Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving this year was spent at Tressi's house with Gabe's family. It was a nice day and the boys had a ball playing with their cousins. It was fun to be in Omaha for the long weekend and we took advantage of our time and went to Mulhall's nursery to pick out our tree. This place is amazing year-round and spared no expense for the holiday kick-off. They had lots of activities for kids, including live reindeer, Santa, a ball pit, crafts, face painting, cookies, hot chocolate... pretty much everything festive and fun for the kiddos. I think this may be the start of a new tradition for the boys.

Drew (notice the swim trunks), Reese, Luke, and Max (cousins)
good times at Mulhalls

Decorating our tree, destroying the ornaments... We'll see how many are left after the holiday. Reese does great, Drew is just at that age...

Happy Halloween!

We had a great Halloween this year with Drew as a puppy and Reese as Obi Wan Kenobi. Lots of pictures to share... Drew didn't want to miss out on any action, so we left a big tub of candy out and made the rounds with Reese and the neighborhood crew. Reese was a trooper keeping up with the kids and Drew made the journey in the stroller. The biggest surprise was coming home to find that the kids were polite enough to only take one or two pieces of candy, as the bowl was still partially full. Reese was able to hand out some more candy after we returned home, so it was a win-win.

Things started out a little shaky for Drew, but he rallied just fine
Reese loving his accessory - the light saber

So happy to have Grandma and Grandpa Compton here to share the fun

A few of the neighborhood friends

Our little puppy

Sorting through the goods

Halloween Preschool Party

Reese had his little preschool party for Halloween this past Thursday... The kids had fun rotating through various stations consisting of bowling, bingo, bean bag toss and a tattoo station. All of this fun followed by cupcakes and snacks. They all got to take home a nice treat bag full of goodies plus their own balloon to take home as well. I am new at this preschool thing, but this party seemed to be quite fancy compared to what I remember. The only disappointment was my lack of participation in dressing up to match the "Incredible" theme with Reese's Dash costume. The cute mom looked great as "Jessie" to match her little guy's Buzz light year costume (see picture below). It was a fun experience and this is only the beginning of many more school parties and activities. I'm fortunate to be able to help out with this stuff and experience it all first hand.

Visit from Uncle Tyson

We had a great visit from Uncle Tyson and his friend, Jenny. It was fun catching up and spending time together. The boys really enjoyed a full afternoon at the zoo and gave Tyson and Jenny quite a work-out. Tyson is recovering from shoulder surgery and although it's a long process for him, we are enjoying his freedom to come back home to visit.

Fall Festival

Yesterday we had the fall festival over at Christ the King. Reese played the dart game, shown below, six times and finally ended up hitting the white pen that was worth 50 points. According to Tommy Bonebrake, "only 3 kids in the whole school has hit the 50 point pen!" I guess if you keep playing long enough, odds are you'll eventually hit it. Still a big accomplishment for a 3 1/2 year old. Little Drew conked out and was sleeping in the stroller the whole time... there's always next year. We've got plenty of these in our future.

His favorite super hero

Dad helped the first couple games, then it was all Reese

Reese goes to the Dentist

Reese did remarkably well going to the dentist for the first time. He handled it well and I think having such a great dental hygienist made all the difference. Drew was a trooper sitting on my lap watching the whole thing and they both walked away with prizes and tooth brushes. All-in-all it was a positive experience for everyone.

Guy time

The movie "The Sandlot" has been a big hit at our house over the past month or two. I bet we've watched this movie 2o times or more. The movie is about a group of boys who love and play baseball. This sparked a new interest in the sport for Reese, so out the boys went for a new glove for Reese and some soft baseballs. This first picture of Drew is actually toward the end of the evening, and he decided that looking at rocks was more interesting than playing catch or watching Reese and dad play catch. Anyway, they all had fun and it was a nice night to be outside playing baseball rather than watching it on TV.

Drew attends a party...

Although we've been invited to family member's Birthday parties or a neighbor friend's here and there, this was Drew's first official invite to a party that was from his little friend, Joey, at preschool, aka "mom's day out." Reese was invited out of obligation, but he opted out to stay home and play with the neighbors, no big surprise there (the neighbor kids seem to trump everything these days). Anyway, I loved this time with Drew, just the two of us... Well, besides the other kids, but it was fun to give all my attention to just him for a change. : )

The bubbles were a bit hit with everyone
Joey, the Birthday boy, is on the far left

Reese's First Day of Preschool!

As you can see from the photos below, Reese was pretty nervous about starting preschool. He's never been fond of leaving and being away from home, so this was a big step for him! After a few tears and a quick good-bye, he adjusted just fine as I was watching from around the corner. Reese said his favorite part was making the craft for us - which was coloring a picture of a school bus. This day was a big step for all of us!

Labor Day Weekend in MN!

We took a little trip up to see our friends in Minnesota... The Byrnes clan. The boys enjoyed their first hotel experience, "first" in the sense that they weren't trapped in a pack-n-play or car seat the majority of the time. They were free to run around and act crazy - and they did. Fortunately, we spent much of the weekend at Kevin and Sara's house and the kiddos all had a great time. Stella and Reese got along very well and Drew just tried to keep up with everyone. We spent time at the park and grilling out... followed by a little trip to the Mall of America amusement to wrap up the weekend.

Summer Days Winding Down...

Even though the days of summer are winding down, Drew continues to be obsessed with pool. He wakes up saying "pool", goes to bed saying "pool", and insists on wearing his, or Reese's, trunks at all times... We are trying to squeeze as many pool days in as we can before summer ends. Such a bummer, sad to see summer end.

Big event under the tent

The nights (and days for that matter) were getting very long with our Drew climbing out of the crib every couple hours. Needless to say, we were all (except Reese who can sleep through just about anything) sleep deprived - Drew especially. I never really thought we'd be consumers of this product and thought they were quite strange when seeing them in catalogues. But, I must say this product has been life-changing for us. Drew is back to his 12-13 hour sleep filled nights... whew. What a great thing to have back. The most impressive thing of all, was how quietly and safely he climbed out - almost ninja-like. We laugh now, but it was a long July. Happy to have our little sleeper back!

Uncle Tyson here....

It's been a fun week having Uncle Tyson around. He had shoulder surgery in early July, so he has some time off to recover. We were pleased when he decided to spend a few days with us here in Omaha. The boys love having Tyson around and we have had a great time catching up and spending time with him as well. Yesterday we spent the afternoon at the pool and today we met Molly and the kids at the zoo. We'll be bummed to see him leave, but plans are already in the works for a trip back for the NE vs. TX football game.

July... The 4th and then some.

I've been without a camera and a computer for a few weeks, so the blog has been a little neglected. I've had a bad run with cameras.... Hopefully we're good now for awhile. The 4th of July was spent up at Lake Okoboji with our friends from the neighborhood. Reese and Drew enjoyed their first boat ride and lake experience. Drew wasn't a big fan of the life jacket, but the boat cruises always put him to asleep and the jacket became a non-issue - on the boat at least. The rest of month has been a blur, as it always is... Where does the summer go?

In other news, Reese got his first bike. Well, aside from an old hand-me-down from friend, Jack. Considering the tires had duck tape on them and the one handle bar was bent in pretty good, we thought it would be fun for him to get his own first bike. With four boys next door, we tend to get lots of hand-me-downs, which is nice, but after going through four boys they are usually pretty well "used." He does pretty well on the bike and wants to ride it everywhere we go. Our big trip was down to Countryside Village for some breakfast Saturday morning.

Drew has entered the climbing stage of toddler hood. He copies everything Reese does, so he is attempting jumps off of the couch and stairs - not a good thing. He is even trying to climb out of his crib...ugh. He has definitely come out of his shell, not quite so mellow anymore. He is very sensitive and easily gets his feelings hurt. In his "down-time" he's a little cuddle boy who loves books (anything with animals and sea life) more than anything and just wants to be held and read to - which is so sweet for me.

The pictures are a little jumbled, but just a few here and there from our summer.

More summer fun...

Not too much has happened since our last post. I'm happy to report that everyday is spent outside, either at the pool or in our own backyard... doing things that kids are supposed to be doing in the summer. At our house it's the baby pool, water balloons and popsicles. Oh yes, and digging for worms, too. I hope everyone is having a wonderful summer!

Summer kick-off

We had a fabulous Memorial Day weekend full of surprises and a fun trip to the pool... Friday night, Uncle Tyson surprised Grandpa and Grandma Compton for their 40th wedding anniversary - it was so emotional for everyone and such a treat to have Tyson around again. We miss him so much and don't realize it until he's back and we're reminded of how wonderful a person he is. We had yet another surprise on Saturday - Uncle Dane's surprise 40th Birthday party. We had so much fun planning the party and watching Dane's shock as he walked into the party. It was a great time and he had a wonderful Birthday.
The boys had a nice weekend with lots of family in town to spoil them with attention. We had a relaxing day - just the four of us at the pool on Monday. Drew could hardly contain his excitement when we told him where we were going - it was pretty surprising
actually, that he was so excited and knew where we were going. I guess he knows the word "pool" from swimming lessons. Reese was pretty pumped too as he is a frequent guest at the field club for the golf outings with dad. It was such a fun and busy weekend - I was almost a little sad Tuesday when it was all over.... But, we have a fun summer ahead of us and it's a treat to watch the boys grow-up and have fun together. It's hard to imagine that Drew was in the little baby carrier last year at the pool. It's fun for him this year to be part of the action. : )

Happy 3rd Birthday, Reese!

Reese turned 3 yesterday - Saturday, May 1st. With it being a Saturday, it was a full and fun-filled day of non-stop activity. One thing we can say about Reese, is that he loves life and today was certainly no exception. The big day started off with chocolate chip pancakes, and then it was off to pump-it-up for a Birthday party with his buds. A good time was had by all and it was definitely a treat to watch all of the kiddos having fun, pump-it-up knows how to make these kids happy.

Later on in the evening we had a dinosaur themed B-day party with family.

As I look back on yesterday, I remember Reese having so much fun - he laughed and smiled the whole day. Happy 3rd Birthday, Reese! We love you so much our happy boy!