Christmas Greetings

For our Christmas Card, we went with postcard style again from Pear Tree Greetings.

I thought the fake snow shot was super fun to use for the card.  The bonus shot on the backside shows an actual laugh and not a cheesy fake grin.  

There is a magic word when photographing boys.  "Poop".  However, I have tried it since; nothing.  I must come up with something gross before June.

Merry {Late} Christmas from the Murrays!!!

Kids say the darndest things....

First, we're completely grateful they're saying anything at all. They are getting to the point where they really pull at your heartstrings.  

I had to excuse myself from the dinner table last night when this happened.

Me: What are you going to buy me for my birthday?

Louden: Something you love more than me.

Me:  I don't love anything more than you.

Louden: I'm going to buy you a Mommy.

Me: A mommy?

Louden: the same Mommy, what does she look like. {tear}

She looks like this my sweet baby boy.

When you see her, she'll be smiling...and crying, but that's our thing.  We're good at it. 

New look

for the blog......We're headed into fall, so I thought a super spring-y look was in order.  That's how I roll, 3 months behind.  

For those of you reading in a reader, here ya go

The biggest little fair in the world

There are perks to living in podunk nowhereville.....like your annual County Fair, which we attended last week.

We had corndogs.....

tested out a side by side that Daddy would love to have...

looked at farm equipment.....

 played in corn (we do that at home too)

 The boys rode rides all by themselves

 First EVER pony ride

 And they even tackled this bad boy....alone, steps and all, without hesitation.  OK, so when did the boys grow up? 

We LOVE our fair, it's become a tradition.  Can't wait until next year!

New Adventure

Big Wheels

I talked to Grandma about the boys getting better at thier big boy bikes (aka dirtbikes). At the first sign of "falling off and getting skinned knees" she sent these:

Louden is now boycotting his dirtbike.  

ps, Mama got a new lens, can you tell?

4 Years Old, Actually

The boys actual birthday was on a Wednesday, a school day.  Nothing special was planned, but I did send them to school with iced cookies to share at snack time.

L &K (Our storm door fell off, I need to repaint that trim)

  

Here they are that evening, with cool crowns from school.  

Enjoying leftover cupcakes from the party.

What else comes with a 4th Birthday?  A well check with 4 shots!!!  Both boys did OK, considering.  While Keegan was getting them,  Louden looked up at me and said "I no want to do that".  Then when he got the 4th one, he looked at the nurse and said "why you hurt me?".  Words.are.awesome.  Keegan just shouted No, no, no they whole time.  There was a 4 YO GG set of twins next door, their shots didn't go so well.  The Nurse was highly impressed with L&K.

The good news, we're done with shots until they are 12.

Turns out, Dum Dums are the cure all.  By the time we got to the car, they were fine, even though Keegan was surely convinced that his arms were going to fall off.

Here are their stats:

Louden 48 lbs, 43.6 inches, 97%ile in height and weight

Keegan 49 lbs, 44.5 inches, above 97%ile in height and weight

4 Years Old, Superhero Style

Louden & Keegan turned 4 and decided on a Superhero Theme.  I booked Central Park Playland SIX months in advance since I missed out on it last year.  It was AWESOME.  The location was great, price was reasonable, and no parents were stressed (that I know of anyway).  I had grand ideas for getting crafty, but my time ran out.  6 days before the party, Jason tells me we *have* to do capes.  Off to JoAnn's I went.  Here are the photos:

Personalized capes with grab bags of superhero candy, silly straws, and stickers.

A friend made cupcakes for me, I found the toppers online.

the Main event.  A little intimidating, but even the smallest kids tried it out.

We seen kids for a limited time, this was a popular stop

The Birthday boys

Louden growling

The Birthday Song

The smallest guest

Group Photo

Show us your capes!!!!  The super fancy capes are from  Baby Pop including L&Ks, last year's gift from the BK Special. 

Even Papa had a cape

Instant fast: just add cape

The Murrays

Silly shot, I'm normal, right?

More Murrays.....Papa & DG

Jason & his Mom (aka Grandma)

Presents

We do presents at home, less chaos.  Maybe not less, but less spectators to partake in the chaos-ness of giving 4 years presents at the same time.  We had a FANTASTIC time at this party.  Would be awful to book the same location forever?  This was so easy and I *think* everyone had fun, there were no drama moments in a room full of toddlers.  Are we still toddlers?  Preschoolers?  Nonetheless, it went GREAT.

LOVE my BOYS!!!!  So looking forward to the fun of 4 year olds!!!