Lots of Thanks!

We had an awesome Thanksgiving.  Minus the traveling.  We went to see Paul's parents, but managed to get stranded in Houston. Twice.  The first time for over 6 hours.

 

But I would like to report that I have the best kids, ever. They were so good, despite horrible travel experiences.  I'm pretty sure they thought it was part of the adventure.  I'd tell you all about it, but I'm not ready to re-live it. It's too soon.

But Gramma and Grandpa were happy we Henry and Walter finally got there!!

We were excited too!!

We went to see Christine play volleyball, which Henry found to be enthralling.  Not as enthralling as the Zumba class next door, however, which he was completely mesmerized by.  I wish I had a video, but I was too busy laughing at him staring and trying to mock their movements...

 So, so, so glad we don't live where it's freezing - it's exhausting to dress children in all these clothes.  I mean, seriously, where's the baby?!?

 Ah... there he is. Snotty.

 This one too. "Henry, come here. You have a booger."

 "Nevermind. It appears you've learned to pick your nose...."

 Can you tell I'm not used to living where it's really cold? I forgot to wait for the camera to de-fog before capturing this one.  And can you tell these two are related? 

Give the boy a new toy, and he'll manage to figure out the most dangerous way to play with it...

This child just loves life.

And practiced his crawling skills while he was there.  We spent most of our time going backwards, but went at least 4 "steps" forward.

We were so blessed and excited to meet Mr. Finn McAlister.  He was so precious, and on his absolute best behavior.  So, so, so happy for our friends!!

Henry was excited about pizza. So was Grandpa.

My sad attempts at Thanksgiving photos.  We have about 10 shots of Henry like this.

We finally got him to grin, but Walter was bored by then...

So we gave him a distraction.  Which he never looked up from.

Henry finally looked up to show us his shark teeth.

Boy just wants to walk. And drool.

And both boys just want to wallow on the floor and wrestle. Constantly.

Child can't get small stuff like puffs or yogurt melts to his mouth on his own, but he mastered the cracker.

Why wait for a post-dinner nap when you can take a pre-dinner nap?

Henry was more interested in his turkey cookie than taking photos.

Does this child do anything other than eat?!?

 Post-Thanksgiving exercise.

Henry's first introduction to Reddi-wip.  He mastered it immediately.

There was no shortage of love for this little guy.

Because it was so cold while we were there, we tracked down an indoor play/jump place.  It was a major success.

Henry went down this slide 100 times.  Unfortunately, he needed help climbing up the "stairs" to go down, which meant a workout for us!

And we got to celebrate my birthday our last night there.  Both boys thoroughly enjoyed the cake!

And right before we left, Henry finally got a ride in Grandpa's car.  Not a bad way to end our trip!

So thankful we got to head up there to visit for the week.  And so, so, so thankful my boys have 4 grandparents that love them. Now for the official beginning of the Christmas season - yay!!!

8 Months!

Walter turned 8 months old two weekends ago.  Whoops!  I told y'all I was behind.

 Yes, ladies, he is this cute.  I couldn't stand to take photos with his stupid helmet - that thing is seriously starting to annoy me.

We're so excited about life we just can't STAND IT!!!!

 And we are seriously obsessed with Oscar.  The second Walter sees him, he starts flailing like crazy (which can be a little hard on the back if you're not ready for it).  He squeals and screeches and laughs.  And also attempts body sacrifices off of chairs....

Oscar is so good with him too! Walter's at that age where he grabs stuff and doesn't let go.  This includes my necklaces, my hair, Oscar's hair, Henry's hair, etc.  Oscar just takes it like a man and still wanders within reach every now and then.

I would also like to officially predict that by the time we take our next photos, we will officially be mobile.  He's already semi-mobile - as I was working on this post, he was sitting about 3 feet away from me.  Before I realized it, he had somehow managed to scoot himself (while sitting) right up next to me and shove the TV remote in his mouth.  Fantastic.  He is also scooting backwards on his stomach, spinning in circles, and rolling from one end of the room to the other.  Yesterday was the first time I saw him actually get his knees under him and rock.  We could have two more weeks of freedom, or by this time tomorrow, I could officially have two mobile children - AGH!  

Walter has also started voicing his opinion.... big time.  If he's playing on the floor while Paul and I are doing something else, he sometimes gets the mistaken impression that if we walk towards him, we're going to pick him up.  He'll start grunting, and he does this weird thing where he lifts his feet off the floor so he's balancing on his bottom only, and sticks his arms straight out.  I believe he's under the impression this is perfect positioning for him to be picked up.  If we walk past him, however, he throws his arms down, looks straight up, sticks his lower lip WAAAAYYYY out, turns beet red, and starts yelling.  He also tends to add a few monster crocodile tears, which he manages to produce in about 0.5 seconds.  And let me confess..... it TOTALLY works.  I may be half dressed with my hair halfway in rollers, and I got sprinting to comfort him.  He typically stops crying immediately, and then shows his four goofy teeth.  No question, he is my littlest love.

Hope Paul's parents are ready for us to invade them next week!!!  Their house is about to get very full and VERY CRAZY!!!! :)

Thankful.

I still have to post about Halloween. Yes, I'm that far behind, but these past few weeks have been filled.  Since no captions are needed for the following pictures, I thought I'd share.  I actually cried when I viewed these because I felt like my children - my giggling, loving, full-of-life children - were captured forever with these pictures.  

Jeremy Schmucker, thanks isn't enough.  But seriously, thanks.