merry christmas!

and a good time was had by all...

busy elves

we've been busy with "pizza with santa" (ralphy would have no part of the lap-sitting this year...maybe next year), christmas parties, birthday parties, a cookie decorating party, shopping and playing at home...we've been counting down the days and trying to be good...we're so excited!

'tis the season...

just like everyone else, we have been rushing to get things in order for the holidays...i realized that i haven't posted any thansgiving pictures, so before i start in with the christmas pictures, here are a few from the last couple of weeks...

elli on stage at her pre-school thanksgiving program

sack races at aunt kate's on thanksgiving

showing off their new flannel pajamas gram made
(headband and gloves are not part of the outfits, but are also courtesy of gram!)

ralphy & gram

having a late-night snack on the couch

We Elfed Ourselves!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

boo!

some pictures from our trip to the pumpkin patch:


ralph and his brothers were all coaching football on halloween night, so we did halloween in several "rounds"...



here are "dorothy" and "the lollipop munchkin" dressed for round 1 when ralph's parents & uncle joe visited our house last week:

here is elli dressed up for round 2: her preschool program and dress-up party:


here they are dressed up for round 3: visiting granny's house...
and here we are dressed for round 4: halloween night!

gram and the munchkin:

and here they are by the bonfire after too much candy!

prowlin' around...

a night out prowlin' around with grandma g in the shirts gram made...

fun in the fall

a couple of weekends ago my mom and the kids and i camped out at my parents' house...my dad was out of town and ralph had something going on with some friends, so we set up the tent, had a bonfire, ate hotdogs and s'mores and camped out...we lasted till about 1 am in the tent...at that point ralphy was the only one asleep and mom and i could hear music and "hootin' and hollerin'" from somewhere over the hills and then elli announced that she had to go potty (again)...so we all went in...and then it took ralphy 2 HOURS to go back to sleep....crazy kids...but it was fun...the next morning we stoked up the fire again...the kids bobbed for apples and mom raked up piles of leaves for them to jump in...we all got a turn to be buried in the leaves, too...it was a really good time...

rocks and bridges

Ralphy Turns Two!

our little guy turned two...amazing how fast they grow up... ralphy is hilarious and he's talking more and more everyday...we understand so much of what he says now and he's determined to make us understand what we don't catch at first! while elli focused a great deal on the social/verbal side of life at this age, ralphy seems to enjoy the physical side of life more! he's been running around for what seems like forever....he throws and catches a ball really well and he has been pedalling the bike with training wheels all summer...he tackles, body-slams, jumps and does somersaults....sometimes we think he's outta control! he keeps us all laughing....and he loves his big sister....and football...don't get him started talking about daddy, nick and joe and football...it's a conversation that may last hours...i guess he fits right in...
Untitled from Jen G on Vimeo. on his "birthday eve" ralphy started running a fever and then threw up throughout the night, so his birthday got off to a rough start...but he seems to be feeling fine, so he'll be able to open those presents he's been waiting so long for....the first thing he saw this morning was the huge ride-on john deere tractor that aunt tina (tee-nahhh, as ralphy says) and uncle bob sent from nawff carolina... here are some pictures of the gift opening and cupcake eating: and i'll post the "ralphy's rocks" pictures just as soon as we take them!