Thanksgiving

We are very thankful to have been able to spend the holiday with our family again this year. John's mom, sisters Kim & Jenn & their families, Uncle Wayne & Aunt Sally & cousins Danny & Jason arrived on Wednesday. We missed cousin Ryan & Lyne, who stayed home with 2 wk old Gavin. Hopefully next year they will be able to join us & Gavin can get in on the action with his big cousins!
We had beautiful weather and Thursday we spent some time at the playground & running around outside before the delicious dinner Mimi prepared. Yesterday there was shopping, football watching, shark tooth-hunting & lots of game playing. In the evening we went to Wrightsville Beach Park for the tree lighting & arrival of Santa. We really appreciate everyone making the trip. We had a great time & the boys were showered with love & attention. It will take a few days around here for them to become "unspoiled"!

Uncle James, Filson, Uncle Neil, Holden, Jensen

Reece Jensen & Filson

Jensen, Reece, Filson

Filson

Uncle Neil holding up the cousin train

Riley (eight days shy of 13), Jensen (11), Garrett (9), Holden (7), Reece (5), Filson (2)

Reece & Riley

Master Carver Jason

Headed out to dig for shark's teeth

Filson & Riley

Reece & Filson

Garrett, Filson, Reece, Riley

Riley & Garrett

Filson

Filson, Garrett, Holden

Filson on the climb

Riley, Filson, Jensen, Garrett

Holden, Riley, Filson, Reece, Garrett, Jensen

Filson, Brittany, Riley, Mimi, Garrett, Jensen, Neil & Ian at the tree lighting

Bath Time Buddies

The boys squeezed into the bath together tonight for the first time. Filson has been outside playing & rolling around in the dirt for a couple of days now, so he was ready!

We spent Tues-Fri in Charlotte this week. We barely saw John while we were there, but it was still much better than staying home by ourselves. I also visited his company headquarters for the first time & saw a lot of the people he works with, which was really nice.

This was my first trip where I was alone with two boys the majority of the time, and there were definitely moments that would have been more enjoyable if I had invested in a double stroller....or a nanny! Filson is becoming Mr. Independent & testing my patience (as I am sure he will continue to do for the next 20 years). He bolted out of the breakfast room and down the motel hallway on me one morning, leaving me to run after him like a crazy woman while Ian was still strapped in at the breakfast table. How can his short legs run so much faster than mine??

I did get to take the boys to IKEA Wednesday, however our car was already packed full with no hope of sneaking even the smallest treasure back to Wilmington. I'll have to remember to leave a little extra space for the next trip, or maybe take the truck!

We were also able to see my cousin, BreAnn, Wednesday night. Filson had fun showing her his cars & he loved having her read the new books she brought to him.

We had a great week & now we're looking forward to having all the family come to town! The boys are going to love having 5 big cousins here to play with!

Big Trucks

We took the boys to the Touch a Truck event today behind Mayfaire shopping center. This is a brilliant fundraiser idea, as I don't know many toddlers that wouldn't enjoy checking out fire engines, school buses, bulldozers, etc. It was a beautiful sunny day here & was nice to get out & see the sunshine this weekend after a looong week of rainy days.

Ready for the Speedway

Bowling for prizes Perfecting his croquet skills

Thanksgiving CraftsLet's hope Fireman Filson would put down his fistful of popcorn to respond to a true emergency

The Little Elf on Saturday morning
Heading to the neighbor's Saturday night for oysters & football

Ian saying "Go Hawks!" & Filson with his "Go Gamecocks!" noisemaker

5 Months

Ian is 5 mths old today & catching up with Sock Monkey. He is now holding his head up well enough to sit in the Hippo seat with us at mealtime & has started eating a few solids. Now that he has figured out the rest of us are filling our tummies when we sit at the dinner table, he does not like to be left out. No more peaceful lounging in the swing while the rest of us eat : ) He also finally mastered the back to tummy roll, after weeks of only being able to go from tummy to back. Teeth have not yet appeared, but those gums are getting lots of practice as everything is making it's way into his little mouth these days.

Our little smiler

Big Brother did not want to be left out of the photo shoot!

Ocracoke

Here are a few of the cute pictures Robin took this weekend.

Two Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed

Good Morning!

Filson at the Lighthouse

The Fam

Mama & Ian

The Thinkers

Enjoying the beautiful day on the front porch