~%* Lots to be thankful for! *%~

Blake is now 11 months old.. wow time is flying by. This little handsome fellow is now... FINALLY.. sleeping all the way through the night. Whew. 9.5 hours last night. Good job buddy! He is sure a funny little guy. He is pulling up and cruising on everything. He will sometimes let go and stand there, but he's not interested at all if you try to help him walk. He is always at the window watching his big brother play. Blake always wants to be a part of the action.

With a love for the water and high places, I suspect he won't be quite as cautious of a kid like Jack was. He has a very strong personality and is for sure an individual, even at his young age. He is a very content child, but knows what he wants!

Jack will be 3 years old in about 3 months. He is getting funnier by the day. Still as sweet as ever, and is constantly learning. He is talking and singing everyday more and more... and some of the things he says can make us laugh so hard.

Besides the ABC song, one of his favorites is the wheels on the bus song. Trent will start singing it wrong and Jack will always correct him, "No, No Daddy.. doors on the bus go up and down." Right after Trent was saying they go swish swish swish.

Jason was playing the ABC song on the piano in different pitches and said Jack was right on pitch each time! Pretty darn good for a 2.5 year old I would say.

Since Trent and I got married almost 6.5 years ago, he has always called me random names to see how I would react. And since I never minded being called things like "Bug", some things kind of stuck. What does he call Jack you may ask... "Stink Pot". Now if you call him anything else he will correct you. "No no Mommy, Jack's not handsome.. Jack's a stink pot." "No no daddy, Blake's not a stink pot, Blake's a cutie.. and Mom's a cutie." Ha I like how he always adds that at the end. What a little charmer.

Ha and yes. We made a boo boo when we started referring to ourselves in third person in order for him to know we were mommy and daddy. And now he also refers to himself in third person. Haha. We are in the process of trying to correct our mistake!

We had two great Thanksgivings this year!! One with Trent's family and one with mine. We went to his father's house and got to have a great dinner and spend some time with some great people.

The boy's aunt Wendy loves to give all the kids their Christmas gifts on Thanksgiving so she can be with them all while they open their gifts. What a sweet heart. The boys love their gifts! Jack got some dinosaurs (that are soft in case he hits his little brother with them) and Blake got a fun pop up toy! Thanks aunt Wendy!

All the kids loved playing with one another. They took Jack and they we're playing hide and seek all afternoon. One time I opened a closet and saw them all huddled together in the back. I couldn't help but laugh because Jack looked unsure of what he was doing in there. But at least they found a good spot to hide!

My mom always makes the best rolls for Thanksgiving!! You have to start making them the night before, and they are always worth the wait. Yum!!

My parents have a huge yard behind their house in California. The boys loved playing out there everyday. Jack always had a hard time coming inside. And with their two dogs and ours, it was a great time every time outside!

Wherever there is dirt... there are also bathtubs. Well, hopefully :)

One morning we noticed Jack walk down the stairs with his blanket and walk over to the front door. He then started to try to push his blanket underneath the door. He had a glazed look in his eye and wasn't responding to us for about 5 minutes. When he finally came to.. he looked so surprised and had no idea where he was!! He was sleepwalking!! I think it's just because he hadn't gotten as much sleep as normal though. Hopefully he doesn't become a chronic sleep walker- but man that was crazy!

It still was a little chilly in California due to the arctic wind that was coming down. But we still had the opportunity to play at the park! Which is always fun.

We drove to California by the way.. which actually went great considering we have two little kids. But they did fantastic!! I know, don't ask me how. We stopped half way in Vegas. The lights there always amaze me. Now Jack probably thinks every place with lots of lights is, "Vegas baby!"

Happy Holidays!