Much to be Thankful for

 We had a wonderful Thanksgiving week. Aunt Ashley came to visit us Wednesday and Thursday we spent at Aunt Kris and Uncle Dave's house. Sam and Liam and I spent the night because of a heating problem at home, and we spent the next two nights at my mom and dad's. We could have gone home a bit earlier, but I had big plans with some old friends Saturday night in Bluffton anyway. And today I figured out that my mom's camera cord would work on my camera, so I stayed a little longer to upload pictures! WooHoo!

I hope that you all enjoy this little photo journal of our week and that you had a wonderful Thanksgiving as well. We had much to be thankful for in our family this year.

Sam is a hair man, and Ashley has lots to play with. It was a good day!

Ashley and Liam looking disturbingly related.

Grandpa Victor Ted with his namesake Liam Victor.

Note Sam all the way at the end eating his Gerber puffs. This fabulous invention melts in his mouth and keeps him occupied while we eat, because they are both becoming very interested in what we put in our mouths.

Dad feeding Sam puffs

Sam's view of Thanksgiving

Liam napped through most of dinner and woke up when it was time for dessert.

Liam

Liam and Uncle Alex play on Liam's terms.

We all found this amusing, especially when we realized that there was a picture of a pig on this toy...

The morning after Thanksgiving, Uncle Alex and Aunt Joy feeding Sam squash.

Sam trying out the Adirondack chairs that Dad is making them for Christmas.

Mad Scientist hair :)

Sam's new skill.

Liam with a "yeah what of it" look. He's had this skill mastered for weeks.

Reconnecting with old friends. We've all been friends since High School, but most of us have been friends since Elementary School. It's wonderful.

Liam pushing Sam in one of their Christmas gifts from Oma and Opa. Yeah, we know it's early, but they don't know the difference. Sam actually got his first ouchie from this new toy, after which Opa Tim promptly filed the edges.

Trying for comments

Is there a place for comments under this post? :)

I am fairly certain that I used to be smart.

This has become my mantra of late. If you are anything like my dear dear friend Tracy, you noticed my error and forgave me already. Yes, I am a licensed English teacher, and yes, I added an extra "i" into one of the title words of my blog, and yes, I laughed at myself. I fixed it, and this *should* make it easier for all those people who do not like to add extra i's and e's to their words to type in the address and find updates about the boys. Dear Jackie and Billy and Nan and Deb and Erin, I apologize. ;)

And now I will take a moment for a disclaimer. I have been woefully terrible about communication and incredibly horrible about uploading and sharing pictures, and the U.S. Postal service is not on my radar. Eleven months later and I still find myself in survival mode. For years I spoke with my friend Tracy daily, and now I am lucky to speak to her every other week.

So it is my goal to post and upload pictures at least twice a week. This is a new adventure that is completely different from Caring Bridge. The privacy settings are more straightforward there and I always knew who signed in to look at what I was writing. I have heard from several people that they have tried to comment and couldn't...I *think* I have rectified this...but once again, I think I used to be smart.

And now for a disclaimer on top of a disclaimer. Our computer went for a visit with Kevin the computer doctor and I am not sure when it will be back. I am posting from my mom's house and of course I left my camera cord at home, so we are at a standstill as far as pictures go. I will try to play catch up soon!

I hope you all had a fantastic Thanksgiving. We had lots to be thankful for this year!

Bananas vs. Pickles

Yesterday I mashed up a fresh banana as a special treat for the boys. I was very excited to watch them experience this new flavor and texture. This is how it went:

Sam gagged

Liam screamed

Pickles were the only thing that calmed them. Go figure.

I think a plastic monster threw up in our house

My husband and I were finally able to buy a house this year, mostly because we hope to stay put long enough to make this a wise decision. We spent the first few years of our marriage moving around for Ben's job and then last summer we got pregnant and then we found out that there were two of them! And by the time I worked myself up to talking about moving back to where we have the biggest concentration of family, my fantastic husband told me that he was already working on making that happen.

So we have our first home just months after we have our first two babies and the first time my dear cousin Ashley comes to visit our home she bounced the babies and made the appropriate comments about their levels of adorableness; she took the tour of our home and made the appropriate comments about how nice it is and how lucky we were to find it; then she sat on the couch and looked around and said " it looks like a plastic monster threw up in your house!". That's my Ash, and of course she is right. I don't think that babies need all of the products that we have these days, but they sure are nice. I would love to be able to purchase the fancy wooden toys that are available, but much like fresh fruit and veggies vs. little debbies and frozen pizza, the good stuff comes with a hefty price tag. And when we found out that we were having two, we discussed it and decided that our new rule would be that if someone wanted to give us something, we would smile and say "thank you". And we are ever so thankful for the plastic monster that threw up in our home.

We are thankful for the two jumperoos that allow us to go to the bathroom and unload the dishwasher, we are thankful for the two vibrating bouncers that the babies slept in when they first came home, and for the two vibrating rocking chairs that I sit between to feed them their bottles when I am the only one home; we are thankful for the myriad of plastic toys that allow us to watch the babies growth and development as they become more and more interested in seeing all of the ways that they move and hearing all of the noises that they can make and how they can interact with them. We are thankful for the two bumbo chairs and trays that they sit in to steal toys from each other. Thank you plastic monster and all those who have donated to the plastic monster's mess; we appreciate you.