December 25

The boys opened their stuffed stockings this morning with much delight at the lifelike animal figurines inside. I'm thinking we may need to buy two of everything from now on. The impressive elephant was a favorite.

December 22

We took the boys to the live nativity or "manger scene" as Hamilton calls it. At first he was worried a train would come by and be too loud, but after he kept his fingers out of his ears, the braying donkey captured his attention. Every year that we've been to see this live nativity, it's so cold. We bundled up and huddled under blankets. Thankfully we ran into the Trammells afterwards, so we didn't even have to invite ourselves over for coffee and dessert. "Mimi Claire" (as Hamilton says) invited us to warm ourselves in her toasty house next to the church and enjoy the delicious desserts she'd made. What a treat for our cold night!

December 18

Our sweet neighbors down the street left this six-pack on our doorstep. So cute.

Thanksgiving Week at the Farm

Since all the kids were out of school for the full week of Thanksgiving, we loaded up Monday morning headed for the farm. We had a delightful week of family, friends, and fun, and the boys didn't even notice that they never got in the car to leave the farm the whole week. I forgot my camera (eek!), so I've collected pictures from my phone, Mr. Morgan's phone, and our friend Bonnie's super-sweet camera with a great lens. Thanks, Bonnie, for the great family shots!

Every day the boys played in the leaves: They played by themselves, with friends, with Mr. Morgan, with Uncle Travis--all the time. Jumping into the big pile was great fun as was being thrown into the big pile.

Collier would disappear into the pile, but he loved every minute of it.

During Aunt Linda and Uncle Billy's visit, the boys enjoyed lots of leaf-time especially when they got to bury Uncle Billy. He's such a good sport! Linda snapped this sweet picture of Collier.

Claire started all the fun by raking the big pile of leaves in the front yard.

Claire spent several afternoons riding with Susan, Mimi and Pops's neighbor with all the horses. This time Claire got to ride by herself; she was totally excited!

As has become Dad's tradition, he made a big pot of Brunswick stew the day after Thanksgiving.

We were so happy to have the newly engaged couple Travis and Cheri with us at Thanksgiving. We talked a lot about wedding plans!

Mom's table was beautiful and stretched to its limit with all 12 of us around it for the Thanksgiving meal.

We finished our Thanksgiving meal with delicious desserts, and Collier dug right into his piece.

One day after naps, Mimi and Hamilton stole a few moments of quiet together reading Mimi's latest magazine.

Since Billy and Linda wouldn't be coming back at Christmas, the kids enjoyed opening their gifts over the Thanksgiving week. Thomas the train was a big hit.

On Friday we did some skeet shooting on the farm. Though I was not good at shooting skeet, I did feel very Garden & Gun which was cool.

Our dear family friends the Trammells came for some afternoon shooting and a laid-back party. Though there were five kids under four running around everywhere, the noise and mayhem was manageable with adults outnumbering little ones 3:1. Using Bonnie's great camera and lens, I captured a sweet picture of the whole Trammell clan. It's so fun to get everyone together, especially with our growing families. But with all of us spread out from Nashville to Charleston, it doesn't happen often enough.

On one of their many walks, the boys enjoyed some time playing on Pops's trailers.

Our last morning on the farm, we spent some time picking out the church's tree and our family's tree. Both made it back to Charleston safely, and the Leyland Cypress at the church, I think, is the prettiest tree we've ever had there.

Mom's birthday always gets lumped in with Thanksgiving, so we celebrated Saturday morning at breakfast before we headed back to Charleston. We invited Grandma over, too, and I cooked a special breakfast giving Mom the morning off.

December 14

The boys decorated Christmas cookies at a fun Christmas party this morning--at the same house that had the digger birthday party. I've got loads of pictures to share in a separate post from the party, but I loved this one of Collier strapped in a highchair (not wearing suspenders), spooning out colored sugar to top his sugar cookie's icing. He ingested plenty of icing and cookie despite the remnants on his face.

December 13

This morning Hamilton and I made gift bags for his teachers at school and church. He helped fill little snack bags with mini marshmallows and chocolate chips. He counted out three peppermints for each bag, and I stirred together some hot-chocolate mix that we divided into sandwich bags. The festive bags made cute gifts, and Hamilton's excited about giving them away to his teachers.

December 12

I'll go back to these cute shots for today's DPP picture. My cherub child Collier (for the moment) sat so obediently and calmly while I took pictures on Sunday. Hamilton eventually came to sit down, and he was calm, too--only because he was busy pulling at the elastic in his knee-socks. So sneaky that boy! I didn't even notice until Mr. Morgan pointed it out to me in the pictures.

December 11

The boys LOVE trains, and they especially love Mr. Morgan's putting together a super track. This activity entertained them for all of dinner prep.

December 10

The boys have totally been into opening the doors each day of this December calendar. The little spots only hold a raisin, an M&M, or a sticker, but they both ask multiple times a day to peek behind another door. This nutcracker's definitely a tradition to continue next year.

December 9

The boys wore their Christmas clothes to church today, so I took my camera to capture the cuteness.

December 8

The boys and I checked out the Christmas festivities on Saturday at the Mt. Pleasant farmers' market. After walking through all the vendors looking for ones with candy dishes, I bought a cup of hot apple cider to sit and watch the kids play in the jump-castle. We picnicked for lunch and heard Christmas songs from a middle-school choir. We bought cookies from a local church's youth group plus Kettle Korn from a guy making it onsite in a big copper kettle. Once we exhausted all the sights and eats, we headed back to our car. We stopped just long enough to snap some pictures in front of this old truck decorated for Christmas, too. Notice our umbrella stroller is burdened with bags and jackets (the afternoon was in the 70s), and we carried home a large bag of popcorn to share with Mr. Morgan. Also, I corralled Collier in the stroller, but I had to bring Rover back to make sure Hamilton didn't wander too far in the crowds.

December 3

I made a paper-chain this year for the kids to use as we countdown to Christmas. I found the cutest coordinating papers to use, and Hamilton LOVES using the scissors to cut off each day's link.

December 2

Our first night celebrating Advent ended with Hamilton's blowing out the candle. Yes, I know I don't have typical colors in my Advent "wreath," but I like it and it gets the point across. We read some Scripture and talked through a family activity centering around Jesus' I Am statements in the Gospel of John. I called it an Advent activity which Hamilton shortened to "Adventivity." So we might go with that for the rest of the season.

December 1

Over the Thanksgiving holiday (pictures and stories will come soon!), we celebrated at the farm. Uncle Billy and Aunt Linda came from Florida, and the boys just loved their company--as they always do. Since we won't see them for Christmas, the boys enjoyed opening some early Christmas presents. Collier loved the little farm animals. When he wasn't trying to put them in his mouth, he piled them into a freight car, with the open-mouth concentration of a Taylor.

Good News

I've been told I'm no longer a blogger...since I haven't posted anything in almost two months. Yeah, I guess you could say I've lost my motivation or my muse or whatever. But just the other day, I began thinking about blogging again, getting excited about some posts and other ideas. So I hope my back-to-blogging days are just around the corner. Well, I know some readers want the pictures of the growing boys, so I'll get to those in a second.

First, the good news! Solely through the Lord's provision, our church was able to purchase the beautiful, historic buildings we've been meeting in for the past six years. So many people donated time and money to this enormous effort that began with a grassroots campaign to influence City Council and ended with a capital campaign to raise $1.6 million in 90 days. I still can hardly believe it!

Our September and October were packed--mostly with thinking, praying, and communicating about our capital campaign to save our church buildings, so my picture-taking motivation was suffering. According to our pictures, it looks like this was all we did for two months:

1. a beach trip with the Taylors over Labor Day
2. start of school
3. some backyard play
4. a surprise visit with my California, fellow-paleo cousin
5. a pumpkin-buying spree
6. a carwash
7. Seth's birthday celebration
8. costume fun for Halloween

Beach Trip

Our oceanfront friends Bill and Sunnie graciously let us park in their driveway over Labor Day, so we could enjoy their quiet, nearly empty spot of Folly Beach. The boys loved it!

Collier's little grin is so adorably cute--his drooling, sandy face not as much.

This pose reminds me so of Hamilton, making me think maybe they do look more alike than I thought.

Our crew camped out for the day with plenty of shade and chairs. Other friends of Bill and Sunnie's (and ours too) had our same idea, so we had a big party out on the beach.

All the little boys had such fun playing in the sand with all their diggers.

Start of School
Not a great shot, but we weren't ready early enough to spend time designing the shot a la Pinterest. Getting two boys out of the house for school can be hectic--but oh so worth it for a few morning hours to myself!

Backyard Play
Most afternoons the boys play in the backyard after Collier finally wakes up. The boys play so well together for the most part. Once Mr. Morgan gets home from work, he usually joins them for "bak-setball" or other outdoor shenanigans.

California Cousin
My cousin Caitlin breezed into town for her family reunion, so we got to visit with her for just a night and morning. The boys enjoyed showing off for her in the backyard.

Pumpkins
I took the boys to pick out some pumpkins, and they loved climbing in and around the pumpkins that were sitting on pallets. They didn't seem to mind that there was no "patch."

Collier loved picking them up and putting them into our wheelbarrow--which is how I ended up with $40 in pumpkins.

Here's our haul, including one "monster pumpkin" as Hamilton calls it.

Carwash
Mr. Morgan washed both our cars a few weeks ago; as he vacuumed out the insides, Hamilton was disappointed that he'd missed the washing. I suggested that Hamilton wash his car--the Cozy Coupe. He got really into it.

I love how Hamilton's washing his car, but he's still holding on to "little Fatty" his ever-present buddy. Hamilton does not do much these days without little Fatty. Sometimes he'll exclaim, "Oh, little Fatty's crying!" Then he'll run to find her to console her. Sometimes I'm told to be quiet because little Fatty is sleeping.

I'm not sure that the Cozy Coupe was actually any cleaner after Hamilton's washing of it, but he and Collier had a fun time in the water and with various brushes and rags.

I was so inspired by their cute play that I went inside to dig out my big camera. I sat in the grass for 15 minutes snapping pictures of my twosome. I hadn't felt like doing that in months, so here's to hoping my motivation for picture-taking is making a comeback!

I was a little disturbed by this crazy face of Collier's until I realized why the maniacal grin--he's clutching little Fatty and running like mad away from Hamilton!

Birthday Celebration
For Mr. Morgan's birthday, we spent a quiet night at home with all the kids--just what Mr. Morgan loves. Hamilton and I had gotten him a birthday balloon and a special Shaun-the-Sheep-look-a-like card from Bi-lo. Claire handmade a special card, too, and several aunts and parents mailed cards. I made a gluten-free pumpkin cake with date-caramel icing, and everyone loved the special treat as we partied in our pajamas!

Here's our only shot with all of us, since I'm reflected in the door of the china cabinet.

Costume Fun
Last weekend we went to Mountville, and the boys attended a little fall festival with a cowboy theme. Since Hamilton was already wanting to be a cowboy for Halloween and Collier a little Indian, their costumes worked for both events.

Numerous games dotted the yard, and Collier loved playing with all the games that involved a ball.

A hayride was the big attraction, and all the kids loved it!

The adults even got to dress up for the fall festival, so I wore my cowboy hat, a matching bandana with Hamilton, and my cowboy boots.

Collier and Dolly loved stacking and unstacking the cones. These two cuties were born in the same month, and they played well together.

For Halloween and trick-or-treating, I put a long corduroy coat on Hamilton with a little sheriff's badge. He looked much more convincing as a cowboy/sheriff/lawman than he had at the fall festival.

Our neighborhood friends came for dinner; then we plopped the kids on the porch for pictures before the trick-or-treating began. Hamilton's friend Logan is an adorable pirate, and Kristin did an awesome job on his costume--she even made his boots.

This shot was the last time that the pirate would be holding his sword and the cowboy his six-shooter. I got the switch in pictures, and they never fought or traded back for the rest of the night.

Hamilton loved having people just give him candy! At each house he'd walk up and say, "trick-or-treater!" His greeting was an improvement over last year's "happy happy!" We hauled in so much candy that he'll be eating on it for days. Yesterday I was able to limit him to four pieces over the course of the day, so hopefully he won't ruin his teeth!

We met up with some other friends while we were out, so Jack dressed as the Hulk walked around with Hamilton, Logan, and Collier, too. I'm so thankful for our great neighborhood with lots of houses close together, friendly neighbors, and little traffic. We had a great night of trick-or-treating!

So that's our two months in pictures, and I'll try not to be a stranger in the blogosphere.