Thanksgiving in Iowa!

 For Thanksgiving this year we drove up to Iowa to spend it with Aunt Llew and grandpa and grandma Anderson who also drove there. We had a very uneventful drive, which is good because g & g Anderson had a very eventful one (a blizzard and they hit a deer).  We had Nathans birthday party early in the week (so he would have toys to play with). He got some new Lego people from grandma and grandpa.

A catapult from Aunt Llew

A superhero matching game also from Aunt Llew

A Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle (Raphael) from Aunt Heather

A castle from mom and dad

Sitting cute with grandma

"Thanks grandma, your the best!"

opening a package from Aunt Heather

 For Nathan's birthday I kept asking him what kind of cake he wanted this year, and every time I asked he told me he wanted a "green mint" cake. I don't know what he meant, so I made him a mint ice cream cake with brownies. He was happy with it, so I guess I got it right.

 Aunt Llew had a meeting in Ames and had told us about a place to visit Santa's Workshop, so we came along. It was at Reiman Gardens at Iowa State. They had a butterfly center that the boys enjoyed.

Watching butterflies come out of their cocoons.

 The butterfly center was pretty neat. There were lots of butterflies flying all around us.

 This was what they were calling Santa's Workshop. It was really lame. Nathan was very disappointed with it. I had to tell him that there is another one and this one is just pretend.

Cute

Nathan was pretending like he was flying on a butterfly

AJ says "Cheese" anytime there is a camera out

AJ and his buddy Taft

Anderson with grandpa Anderson

Llews friend Ben was out of town for Thanksgiving so we got to have Taft stay with us. AJ LOVED him. They played together, kissed lots, and ate together ( AJ fed Taft all his food off his tray and hand fed him his own food out of his bowl).

Our thankful turkey

Sweet

 Aunt Llew let us (Nathan) help her decorate her Christmas tree. Nate was so excited about it, he was very careful too.

 Grandpa read "Twas the Night Before Christmas" to Nate, and Nate was very confused/surprised when grandma, Aunt Llew and mommy all helped too.

Good picture of my dad.

Thank you for letting us come stay with you Aunt Llew, we had a really good trip full of fun!

Happy fourth birthday Nathan!

Happy birthday Nathan!

Brand new

Three weeks

Six months

One year

Two years

Three years

Four years

1) How old are you?  4
2) Who is your best friend?  Elise (White)
3) What is your favorite thing to do?  Play Lego castle
4) What is your favorite color?  Green
5) What is your favorite thing to do with your family?  Play
6) What is your favorite toy?  Castles
7) What is your favorite food?  Bologna sandwich
8) What do you want to be when you grow up?  A train conductor
9) What makes you happy?  My momma when she comes back and I can hug her
10) What is your favorite show?  Chip and Dale Rescue Rangers
11) What is your favorite song?  Scripture Power
12) What is your favorite game?  Gone fishing
13) What is your favorite animal?  Bears (like the bear I take a nap with)
14) What is your favorite drink? Moose Goose Juice (Cherry Limeade)
15) Who is your favorite superhero?  Batman
16) What is your favorite sport?  Baseball 
17) What is your favorite letter?  B
18) What is your favorite number?  4
19) What is your favorite thing about mommy?  Snuggling her
20) What is your favorite thing about daddy?  Playing with him

Happy birthday snuggle cub. You are such a joy to our family. You have learned and grown so much this last year.  You became a Sunbeam, and you started Preschool. You are becoming so independent, it makes us happy and sad (and frustrated too). I hope you always have the sweet spirit you have now. You are a good big brother to Anderson. He loves you so much and looks up to you.

We love you so much!

The Wonder Twins strike again!

 We decided it was finally time to take our old carpet out and put new Bamboo floors in. As usual, there were a few snags along the way. Here is a picture of the first snag we ran into.

 After we pulled out the carpet, we found that we had hardwood floors this whole time! David wanted to tear the hardwood out, but I said we should just leave it. He didn't agree, but I won because they glued the floor down and we couldn't get it out.

 Our second snag was the nail gun we rented didn't work on our floor because Bamboo is too hard. We had it drill oles and then sink the nails by hand on the first three lengths.

 After that, it was smooth sailing the rest of the way.

 We had some help along the way.

 We tried to do most of the work while Nate was in school and AJ was napping.

 Nathan using some of the underlay to be a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle (I know, he looks like a burn victim).

 As soon as we were done Nathan got out his baseball stuff to play ball in the house.

Any time David lies down on the floor, Anderson climbs on for the ride. AJ thought he was doing push-ups and was disappointed when he didn't get a ride.

We are very pleased with how our floor turned out. Not too shabby for two people who have never done any flooring before. Now if only we could find the time to move all the furniture back in from the garage.

 

(One day David was talking to one of his friends about all the projects he and I have done together, and his friend said we are the Wonder Twins.)