I did it!

I finished Dillon's stocking---and not any too soon. His was much more detailed than Wesley's. I'm just really proud of doing anything this crafty. I guess I'll have to work on mine for next year.

It starts with a B...

(I just accidentally deleted this whole post, so this will be much more condensed than the original!) Dillon loves playing the guessing game where you slowly give letters to help guess a word. So a couple days before Thanksgiving I asked, "Do you know where we are going for Thanksgiving? It starts with a B" ...thinking..."B, b, b, b" "And then a U" "Bu, bu, bu..." "And then an F" "Buf, buf, buf...." He stopped and his eyes got really big. "I know where we are going...to Megan's house!!!" "Yep, we're going to Buffalo, New York to visit Megan." Our first day there we were able to visit some church history sites. The first stop was the Hill Cumorah visitors center.

We went from there to the Palmyra temple---so beautiful!

Then we headed to the Sacred Grove.

It was so neat to walk from Joseph Smith's home toward the woods and think of him taking that same walk so many years ago. The Spirit was so strong in that whole area. There is no doubt that amazing things happened there. I'm so glad we made the stop.

We went from there to an awesome Children's Museum in Rochester.

Of course, Dillon's favorite part was the trains

Dillon and Megan are such cute friends!

Thanksgiving Day we stuck around the house cooking and getting ready for the big meal.

The kids were pretty impatient and kept sitting down at their table asking for food...

...so we did a little dancing to keep them occupied for a minute.

The meal turned out so good. The turkey was beautiful.

Wesley has got a pretty good "cheese" smile.

Here he is with baby Laura---we were so glad we finally got to meet her.

The trip wouldn't have been complete without a round of "Settlers", so we pulled it out Thanksgiving night as we worked on second and third helpings of dinner! As always, Erika won. Before leaving on Friday we stopped at Niagara Falls. It was freezing cold and the mist was so thick we could hardly see Horseshoe Falls. But we had a little better view of American Falls.

It was such a fun trip. Thanks so much for being such great hosts!

Gotta love the Circus!

Before Thanksgiving we took a last minute trip to the circus.

The elephants are always my favorite!

The tigers were pretty cool. The tamer/trainer dude was crazy! They know how to put on a show. As always, Dillon loved catching the confetti.

And I got to see my dear friend Christine. I am in total denial that she is moving back to Germany in 3 weeks! I am really going to miss her.

My Dillon

Old and New Friends

A couple weeks back one of our good high school friends came to stay for a few days. He brought with him his wife, 2 kids, brother-in-law and his wife. We had such a great time with them. We packed a lot of fun into a few short days. The first stop was the Lincoln Park Zoo.

Not only did we find some awesome animals, but we also found some great leaves! The boys were asking for the bears the whole time and we finally found them at the very end. They were all pretty excited.

I truly consider Emily a new friend. She is such a sweetheart.

From the Zoo, we had a great view of the Hancock building.

We went straight from the Zoo to the family free night at the Children's Museum. I'd forgotten how fun that place is.

Wesley's favorite part was the water area.

But the rain jackets were way too big for him so he got drenched!!! We had to take off all his clothes and hold them under a hand dryer so he wouldn't freeze on the way home.

We took a trip to IKEA and got a much needed break from the boys when they went to the play area. Then I watched all the boys so the "adults" could go down to the city for dinner and the world's greatest dessert--Jackie's Chocolate Bag!

Saturday we went into the city to walk the Magnificent Mile.

We stopped at the base of "The Mile" for a little photo shoot.

I love where Michigan Avenue crosses the river. It's my favorite part of the city.

Before heading home we stopped at Swirls, where I was introduced to gourmet cupcakes. They were amazing!

It was so fun having the Pattersons in our home--even though Dillon and Grant fought like cats and dogs a few times. We love having visitors and showing them around Chicago.

Halloween

I'm finally getting around to posting some cute Halloween pictures. The boys had fun carving pumpkins together. They created the perfect little jack-o-lantern. When the pumpkin was all done, Aaron had us drive around the block so he could put the pumpkin on the porch, all lit up. Dillon got pretty excited and was quite proud of himself---even though Aaron did most of the work.

Dillon had a fun little "Harvest Party" at preschool. I was one of the "room moms" so I got to see how Dillon really acts at preschool! I tried to at least wear something to coordinate with his cute Thomas the Tank Engine costume.

That night was our church party. Dillon was actually smiling for pictures! I think he looks so cute in this one.

There were lots of fun games...

...and of course the trunk-or-treat.

Do you like Aaron's teeth?! His idea of a costume is putting on the most random things he can find in the closet!

Wesley just had to try on big brother's cool hat

On Halloween we went Trick-or-Treating with Aaron's co-worker and family. They have such a great little neighborhood.

Wesley was the cutest puppy dog I have EVER seen!

Barking...

He was so soft and fun to snuggle!

We had lots of fun and have been eating way too much candy ever since. It's actually a pretty good deal for parents--the kids like all the pure sugar stuff (e.g., smarties & dum-dums) and we get the good stuff--CHOCOLATE!

It was so fun to watch our boys experience all the fun traditions. Happy Halloween!