4 boys and a pie!

Since George was working nights the whole week of Thanksgiving, the boys and I decided to give him a quiet house and came up to Ashburn to see my three brothers who were all back in town for the holiday. Jason and Stephen were back from BYU for a week and Chad was coming into town Wednesday night. We were so excited to see them!

Wednesday, I watched Mason while Laura and Tyler were in Maryland, so to burn off some energy AND accomplish some errands (and have a cheap, yummy lunch), I took all four boys to Costco! It was a good thing Mom and Jason went, too. I don't know how people with twins do it, but I didn't realize how difficult it was to feed a 3-year-old, a 2-year-old and a 9-month-old pizza, drinks and some ice cream. It was a work-out in patience, that's for sure! Thank goodness Lance is self-sufficient.

This is what I got to see the whole time in the store:

Love it!

We really were there to just waste some time before naps, so we made a bee-line to the toy aisles and had a great time looking at everything.

And pushing buttons. We must push ALL the buttons.

Lance loves having his uncles around.

Have you seen these horses? I think they're about $70. Too big for our house, but the boys did love riding on them while we were there.

I thought this little rocking horse was precious. Jude and Cole both loved it, too.

A cart full of fun!

They were all such good sports and were excellent at the store.

Lance is really growing up and I have to keep reminding myself that he's big enough to do big things. I was making some scrambled eggs for dinner that night and Lance wanted to make his different, so I broke out his own pan and spatula and we cooked side-by-side. He was so proud that he did everything from start to finish that he told everybody willing to hear about it.

He's growing into quite the young man. I still can't believe I have a 7-year-old.

That night as we waited for Uncle Chad to fly in, we started the cooking for Thanksgiving.

Aunt Amy worked on her apple pie. She had a lot of help:

That apple peeler/corer/slicer is one awesome contraption!

Even Cole wanted a piece of the action.

Aunt Amy is the best!

Chad finally arrived around 9 o'clock that night still in his scrubs from clinic in Miami.

All 6 kids together again! Gosh, I love my family!

Happy Early Thanksgiving!

We knew it was coming. We had heard the horror stories of other families who suffered through the same thing and knew our turn would come.

It still didn't make it any easier to swallow when we found out George had to work the whole week of Thanksgiving--nights! There was no way he would be able to make it up to Northern Virginia to celebrate with our families and even if everyone came down here, he would be unconscious for it all. Bummer.

So, the Glass family decided to do Thanksgiving early. We drove up as a family the weekend before Thanksgiving and had a wonderful two days celebrating with them. It was perfect.

Aunt Colene and Uncle Dave drove down from Pennsylvania, too. It is always fun to see them.

They were huge helps with the boys and spent a lot of time just playing with them or reading stories. The boys ate it up!

Lance loves being at Grandmom and Pop Pop's house.

Cole and Pop Pop.

There was a lot of cooking that went on in that kitchen!

Mom getting started on the stuffing for the turkey. It's George's dad's family recipe that's been passed down. I still need to get the recipe.

Nate making his loaded mashed potatoes. I'm not a huge mashed potato person, but these are amazing! Probably has something to do with all the bacon, chives, cheese, and butter.

Getting a start on the turkey. George was in his element and basically manned the meal.

Cole spending some quality time with Grandmom, Aunt Colene and Uncle Dave.

Then it was time to feast! George's aunts and uncles came over, too, so there was quite the party. Jen and her family were on their way to Texas to celebrate with Po and Kerry, much to Lance's dismay. He had been looking forward to playing with Callie and Bryce.

So much good food! It was wonderful as always and fun to spend time with many of the extended family as well.

Cole definitely agreed.

Love, love on Uncle Dave. :)

After the dinner, we drove back down to Charlottesville so Lance could go to school on Monday. I am so glad we got to have a Thanksgiving with George. Since he was working nights the coming week, the boys and I had planned to go back to Northern Virginia when Lance got out of school on Tuesday so we could play with my brothers that were coming into town and George could sleep during the day in a quiet house. I hated the idea of not being with George, but we couldn't figure out any other way around it. Not a perfect situation, but it was the best we could manage.

Voting, Christmas lists, and "Owl-Bo"

Behind, behind, behind. 

Let's see. What did we do in November?

Well, after my trip with George to California, the month slipped by as most do. I'll hit a couple highlights:

We voted! Woo Hoo! It was a pain to take all three kids and stand in line, but it was worth it.

The boys were good sports, even if it WAS nap time, and the people around us were very tolerant of a crying baby, a hyper almost three-year-old and a bossy big brother.

And of course, the stickers made it all worth it. :)

In an effort to nail down Christmas wish-lists in enough time to do some shopping, one night George and I took the boys to Toys R Us and we did a little "camera shopping". They each found things they wanted and we took a picture of it.

This is what Lance really wants this year. It can supposedly go on any terrain, even water!

Jude had a hard time catching on to the concept, but I did manage to get his picture with some things that caught his eye. This boy loves balls!

I think I have about 20 pictures of Lance holding different Nerf guns and in each picture the gun gets bigger and bigger. I'm sure he had a specific target in mind, disguised as a pesky little brother. :)

Wishful thinking...

We read this in the store and Lance thought it was the funniest book ever! I have to admit it was pretty darn funny.

Even Cole got into the action.

And Daddy?

Sword!

It was a really fun way to spend an hour one cold, boring evening.

The weather continues to be a bit bi-polar (today the weather was 72 degrees and my boys were actually sweating outside!), with some days bitter cold and others very pleasant.

One pleasant afternoon found me and the two little ones outside playing in the leaves that covered our playground.

Jude's favorite thing was to try and cover Cole completely. Cole took it all in stride as he usually does and didn't seem to mind.

We made big piles of leaves at the bottom of the slide and Jude had a great time sliding right into them.

Don't worry, he's not hurt. I just caught him at an awkward moment.

There we go!

Cole likes to be a rugged mountain man and traverses the bummpy terrain with very little difficulty.

I can't keep him in my arms because he wiggles and squirms until I put him down. I'm sure the other moms are wondering what I'm thinking as my 9-month-old crawls all the way down the big hill next to our house and all over the playground, but it's what makes him happy.

So focused. Stinker.

We have some HUGE oak trees outside our back door, so there is no shortage of squirrels to watch as they collect the acorns that constantly fall like tiny bombs.

They don't seem to have much fear of us and we've caught a few of them even trying to find a way inside the house!

I wonder what they think is inside?

Lance is doing well in first grade! He's meeting his end of the year milestones already after his first 9 weeks in math and reading, so his teacher is trying to find new ways to challenge him. We are so proud of Lance!

One night we were able to go to the school for an Expedition Share Night. It was student-led, so Lance took us all around the room and explained the different things they were learning about and projects they had worked on.

Discussing healthy meals.

Making comparisons between our bodies and a robot.

They even made and painted the "My Plate" food pyramid during their Healthy Eating segment.

The class made a movie about making healthy choices using a special character named "Owl-Bo". He's the classroom mascot, so to speak, and represents good choices. Lance thought it was fabulous to be Owl-Bo. He does make a cute owl!

Jude wanted to be Owl-Bo, too. It was hilarious to watch Jude walk around because he wasn't quite tall enough and all you saw were Jude's cute little eyes peeking out as this cardboard owl scooted across the room flapping it's wings. Awesome.

And now it's on to Thanksgiving!!