Cwanta-Claus!

Thanksgiving...

We loved spending Thanksgiving with our phamily, the Daugherty's. Our friend Liz came too, and it was wonderful!

Mischievous

With the joy of setting up the tree came the challenge of keeping it decorated. Makett and Tanzen were continually dragging chairs in to pull off the ornaments whenever the opportunity presented itself. The top foot of our tree is still decorated...the rest, not so much. We've had 3 ornament fatalities to date.


The look on Ketty's face is one of my favorite Ket expressions-- it's his, "Yes, I'm deliberately doing something I know I'm not supposed to. Aren't I so cute and funny?" look. I have to try really hard not to laugh every time he gives it to me, especially since it's usually accompanied by a high pitched little voice and giggle as he tells you what he's doing.

Tanzen gets a kick out of it to, as you can see.

Patience

Makett and Tanzen are my sous chefs. We made muffins the other day and they were SO excited for them to bake. They dragged their chairs in and watched the oven eagerly in anticipation.



















Makett grew disinterested, but Tanzen waited patiently.

Hobbies...

Tanzen loves making necklaces. Lately he has been impressing me by grouping all the Fruit Loops in order- he picks out all the reds, then the purples, etc. Haven't taken a picture of that yet though.

Ket loves eating the necklaces. We've been working hard to get him to string the Fruit Loops on. He's very practical-- why bother going through the effort of getting it on the string if you can save time and eat it now? He doesn't seem to appreciate the whole 'refining fine motor skills' aspect.
Love how long Tanny's necklace is- he did it completely on his own. See Ket's? Mommy gets most of the credit...This is how I feel when I try to find the right maternity clothes lately...it doesn't quite fit like it used to. I think Ketty found this box more comfortable 6 months ago.

We temporarily moved the bean bag in the boys' new bedroom. It THRILLS me to see them picking out a book and reading it on their own. Yay! Makett loves reading too, I just didn't have a picture of him.

Imaginations

In the past few months Tanzen and Makett have started doing a lot of imaginary play, and I love listening to them and the things they come up with.

Racing grapes down the track...their idea, not mine!
Coloring

Playing in the "tunnel"...they're very into tunnels and bridges right now, and were disappointed at the lack of them in Utah when we visited there.

Tanny is holding his "oinky", his current favorite toy. He loves taking care of it, whether he's feeding it or putting it in time out for major infractions of house rules.

Aw!

I came home from a church meeting to see this... looks heavenly, doesn't it? Especially with the chihuahua?

Sharing...

Remember these days?

We're still not quite over them...

Remember these days?

Dudes

Glasses make everything cooler...especially orange giraffe glasses!

A daddy choo-choo train

Artists

Makett and Tanzen went Trick or Treating to our awesome neighbor and friend, Liz's, house. She knows us well, and gave them play-dough for their treat, which has gotten a lot of use!

It should be noted that Makett likes watching us play with his play dough, and has gotten more adventurous, but doesn't love touching it and usually just pokes at it hesitantly with one finger or with a tool to avoid getting his hands salty.

Brandon is the preferred play-dough partner (and our official family picture drawer- when Mommy tries to draw Thomas, the boys say, "No, like Dada!"). His creations are much more pleasing to the eye...and easier to identify!

Hugs

"Cumpins"

Makett and Tanzen loved all things Halloween. We loved expanding (well, technically, creating) their Halloween vocab, and they loved finding pumpkins, witches, and ghosts around town. Pumpkins, aka "Cumpins", were their fav, and they were ecstatic when we bought some to bring home.

The squirrels kept nibbling on them, so we figured we better officially carve them before the squirrels finished them off.

They were shocked when Brandon started cutting into the pumpkin- I love the look on Ket's face.

Tanny was brave enough to get his hand gooey in the pumpkin...Ket watched with a look of trepidation. He doesn't like getting his hands (or feet) dirty. Really-- has the same issue with play dough and sand.

They wanted a happy pumpkin and were very pleased with Daddy's smiley Cumpin.
Lighting them became a nightly ritual, they loved putting the fire in and then trying to blow them out.

It's been 3 weeks since we had to throw the pumpkins away, and they're still asking for them. If Halloween decor was so much fun, I can't wait till Christmas!

Light Drift

There was a 3 day, interactive lighting installation along the banks of the Schuylkill river which we loved seeing. There were light chairs along the banks with sensors in them, which interacted with the floating orbs in the water.

The artist, J. Meejin Yoon, described the installation:

"The resting state of the field is a constant state of green. When a visitor approaches a land orb, the orb will start an “enticement mode” by pulsing between blue and green. If a visitor sits on the orb, the pulsing will transition to a blue state. The water orbs that align with the land orb will change colors at the same time, creating a linear extension of blue lights in the water."

Tanzen and Makett wished we could take one of the land orbs home!

Walking the dog

Yes, we still have a dog...Khylo just isn't featured as prominently since Makett and Tanzen came into our family. They love taking Khy for walks.

The great kite rescue

Our fantastic kite flying days had a tragic ending a month or so ago. Not to worry, Brandon came through for us! Makett and Tanzen were pretty traumatized when we had to leave our kite in the poison ivy covered tree it got stuck in. Brandon was determined to rescue it, so, armed with his rock climbing rope we headed back to the park.

The boys watched in breathless anticipation...the tension was palpable, could Daddy do it?

Brandon's Search and Rescue training paid off-- after several attempts, the kite was freed!

It was a joyous reunion.

Brandon paid dearly for this rescue...turns out the kite was in the tree long enough to get poison ivy, so Brandon had his fourth or fifth case of poison ivy since we've moved to Philly. What dedication!