The Whole World in His Hands

G is completely obsessed with maps right now. At school, he has been steadily at work "punching out" each of the continents and gluing the countries onto poster board. So far, he has completed North America, South America, Asia, Australia and Africa and is able to identify many of the states and countries. He tells us that he wants to go to New York to see the Statue of Liberty and to Russia to see bears. Given our love of travel, we love his enthusiasm.

"Are you going to do Antarctica?" I asked him last week. "No, Mom," he said with an exasperated sigh. "There are no people in Antarctica. Only scientists." Well, of course.

A Trip to the Tree Farm

We returned to our favorite Christmas tree farm last weekend to find the perfect tree. It was a sunny, warm November day, so everyone else in the entire state had the same idea.

 Miles had a lot of fun wandering away from us.

It took awhile, but we finally found the perfect, not-too-tall but round and full tree. Here is Kent being manly and cutting it down. The boys also very much wanted to "help" Kent cut down the tree, and they spent much of the trip searching for the perfect stick to do the cutting.

The boys were actually interested in decorating the tree this year, choosing and remembering favorite ornaments. They loved them so much that they wanted to take them down to look at them again and again. After hanging the same ornaments over and over again, I reminded them that the ornaments stay on the tree.

Other than a stubbornly crooked star on top, the tree looks lovely. We're pretty excited for our first Christmas in our new house.

Thanksgiving

We had a nice Thanksgiving--small and simple, with Grandma and Grandpa at our house this year. Besides a fabulous turkey made by Kent, the boys enjoyed sweet potatoes, Grandma's creamed corn, cranberry salad and brussels sprouts. And several desserts, or course.

Miles was a good sous chef, helping me make pumpkin pie (and spilling just a little bit on poor Ted the Hero).

During dinner, Grant asked, "So what are you thankful for?" His response: "Family."

Green Mohawk

As I was making lunch the other day, Ted the Hero nonchalantly sauntered into the room sporting a green mohawk. 

How does a cat end up with a green mohawk, you ask? 

The artist at work:

Leaf Pile

Our extra-large trees have created some extra-large leaf piles for the boys to jump, roll and tumble in. I can't begin to explain how much fun we had on a recent afternoon.

Big Boy Bed

Miles is now officially sleeping in a big boy bed {his crib converts into a toddler bed}, and all is well. The challenge of climbing out of his crib now gone, he goes right to sleep and usually sleeps throughout the night.

Road Trip

We took a last-minute trip to Minneapolis on Friday afternoon. When I said to Grant, "Pack your bags; we're going on an adventure," his eyes lit up and he ran to get his Thomas the Tank Engine bag. He was thrilled to hear we would be going to a different state to spend the night in a hotel. We arrived there at about 7 p.m., checked into our hotel and walked a few blocks to the Target Center, where we got to see the Timberwolves play the Thunder.

Distracted by popcorn, ice cream and mascot-watching, the boys made it through nearly three quarters before we decided to call it a night. It was way past their bedtime. The boys looked exhausted and cute snuggled into their hotel bed. It was the first time we've traveled with Miles without a travel crib. But unfortunately he didn't sleep all that well, and we were all tired the next morning.

After breakfast and some pool time, we visited a favorite children's bookstore called the Wild Rumpus. An independent bookstore filled with beautiful children's books and cats, chickens and lizards, this place is amazing--and amazingly popular. If only more children's bookstores could do this well. 

After a few more stops for our real purpose for the trip--furniture shopping, we headed back home, arriving just in time for bedtime. It was a lot of time in the car for a short trip, but the boys seemed to enjoy the adventure.