Deck the Halls

This weekend, we put the finishing touches on Vandyville for the holiday season.

Mom is making huge strides.  She let Daddy and I do the Gingerbread house by ourselves!

and B and I never tire of working on the tree.  Thanks Grandma and Bugga for the Jingle book which lets us add an ornament each night!

"ooh... a little off balance just riiiight here."

Our best work yet!

Happy Holidays everyone!

Date!

What a treat!  Mom took the day off to spend with JUST me.  We had a great Thankfulness party at school, then we went out to eat, bowling and to a movie - all my choices!

I'm easy going and mild mannered to a fault and B is well.... not.  Pair that with his fondness for Mom and you can probably see that I don't get much 1:1 time with her.  Even so, I didn't hesitate to SMOKE the old gal at bowling :)

We are still the very best of friends and she's still my #1 girl.  Thanks for a great date Mom!

Audition Tapes?

 

We have been working very hard in choir class.  Last Sunday, we got to sing at Vinny Ruth's baptism in front of the whole church.  Guess which guy was in the FRONT row?!  We sang "Father Welcomes."  I also did a little "Good Christian" for Mom and anyone else who has to miss our Advent show this year.  Oh, and in case you can't tell, the background singer on the Booty verse is B.

Morrison the Miracle Worker

As you know, B and I are never short on sMothering love!  One person who loves us to bits and pieces had an operation last week and boy did we worry.  We pray for her every night and we really miss her.

Morrison is responsible for snapping me out of my nasty spell and she has also made B smart!  How amazing is this woman?!

We all love her to bits and pieces and hope she enjoyed her get well cards.

Hurry Back Mrs. Morrison!

Chrisman is Here!

As soon as the last spiderweb is down, Mama Vandy starts to get excited for Christmas.  Okay, we ALL get excited!  This weekend, we got the decorations out and went to town!  Coley and I did our little trees.  This year, Mom let me do most of mine all by myself!  Then, we found this awesome book Grandma and Bugga recorded for Coley and we think the way Grandma says "Buhgah" is SO funny, we've been playing the last page over and over for a whole day now!

Today after school, we got down to business again.

I like to call that bearded dude "Christman" and keep telling everyone "Christman is here!  Christman is here!"

It's never to early to start getting in the holiday spirit :)

Two Little Vandys Against Hunger

We are so very blessed.  Lately I've been praying for the kids in the Phillippines who had to go through a terrible hurricane.  This week, we had two big days of packing food to send to them and to other people who don't even have enough to eat.  This year, we brought the big guns on Day 2 - Daddy!

As usual, B was the youngest little food helper.  That never stops him though!  Really... nothing does ;)

By now, I'm pretty much an expert.  I worked 90 minutes on Friday and 2.5 hours straight on Saturday.  That on top of lots of prayers is the least a kid like me can do.

I told you B works hard!

What an awesome event and a great way for little hands like ours to give back.

Snow!

Look what came to Vandyville last night! 

We were going out of our minds, so Mom got us dressed and threw us outside for a few minutes before we had to leave for school.  We got right down to the business of shoveling the grass.

We put a lot of it on the sidewalk, which we felt was a much better spot for it.

And I put quite a bit more on my little brother, which is of COURSE where snow belongs.

When Mom came out, we'd abandoned shoveling the grass in favor of one of our top outdoor games - beat the tar out of the mysterious box!  Turns out the box belongs to Comcast.  We found out because when the whole neighborhood lost phone, internet and cable that morning, the guys were outside working on some damage...  Must be those darn coyotes!

The Ellusive Booty Fish

Last night, we demanded Mom bring us all of our scuba gear during bath time.  I quickly donned my mask and snorkel and went sub level.  I came right back up and announced I'd found a booty fish!  B thought that was hilarious and went looking for himself shortly afterwards.

He was not as good with the whole breathing through the tube thing and only managed to find a knee before choking down a mouthful of Johnson and Johnsons bubbles.

Me.... I made plenty of fleshy discoveries and had a great time announcing to Mom each time I saw something!  Who says baths are for relaxing?!  We can find adventure anywhere!

New York! New York!

While we got to spend the weekend cuddling with Grandma and Aunty Heaven, Mom and Dad went off to NY for a big race!  They were walking the street of their hotel when they saw this strange man dressed as Lady Liberty! Mom tried to take a picture and the rest is history...

Then on Sunday, Mom finally got to run the big race!  She didn't have a great race, but did have an awesome experience!

We were sure glad to have them back Monday night and got right down to work building Cole's new 3D Statue of Liberty puzzle.

Even puzzles are combat items around here.

Oh, and you should know....  Mom and Dad were told by each and every grown up who helped with us that my big brother was SO good and so very helpful.  We're so lucky to have you Coley!  Love you big bro!

RE-Takes!

Attention Grandparents and Godparents!  Expect delayed shipments on your updated school picture this year.  I believe there is no need to explain why..

Happy Halloween!

Trick or Treat was delayed in Vandyville this year.  That didn't stop us from having a blast though!  Jonah and Sissy, Keegan and Katie and Ailyn, Marleah and Macauley all came over to play.

We all loved the fog machine.  Thanks Brownie!!

It wasn't easy to get us all together, but Mama Carpenter threatened to keep us there ALL NIGHT if we didn't stand still for one picture!

That worked!

We didn't even plan the Star Wars theme :)  Keegan is just that cool.

Finally, the time came for the Dads to take us out.  Okay, the Moms pretty much booted us, but we weren't complaining too much!

Bye Bye Mr. Bones!

There weren't many other kids out in our neighborhood.  We run this place!  We didn't make it long though.  It was cold and we were tired.  Also, we didn't care that much about Candy.  Give us a few pieces and we're happy! 

Not long after we got home and settled, one last trick or treater rang the bell.  We answered and saw a giant (but very pretty) witch!  It was GRANDMA!!!  She came with a giant box of costumes from when Daddy and Uncle Scott were kids AND she stayed with us!  She was our favorite treat this year for sure.