The laughs never stop

Cameron....

Oh, this child just keeps me in stitches. The things he comes up with are just sooooo funny.

First, the other day, he got into the winter hats, which I have stored in cubbies in the boys' closet. He picked the funniest looking one and has been wearing it around the house for 3 days now. Yesterday he walked over by some of the Christmas decorations (where we took pics a couple of days ago) and said to me, "take picture, Mommy?" So, I did.

He is working really hard on potty training right now, and is doing quite well with it. I am finding that the more I keep him in "big boy pants", the better he does....and he really thinks that he is hot stuff when he gets to wear them.

(Something funny to mention here--when we started him out wearing undies for practice, I just reached into Colin's drawer for a pair. I pulled them up....and they were way too tight. In fact, he actually said to me, "too ti, Mommy, too ti!! I had to go to my stash of 'next-sized' undies, which were put away for Colin, for him! I just thought that was so funny....Colin has been wearing 2T-3T underwear for 2 years and Cameron is starting off in a 4T! Oh, each child is so very different.....)

Anyway, the other night I asked him if he wanted to wear big-boy pants. Of course, he said yes, and immediately said, "Cars?" We have a few pairs of Cars undies, and those are his favorites. So, I put him in Mater, and he promptly walked into the living room, over to the Christmas tree, and again requested that I take pictures of him. So.....I did.

Now, this one is the kicker......when I asked him to show me who was on his pants so I could take a picture, he did this:

Point illustrated.

It was inevitable....

that we were to become a mini-van family.


Our explorer was great looks-wise, but it was not the greatest on gas mileage or kid-friendliness. It wasn't the easiest loading all three boys into it, plus--we had no additional room for anyone to ever come with us in our car! Since my mom is around quite a bit, and for the other reasons mentioned above, the explorer was just becomining more and more impractical.



So, several months ago, we began the process of starting to search for a mini-van. We looked, and priced, and even test-drove, but never came to one that we knew was "it."



Enter Shane's Aunt Deanna and Uncle Alan, who live in Missouri and just so happened to own a 2006 Dodge Grand Caravan (exactly the model we knew we wanted, but newer, nicer than we thought we could afford, and with less miles!) When we went down in August and Deanna mentioned that she was getting a new car with her job and this one was on the market.....we couldn't believe our ears!




Jump ahead three months, and you find the Merritt family proudly driving this very mini-van. It is great, and we loved it from the first time we drove it! This picture is of Colin and Cameron, on the way home from Thanksgiving (Alan and Deanna so graciously drove the van from Missouri to Chicago for us so that we would not have to go and get it--thanks so much both of you!). You can't see Ethan; we originally had him in the seat right behind the driver, but we have already moved him to be back with the other two boys, and have stowed both of the middle seats. It is so easy to manuever around in, and has so much room.



We are so fortunate that God worked all of this out for us, to be able to get this nice of a van at the price we did was, quite literally, close to miraculous, and we are so grateful!

Our Thanksgiving week

We had a great time in Chicago for the annual Merritt Family Thanksgiving. We came home Monday night--it was a long but very fun week. I am posting a ton of pics--here are many of the events of our week.....in pictures!!

The day before Thanksgiving....hanging out with all the cousins!

Cameron, doing what he does best....cheesing

Luke, eating one of Gram's chocolate chip cookies

Colin, helping Daddy play Monopoly with Uncle Rog and Uncle Jay

Ethan, helping everyone open their presents from Aunt Deanna (or, in other words, eating everyone's wrapping paper)

Thanksgiving morning:

Aunt Karie and ReeseIt was snowing outside, and the kids loved that!I love this shot--all three actually smiling! With 33 people at Lynette and Roger's house, Colin was apparently feeling a little cramped--I went looking for him and discovered him in the back bathroom, inside the whirlpool tub, reading a book in the peace and quiet....Ethan's first bite of real mashed potatoes.....I'm not so sure that he liked them!

The day after Thanksgiving--downtown Chicago at the Museum of Science and Industry

My two little clowns

Colin, climbing the tractor Colin and Cameron, driving the combineColin and Daddy in front of the U-505 submarine exhibitColin and Cameron loved the boat section!Later that night.....Ethan playing patty cake with DeannaRoll 'em........

Sunday morning:

All of the kids in front of the Christmas tree at Lynette and Roger's churchSunday night--exchanging presents with Jay/Karie/Reese and Roger/Aimee/Luke

Cameron's new pants.....Colin's new shirt....

Reese's new coat.....Ethan's new shirt and toy..... Luke's new Cubs hat..... How big are you Ethan?

Soooooo big!!

It was a great week, and spending time with our family that we don't see often was wonderful. We have so much to be thankful for!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We ventured outside again today after church....enjoying the last of the 'playing outside even though it's chilly' weather....and managed to get a couple more good pics!

Enjoy everyone, and have a wonderful Thanksgiving--we are headed north tomorrow afternoon to be with Shane's family for the holiday!

Is there a Colin under there?
My big boys.....
and my baby boy--once again, eating leaves!!
Daddy and the boys
One of our famous 'self-pictures'
I think Ethan has clearly had enough of the picture taking!

Today, we went to Sears to get some family portraits done.

I was soooooo excited.

My excitement quickly turned to dismay. Anyone ever experience trying to capture three boys' attention long enough to snap even ONE good picture? I am not even asking for smiles.....but by the end of the session, just for the boys merely to be looking in the general direction of the camera all at the same time would have made me happy.

But.....it didn't happen.

Out of the probably 25 shots the lady took (it didn't help that we had a photographer who was NOT at all good with children--we were sooooooo irritated by the time it was over, let me just say) we had one good one.

And none of the boys were looking at the camera. It was one of those posed ones, where they are looking away on purpose. And it turned out very cute, but it just was not what I had gone there expecting to get.

You know, you go through all that trouble of getting the right outfits picked out, and getting everyone packed up and to the studio on time, and through the whole session....just to see that the proofs on that little computer are nothing at all what you had hoped for.

**Sigh.**

So, sitting at lunch, sulking together over the debacle we had just been through, Shane and I decided to make the best of it--we were going to go outside, and just snap some candid shots of the boys. (And, if I had my way--maybe get ONE of them looking in the general direction of the camera.)
I would say that we were decently pleased with our results.

Colin and Cameron loving being up in the tree--Ethan hating it

It got dangerous for just a moment here, but we quickly grabbed the stick
The boys decided to play a fun game of dumping leaves on each other--Ethan bore the brunt of it!
Throwing leaves at each other was fun for quite awhile

My favorite shot of the day--Ethan looks a little traumatized, but other than that, I thought it was a pretty good one! I ended up getting a good shot afterall!