Preparing for Christmas

Landen has been continuing his physical therapy and making great progress!

A couple of weeks ago we met Aunt Amanda & Uncle Derek at the local public library to visit Santa. We had to wait quite a while.

         (Landen with Aunt Amanda)

The wait was totally worth it though...Landen loved talking with Santa! We had browsed at the toy store earlier in the day so Landen was full of ideas of things he'd like to have. He talked about it for hours afterward.

After seeing Santa, the boys painted ornaments...

Those ornaments now have very special places on our tree.

The next day, Landen came down with the stomach bug. Yuck! Thankfully it was just a 24 hour bug but then Ethan caught it a few days later. Blah!

Sunday after church we headed down to Bass Pro for the boys to see Santa again and to pick up some Christmas gifts. We had lunch at Red Lobster before and Ethan held a lobster!

The boys had a blast at Bass Pro!

 

And for the first time ever...Ethan visited Santa! He's never been interested and we've never pushed it. He even sat out the visit at the library and played a game on the computer instead. But he agreed to being in the picture this time and when Santa asked him what he wanted, he couldn't resist.

This past weekend we met up with some friends and their kids and drive to TN for our annual drive-through light shows. One of them always has a live Santa that the boys enjoy seeing.

  

And the lights were awesome, as always! This picture does the no justice.

Now that we've seen Santa (a few times). We are anxiously counting down the days until Christmas...only ONE more week! Having kids make Christmas so much more magical! Heck, having kids makes LIFE so much more magical!!!

What Have the Raines' Boys Been Up To??

The boy's had a blast at our pastor's youngest daughter's 7th birthday party! 

      Landen is a HUGE fan of Twister. 

        Ethan patiently waiting his turn...

 Landen also very much enjoyed the piñata. So much so, he has requested to have one at his upcoming birthday party.

The older kids had to be blindfolded   before taking a swing at the piñata.

    Landen got a "horseback" ride from his friend, Gracen.

    They have started making their        

             Christmas wish lists!

Ethan just finished up another round of Super Saturday classes at WKU last Saturday. He took "Learning with Legos" this time and seemed to enjoy it. Since Saturday was the last meeting, the families of each student were invited into the classroom to see what they had learned and participated in building.

    Landen didn't enjoy waiting to go into    

    the classroom. He kept peeking in the 

    door trying to see his brother.

    Once he got inside the classroom, the 

    Legos were calling his name.

    We had a bit of a dilemna last weekend when each boy had a birthday party to go to at the same time. We ended up splitting up, Josh took Landen to a party at McDonald's indoor Playplace and I took Ethan to a skating party. (Of course Josh didn't take any pics.)

    Ethan attempted skating but ended up   

          declaring that skates are just

                "death traps"! Ha!

   We got out first snow of the season   

                      yesterday!

Landen is taking physical therapy (in the pool) twice a week now. He really enjoys it and his therapist is wonderful!

And someone needs two of his front-most teeth for Christmas! He has lost them both within the past month!!

Halloween & Snippets of the Days Since

   For Halloween we had a dinosaur (it was actually a dragon but Landen refuses to allow anyone to call it that, ha!)...

 

        And Steve from Minecraft...

Landen stood so close to the door while trick-or-treating that he nearly fell into the house when they opened it...ha!

The boys had a fun Halloween (even though it was moved back one night due to bad weather) and we ended the night with our annual tradition....meeting up with family and friends for potato soup at Grammy & Pepop's.

A few random pics from my phone...

              Breakfast on the go!

   Feeding their Skylanders obsession.

    He must have slept well, judging by    

    the bed head and swollen eyes, lol!

Landen and I had a few hours to kill on Saturday afternoon after a friend's birthday party since Josh and Ethan were hunting. So, we pulled out the cornhole boards and played "bean bags" in the house. Landen thought this was the grandest thing!

He did this little dance and yelled "Oh Yeah Baby!" each time he scored.

Ethan enjoyed snuggling Charleston at church on Sunday (with the help of Grammy). He even said "I wish he were my brother." I think he may have been dropping a hint my way, ha!

We have been cleaning out closets around here, trying to make room for the toy madness that is sure to wreck havoc on our house in December (Christmas and L's birthday). I was taking a picture of this toy to sell and Landen had me wait for him to hop in the shot and pose.

He had his first physical therapy appointment on Tuesday and loved it! His PT is super sweet and he talked about doing his "exasizing" the rest of the day. We go again tomorrow and he can't wait! I'm so thankful that he enjoys it and it's helping him, while at the same time he thinks he is playing.

He was walking around with this gun on Tuesday afternoon telling me to "Shhh" he was hunting! Can you tell what season is in full swing at our house?? Yep, you got it...deer hunting season!

We have to have a photo session after every story hour at the library now. Landen insists.

          

Ethan's 9th B-Day Celebrations - A Minecraft Gaming Party

{Ethan, 

Where does the time go?? These last 9 years, though fleeting, have been absolutely precious. I became a mom thr day  you were born and it has been the greatest joy of my life. You are the most wonderful son! I couldn't be more proud of you!! I love you Wiggle, and you will always be my sunshine! 

                               Love, Mom}

We celebrated Ethan's 9th birthday on Sunday afternoon here at the house. It was a Minecraft themed party and we had a gaming truck come up from TN. The truck had multiple screens inside so all of the kids could play video games at once.

Laura doty made the cake and cake pops. We even had some "Creeper" cake pops made to take to Ethan's class on Monday in celebration of his actual birthday.

                   Serious Gamers!

        Ethan was a little bit excited!!!

Uncle Derek just had a birthday too and so after Ethan's party, Landen helped him open gifts.

After Ethan went to bed...I decorated his bedroom...

    After escaping the maze of streamer on the morning of his actual birthday, Ethan blew out candles on his pancakes         

                ...an annual tradition.

Landen had a doctor's appointment this week and he was thrilled about pushing the elevator buttons! His big brother was at school so they didn't get to fight over this task as they usually do, darn (insert sarcasm!).

Landen and Josh enjoyed playing trucks while we waited for the doctor.

Landen enjoyed seeing his buddy Xander at the library's story hour Halloween party this week. The boys are very excited about trick-or-treating tomorrow night!