Giving Thanks

We were so blessed to spend Thanksgiving with my brother, Kevin, his wife, Nikai, and my Dad. It was the first holiday we have spent together in about 8 years. Nikai and I had a wonderful time cooking, and we all enjoyed the feast. On Friday we took the boys to Locomotive Park downtown. Everything was lit up beautifully. With the Christmas music playing, it was the perfect kick-off to the Christmas season. It was stinkin' cold, so we were thankful for the HUGE gas fire in the middle of the park. Caleb has not stopped talking about the "Choo-Choo Train Park" and how he wants to take Ra-Raff there to show him the lights, too. In this collection of pictures you'll find Noah and Jonah helping "Auntie Kai" make rolls, Uncle Kevin disrupting story time ;o), our Thanksgiving gathering, and some from Locomotive Park. I can't say enough about what a blessing it was to spend this time with my family. Our tree is now up, and the house is well underway to being Christmas ready. It should be a delightful month of preparing, and celebrating the birth of our Savior.

SNOW!!!

So, it was our first time seeing snow. For me, it has been about 7 years. For the boys, it was their first time ever. The morning started out like any other. But as I was finishing up the boys' breakfast, I looked out my kitchen window. Up on the hill it was obviously snowing pretty hard. If you have never been to Lewiston, it's hard to imagine, but honestly, from my house it takes, at most, 5 minutes to get to the top of "the hill", where the snow was clearly falling. But here in the valley it was just warm enough to send only rain. I was miffed at being left out, but excited that I could see it, and get to it so quickly. I asked Caleb if he wanted to go play in the snow. He said "No. The snow is too cold. I want the beach please!" I laughed so hard, gave a quick explanation of how seasons work (once again), and loaded up the boys. Just as suspected, within five minutes, the snow was falling. I was enjoying the drive so much, that we went the 30 minutes to Moscow (the town just north of us). Both babies fell asleep watching the snow falling out their windows, but Caleb was ready to play! We parked, and Caleb and I went just outside the car for his first adventure with snow. (No worries, I was about 4 feet from the car at all times.) About three minutes into our fun, Caleb came up to me with bright red hands and said "Mama, Caleb's hands are owie!" (Yes, he is still like Elmo, referring to himself in the third person. I think it's adorable.) And to my HORROR I realized that being in Hawaii for 6 years must have FRIED MY BRAIN, since I had totally neglected to even BUY gloves for my poor children's hands. I was mortified with myself and promptly began warming them up. Which was another exciting lesson for Caleb... Blowing can both cool food down, and warm hands up. A miraculous wonder. All in all, it was delightful to see the snow again, and watch my Big Boy discover the wonder of it. And the pain. But I am trying to forget about that last part. We drove home in the beautiful snow, and as my littlest ones slept, I was finding myself rejoicing at being able to delight in the beauty of God's creativity, and also rejoicing in the fact that the babies remained sleeping, thus pain free, as I had no gloves for their little hands either. This will be corrected the next time we go to the snow. As will the timing of their naps. But, in the meantime, enjoy these pictures.

Trick-or-Treat!

Or as Caleb said "More treat please!" We had such a great time taking the boys trick-or-treating around our beautiful neighborhood. Caleb really wanted to be "George" so we thought making the twins bananas would be cute. It sure was! A couple ladies in our church helped by making the banana costumes. They altered yellow chick costumes, made stems for hats, and viola! Sure, there were little fuzzy bananas, but they were warm, and surely no one would try to eat them. ;o) The boys were mega troopers, they just kept truckin' along. Caleb LOVES trick-or-treating, so the NoJo's caught on pretty quick that this was something they should want to do to. Matt would unload them from the wagon and they would go bang on the doors. I had to remind Caleb several times the he just needed to ring the door bell once. Our great friends, Bob and Emily came to enjoy the night with us. Once we had more than our fair share of loot, we loaded the boys up and took them around to see some folks from church. They were a big hit, of course!

Fall Pictures

FALL!!!

So, seriously, this is my first Fall in 6 years!!! I think it is the season that I missed the most while living in beautiful Hawaii. We have made the most of it this year. The boys have been doing fall craft projects galore, we've been raking and playing, and raking and playing, and coming up on more raking and playing in the leaves. Caleb has been so excited about the leaves changing color and falling off the trees. He's telling everybody whats going to happen to them, as if they too, have never seen this amazing event.

And the cold evenings sitting in front of the fire place with my yummy fall candles glowing has been a gift to my spirit. Here are some pictures we took as a continuation of our celebration of the changing of seasons. Some are of the boys playing in the leaves (the photos turned out a little dark since we took them out later in the day) and some pictures I snapped on an outing with Noah and Jonah. They fell asleep in the car, and I drove around Lewiston capturing some of the beauty. Fall is amazing here. The colors are brilliant, and since we are in the "warmer" valley, it really stretches out the changing of the leaves. I hope you are enjoying this time of year as much as I am!