Family Time

Here are a few shots of family time. Raymond loves to help entertain his little sister. Oh, and I caught Kenny "smile begging" his daughter. He is always begging her to smile for him. It is pretty stinking cute. I love my family.

Bubble and Finger Painting

More helping

And here Raymond is helping yet again- Helping me make kale chips. I let him rub the olive oil into the kale. Messy, but oh so fun. And it kept him busy while I was working on the dishes. Sneaky, sneaky.

Blurry, but sweet

Some blurry pics of brother and sister dressed up for church. Raymond loves his little sister so much. Sometimes, a bit too much, as he won't leave her alone. He always wants to hold her hand, kiss her, etc.

Helping Mommy Cook

While learning how to get things done while caring for 2 little ones, I've been working on finding things to keep Raymond entertained. Now that he is getting older, he loves to help in more concrete ways. Although it often takes four times as long while he is helping, it lessens the amount of time I spend entertaining him while cooking! Not to mention how much he learns while doing such things. It melts my heart to see him feel so important while he is being my big helper. Here he is breaking the brussel sprouts off of the stalk. He really struggled with it- but thought it was so cool to help! And last, a picture of them right before they went in the oven to be roasted. Mmmm... they taste so sweet and carmelized this way.

Puzzle

Raymond found this puzzle at the the thrift store and begged us for it. It is 500 pieces! We thought that it might be a nice family activity for 25 cents, so we got it. He cracks me up at how patient he is with it. He keeps connecting sections of it together. He also finds a piece from across the table and goes around to get it and knows exactly where it goes. O my gosh! It is even hard for me to do! I am one proud mama.

Decorating for Christmas

We spent our afternoon decorating our Christmas tree. Raymond thought it was so fun to discover all the decorations from the totes. Kenny helped him to put the star on top. We told Raymond, "Hopefully the wise men will find Jesus by following this star!" We had a great time together. Yay for seeing things through the eyes of a child.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Pumpkin Cheesecake with maple pecan glaze, a 23 lb turkey for 3 people, a little bit of family time. Happy Thanksgiving!

So sweet

Captured!

I captured a smile on camera finally!!! I'm sure I can get a better one sooner or later, but here's the first!

It's a ZOO in here!

Since our children are wild like animals, we thought they should dress accordingly for Halloween. Later I will post how "wild" the taking of the pictures was. I'd say these two turned out ok.

For Halloween, we took Raymond trick or treating to 5 of our closest neighbors, then over to our friends for dinner.

Little Bo Peep

Raymond LOVES nursery rhymes- well- rhyming in general. He thinks it is SO funny to add a rhyme to the end of whatever he says. For instance, "Raymond, you are so hyper!" Raymond's reply: "Hyper DIAPER! HAHAHA" That is cute, but what really got me was when I got out his mittens on the first cold day and said, "Raymond, these are mittens. You wear them when it is cold. Remember?" Raymond's reply: "You naughty kittens!" Then the best one yet: Yesterday, he was acting very hyper-diaper and would not stop messing with his sister, who was TRYING to sleep. So I say in a very stern voice, "Raymond, LEAVE HER ALONE!" to which he responds, "And they'll come, wagging their tails behind them." It took me a second to even get why he said that, then it took every bit of me not to laugh. WHAT A GOOFBALL!

Pumpkin Patch

We were able to visit my brother's for a short weekend trip. We attended a fall festival ("fried food festival" if you ask me) and then the pumpkin patch for a hayride and other fun fall-ish things.