Santa Claus

Sam has been talking about Santa for weeks, so I knew he would be excited to see him when he came to his school.  Ben was a different story...he was disgusted the moment we placed him in Santa's lap.  Sam snuggled up and told Santa everything he wanted for Christmas.  Ben on the other hand tucked his head and would not look at anyone!  

On the way home we found out that Sam was worried Santa would not bring Ben anything on Christmas because Ben wouldn't talk to him.  He said if we would take him back to visit Santa he would tell him what Ben would want.  He is such a sweet big brother!

Christmas with Friends

Four years ago we had 10 adults in this group of friends.  Now we have 10 adults and 9 kids.  A lot has changed in four years, but I love the excitement of the kids!  They all drew names at Halloween, so they were excited to open presents from each other.  We told them they had to eat first, which was the only reason they ate...they wanted a present!!  

Matt, David, Lyndon, Kyle, and Jamie were college roommates and it is fun for the kids (young and old) to get together!

Goodnight Moon

Goodnight Moon is Ben's favorite book to read.  Pap enjoyed reading it with the boys as Ben helped him with every word.  He has the book memorized and it is sweet to hear him read!  He especially likes the tiny mouse and the little old lady whispering hush!

Sam's favorite thing to do in the afternoons is check the mail.  He loves when he gets letters, magazines, or packages with his name on it.  Today, we received a package from Texas with the boys names, so I let the open the gifts early!  

They were ecstatic when they found that Aunt Stacy made both of them a Dr. Seuss hat.  Sam has hat day at school quite often and he told me about two months ago that he wished that he had a few more hats to chose from because one was not enough.  This year on Dr. Seuss Day, Sam will have the coolest hat in the class!   Thanks Aunt Stacy...we love you guys!

Happy Birthday Boys

It is hard for me to believe that my babies are now two and four years old. They both have grown up in the past year and I sometimes wish that time would stand still!  Since their birthday's are so close together, we had one big celebration.  We had it down at Gran Gran's house.  Grandaddy worked hard to make the woods look good so we could have jumpers and a bonfire in a place safe for the kids to run and play.  It rained a lot during the week, but I kept my fingers crossed for NO rain!  We were lucky--the rain settled the dust and it stopped raining about an hour before the party started!

Ben's favorite wasn't the bouncers--he liked the tractor that was going to be used for the hayride.  He would have stayed on it all night if we would have let him.  I was worried that he would fall, so we kept getting him off--but he would just climb right back on!  We finally took turns letting him play.  It was his party afterall, so we let him do what made him happy!

The bouncers were a huge hit.  Sam enjoyed the slide the most.  I think he liked it because Ben didn't like to go down it and he had it all to himself before the other kids came!

Ben would use his strong muscles to climb to the top, but once he got up to the top of the slide, he would just sit and watch everyone down below!

Sam was tempted to push Ben down the slide, but he decided to be nice after a few bad looks and shakes of my fingers!

And we thought Ben was going to be brave and follow Sam down, but he never did!

Gram and Sam

Grandaddy and Sam

Gram and Ben

After everyone arrived, we split into two groups.  One group stayed and roasted hotdogs and jumped on the jumpers while the other group took a hayride to the Darnall's pumpkin patch. 

It took Ben a while, but he found the one he wanted....

Of course, it was one of the largest ones there!  He was not happy when it did not come home with us right away.

Both boys agreed to take a small painted one home tonight and we told them we would come back for the giant pumpkin.  We put it on our front porch and it looked great with our mums!  It was the first pumpkin we have had that you could see from the road!

After the hayrides, the kids enjoyed swinging a tobacco stick at the dinosaur pinata!  The moisture in the air made it really hard to break open, but it eventually busted! 

The boys had a lot of great toys to open.  Since they like the same toys, it was like they got double the gifts! 

MeMom with her two favorite boys!

Everyone had a blast...adults included!  It was an enjoyable evening because we were outside and it didn't matter how loud the kids were or if they were running around!  I am glad their birthday's are in the Fall and hope they continue to like outside parties!  Sam and Ben have a great group of friends!

The night ended by the campfire as we roasted marshmallow after marshmallow.  We made a lot of smores and I enjoyed catching my marshmallows on fire and watching the look of disgust of Sam's face!  I think Matt enjoyed the night the most because he has so many good memories from his childhood in his grandparents woods.  I think it is neat that another generation is able to make memories here also! 

Shiloh

I think Sam may take after his Daddy.  He loves history!!

Halloween

The boys were so fun on Halloween night!  We went trick-or-treating at Gran Gran's house before going to Sedalia.  Sam really enjoyed going door to door and Ben enjoyed running after him!  I think Sam was the cutest Power Ranger ever and Ben was an adorable pirate!

We also went to the Holman's for a Halloween Party.  The kids loved seeing each other dressed up and I love watching them all play together!   

Parker and Sam

Kamden

Garner and Gretchen

the whole gang! 

Time to Print

I will start off by apologizing for not posting lately.  I have been having problems with my online Picasa Account.  I really wanted to share the boys pictures from the 2nd and 4th birthday, but it won't let me add anymore!  I am getting the blog printed and when I receive the books, I will delete pictures and will start posting again! Look for new posts in about 2 weeks and I will be posting a lot because I have a lot of pictures to share!