So leave a peppermint stick for ol' St. Nick....

Yesterday we spent the majority of our day getting out the Christmas tree and putting up the decorations. It was also Nik's mom's birthday. Happy Birthday Grandma B!!

And today Nik got the outside lights up. Everything looks wonderful. I am glad it's finally all done!! The stockings above the fireplace look so great. Nik's grandma Baker has incredibly knitted one for all her children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren!!! I was pretty excited when Nik brought home one for Judah this weekend! Such a wonderful keepsake!! It was a great 4 day weekend. I don't want to go back to work tomorrow at all. Ugh.... Looking forward to my Christmas break!

Isn't he just the sweetest!

This was the best picture I could get out of the them.

Proud of their own stockings!

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care.

The tree. Thanks to Grandma Hose for the wonderful tree skirt. The kids love it!!

The outside lights. Nik did a great job!

I Pledge Allegiance

Thanksgiving was great this year. We usually go to Kendallville for lunch at Nik's Aunt Charnas, but this year we were blessed to be able to spend it with his Grandma Burkhardt, who recently moved to Ohio from Florida. She said she missed her home in Florida, but is so happy to be spending time with family. And we have to agree. :) We had an amazing lunch and the kids enjoyed a game of Garbage (cards) afterwards.

For supper we went to my brother Brian's house. The food was wonderful. And the kids are getting big enough that all the adults were actually able to get a game of cards in. It was a nice relaxing evening.

Carter's indian costume he made at school for Thanksgiving. Boy did this bring back Kindergarten memories for me!! I remember making a pilgrim outfit and I have a picture with my principal in the yearbook from it too. I also loved that on Carter's headdress they used real feathers. It is so cute.

Judah getting so big. He is 4 months already!

My sleeping little buddy. I just love him so much!

Carter reciting the Pledge of Allegiance from School and the "School Pledge" (If only he really applied it at school and home like it says!) Also, January 5th is not his birthday. He knows his birth date. What a goofball.

Jordan just learned Deep and Wide at church last week. He gets a little confused on the motions and actually changes the lyrics midway through. LOL!

Halloween

Carter dressed up as Captain Jack Sparrow from Pirates of the Carribean for trick or treat at his school.

Trick or treating was a lot of fun. The weather was a bit chilly, but perfect for walking around. Once again our neighbor Tom played a fun halloween soundtrack cd with his very loud speakers set up outside, including smoke and lots of cobb webs. But once again, Jordan was crying and wouldn't step outside due to the scary sounds. Tom offered to turn it down, but I said no way, it would spoil it for everyone else. Jordan ended up hanging out inside our house with Nik and Judah, while I walked with Carter and some of our neighbors up and down our street.

We didn't hand out candy this year, but we contributed a couple bags to Tom's pile. He said he handed out candy to 500 trick or treaters before he ran out. Crazy once again! I think next year I will take the boys to my brother's neighborhood like we did last year so that Jordan won't be so upset over the music. I was surprised though at the awesome stash that Carter ended up with. And lucky for me, he doesnt' like anything with chocolate or peanut butter in it, so load me up!

Our neighbors, Emma and Josh with Carter and Jordan after trick or treating.