A pre-halloween showing

This past Sunday our church held their annual Harvest Festival, so we costumed the crew and headed down. It was great this year, and perfect for the boys. They are not quite old enough to understand Trick or Treating, but they really enjoyed the games and little prizes. Avery got a Snickers bar on the first game that he would NOT LET GO OF! Held it in his warm little paw all night. We finally pried it away from him when we got home, and traded it for fresh edible chocolate. It was in quite a warm squishy state.

As if I need to explain, they were firefighters. See the smoke on their faces? Their Mimi Lynn bought these rain coats and boots for them when they were embryos!! Notice that the sleeves are rolled up because the coats are still too big. LOL

Not sure what he was playing with here. Noah's favorite game was played with a wiffle ball, rolled down an alley, ricocheted around a corner and into the holes, much simpler than I describe. He wanted to play it over and over. When we finally moved him to give other kids a turn, he stood at the end of it and tried to intercept the ball as it went by! He did actually win a prize, a little witch that plays a Halloween version of "Rich Girl" by Hall and Oates. Guess what's been in my head since Sunday?

Here is Avery at his favorite game. The girl running it had on this enormous feathered witch hat that he was fascinated by. His game consisted of throwing two light up bouncy balls into the hole on the top of a box. At the bottom of the box was different colored squares. If the balls landed on the same color, you won a prize. He just liked dropping in the balls, but he also eventually won a prize. Play the game over and over and it's bound to happen. He won a beanie baby chameleon.

To make the evening even more fun, the Crockers came up from Girdwood and joined us! Lena was a flapper, Nathan a race car driver. Enlarge this picture for a close look and marvel at how much Avery is not enjoying holding Lena's hand. Plus, you can see his Snickers bar in the other hand! I love it!!!

Ahhh, here is the lucky and grateful family that the boys rescued from the fire! The best part was, we got to go home, eat candy, and I was already in my jammies!

Muk Ok

While my parents, Nana and Papa, were here in September, we visited the scenic Musk Ox farm in Palmer. Muk Ok to those of you who are fans of the Avery vocabulary. It's easy so see why people chose to settle and farm in Palmer, it's gorgeous! It's a lush valley surrounded by towering mountains.

Now, I will admit, the farm is not the most stimulating place to visit in Alaska, but at this point in our lives, we're not looking for stimulating. They have just what I need. I will happily pay my $7 just so the littles can run around in their enormous fenced field! (shhh, above is a picture of the elusive Mama, rarely seen)

Look at all that room, and that's not even the entire field.

Here the boys play with a musk ox toy. I'm pretty sure it's an airplane tire.

It did get pretty exciting that day, for two reasons. 1st, they were rounding up the yearlings to weigh them. Their yearlings are MUCH bigger than my yearlings, but seem to be just as cooperative as mine. The staff were chasing and trying to corral them while we were there.

2nd, they had babies! Look at how cute and tiny they are (the musk ox babies. try to look away from the cute boys for just a second)

The boys loved them. The babies would come up to the fence for scratches and nuzzles, and would lick at our hands.



My little with their little.

Funny things about my funny boys

So if you're going to be a fan, here are things you should know.

*about 2 weeks ago, Noah cut 4 teeth in one week. Oy!

*Avery calls sticks, stickers, shirts, and sitting the same thing. Yep, sh*t. I can't wait to find out what other words he can adapt this to.

*Avery speaks polar bear. One of the zoo keepers was signing "all done" to the bear, and Avery recognized it.

*they've grown taller and lost weight, so although they've gone up a size in clothes, they've both moved back down in diaper sizes.

*The vacuum is fascinating, on and off.

*Noah gives the most delicious baby kisses, but only unexpectedly, which makes them even yummier!

*Avery has developed a squeaky, scratchy, indignant type of "talking" when Noah tries to take something away. It's too funny. Think of a chattering chipmunk, and you'll be close.

*Avery is to long for the changing table now, so we had to buy a dresser to use (no sides to bonk your head on)

*Noah LOVES Signing Time, a series of sign language videos. He calls them Sigh Sigh.