Thankful ...

Our Thanksgiving holiday was absolutely wonderful. We had a great trip out to Colorado to celebrate with the family at my sister, Tracy's house. The weather, the kids, the food - we couldn't have asked for better from any of it. So thankful when things come together so nicely = ) Below are some photos of other things we found to be thankful for this holiday ....

Here we are thankful for fun "King" and "Queen" hats at BK!

Thankful to gather 3 generations together.

Thankful for silly family photos and woodcarved moose slingshots from Aunt Tracy!

Still thankful for the slingshots and a big yard for target practice!

Thankful for my sister and for awesome hula hoops made by http://hoopmamas.net/

Thankful for spare PVC pipe to make "Transformer Arms" for Gage = )

Here Corey is thankful for this delicious snack plate!

Thankful that our Grandma was able to make the trip to Colorado and for Tracy hosting this houseful of crazy people = )

Gage was very thankful for turkey. Here he is "eating like a mogwai!" That's a reference to the movie Gremlins - if you have never seen this movie I feel a little sad for you. Go watch it and be thankful = )

Thankful to spend time with my dad and that he is now retired and much less stressed!

Riley loves his Aunt Tracy and shows his thankfulness with a big ol' bear hug!

The boys are very thankful for Tracy's iPad ... and so were the rest of us ... it allowed us quite a bit of quiet time while the boys concentrated on their games = )

Thankful for the man cave - beers for the big boys -
and power tools for the little guys!

Oh, and more slingshot action, too - those things really were a hit! = )

Thankful Dale has a sense of humor about a slingshot being aimed at his head ...

Riley should be thankful Dale is only kidding about putting him in the turkey fryer ... Gage was ready to defend big brother = )

It appears Gage was thankful for sleep at this point ... the blankie over his head cracks me up!

Corey having a good time and just being thankful in general.

Hope you all had a great holiday and much to be thankful for as well!

What happened to Halloween?

So, in all the craziness of this fabulous Fall, I somehow missed to make a Halloween Post. My dear little Gage pointed this out to me while I was putting together the Thanksgiving post. So, satisfy my observant redhead and commemorate the occasion, here are a few pictures from Halloween ...

Spiderman Riley and Power Ranger Samurai Gage

with their Trick or Treating Jack-o'-Lanterns

While Trick or Treating, Gage stubbed his toe ... so both boys required extreme medical attention and needed to make use of every splint, aircast, bandage, brace, and wrap we could find. Oh, and of course, crutches. So dramatic!

(The scary thing is, we have all of these devices in our house because I had to make use of them for myself over the years. Poor boys have no chance with a klutz of a mother like me! = )

This picture wasn't actually from Halloween, but then almost everyday is Halloween at our house as the boys seem to be constantly donning a costume of some sort. Here they are wearing one of their favorite creations ... Underwearhead Ninjas!



Finally, this one has nothing to do with Halloween, but I thought it was cute. One evening Riley decided he wanted to play Four Square. However, it was chilly and close to bedtime, so we were not heading out to a park or playground. In the time it took me to put away a few laundry items, our ingenuitive little fella created his own Four Square area in the kitchen. So creative! We had so much fun playing until the tape couldn't hold out any longer. Good times!

The Oreo Incident ....

Oh goodness, this was one for the books. After I arrived home from decorating cakes on Saturday, our sweet little Gage was napping soundly when he suddenly called for me to please come 'nuggle him. I quickly obliged because really, how could you not indulge such a sweet request? Anyhow, as I snuggle the cute little redhead he says he doesn't feel so good and kind of does a little gag thing. I ask him if he is going to vomit to which he softly replies, "No momma. I just need you to 'nuggle me more to help me feel better." So, of course, just as I snuggle in real tight he begins vomiting. And, not just a little - a scary large quantity that appears to be filled with blood as it is deep red. I cannot tell you the terrible fear that ran through my every fiber at that moment. I call to Corey to come quick and begin quizzing him as to what they ate, what did they do while I was gone, were they around chemicals, should we try to drive him to the hospital or call the ambulance, etc ... At about this time we come to the realization that our little cookie monster had snuck the new Winter Oreos that have deep red creme filling into his room and gorged himself on almost an entire row. Well, that knowledge quickly let the fear fade and the relief set in. Then, the laughter. Are you kidding me? We always warn the boys that it is not good to eat a lot of sugar - especially without some protein to balance it out - or it will make them sick. I think this lesson may actually stick with Gage. Let's hope! In the meantime, I do not think we'll be purchasing any more of these in the near future = )

Happy Holidays!

Fall Festival, Pumpkin Patch, and Maple Leaf Festival ...

Last week we had the Fall Festival at Riley's elementary school and it was such a good time! Nothing too fancy, just some silly games, fun little prizes, and lots and lots of pie - what more could you ask for? Not much if you're a Huber boy, that's for sure!

Here's Gage winding up for some Fall-themed putt-putt while Riley supervises.

This was one of the boys' favorites and got played a couple of times. They were really good at it!

Here's Corey helping set up the pins for the Pumpkin Bowling. All the kiddos thought it was hilarious to use a small pumpkin as a bowling ball! Just had to make sure to change out the pumpkins before things got too messy = O

Riley with one of his prizes - a beloved "bouncy ball." It never matters to the kiddos how small or cheap these little balls are, they are always a fun treat!

Oh Happy Happy, Joy Joy! Gager won some vampire teeth! You know this just made our little supernatural creature lover sooooooo happy : )=

Just a small glimpse of all of the pie that was donated by PTO volunteers for the event. You should have seen how excited our little sugarbaby was when he saw this display!

The row of toppings for the kiddos to make their slice extra special.

It hurts my teeth to even look at this, but the kiddos sure thought they had created some masterpieces!

For more Fall Fun we headed out for our annual Pumpkin Patch excursion. We were thankful for the most perfect October weather one could imagine. No jackets required! Here, Gage is ready to get the action started, "C'mon Dad, let's GO already!"

Riley found his first winner. He is like his momma and likes the different colored pumpkins = )

Gager loves his li'l "punkin"

The boys with a silly pose in the patch.

Hmmm, the sun was definitely shining - should've had the boys bring their sunglasses!

Gage was pretending to be a pumpkin patch crime fighter while waiting for the hayrack ride to come our way - he would growl at all the bad guys that came near - I'm sure people thought he was a little strange, but he didn't mind a bit = )

Riley's favorite picture pose - always #1!

My cutie pie. Love the way the sun gleams off that red hair!

The boys really get into the ride = )

Our final pumpkin booty. Lots of carving to do!

First round of decorating with more to follow!

On Sunday we headed to the Maple Leaf Festival in Baldwin with some friends. The boys loved it because they got to spend some time with their ol' pre-school buddy, Kohen. Plus, there were carnival rides. Woohoo! Unfortunately, I was too busy gabbing to get any good pics, but a we all had a great time which is the most important thing of all = )

Have I mentioned how much I love this time of year? So much fun!

Land and Sea ...

What a fantastic weekend! There's not many opportunites in October to go for hike through the fall foliage then go cool off by splashing in the lake! With the exception of a few required duties, we declared this weekend to be two days of play - and play we did!

While Corey helped out some of our elderly neighbors by trimming their tree limbs, the boys and I had our own tree adventure by doing some hiking through the trees. We found this "backwoods trail" and it was just perfect for our adventure!

There were two trails that split in different directions, since we got a little late start I decided we should take the shorter one as it was supposed to take approximately 25-30 minutes to hike. Well, the boys were so excited we ended up running most of this trail and were done in 8 minutes!

Pausing to take a breath and a photo = )

This was my favorite snapshot of the day!



Since we finished the first trail so quickly, we went ahead and ventured onto the second trail as well. This one was supposed to take 40-45 minutes ... it took us 18. We were definitely getting our exercise! In this pic the boys were searching for the sneaky ninjas there were sure were hiding in the trees = )

After the hike, the boys were ready to see some water, so we found our way to the shoreline. Gage claimed this area as his own "Gager Ocean" where he was the king! Such an imagination = )

Here the boys really enjoyed finding interesting rocks and seashells. With the water being so low, we even found several fully intact clam shells with their inhabitants still inside!

Just imagining the possibilities!

A little brotherly love at the lake = )

Here the boys invented the game, "SharkWave" where they tried to jump all of the incoming waves. So much energy!

An opening in the clouds - just thought it was pretty = )

So the boys and I had so much fun at the lake, we decided we needed to bring daddy back the next day to enjoy the nature with us! So, after church that is just what we did! Here's the boys heading out to where the sand meets the sea ...

More "SharkWave"

I tried their game, too ... but we won't share that silly picture, so here's a pose instead = )

Corey and I - I love how this includes the boys frolicking in the background. Perfect!

That group of trees in the distance is a little island that Corey and I used to visit with friends via boat - way back before the kiddos. Now the lake is down so much you can walk to the used-to-be-island via this sandbar. Crazy.

We stayed and soaked up the October sun for hours, the kiddos did not want to leave - and neither did we! There is just something so refreshing and peaceful about listening to the sounds of the beach - the crashing waves, the light breeze, the chattering birds.  After all of the rush-rush of our schedules lately, this little nature break over the last two days was exactly what we needed to relax and recharge. So thankful for this peaceful weekend!