Winter Storm Albert has Arrived : )

I'm sure many of you have seen on the news that the East coast has had a big winter storm. And sure enough we were one of the areas that got big amounts of snow. We don't have a yard stick, but Ryan and I are guessing it was about 20 inches deep.
Zac was very excited to go and play in the snow. He only lasted about twenty minutes before he was too cold. He has had a cold this week, so that might have added to the short play time. He fell asleep soon after I brought him inside.

Those are our candy cane lights. With Seth behimd the bush.

See, there he is. The snow is deeper than his legs. Seth was so concerned that we couldn't open our back door that he tromped around the house and started digging it and the BBQ out with his hands.

And of course there was a lot of playing with the sled and snowballs too. We didn't go across to the big hill because Daddy had to shovel, and I stayed inside with Zac.

Ryan hard at work, shoveling the snow. He sort of becomes obsessive when it comes to shoveling snow, and it has to be done perfectly or he's not satisfied. It's sort of funny to me. I guess I'm the same way when it come to the dishes.

Pictures with Santa!

On Saturday we went to the Christmas brunch at the church. I made one of the breakfast casseroles and it actually turned out good : ) However the roles I tried making from scratch that night were not so good. I guess I still haven't grasped how to make breads that use yeast. Anyhow, Seth and Zac were able to talk to Santa and tell him how "well behaved" they have been.

And of course they were able to sit on his lap too. I can't believe how big they are both getting.

~ Catching Up Again ~

These are from the 30th of October. Ryan received his yellow belt in kickboxing! Here is him and the boys after testing for it.
Here is Ryan again when we got home.

Here are the boys before they went trick or treating. As you can see Zac is more interested in the candy than getting his picture taken.

Zac turned two last month on the 8th. We had a very small party with Auntie Sally and Zac's friend Jeremiah. Here is the birthday cake.

Zac and Jeremiah eating their cake.

Opening presents. I'm not sure if he was more excited to get a basketball hoop or the big box that it came in.

We all went to Chuckie Cheese's for some more fun and pizza.

Here is Zac in the washer. He loves the washer and plays in it everytime it is empty. He loves to help with laundry so much that he asks to start washing the dirty clothes as soon as we wake up.

I know I've been really slow at posting pictures this year. Sorry about that. I hope that you all are doing well. We are getting ready for Christmas. 97% of our shopping is done! It's so nice not have to worry about whether Ryan will be home or not.

October Fun : )

So we've been pretty busy this month. The above picture shows how clever Zac can be sometimes. We keep the rocking horse 6 feet to the right from where it is in the picture. He really wanted to get brother's trophies.

At the beginning of the month we went to one of the local farms to pick apples and pumpkins.

We waited here by the pumpkins for the tractor pulled wagon to take us up to the apple trees. The boys loved the five minute ride up.

Zac picking an apple.

Seth showing us his.

Daddy helping Zac to pick "good" apples.

Yup! I have the cutest boys around.

The kids thought it was fun to sit on their pumpkins. Zac picked a little on because he could carry it. But if you ask him, it's the biggest. Then of course Seth's is the biggest.

Seth's birthday cake. He wanted a dinosaur cake, so this is what I made him.

I think Seth was bored waiting for the song to be over, so he could finally blow out the candles.

Some of the kids at the party. We had 16 kids there. Don't ask why or how. We intended on maybe 10.

Carving pumpkins. Seth still won't touch the "goo". He used a spoon the whole time.

Ooooooh!

We took Seth to McDonalds for his actual birthday. We let him and Zac play in the play place for about an hour.

Then we let him open the presents from us and the grandparents. This is the tool bench we got him.

Today, Seth got to take a ride in a corvette. Her name is Veronica and she belongs to one of Ryan's friends at work. For a couple months now Seth has really been into corvettes, so this was really exciting for him.

What a happy kid!

3 Pics and a Tournament!

Seth came into the room like this the other day. What of goofball.

"Look Mom, I made chocolate milk!" Zac decided to climb up the pantry and pour quick into a cup. He was so proud of his accomplishment I just let him continue to drink his "chocolate milk."

Look at how cute we are?

Here is Seth with his trophies. I had them arranged so you could see them better, but Seth's OCD kicked in and he wanted them "his" way.

Seth decide to do Ninja Combo 1 for the kamas. He only been practicing weapons for a few weeks. I think he did well. Probably could have done better if we had more time to practice, but it has been a crazy month. Seth got third place in his group of three.


Here is the jaguar combo. Seth actually did this first today. Again he got third place in his group of three, but he has definitely gotten better since last time. Enjoy.


Seth during the sparring portion of his tournament. He was against his friend Anthony. I only recorded the first part because I didn't want to use up all my memory card. Seth is the boy on the right about. He lost this sparring match 4 to 5 point. For his first time competing in it he did really good!

Catching up on Pics!

Seth had his first day of kindergarten on the first! As you can see he wasn't very cooperative for the pictures.

He did enjoy his first day of school. He loves that his friend Rebecca is in his class. We've been walking to school every day. For the first week all I heard was, "Mom my legs hurt, so I should take the bus."He's finally given up on asking because we live too close.

The other day Zac wanted to dress up like big brother. Isn't he cute? Oh, if only his personality was that cute. He is a terror!

This is Ryan being funny. He dressed up super geek scout for a good laugh.

Ryan is signed up for his first college course and starts it online in a couple weeks. He only has 13 classes until his bachelors is done. He's hoping to be done by the time he returns to sea duty.

Camping!

Seth is now on the black belt team at karate. This was the first time he had all the protective gear on. He's getting more used to it. I think he has the hardest time with the mouthpiece.

We went camping with friends in Rhode Island last weekend. We arrived on Thursday. The boys and I actually got there a few hours before Ryan because he and the other dads had to work. I set up our camp before he got there.

Here is Seth and some of the other kids climbing and then sliding down the rock.

Most of our group. We had lovely meals. Each family was in charge of one. I had never made foil dinner pizzas before.

Ryan, Zac, and I went kayaking. Seth had a turn with Ryan earlier, but I was on a hike with the moms so I didn't get pictures : ( Zac was happy to be in the middle on the way out.

He fell asleep in the middle, so I had the pull him onto my lap.

While we were out Seth climbed the rock some more in his life jacket. He also went swimming afterwards too.

Here is Zac napping on the beach. On Friday night the remnants of Tropical Storm Danny blew in. It rained all night. Saturday we ate breakfast in the lodge there on the campground. It was nice of the ranger to let us in there. The kids stayed and played while the adults packed up camp. Ryan and I were soaked! But it was lots of fun.