Thanksgiving Fun!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving with the Diamond family. Good company and good food (despite the oven breaking!) were enjoyed by all. Alex had so much fun with everyone and especially adored his cousins and their dog, Max. He didn't quite understand that Max can't hear so well and doesn't really follow orders from a two year old, but he finally realized that he could pet Max and they bonded that way, as well as over treats.

Here are some pictures of the cousins.

Joshua read lots of books to Alex and became his hero.



The boys had lots of fun playing music together.



I think Alex would have taken home all of Seth's stuffed animals if we would have let him. Seth was kind enough to send a little, black doggie home with us.

Following up on our guest post about Alex's first sleepover, Alex's friend Cecily stayed over here last night, and the kids had tons of fun! Here are some of the highlights.

Playing pretend -- yummy!



Fun under the rainbow!

They've started a band!

Glow sticks are the perfect way to end an evening.

A little bike riding in the neighborhood on a beautiful fall day.

Catching Up

I've gotten a bit behind on posting, so I will share a couple of stories and then we'll have a guest blog entry!

Alex is very concerned with the end of Daylight Savings Time. Ever since the clocks turned back it has been dark when we pick him up from school. For the first couple of weeks, he commented every night on the ride home about it being "dark outside." He really does not like it and wants to know where the light is. We have tried to explain it to him, but it's a fairly abstract concept, so it's taking a while to sink in. We have only just gotten to the point where he may go a night or two without commenting on it.

He's also been really into singing lately. He will often ask to sing specific songs and has even started making up songs that he wants us to sing. "Sing the football song. Sing the jumping song." Now maybe these are songs he knows from school that we don't know, but when we ask him to sing them he just insists that we sing the song. Fortunately, we do know most of the songs he wants to sing, including his latest favorite, the Iowa Fight Song.

Alex had his first sleepover a couple of weeks ago, so here is a guest post from Cecily's mom about all the fun they had. We are looking forward to having Cecily over to our house for the next sleepover for lots of chasing, giggling, and playing!

The Menagerie

Alex is very lucky to have some talented knitters in the family. Grandma C. and his cousin Carolyn have made him some beautiful toys. The menagerie now includes a rabbit, an elephant, a turtle, a penguin, three mice, Goldilocks and the Three Bears, and a hampster in a beret, who we named Hubert. Alex has decided that the elephant's name is Tuffy. We have absolutely no idea where this came from, but it's stuck. Thanks Grandma and Carolyn!!

Our Little Monkey

Alex had a Harvest Party at school today and got to wear his monkey costume for the very first time. He really liked it and had a lot of fun. They even painted his face to go with the costume.

Go Hawks!

We had a great trip to Iowa. Lots of fun with friends and family, even though we sadly failed to get pictures with some of them. Alex enjoyed seeing his friend Olivia again and meeting her new siblings, Henry and Audrey. He got to see the Iowa Homecoming parade and had plenty of opportunities to say "Go Hawks!" (which he says pretty much everytime he sees the Hawkeye symbol).

He loved playing with his cousins and having them read to him. He also got stories from Grandpa and the (now) annual trip to the apple orchard with Grandma.

We even saw our first snow of the season!

Playing in Iowa City. Whee, slide!



Watching the parade with Daddy.



Bedtime stories from Grandpa.



Feeding goats from a bucket.



It's very high up there.



Posing with Grandma.



Fun with pumpkins!

Three Sisters (not by Chekov)

Both of my sisters were over yesterday, and Alex had a great time with his Aunties. He was a little squirmy for the pictures, but we managed to get a few smiles.