Enter Winter

I'm still playing catch up but hey, I'm not nearly as bad as some people I know... okay let's not compare, it's not healthy.  Well what were we up to after Halloween?  More holidays to come and surprisingly a very warm start of winter.  Well, since the kids have joined the family, I tend to decorate earlier and earlier.  I tried to hold off as long as I could this year but we went ahead and put up the tree just one week before Thanksgiving.  I was able to wait at least that long because EZ begged for us to pull out the little singing tree in early November.  Hearing that thing over and over kept me at bay for a while.  The kids sure love the little guy, see..

On our way to... somewhere one day when Bruce decided to taste his sock.  He's at the stage where he can do some things himself... like take his shoes and socks off every time we're in the car!  When he does silly stuff with it though, it's hard to get mad!  Then here's EZ at a park nearby one day.  He loved and was a bit terrified of that tire swing. 

See, tree is up!  My mom also sent us those fun antler ears.  They got a lot of use this year... we'll see how they are next year.  Also, one day driving home after picking EZ up from school, the clouds in the sky were everywhere.  It was so neat looking.  Especially because there was a small hole that made the whole sky look opposite.  Usually its a cloud you see in a vastly open and bare sky.  Not this day. 

 Another randomly warm day we decided to hit up Thanksgiving Point again, this time with the cousins!  They had never been to the farm country and since it was a warm day, we went!  The little kids got to go on the horses and ponies 3 or 4 times.  It's the best part!  The wagon ride is good too.  We did get a little crazy and did two event parks in one day.  It was long and exhausting but so much fun!

 

 

 We had a few groceries to pick up before calling it a day so we ran into the new Smith's.  The kids love going there because of the kid friendly carts.  EZ looked so cute pushing Bruce around in the tiny cart.  Hey who am I kidding?  I love it too because I get kids who want to help!  Much easier to shop with when they're preoccupied with fun!

Onto Thanksgiving.  We had a lovely time at John's sister's house.  Just about all the local family came.  Still wish I had some of my own family closer by especially around the holidays.  When is that going to change huh??

 Remember how I mentioned we go to Cracker Barrel a lot?  Ha ha well one time John found this little kid's leather biker jacket and it was too radical not to get a picture with.  If only we were this awesome, I mean seriously!

More down time at home and at the grocery store and at the park.  I love Bruce's beanie.  My mom sent that to him last year.  The picture of Bruce in my bed is him pretending to sleep.  He does it all over the house now.  He'll find a blanket and climb under it then shut his eyes tight and even fold his arms.  Little trickster.  Sure is cute!  Last pic is EZ pushing Bruce in the swing.  He loves to help where he can.  I love it too!

 

 

 One of the malls near Salt Lake had a Harry Potter Hogsmead village display for Christmas.  I took EZ and we met my friend, Sarah there, who is also a big fan!  We got some awesome pictures taken with various backgrounds as well as a few of our own fun ones.  Quidditch and Olivander's wand shop and such.  I bought a Deathly Hallows key chain.  It replaces my very old star one... I'll talk more about that later.  Here's the HP fun!

 

 

 So I have a picture, or two, of EZ all decked out in the exact same Superman gear when he was this age and so I had to do it again!  It's too cute!!  Bruce is still learning to pose however... hahaha!

 Walking to the mail box.  Again EZ is a big helper by holding Bruce's hand.  Then some more random stuff and holiday stuff, including a picture with Santa!  EZ saw Santa a few days before and wanted nothing to do with him.  We waited in the big long line at our ward Christmas party and when we got up to him, he backed up and started crying.  Even though we told him our next door neighbor was pretending to be Santa.  We thought it would help if he knew who he was.  Guess not!  So we tried again at the Library and he did great.  Bruce didn't even really cry either.  Yay!

 

 Happy 5th Birthday to EZ!  Again we went to Thanksgiving Point.  Hey when you got a pass, you go go go!  It's always a busy week with 2 birthdays, an anniversary, and Christmas, but we love it! 

 Happy 2nd birthday to Bruce!  We went to the Nickle Mania Arcade.  Bruce wasn't too thrilled about some of the rides and games, but I promise he had fun.  We took the cousins too. Crazy how fast time flies.  My kids are getting too big!!!

 Christmas Eve presents, Best Brother Ever pajamas!  They love matching!  Not everyone is a fan of being held captive for a picture though...

And now a brief note about my star keychain. This was a present from my sister's boyfriend over 20 something years ago.  I think I was 8.  It had a little light bulb in it and when you squeezed it, it would shine through one of the points.  I loved it when I got it, even though I sorta broke it shortly after.  I opened it one day out of young curiosity and it never worked again.  I tried new batteries and still nothing.  It was still special to me and didn't stop me from keeping it well into my 30's.  And not just keeping it in a box stashed somewhere, I kept it on my actual key ring, as long as I've been driving.  Even my husband, when he drove, used that set of keys and carried it around.  One day he did mention that I should probably give it up.  It was broken after all.  So, I recently replaced it with my Harry Potter one.  I'm not sad to have done so, I'm kind of amazed that I held on to it for so long.  I didn't throw it away either.  It's now going to be stashed somewhere in a memento box or something... Well, thanks for reading!