Trip to the Barber

Jake and I had had enough of looking at Travis' shaggy hair.  I gave Jake money to take Tivvy to the barber while out running errands.  His reward was lunch at McDonalds.

I had run some errands, so when I came home I got to see the new do - it was awesome.  Travis kept running around saying, "Haircut, haircut!"  Jake said that a couple of the barbers commented on how good he was.  Apparently he didn't make a sound through the process.

Next is Wyatt - he's moving on to get his hair done soon!!!

He got a Pop for being so good!

Black Friday Hike

While Travis and I napped, Jake took Brad and Wyatt on a hike up to Bear's Den.

It was very windy that day, so I'm sure it was a bit chilly as they kept going up the mountain!

 

 

 

Next time Travis and I will have to go.  The view is always so great!

Black Friday

Mom and I weren't as crazy this year.  We slept in and didn't hit the stores until 6am!!! 

First we ran to Target where I got most of the rest of our Christmas shopping done.  I even ran into a surprise to share with Santa for Travis.  It was great!  I also got a few movies: The Proposal (hillarious!), Black Knight and P.S. I Love You.

Next we ventured to Kohls.  Wow!  I only needed 2 items and knew exactly where they'd be so I dropped Ma off at the front of the store and mosied around to find a parking space.  I got lucky and wasn't far from the store.  I then got what I needed and jumped in line --- all the way back at Customer Service.  Yes, the line wound all the way to the front of the store - CRAZY!  Mom got things here and there and checked in with me to drop off loot.  She made out better at Kohls with her good deal on the Dyson vacuum and other things.

Later in the day we went to pick out a tree.  Usually we go to a Tree Farm and cut one down, but this year we decided to save money by buying a pre-cut tree at Home Depot.  We usually have to settle for a pine because the firs are so expensive --- and we still spend $35 to $40.  This year we got a decent sized fir and spent less than $25.  Wohoo!

Where is Travis?

There he is!

Travis is VERY excited for Christmas.  When he and I were at Mom and Dad's last weekend he saw some wrapped gifts.  Mom told him they were for Maddie and Ian.  Later he found a stack of other presents and asked about them.  I told him that Grammy said they were for him and Brad, Wyatt and Cameron.  He clapped his hands and said, "Yay, Christmas!"

When we bought the tree, we set it up and left it in the garage for a few hours so the limbs could relax.  After a nap, Daddy decided to bring the tree from the garage through the front door.  As he was bringing it down the hall Travis squealed, "Yay, Christmas!"

 

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving this year was kind of quiet.  Mom came up to spend the weekend with us, but Dad was in Florida.  The Hambricks had other plans and others that we asked to join us were not able to.  Oh well, it was still nice and we had PLENTY of left overs.

Per tradition, the boys (Jake, Brad and Wyatt) went to play in the annual Berryville Turkey Bowl.  While they were gone, Travis and I got out our Christmas decorations.  Because it didn't take us long to get everything out, we then sat around looking at all of the ads for Black Friday.  This is the way Travis passed the time...

 

Once the boys returned from football, it wasn't long until our big Turkey dinner.  Mom and I worked in the kitchen to finish the mac and cheese, stuffing, corn bread and pie.  Yum!

The rest of the day was LAZY.  We watched TV and hung out.  Later in the evening Jake was a little stir-crazy and took Brad out and found Walmart still open to get some much needed milk!

My Post of Thanks

I love this time of year because it helps us to sit down and really think about the things we've been given.  For Family Home Evening this week I cut some leaves out with my Cricut and we all gathered around to talk of the things we are thankful for.  Each of us had the chance to say 3 or 4 things and we wrote them down on the leaves.  The boys were then able to color them and make them unique.  I plan to make a garland for the dining room so that we can be reminded over and over again.

Here are some of the things I am thankful for...

the gospel of Jesus Christ

my family and the chance we have to be together for eternity

my calling in Primary

our home

Jake's job

my new Scentsy "career"

healthy children

food to eat

Satellite TV

high speed internet

Dr Pepper - even though I haven't had any for a couple of weeks

Four seasons

our freedoms in this great country

wonderful friends and neighbors

Virginia

etc, etc, etc

Here are some of the things the boys said...

our family

clean water

Mrs Carder-Smith (that was Wyatt's - she's his teacher)

Christmas

food

sports

grandparents

my passy (from Travis)

nursery (also from Travis)

Halloween 2009

These are my soldiers and their pet monkey.

Toddler Words

Travis just told me, 

"We need more biapers for my bu-ttocks."

The Corn Maize

The boys and I went to Roanoke for Halloween weekend.  We haven't been there for festivities since we moved north in 2004.  It was good to be back.  We missed having Jake with us though --- he was at a Scout Training campout.

Saturday was a decent day --- warm weather and hit or miss rain.  Nana and I took the boys to Layman's Corn Maize.  It was so much fun that I think we have to return next year!!!

When we got there Brad and Wyatt wanted to immediately head into the maize.  Travis had other plans though.  He saw the tractor pulling the hay wagon and HAD to get on.  Thankfully Brad and Wyatt were willing to oblige.

 

 

The hay ride was fun.  There was a large family (grandparents, parents and grandkids galore) that had been at the place since 10am.  It was 1:30pm by the time we got there.  Needless to say, you can spend the day and have PLENTY of fun!

There were some animals in pens too.  We saw lots of chickens with a rooster doodling away in the hen house.  They had two goats that had the platforms to walk up on.  One was really tall (like 10 feet) or so.  And there were two sheep that were so mild they let you touch them.  And then the boys' favorite was the pig pen.

There were 3 pigs, and 3 houses.

The boys got a huge kick out of the house made of straw, the one of sticks and the house of bricks.

Next we ran up to the cow train.  The guy that drove the tractor pulling the train would drive so fast.  Travis squealed with joy every time he got a jolt in a new direction.

The boys are buckling in.  There were some small cows and some large ones.  I rode the first trip and tried to get into a small cow --- but my hips were too large.  Thanks boys! :)

Beside the large corn maize was a cut stalk hut.  The boys went inside and I followed.

The pumpkin patch...  We didn't need to buy any pumpkins, but I wanted osme pictures of the boys around them.  Most of the pumpkins in the field were very large.  They were great picks.

Duck races...  With old fashioned pumps hooked up to troughs full of water and gutters made of pvc pipes, a race track was created.  Brad had to compete agains EVERYONE.

In one area was a slide made of corrugated pipe.  There was a platform to stand on to get in it, and then the pipe went under ground.  The kids came out the bottom of the hill.  Travis wasn't even hesitant to go down the first time.  Each person would sit on a potato sack to make it even faster.

 

 

We did go through the corn maize --- for a few minutes.  We even took the "easy" route, but it was still so long.  You had to find the scarecrows and then answer a question correctly to go in the right direction.  We were only on #3 (out of 10) when it felt like we kept going in circles. So we snuck out the side!!!

Another one of Travis' favorite things was the corn crib.  Instead of sand, it was corn kernels.  I liked the idea because it was a much cleaner way to play with sand toys.

We were getting ready to leave the crib and Travis was taking a while.  I then noticed he was picking kernels out of the front of his diaper - nice!

 

And then we get to Brad and Wyatt's favorite part... the corn shooting!  They had 2 guns set up - one for corn cobs and one for pumpkins.  Unfortunately the pumpkins cost extra money so we didn't do those.  But all 3 boys got a chance to shoot corn.

Travis was a pretty good shot despite the fact that he couldn't move the gun.  Brad and Wyatt kept trying to hit the birds flying overhead.

It was all great fun.  We can't wait to go back next year!!!