Winter fun and Christmas prep

Looking at these pictures seems forever ago, even though this was only 5 months ago.  December seemed like a month of baking, shopping, wrapping, decorating, and lots of mommy & boys time!  We cut down the tree and decorated the house after Thanksgiving, put lots of presents under as the month went on, and baked lots of goodies for teachers, neighbors, family and friends.  Tyler had his Christmas Sunday School program and sang well.  Andrew went back to Stanton for two long weekends hunting, leaving the boys and I on our own.  That meant coffee & doughnut trips, shopping and play-land, and lots of movies!

They each get to open one early each year - pj's!

Selfies!

What a great mom I am!

I know you wish you could go eat donuts in your PJ's!

So.... this is what happens when the boys go hunting, so Traci and I drink wine.  Tyler entertained himself (behind Blake) with computer games, and Blake wanted to get into the fridge and this is what he found.  We thought it was pretty funny!

Birthday parties

Family parties are a must when you're 5!  We celebrated with the Hallquist side at Aunt Carrie's with the traditional St. Louis Cardinals ice cream cake.  The Newman side had presents, food, and TMNT cupcakes.  Lucky little boy!

Tyler is 5!!

Our little boy turned 5 in November!  We celebrated at home with a menu he chose, presents, and balloons.  He got to bring an ISU cookie to school, and we had a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles party for his friends.

Neighbor Jacob painted this for us - a request by Ty.  

Find the toys hidden in shredded paper!

Some of his loot - he wore it the rest of the day while doing legos!

CA part 3....

Grandma's request for the trip was a small road trip to 

the Doris Day restaurant in Carmel.  We saw some whales in our stop to view the ocean, then wandered the warf and saw seals and birds.  The trip home was decent with very little naps, but we survived!  We got home just in time for Tyler's 5th birthday the next day!

Blue sucker AFTER the bath!

CA part 2 - Halloween

We had the fun of trick-or-treating while in CA.  Blake had to try on Emma's old pumpkin costume, then decided on their Turkey costume because it was chilly.  Tyler was Spiderman, Chase was Bumblebee, and Emma a nice witch.  They ran for over an hour house-to-house.  

Trip to California....part 1

In late October the boys and I (and brave Grandma Nesie!) flew to California to visit the Hensley's!  To start the trip off, we found out the day before we left that both boys had pink eye and ear infections.  Geared with medicine, snacks, color books and electronics we flew out of Des Moines through Las Vegas to San Jose, CA.  Tyler did great on the flights, enjoying his new ear phones and kindle.  Blake did pretty good for a 1 year old.  He didn't really nap, and his favorite game was an empty drink cup and taking every magazine out a million times.  But we made it!  Tyler was so excited to see his cousins, and they were super excited to MEET Blake in person!  

While we were there, we got to see the kids school, go to Chuck E Cheese for Tyler's birthday, and hang out in the warmer weather outside and just play.  Unfortunately, we hit a colder and wetter than normal San Jose, which hampered things slightly.  

Airport before taking off!

No idea why, but Tyler thought he needed to talk on his phone once we got to San Jose.

Fall Fun

Some pics from a fun Fall day.