Bryce had a scheduled day off from school today and his friend Grant spent the day with us. Bryce had a special request for Grant to wear his army gear for their day together.
Landon was not about to be left out of this day of play. He also wore his army attire and kept up with the older boys - well atleast until his afternoon nap time!
After Landon woke up from his nap, the boys bundled up and went outside to play in the snow with neighbors Carter and Eric.
Grayson loves the snow! He runs and hops like a frog to maneuver his body through the snow.
Landon and I have gone to storytime at the library the past two weeks. This week we went with my friend Mell and her kids Meghan and Charlie. The kids had a great time listening to Ms. Ellen read stories, singing and coloring.
The kids picked out library books after storytime. Meghan attempted to read a book on the rocking chair, but Landon had other ideas. He rocked her on the chair!
Bryce is participating in the Scout's Pinewood Derby competition. We recruited the help of the expert - Wally!
After we worked on the car, we helped to celebrate Wally's birthday. Bryce and Landon were special helpers with the candles!
Bryce and Landon had a great New Year's Eve! We celebrated at friend's house and everyone stayed up to ring in the new year together.
All of the kids had a great time playing together all evening. Just before midnight, they all gathered around the TV to watch the ball drop in New York.
We went roller skating today with Lisa, Lynne and the cousins. It started out a little rough with the boys on skates, but they used the skating buddy and managed to get around the rink.
The skating buddy was great for Bryce. It helped him get accustomed to being on skates and by the end of the day, he was skating by himself.
Santa arrived at our house!
It was a Star Wars Christmas at our house this year! Almost all of Santa's gifts were Star Wars related. Bryce was so excited about that and by the fact that Santa didn't leave him a lump of coal!
Little Landon was so excited about Christmas morning. He loved all of his gifts.
Bryce and Landon set up all of their Star Wars toys and used their imagination all day to create battles. It was a wonderful day to stay in their pajamas all day and play!
Grayson was a very tired dog by the end of the day! There was too much excitement for him!
We spent a lovely day at my parents house to celebrate Christmas Eve. Don't these two boys look handsome in their Christmas outfits!
Landon had a serious conversation with Uncle Greg. He recited his entire Christmas wish list!
We hosted Bryce's cub scout meeting at our house tonight. The boys had a blast being together and managed to squeeze in some fun play time! In this picture, they were creating a scrap book to document special memories.
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!
