is so sweet.
We had lots of fun at the Carter house. Sadly, I did not take any pictures once they got home. We built a fire, grilled out, played a ton on the floor and I didn't document any of it. Our kids definitely had a great time, and Todd and I had an even better time hanging out with our friends!