I don't know what Kenton was checking out here, but he found it far more interesting than the songs he was supposed to be singing. His buddy Weston appears to be in the middle of an air guitar solo. I kinda felt sorry for the little girl between the two of them who was really trying pay attention and to do what she was supposed to.

When Kenton grabbed the zipper on his jammies, Edward and I got a little worried. Fortunately he didn't yank it down and expose himself during the program.

The kiddos checking out the closets in the house we're buying. Kenton wore his pjs and snowboots to lunch at McDonald's and then on to the house for the inspection. Having lived mostly in old houses with little or no closet space, our children find the closets in this house endless fascinating. They're going to be really disappointed when we move in and actually put stuff in them. Thankfully that green color is only in the closets, not on any of the walls.

Kenton and Emery helped dad wrap some presents tonight. We decided to use plain brown paper and let the kids decorate the packages with stickers and stamps. They were very enthusiastic and really seemed to enjoy decorating themselves with the stickers, possibly more than they liked decorating the package. Emery's hair looks oh-so-lovely in these pictures because she decided to smash potatoes on her head at supper. She thought it was hilarious. Her parents did not.

All bundled up and standing in line to see Santa at the park

Kenton has seemed a little disturbed by the idea of Santa this year, especially the notion of him coming into our house while we sleep, so we haven't made a big deal out of it. However he was very excited to go see him tonight. He wasn't scared at all to sit on his lap. He laughed and talked to Santa and told him he wants "an ABC computer and a boat that goes in the ocean." That's what he says every time you ask him what he wants. We're not sure when he decided he needs a boat, but he's quite clear that it should be a big boat that goes in the ocean, not a little one for the bathtub. Santa knows the LeapFrog computer would be a good idea, but I don't know if he's going to be able to fit a big boat like that down our chimney.

I don't know if I'll ever get a good picture of the two of them together. No matter how cute they're being, it all falls apart when I point the camera at them.

Em wasn't too impressed with Santa, but she really loved the plastic reindeer she got from Mrs. Claus. She held onto it all night, even when we went to get something to eat.

Kenton made a candy necklace yesterday, with a little help from his daddy. He was quite proud of himself.

Kenton and Emery's new cousin, Colton who was born on December 2nd. We went down to meet him this weekend, but like lots of new babies he has his days and nights mixed up, so we only got to see him sleeping. He's a cutie, though!

Although we're thrilled Kenton is getting so good at writing his letters, we wish he'd practice somewhere other than the walls. Edward will be running out to buy some more Magic Erasers tomorrow. Those things are wonderful.

Kenton decks the halls...

And Emy wrecks the halls. She may look all cute and innocent in this picture, but trust us...she's out to rip everything she can reach off the tree.

This is what Kenton does when asked to smile for the camera. Emery is laughing here, not crying.

Kenton and I got crafty this afternoon while Emy napped and put together this "gingerbread" house from a kit we bought at Michael's. He was surprisingly helpful, but struggled with some of the smaller pieces. I should have known better than to open the glitter, though. It's all over our dining room.

New pictures! After a couple weeks of everyone being sick, I think we're finally getting back on track here. We packed the camera last weekend when we went to Granny Cardin's for Thanksgiving but didn't remember to take it out of the suitcase and use it. We had an absolutely wonderful Thanksgiving yesterday and hope you did, too. Edward got up before the crack of dawn and did a little shopping today, and brought home donuts and bagels for those of us who stayed home and slept until a more reasonable hour. Kenton thinks there are few things in the world more awesome than an frosted, sprinkle-topped donut.

Emery with her mouth crammed full of donut, looking around for more. The girl does love to eat.

Kenton finally got to see snow today! We were finishing up lunch when I glanced out the window and noticed that the rain had turned to snow. Kenton ran to the front door to watch it and Edward told him if he got his shoes and coat they could go outside. Kenton went flying down the hall yelling that he was going to get his snow boots. He was terribly excited to finally get to wear them. I know it's not a great picture but it's the only one we took where you can tell at all that it's snowing.

We had a rough week here--everyone in the house had a stomach virus and Edward also had a go-round with kidney stones at the same time he was sick with the stomach thing. Thankfully Papaw came up to help us out for a couple of days. Aunt Bobbie also came up a couple of times to give us a hand. We're so grateful for all the help! I think we're finally getting back to normal, and I hope we can all stay healthy for a while now!

I bought some fingerpaints for Kenton a couple of weeks ago, planning to keep them for a Christmas gift. However, I had a change of heart today and decided to let him give it a try. We were afraid he might not like it because sometimes he doesn't like the way things feel or gets upset where there is something sticky on his hands. He absolutely loved fingerpainting, though. He painted for nearly an hour, filling up five big sheets of paper, and we made to make him stop so we could clear the table off for supper. Unfortunately the pictures didn't turn out too great--I think my camera doesn't like the light from the overhead fixtures in our kitchen. Maybe if I take it off the auto-everything setting and figure out how to really use it, I can get some better pictures in the house.

Edward helped Kenton paint his name, and he thought that was very cool. Notice the paint in his eyebrow. It was also all over his eyelid on the other eye, but it washed off pretty easily.

The weather was so nice yesterday, we decided to take a walk around the neighborhood before supper. Along the way Kenton picked up this piece of twine off the sidewalk. He's been losing and finding this same piece of string for about a week now. For a couple of days it stayed on our front porch and he would pick it up every time we went outside. He dropped it a couple of blocks from the house on Saturday when he stopped to pick up a stick, so we thought we'd seen the last of the twine. Clearly, we were wrong. Notice his footwear in the picture--he has on his snow boots. He begged to wear them when it was 70 degrees, but I bet we'll have to fight to get them on him when it's actually cold outside.

We went to the Dayton Model Train Show today, and Nana & Papaw and Aunt Bobbie & Uncle John met us there. We had brunch at Cracker Barrel first, where Emy showed everyone just how much food she can put away and how demanding she can be. There were lots of really elaborate, detailed layouts at the train show but Kenton was most interested in the larger-sized ones that were on the floor. I guess being close to the action is a lot more appealing at his age. Em kept trying to grab them and was quite frustrated that we weren't letting her do so. We all had a good time and really enjoyed getting to visit with family, but the kids were exhausted by the time we left. Em was asleep no more than a mile down the road and Kenton didn't last too much longer.

Tonight was trick-or-treat for us (or Beggar's Night as it's called in this part of the world). Both of the kids have colds and Emery's has been pretty yucky for the last couple of days, so we decided that we weren't going to take her out tonight. Kenton decided he didn't want to go either, so we stayed in and gave out candy. Kenton had a great time--absolutely loved it! He got to eat some candy as he was handing it out, of course, but he was just thrilled every time someone came to the door. He didn't want to go to the bathroom because he was afraid he might miss someone, but we finally made him when he started doing some serious dancing around and holding himself. Then he came streaking out of the bathroom with his pants and undies in hand because he was so afraid he might miss someone at the door that he didn't want to take time to pull up his pants. We had a little talk about nudity and privacy after that.

Kenton and Emy in their Halloween costumes--he's Super Why and she's Princess P. Click the link to see a picture if you're not familiar with the show. We got all dressed up this afternoon because the weekly Kroger ad had advertised free cider and donuts, a costume contest, "trick or treat street", pumpking-carving and lots of other fun-sounding things in the store starting at 4:00. Apparently the people working in the Xenia Kroger didn't read their own ad because there was none of that at our store. We were a little irritated and Kenton was disappointed because he was expecting candy. However, he got over it pretty quickly once we told we'd go back home and give him some candy. Emery seemed perfectly happy since she was getting lots of attention in her princess costume. She really enjoys being the center of attention. Kenton can wear his costume to school tomorrow for his Halloween party but he says he doesn't want to. He's not really into getting dressed up. Which is kind of disappointing to his mother since she went to all the trouble to make his costume.

We went to Meijer this afternoon and they were having a Halloween-fest in the store with trick or treating from department to department and free pictures in the photo department. We didn't realize it would be going on, so our kids weren't in costume (and I haven't made their costumes yet!) but we still took advantage of the freebies. It's not a great picture, but they're both looking at the camera, which rarely ever happens.

We headed to Edward's hometown of Glendale (population 300) this weekend to visit with family and take in the annual Crossing Festival. The festival brings about 25,000 people to shop for arts and crafts from the 300 or more vendors who set up and, most importantly, to eat lots of food, much of it deep-fried. After a normal breakfast at the house, I kicked off my festival dining with a cup of chili at about 9:30am and proceeded to eat until I went to bed. I somehow missed the booth selling deep-fried twinkies and snickers, though. I'm going to have to ask Nathanael to help me find it next year, because I really do need to try a deep-fried twinkie.

The day started off a little chilly, so we bundled the kids up to go watch the parade. Kenton kept his hat and mittens on for about 45 seconds before he started complaining and ripped them off. He was a little better about wearing his coat. Em didn't seem to care what she was wearing as long as someone was paying attention to her constantly. Fortunately there were usually enough family members around at any given time to keep her happy.

Emy stood with cousin Alyssa to watch the parade. Her red cape says "going to grandma's" on the front. How cute is that?

Parade watching can leave a boy awfully tired and thirsty

Kenton and his new best buddy Nick checked out the train outside of the shops

Edward, Kenton, and Nick enjoyed Saturday afternoon's hayride

Em got all dressed up go to out for dinner Saturday night (with some fashion assistance from her ever-stylish cousin Alyssa). Check out the sparkly shoes!

I'm not sure what Em was looking at in this picture, but this was the closest we could come to actually getting both of them to look at the camera.

I had the day off since I work tomorrow, so we headed out to the very beautiful Wegerzyn Gardens in Dayton. They have a formal garden area and a fabulous children's garden. They're also holding a scarecrow-making contest, so there were lots of scarecrows on display. Some of them were really cute. We'll have to enter next year.

I think he looks so big and grown-up here.

It's hard to see in the picture, but there's a praying mantis on the gate that Kenton was checking out. He stood and watched it for 3 or 4 minutes, then announced that it was probably hungry for lunch like he was so we should go. Since we were leaving when we spotted it, that's just what we did.

Kenton helps Emy into the teepee so they can play together.

Entrance to the children's garden. I think the gates are gorgeous!

Edward pushing the stroller through the formal section of the garden

While attempting to take some shots of the gorgeous fall leaves, I accidentally switched the camera into underwater mode. I didn't even know it had an underwater setting, since we don't have much need to do underwater photography. Anyway, it seemed to distort the colors (the sky was actually a lovely bright blue), but I thought the effect was pretty neat in this shot.

Emy rocked out in the music area of the garden

One of the many scarecrows on display

Happy fall, y'all!

Em enjoyed the leaves, too.

The kids went down to visit Nana & Papaw last Thursday, and Edward and I came down on Saturday. I think they really had a great time. Kenton absolutely loved playing in the leaves. I think he would have stayed out there all day if we'd let him.

Yesterday we had lovely weather, with high temps in the low 80s. It's starting to get cooler tonight and highs are only going to be in the 60s by the middle of the week. Emery decided to take advantage of the last of the warm weather to wear a sundress one more time. Could she look any cuter? She's getting to be such a little character. She still has little interest in talking (unlike her brother, who I think was born talking), but she manages to communicate plenty without words.

Peggy came up to visit yesterday and went to Young's with us. While we were out in the pumpkin patch, she held Emy while we searched for a pumpkin. Kenton mostly wanted to play in the dirt, but we did eventually persuade him to look at pumpkins. Last night when we were getting ready for bed we asked Kenton what his favorite part of the day was and he said, "Seeing Aunt Peggy." Isn't he sweet?