Thanksgiving

We spent Thanksgiving in Door County with Noni. The boys love the hotel that we stay at, love swimming in the pool and the playground. We went out to dinner for Thanksgiving and it was a great time. We hung out with Sara, Slade, Josie and their new baby. Torin is in awe of Slade as he fishes and hunts. Slade is actually pretty cute with Torin about it showing him video of some of his fishing trips and talking to him about it. Torin just sits there in awe listening to him, mouth wide open. We of course went to paint pottery as the boys love doing it. It was a great weekend and a lot of fun!

Noni and her boys...

Sleepover at Noni's....For Mommy's birthday Noni took all of the boys for an over night. They were actually really good as there was a promise of cinnamon rolls in the morning...a Noni special :)

Three Generations

Papa Bernie is definitely someone that the boys love. They love to visit him even though we don't get there as much as we would like to. Here are some pictures from his 93rd birthday party. I love all the boys together with Papa!

Vaughn, Berc, Bjorn, Bernie and Torin

This was a cute pic from the day....

Teddy

For Berc's first birthday he got this crazy over sized Teddy Bear. We saw it in Costco and showed it to him just to see what his reaction would be. Not scared at all he grabbed it with two hands and buried his face into it hugging it.

Now hugging Teddy is a daily occurrence. In the morning we'll say "Give Teddy a hug" and he just runs and buries himself into Teddy. He just loves his Teddy so much and it's just so cute how he cuddles and kisses him....

Hugs....

Kisses....

Water park fun

Being that Bjorn travels for work one of the perks is that we get a free night at the Depot Hotel in Minneapolis that has a water park in it. It's fun for the kids as it's just the right size for our age kids. Last year we gave the free night to our neighbors as the boys had been disrespecting and it was a hard but good lesson for them to learn.

This year it was a ton of fun except for Bercan who was cutting his four front teeth at once. He was fine if he was in the water as he loved it but he was miserable out of it. He ended up going home with Bjorn that night because was just so uncomfortable.

Here are a few photos of the water park fun:

Berc having fun in the water

A weekend of fun with my boys

Playing in the big pool

Vaughn and his friend that he met at the water park

Berc going down the slide

Loving the water park....

Halloween

Another year of craving pumpkins, going trick or treating and having our friends over afterwards for chili and fun.

Pumpkin carving was fun this year. Bercan sat and played with the drawings that we used for the carving. Vaughn did an alien from Ben 10 and Torin and I worked on doing a spider together. Bercan had some pegs that we stuck in for him. Because Bjorn was on a 2 week traveling stint with a short break home he didn't get time to do one this year.

This year Vaughn went as the white power ranger. He didn't want to wear the mask that came with it, instead he wanted me to paint the face on him. Being that I am not the best artist I thought it turned out pretty well. Vaughn being the laid back one of the family thought it was AWESOME!!! Vaughn only made it to about 4 houses and said that is was boring. That's just Vaughn being a goof ball. Torin went as a skeleton but would not wear the mask as it was "Too embarrassing". This is just a Torin thing, everything is embarrassing to him. Bercan went as a dragon. This was Torin's costume when he was little. Bercan looked just like him but of course 5 pounds bigger. He loved getting dressed up and walking around in his dragon costume.

It was a fun Halloween but busy with getting all 3 dressed up and out for trick-or-treating. Next year should be even more interesting with the 3 of these crazy boys...

The dragon

Happy dragon and Gorilla

I love how Berc is looking at Bjorn in this picture...

Vaughn's Ben 10 Alien

Torin's spider

Berc digging in with a safety knife

Berc's pumpkin

Here is Bercan playing a game with Bjorn. Funny thing is that as soon as Bjorn put the mask on Berc gets scared until the mask is put back on that he's good to go again.

Fall Fun

This Fall was a busy one. From both of the boys starting school, soccer, hockey, Berc's birthday and then volunteering with a husband who was gone for two weeks just seemed to about put me over the top. However, amidst all of that we still had time to get in a little fun out in the Fall weather which was some of the best that we have had in a very long time. Here are a few photos from the fun times.

A beautiful Fall sunset from our backyard

Bercan playing in the sandbox.

Torin preparing to catch a football

Yes, it was this nice that Vaughn is in shorts and sleeveless shirt.

Berc in the leaves

I just love that these two love sleeping together. It's many nights that we will find them together snuggling. This is Vaughn's pose which seems that he always is a little crazy.

Bercan 12 months

I want to post a few things about Bercan at 12 months as to not forget them about him when he is older. He's a determined little man whatever is said about the third one being laid back does not apply to him. He'll go with the flow but laid back is something that he does not know about. Since he started to crawl at 6 1/2 months we have been on the go. At 9 months he started to crawl up the stairs and on to things. He's a mover and a shaker. He's got a smile that can melt just about any heart and the most beautiful blue eyes. Berc's also got a lot of personality. When he's not happy he doesn't just cry he'll give you a mouth full of baby smack. I can't remember when he started doing it but it's been at least 6 months that he's been able to "trill". I've attached a movie clip of it as it's really an unusual thing for a baby but he's got it down pat. He loves to eat most things but is the most picky eater out of the boys. He adores his brother and loves his Mommy and Daddy so much. He loves to give smooches and hugs. Even though his temperament can be a challenge at times we feel blessed that God gave him the ability to express himself. Here are a couple of photos and a video clip of Berc at 12 months.

Close to taking his first steps....