Christmastime is here!

With Thanksgiving over and December here tomorrow, we decided that this afternoon would be a good time to put up decorations. We bought a full-size artificial Christmas tree and set it right in the middle of our front windows.

Mason was too young to put decorations our little tree the last two years, but he had a lot of fun with it this year.

Mason and Jeni smiled for this awesome picture, but our dumb camera didn't focus correctly. I'm posting it anyway.

It took a few takes, but we finally got a nice family picture, maybe one of our last as a trio.

More Thanksgiving visitors

This weekend, my family came to visit for a day. Mason woke up Saturday asking when Joe and Corey would be here. They watched movies, went to the park, and played all day. Before Joe and Corey left for home, the three boys put on new pajamas from Nana.

Before getting his pjs on, Joe entertained everyone with a little dance.

Corey showed off his tongue long enough for me to get a picture.

The boys are getting better at posing for pictures, though Mason is starting to lose interest in "cheesing" for the camera.

Before Joe and Corey left, Papa read some books to the boys.

T-minus 3 weeks

Thanksgiving was also the end of Jeni's 37th week of pregnancy. Here's a picture Jeni, Mason, and Pea Soup to mark the occasion.

Just today Pea Soup shifted around so her back is now directly in front, rather than off on Jeni's right side. Is this a sign?

Thanksgiving

We didn't travel for Thanksgiving this year due to Jeni's "condition." Instead, her family came down for a few nights.

We didn't make Jeni cook. I made turkey, sweet potatoes, and pies. Mason's grandpa made potatoes and dressing.

Mason helped Uncle Chris put out the olive tray.

Mason took a bath and Chris drew some nice scenes on the wall.

Mason spent a lot of time with his Bubba, but we didn't get any pictures.

Two pictures

Here are two recent pictures of Mason.

First, here he is in front of a house decorated with pumpkins in Arthur.

And here's Mason and me this morning after Mason finished his first puzzle (with a lot of help). I think he did it at least five more times today and has gotten better at fitting the pieces each time.

Raking leaves

Last weekend we raked...and raked...and raked. Our trees are lovely most of the year, but when the leaves fall my attitude towards them changes. This year we filled 19 bags.

Jeni is now 35 1/2 weeks pregnant, but she still was able to help by raking. Bending over is a bit problematic so I did most of the bag filling. Mason mowed the lawn when he wasn't jumping into leaf piles or playing with his toys. Unfortunately, some of the pictures turned out fuzzy.

Dinner at Nana and Papa's

We traveled to the 'burbs a few weekends ago to see family. We won't be traveling much now until Pea Soup is born and we wanted to get in one last trip.

We had dinner at Nana and Papa's and Mason really liked playing with his cousins Joe and Corey (or C as Mason says). But first we ate.

Corey is six and is very good at playing with the younger boys. Here he is pushing them on a little cart. Minutes later while negotiating a turn in the foyer, the cart tipped. Mason cried a bit, but really just wanted to get back to playing.

Nana got a hug from all of the boys.

Mason was exhausted the next day and had a number of mini-meltdowns. I'm sure he thinks it was worth it though.