Higgins Family Christmas

Since Grandma and Grandpa Higgins purchased a new house for Christmas-- and closed on it the week of Christmas--- we had Christmas with Greg's family at our house this year! It was on December 23rd which was really the night before the night before Christmas. I made a "night before Christmas" themed kid's table anyway!

Not a Creature was stirring, not even a mouse.

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care.

(or placed on a table with stickers and ribbon for threading)

We ate a lot...

Opened presents...

Hung out and played...

We ended the evening with the usual wrapping paper war. Jacob thought it was so much fun!

Santa Claus is Comin' to Town

 Looks like Santa's getting ready to ride...

 Dressed in his Santa suit.

 Feeding the reindeer.

 Giving them lots of extra love to get them through the night.

Saddlin' up

 Ready to ride!

 Have a happy Christmas Eve... and watch out for the Grinch...

Or monster hunter, or whatever he is today!

Happy Halloween

Before the entire fall slips away... it is going so fast this year... let me post a few pictures of my adorable kids in their Halloween costumes :)

 Tyson really hated his costume until the day of Halloween and then he decided he was ok with it (thankfully). He tried to accessorize with mommy's boots! He loves shoes. He puts them on and takes them off about 100 times per day. He'll put on anyone's shoes he can find too.

 Grandma and Grandpa Bradley came up on Halloween to give the boys a treat. I didn't tell the boys it was Halloween until they arrived around 3:30 in the afternoon! Tyson was a pumpkin this year and my friend Adriane Muehleisen knitted his cap.

 Logan decided back in September that he wanted to be a ghost so he could scare people. Remarkably, he never changed his mind.  This was a pretty easy costume.

 Tyson and Grandma

 The boys with Grandma and Grandpa in our front yard.

 Logan the ghost.

 Three little pumpkins!

 Logan with his ghost eyes waiting to go trick or treating. We tied on the bandana because I had glued a baseball cap into the ghost costume to hold it in place and it was hurting his head. I guess the bandana made him go gangsta!

 Before they went trick or treating, the boys watched Scooby Doo. Tyson held his flashlight very protectively the entire time!

 We should have turned on the flash for these outdoor pictures. I tired lightening them in photoshop but I guess I don't know what I am doing because then they just looked weird. So here are some dark pictures of Greg and me and the boys.

Greg stayed home to pass out candy and I took the boys out trick or treating. We went with a huge group from our cul de sac area. We only went on our street and Estates and Jeanette and the boys candy buckets were so full, nothing else would fit in them.

The boys even stopped by our house to get a treat from daddy. I had lots of help during our trick or treating, which was nice. My neighbor, Kim, walked Logan around because he could hardly see out of his ghost eye holes. Her kids are older and didn't need much help anyway. I carried Tyson and then I would set him down on the porch. He ran to the door and held out his bucket. When they gave him candy, he said, "Dee Doo" (Thank you). Every time the person would say, "Oh, he said Thank You! How cute." Then they would add MORE candy to his bucket. I think he learned that the word Thank You would get him more candy because he was sure to say it at every stop!

Whittle Valley Shortline Train Store

We visited this fun little train store in Valley Park this week. We met up with our friend, Luke and the boys enjoyed a little train play and a little puzzle play. Tyson was the one who really got into it, though. I think he could have played all day.

 The store is located in the Old Frisco Hotel Building, built in 1880.  It is located across from train tracks and was built to house railroaders who were passing through laying tracks. Later it became a commercial hotel. It has a lot of character!

 Here is Logan playing with his friend Luke. They are always on the move, so difficult to get a picture of them.

 The biggest train table in the store has space for kids to play on the outside of the table or to crawl under and play on the inside of the table.

 Of course, my little book worm found the book basket. He also found a sunny spot to read!

It is free to play at the store, but they do have a place for donations. After seeing their BADLY beaten up book basket, I was thinking we might just bring books to donate to the book basket on our next visit ;) Seriously we could not find a book that wasn't ripped or missing half the pages. At least they are well loved.
I hope we can go visit this cozy play spot again soon.

E is for Eckert's

On Monday, we took a trip to Eckert's Family Fun Farm in Millstadt. Generally admission is $10 per person but on Mondays it is free. Granted, the rides and the entertainment are closed, but it was perfect for the boys. There was still plenty for them to do and I'm pretty sure Tyson couldn't have ridden the rides anyway. The best part was that it was empty. We had the run of the place. There were probably only 10 to 15 cars there when we left. (When we arrived there were about 5 cars!)
We rode the wagon out to the apple orchard. (This was actually on the return trip, they never would look at the camera... too many distractions).

Tyson ate three apples while we were there. Now that we're home, he could care less about the apples.

Logan picked apples and carried the bag.

I let Logan buy taffy hence the green thing in his mouth.

 Since the shows were closed, the boys did their own shows on all the stages.

 They played on the playground area.

 And got dirty in the hay and the sandboxes.

 They even drove "tractors"... well John Deere tricycles.

 Most of the tricycles didn't really work but since they were the only ones riding, they could try out all of them!

 Both boys loved feeding the animals. Logan liked this antelope. It was very gentle.

 This little guy was not so gentle. However, he wasn't as tough as the big horned sheep that rammed Tyson's hand into the metal fence. His little hand was stuck between a horn and the metal. It was so red when he pulled back, poor boy.We didn't buy any food for that mean sheep. (or goat or whatever it was-- we didn't take its picture either).

 They loved all of the little houses.

 And they had fun in the corn maze too. I was a little worried about getting lost in there so we didn't go too far.

 Logan did this giant underground slide. Tyson would have loved to try but I didn't let him.

 We had such an amazing day and we' ll probably do it this way every year until the boys get a little older and can handle the crowds. Next year, we may go every Monday!