Christmas 2011

Yes, I know I am in the wrong year, but I think blogging while working and having 3 kids and housekeeping is like a wedding gift:  You have to do it within a year.  Christmas for us was, as usual, a whirlwind affair that crossed several states, followed by a month of me throwing out half the house so I can make room for all the gifts. I tend to get a little Scroogie just anticipating it all, but seeing all of our family makes it all worth it.  For all of you that think I forgot to post any pictures from your homes, you are wrong.  I didn't forget, I just don't know where the pictures are.  Anyway, maybe these Christmas pictures will get everyone ready for Christmas 2012.  The excitement is building at the Price household!

Unfortunately, we had to decorate without Shane this year, but I had some great little elves to help.

Christmas morning

Celebrating with Grannie Flo

And to all a good night.  This reminds me so much of me of my Grandma, and proves that there are still some things you can still do with a bum knee! 

Henry and Mammaw taking a little nap.

Halloween 2012

It's the most wonderful time of the year!  I don't care what the song says.  I love Halloween.  It is such a great time with games and candy and hayrides and wonderful fall weather.  Our Halloween was spread over two occasions since it was on a weeknight, which makes it even better.  We went the weekend before Halloween to our neighbors church for trunk-or-treat, bobbing for donuts, free food and a hayride through the cemetery.  It gave us a chance to do a trial run and work out the costume glitches, not to mention that I wasn't finished with the costumes.  Then on "real" Halloween, we did a little door-to-door action and then went to the Ruritan club and had a cake walk (my personal favorite-nothing like some old lady cakes), bouncy houses, games and the most longest, most awesome high speed hayride I have ever been on.  That tractor guy ROCKED. 

Oompa oompa doopity doo...poor Henry was no fan of makeup application.  He cried off his before we ever finished and stained his little collar orange.

Zombie ninja.  You'd be surprised how many ninja based costumes there are.

Not a vampire, Count Dracula.  And he let everyone know, too.

 

 I just liked this one because  Henry totally looks like he is getting attacked by a ninja and a vampire, but they are just trying to pose him for the picture.

 

A little more cooperative.

Happy Halloween!  And a big thanks to Mawmaw and Shane for helping pull this all together!!!!!

Halloween 2011

This is where it all started going wrong.  I seem to have temporarily (6 months) have misplaced the Halloween pics.  I was more than excited to find that I had transferred them to my work computer.  This is one of my favorite times of year, and Henry's first Halloween, so it is important to capture the moment.
Shane and I put a lot of heart and soul into Halloween, and I could never have been done on time without Shane's sewing and creative abilities.  I give him things and say, "This is what I want, this is my vision, this is what you need to do it with.  Go forth."  And occasionally there is the, "You figure it out."  But somehow we always manage.  This year we even had time to spare.  I think I speak for both of us when I say that we really enjoy the costume making and I think I am even a little sad when they want a store bought costume, but it is what it is.  Except for Henry.  The first year they have no say in the matter.  It is Mom's discretion.  And it has to involve fake hair, since our children spend most of the first year without any real hair.

Thanksgiving Jabalpur style

Thanksgiving sort of came and went at our house. We spent most of the time putting down new linoleum, but we did take some time Thanksgiving day to celebrate the impending arrival of our cousin Ash's baby (now arrived and is a handsome little guy named David). All Indian parties seem to eventually turn to music and dancing, which suits the boys just fine. Duncan looks like he gets his moves from BET, and Roland tends to be a break dancer. They are never short on providing entertainment. It was good to see everyone and give thanks for the many awesome gifts we have been given.

When balloons attack.
Henry and Uncle john.
Shane and Grandma Avis.
The expecting parents.
Uncle Dennis and the boys.
We hope all of you also had a wonderful holiday season and never forget to stop and appreciate all the big and little things.

one of Henry's many firsts

Maybe now is a good time to talk about our beach vacation seeing as how the it has been many months ago. It is notable just the same as it was Henry's first vacation, outside of family visits. We really had a blast, as is the case anytime we are away from work and school. Henry is following in Roland and Duncan's footsteps and has taken to the water like a fish. The bigger boys absolutely love the beach and never want to eat or get out of the water. Normally we go to the Medieval Times dinner show, but this year we switched it up and went to a new pirate dinner show complete with cannons, acrobatics and fighting. What more could you ask for to keep kids entertained while Shane and I enjoy our adult beverages and peaceful dinner. And, as always, we went to the amusement park and stayed until they kicked us out. We can't wait to go again.



This is for all the grandparents. These floats are totally sweet. No parental supervision required. Just kidding. The hard part is keeping the other kids out of the baby float.


Come on Myrtle Beach 2012!

A lover and a fighter

I think I may have intentionally put off blogging about Duncan's birthday because it is just so hard to figure out what to say about Duncan. He is so many things and often sometimes I wonder if he might be schizophrenic. He is so thoughtful and loving and considerate and helpful and responsible and creative and crazy funny and entertaining and annoying as crap (I think this is mostly a product of his age). When I am not with him life is a lot quieter, but boring. He wears his feelings on his sleeve and will totally punch you for hurting those feelings, and then hug you and tell you how much he loves you. Even when I try to spank Duncan, I usually end up laughing because he will say or do something funny without even trying. He wakes up and he is "on." Sometimes he sits up in the middle of the night and just starts telling a story-I assume it to be his dreams- and then lays right back down and sleeps. The things he says when awake and sleeping vary from "not of this earth" to "extremely creative" to "prophetic." He loves to be wild and loves to drive his toys and ride the four wheeler and then go make some cookies in the easy bake to have with our afternoon tea. He is definitely my helper. When I vacuum, Duncan comes along beside me with his toy vacuum. And he never forgets anything, much to my dismay, sometimes. Duncan loves his brothers and tries very hard to take care of Henry and slave for Roland. When we first brought Henry home, Duncan would have these rainman moments when the baby would cry and Duncan would wake up grabbing his head and freakin' out. He has since stopped, but he still tells me that it hurts him when the baby cries, and I believe him.
I tell Shane that I always thought that we are a product of our environment and circumstances, but Duncan has proven me wrong. Like Lady Gaga says, we are born this way.
Duncan keeps everyone else in check, including and especially me. I call Duncan my replacement.
Happy 4th Birthday Duncan!
(shoutout to Aunt Erika for the great pic)
Getting woke up by Daddy on birthday morning
Birthday at Pawpaw and Grammy's
Birthday at school


You'll never guess what Duncan got for his birthday
Happy Birthday to our Duncan Butters!

Fall Fun

Even though I have seemingly skipped a whole season, I have not given up on blogging about the rest of our 2011. I have been frantically making costumes and frantically cooking for parties and frantically going to school presentations and frantically shopping for Christmas and trying to meet deadlines at work (which are always over the holidays for some reason) and literally have to wear my tennis shoes every day because I don't know when I will need to run. But...it has been so much fun and the boys make it all worth it.
Fall here was beautiful and we had a lot of good times. I personally like fall because there are so many exciting activities to use as lubricant for our daily grind.

Roland and Duncan dressed for Awanas' cowboy and indian themed trunk-or-treat.

This is what BFF is all about. This is Roland and his friend Dallas in the corn maze.

Roland taking a rest in the corn crib.

Classmates: Henry, Juliette, Samuel and Gunnar (another BF).
Duncan and classmates on their way to find their pumpkins.

Searching, searching...

Found it!

While Henry didn't get to go to the pumpkin patch, he did get to experience his first state fair. Here he is enjoying his free "you are so cute" elephant from some friendly carnie folk.

Jurrasic Park.

Couldn't resist getting a picture of my handsome guys with their babysitters.