Bryce's friend Grant came over this afternoon to play. Bryce and Landon were so excited for the playdate that they had been planning activites all week. Yesterday, Bryce said he needed to get prepared for when Grant arrived so he lined up all of his nurf guns in his bedroom so he would be ready for a battle.
Here are three tired boys playing Wii after the nurf battle.
We took Grayson to the vet's office for the first time today. Bryce and Landon were so proud to walk their dog in the waiting room.
We decided that we are not going back to the vet's office with the entire family - in other words, Landon is staying home! Landon tried to pet every dog he saw, even the ones that were shaking and crying because they were so nervous about being there! We have a long way to go with teaching him how to behave around animals.
We have survived our first week as dog owners! Grayson's greatest achievement of the week was surviving Landon's torment without retaliation.
I am posting this picture of Grayson in his crate because he did a terrific job of sleeping in it every night without complaint. We are still working out a few house training issues but otherwise everything is going really well. He got a haircut on Friday and he looks so much better! Before the haircut, he had clumps of hair on the top of his head along with random shaved spots.
Each night before we eat, Bryce and Landon like to say their own dinner prayer. Landon sings the prayer he learned at school and Bryce recites the Catholic prayer. Tonight Bryce asked us if he could make up a new prayer. John and I had to hold in our laughter when we heard it! Bryce said, "Dear Santa, please don't bring me coal for Christmas this year. I love you Santa. I love you God. Amen." Too funny!
Bryce and Landon played today with Meghan and Charlie. The boys enjoyed sharing their toys, and introducing Meghan and Charlie to Grayson. Meghan was scared of Grayson at first, but by the end of our playdate she warmed up to him.
After lunch, we went for a walk while Meghan and Landon rode scooters.
It was a parade through the neighborhood led by Bryce and Grayson.
Charlie walked by himself the entire time! He is becoming such a big boy, and he gets cuter each time we see him!
John and I have been talking about getting a dog for several years and we finally took the plunge today! We visited the SPCA this morning and adopted Grayson. He is not quite two years old, and we believe he is a Shih-Tzu mixed with another breed. He was a stray dog rescued from the streets, but we think he once had a loving home because he is really friendly with people. We are looking forward to introducing him to all of our friends and family!
We enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving meal at my sister Lynne's house. We stayed overnight on Wednesday, and the boys played with their cousins non stop the entire time!
We had a delicious meal!
We had two exhausted little boys who fell asleep as soon as they got in the car to go home!
The first graders at Bryce's school had a Thanksgiving Feast today. They all dressed like Pilgrims or Indians and snacked on cranberry bread, popcorn and trail mix.
The kids started the feast by singing a few Thanksgiving songs and reciting poems. After they ate, they all danced off the sugar from the apple cider.
Bryce and Landon had so much fun decorating our Christmas tree this year! They were great helpers.
Landon saw me stand on a chair to put ornaments on the tree, so of course he 
Landon is doing really well taking swim lessons. This morning, I asked him to smile for a picture, and apparently, this is one of his newest poses!
Bryce's tiger cub den toured a local library this evening. They had a great time!
The whole family came along for the tour. Unfortunately, Landon didn't last very long on the tour and I had to take him to the kids' area to play and look at books.
We enjoyed a few days of warm weather this week. Landon and I took advantage of it by going to the park a few times. He burned a lot of energy playing and took great afternoon naps on those days!
Hop, hop, hop!
On one of the days, Landon rode his bike while we were at the park. I was shocked at how far he rode!
Landon posed for a photo in front of the water.
Bryce went to his friend Tanner's birthday party this afternoon. He had a great time playing games in an arcade and running around in a play area.
Bryce and his friends Donovan and Jimmy played water racing together. What a blast!
Bryce and Donovan playing an intense game of air hockey together.
We went to see Toy Story 3 on Ice this evening. What an awesome show! It was definitely the best Disney on Ice show we have seen so far. This is a picture of Bryce and Landon's favorite part of the show, which featured army characters.
Landon was so excited to watch the show, and he did a great job of sitting still to watch it! For the first time, we were not the family trying to keep restless children in their seats!
Bryce was also a happy boy during the show!
Landon's eyes were glued on the skaters during the entire show.
It was a Star Wars Halloween at our house this year. Bryce, Landon and John dressed up as Star Wars characters and went trick-or-treating in our neighborhood.
Getting ready to leave.
Bryce and Landon (pictured on the far left) had two days of trick-or-treating this year! They had so much fun trick-or-treating with their cousins last year so we decided to do it again. Tonight they went out with Emily, Aaron, Hunter, and Waytt along with Emily and Aaron's cousins Garrett and Sophia. Uncle Greg led the way on this long night of trick-or-treating and the kids came home with way too much candy! We are sending John to work on Monday with a lot of candy to share with his co-workers so it is not in our house!
Landon's school hosted its annual pumpkin parade today. Landon was excited to dress up as Lightening McQueen for the day!
The kids were really excited about marching around the building for the parade!
We attended our good friend Matt's Eagle Scout ceremony this afternoon. Look at the awesome cakes Matt's aunt made!
Bryce recently joined the Boy Scouts as a tiger cub, and today was the first time he wore his uniform. He was proud to pose for a photo with Matt before the ceremony where Matt officially became an Eagle Scout.
Bryce and Matt posed for a photo with our local State Representative, Keith Gillespie.
I attended a training on Wednesday, and Landon spent a few hours with Molly, Wally, Uncle Joe and Aunt Ann while I was there. Uncle Joe entertained Landon by making him a hat and eucalyptus plant out of newspaper and a paper airplane. He said he hasn't made those items since the early 1970's.
Landon with Aunt Ann and Uncle Joe.
My cousin Tracy got married today so we have a lot of family visiting the area from out of town. Last night we spent time with my Uncle John and Aunt Sandy from Colorado.
This is a great picture taken today at the wedding of my mom, her brother and two sisters.
My brother Vince, sister-in-law Kathleen, Megan and Chris came for the wedding. It was great to have all of the cousins together!
Loving on cousin Chris!
The boys posed for a photo with Megan and her boyfriend Kevin.
