Thanksgiving Weekend

As per tradition we travelled to Salt Lake to spend Thanksgiving with the Freer side of the family.

Our trip included dental check-ups with Grandpa:

A little construction work:

Some blacksmithing:

A ride in a rescue helicopter:

A trip to the moon:

And to Mars:

And of course lots of time spent with family, enjoying good food and family time:

We hope you all had a great Holiday too!

Veteran's Day 2009

My favorite Vet and his "Best Girl".

Thank you Grandpa and everyone else who have fought so valiantly to protect the freedom of this great nation!

Cole's Award

Last Thursday Cole was presented with the academic achievement award for the month of October. He had no idea he was getting the award and Carson and I surprised him at the awards assembly that morning. He recieved the award for being "An Enthusiastic Learner". I'm so proud of him and he is proud of himself. I hope he always remains excited about school and learning new things.

I love these photos of Carson checking out Cole's medal. Carson has a good big brother to look up to. I also love the photo of Carson choking Cole with the medal. That is just sooooo Carson!

Halloween '09

Halloween is one of our favorite holidays. This year the boys both chose their own costumes. Carson chose Thomas (and refused to wear the actual Thomas part) and Cole of course chose a pirate (again). I searched a long time online to find an original pirate costume since he has been a pirate the last few years.

(here is a pic of Carson in his costume at Walmart the day he picked it out. I took it with my cell phone so it's not the greatest.)

Our celebrating began earlier in the month with Trick or Treating in Disneyland. Then when we came home it was time for Cole's class party and costume parade. Carson and I came and "helped" out with the party. One of the fun highlights of the party was playing the mummy game. The kids were divided into teams of 3 and they wrapped one of their teammates in toilet paper to resemble a mummy. Carson even got in on the action.

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Halloween night we went to Grandma and Grandpa's for our annual tradition of chili dog soup and trick or treating. My kids adore their older cousins and had a great time. It was fun because this was the first year Carson actually "got it". He was so cute going up to the door and saying "Tricktreat" and "Thank you".

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I have to throw in a shout out to my nephew Brett who had the best costume he was Michael Jackson with angel wings. RIP MJ!

Our Annual October Disney Trip

We just got back this past week from our annual vacation down to Disneyland. The last few years we have chosen to go in October so that we are able to take the kids to the Mickey Trick or Treat Party at California Adventure. It's fun to dress up and run around the park collecting tons of candy and squeezing in a few rides along the way. This year Cole was a pirate (big surprise eh?) and Carson was Thomas, but he didn't want to wear the actual train part of his costume so I ended up wearing it all night.

Another highlight of the trip for all 3 boys (Daddy included) is going to the Lego store. The boys are obsessed with Legos and Daddy is a spoiler/enabler. A few days after we got back home to Vegas Carson informed Alan that he wanted to go to the "Gego" store again.

Of course it wouldn't be a trip to Disneyland without eating dinner one night at Goofy's Kitchen. This year Carson loved the characters and gave them all big hugs, last year they scared him to death. It's a fun way to get to meet the characters without waiting in line at the parks.

This year Cole was FINALLY tall enough to go on Indiana Jones and Carson made the height requirement for the Matterhorn. I don't think either boy liked their "new" rides too much. Carson loved the Toy Story ride and Cole's favorite is still Big Thunder Mountain.

These photos are in no particular order and have not been touched up because Blogger is annoying me and I have no patience for photoshop today. But if you would like to view any of them larger just go ahead and click on the photo.

I Want To Go To School

It was bound to happen sooner or later. Carson finally figured out where Cole goes all day long. Recently while I was getting Cole ready for school Carson came down with a backpack on and said, "Mom, I want to got to school". He got in the car (with his backpack) and when we dropped Cole off Carson began to bawl his head off because he didn't get to go to school. He was so sad. The whole way home he said, " I want school, I want Coley". Poor kid! He was stuck with me all day.

A Very Special Guest

This weekend we had a very special guest stay with us. His name is Mr. B. Bear. He is Cole's classroom bear and this past weekend Cole had the opportunity to bring him home. He was so thrilled! Mr. B. went everywhere with us, even out to dinner at Red Robin. He was very good house guest; quiet, neat, etc... When Monday morning rolled around I had a very sad Cole. He wanted to keep Mr. B. forever but he needed to go back to school and have the chance to visit other student's homes. Luckily Cole has a small class and I am sure we will get the opportunity to have Mr. B. visit again.

Proof!

I got it!!!

Proof that my kid is a totally train obsessed, nocturnal goofball! Here he is this morning, asleep on the floor in Thomas PJ's, trains all around him and a DVD nearby. I apologize for the grainy photo quality but I didn't want to turn on any lights or disturb him in any way.

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Dino-Mite!

We wanted to take the boys to do something fun on Labor Day since Cole and Alan both had the day off. Cole decided a trip to The Natural History Museum (aka The Dinosaur Museum) sounded like his and Carson's idea of a good time. Inspired by the book and PBS show Dinosaur Train, Cole decided to wear his train conductor hat. The boys had a good time running around the museum and checking out the exhibits. On the way out Cole spotted the Gift Shop (dang kid can read now, lol) and dragged Carson in with him. They picked out these dino head thingies that open and close their mouths and of course fight eachother. They had a great time! Cole is already planning a return trip to check put the upcoming Ancient Egypt exhibit.

Neither of them would ever look at the camera for a picture! Silly Boys!

Carson's Obsession!

As most of you already know Carson loves all things trains! His love has turned into an intense obsession! All he talks about, thinks, about and dreams about is trains! He has multiple train tracks set up throughout the house so he can play with trains anywhere, anytime. He loves to watch Thomas and GeoTrax DVD's basically all day and all night. Which is a bad thing because he will come in our room at 2:00 am and toss a Thomas disc at Alan or I and demand to watch it right then. Ugh! This train thing is becoming eXhAuStInG!!! This morning when I went in to wake him, I found him lying on the floor beside his train tracks with a DVD in his hand sound asleep. I tried to sneak a photo but I woke him up. It was seriously hilarious! You will have to settle for a photo of him dressed as a Conductor wearing his Thomas pj's instead. What a nut!