You may be thinking....what a nice family picture with Santa. Amazingly, that's my dad as Santa with my brother and his family. When my dad told me he was going to be Santa at our hometown Wal-Mart, I was literally speechless. It's just not what you'd expect my dad to do.

We went to our friends' Thomas and Johanna's house on Saturday to help rake their yard. Johanna's still on bedrest and hanging in there at almost 34 weeks pregnant, and we didn't want Thomas to have to tackle their massive leaf project alone.

Henry woke up from a his nap before Jonathan did. So Henry sat on the chair and left space for his brother.

I don't know about you, but my Thanksgiving memories don't include SNOW. However, this Thanksgiving week started off with moderate snow showers for about an hour today. I wonder if this is a clue to what's to come this winter. It might be nice to have some significant (for a Southerner) snow this winter.

This is my dear friend, Johanna. She is almost 33 weeks pregnant with her second child, a boy named Parks. She is experiencing pre-term labor and is on bedrest. Will you please pray for her and Parks? Thanks!

Henry and Jonathan were arguing about who was going to get one of the new books that Aunt Melissa sent to us from her collection. (Mel-it's the Winnie the Pooh Christmas Song Book.) Finally, after going back and forth I heard Henry say, "But I the oldest!" He may "officially" be the oldest, but Jonathan is less than a minute younger.

This morning when I went to get the boys out of their beds. (They are still doing a great job by not getting out of their beds in the morning.) Jonathan put out his hand and said, "I have poop on my hand." That's sheer terror to any mother of young children. I didn't see anything and tried to reassure him that he didn't have any poop on his hand. Being the insistant one, he said it again. I smelled his hand, and it smelled like a wet dog. I had just made a comment to Rob last night that the boys are sucking on their hands and then their hands are smelly. That's what Jonathan was smelling.

Out of the mouths of babes!

My sister-in-law, Melissa (my brother's wife), has stored all of her boys' toys and books that they outgrew in her attic. (Maybe she was holding out for me to get married and have my own boys one day.) Now with two pre-schoolers, we are reaping the benefits!
My dad came to visit last week and brought a car-load of toys from Mike and Melissa's house. A tool bench, little desk, tricycle, over 50 books, train set, cars, trucks, and much more. The boys are loving them! They especially love the tool bench and the train (and the big box that carried a lot of toys). Interstingly, I recognize some of the toys that my mom bought for Drew (who is almost 18) when he was younger.

Thanks Melissa for keeping all this great stuff!





Not the best way to use a drill


Hello Jonathan!

Ashlee and Marshall came this morning for their bi-monthly visit. Gabe came to visit, too. Later, Samuel, Josh, Noah and Caroline were here! Nine kids 9 years - 4 months! What a blast!



Here's the toddlers/preschoolers in order of oldest to youngest - Ashlee, Henry, Jonathan, Gabe, and Marshall

All Nine Kids - left to right - Josh, Henry, Gabe, Noah, Jonathan, Ashlee, Marshall, Samuel and Caroline












A sweet shot of the oldest and the youngest

I've started letting the boys play in the fenced-in backyard while I work in the kitchen. I peek out and check on them every five minutes or so. Here's what I found today when I check on the boys - sand box wading. We have about 5 inches of water in our sand box along with sand...














After the shovels and bowls were too boring to play with, they resorted to stomping in it. Keep in mind - they have one pair or shoes. Stupid me didn't think they'd need more than one pair...they're boys! After a nice warm bath and some dry clothes, they are sleeping soundly!

Henry has a new favorite cereal that he calls BOATS.

A few people have asked me how it's going without the pacifiers. Amazingly, it is going just fine. I was expecting lots of complaining and crying, but it didn't happen. The boys were quite silly and tried stalling at bedtime, but now they are over it! I hope potty training will be this easy.

This morning, Rob and I took advantage of the last day of early voting. We didn't want to get in the mess on Tuesday. We told the boys that we were going to vote, but all they heard was BOAT. So, after crying because they didn't see a boat, we headed to the riverfront to check out this boat.

By the way, if you didn't know, we have new voting machines in Knox County. I was very surprised to see them. Today is the last day for early voting here, and the polls close at 8:00.