Sweet November

The holiday season is so much more fun with these little guys. Here's Noah helping Eric put goodies in a laundry basket for our church's annual Thanksgiving basket drive.

Brenton provided tunes while Noah and Eric got things organized.

Thanksgiving was even more fun this year since Brenton actually joined us! Last year, he slept through the whole meal.

Grand Don getting a T'Day meal picture with the boys.

Noah loved it when Andrew pretended that he was a baby.

Aunt Alyssa with sweet Pearl. Noah enjoyed playing fetch with her.

Lastly, on Nov. 28, I officially turned THIRTY! I still can't believe it, but what can ya do? Eric surprised me with a weekend getaway to downtown. We stayed at the historic Oliver Hotel, had lunch at Lattitude 35, dinner at Oodles Uncorked and dessert at Cafe 4. We did a little shopping in Market Square and capped off the night with drinks at Sapphire. It was such a fun, restful and relaxing weekend.

I just love our downtown, especially when the Tennessee Theatre marquee is lit up. On my actual birthday, the boys treated me to a Sullivan's dinner and cupcakes. Noah really enjoyed the birthday decorations around the house that Eric put up while I was still sleeping. I took the day off from work and had some much appreciated down time!

We're ready for Christmas already!

We typically wait until the day after Thanksgiving to decorate our house for Christmas and start watching Christmas movies, but not this year. The boys have been watching "Merry Christmas Charlie Brown," "Elf," and "Home Alone" already this month, and we decorated the house yesterday.

Needless to say, both boys are gung-ho, and Noah's been singing this song off and on for the past few days...Tyra got this clip on the way to take them to school this morning...it's show and tell day today, and Noah insisted on taking his santa hat and musical bear to school. So what if it's November 21, right?!

First Family Photo Shoot

One of Noah's best buds from preschool has a mom who does amazing photography for a hobby. We've never had a family photo shoot before and thought it was about time to have some moments frozen in time while the boys are still little. For the location, we opted for the historic train depot downtown. We really love all the shots she captured. Noah really hammed it up. Brenton wasn't quite into it and preferred to run around instead of stay still (as most 18 month olds would). Here are a few of our favorites from the session. We used them for our 2011 Christmas card and finally updated the frames in our living room with recent family pictures instead of ones with Noah as a baby!

Thank you for our beautiful family pictures, Teresa!

Homecoming on Rocky Top

The fall is by far Eric's busiest time of year work-wise. On the upside, we get to enjoy visiting daddy at work on Rocky Top. Last year, we participated in the Little Vol Walk as part of the annual Homecoming Parade. The boys enjoyed it so much that we did it again this year, plus getting to walk in the same parade as Smokey is right up Noah's ally.

After the parade, some of Eric's co-workers put together a craft area outside Neyland Stadium at Gate 21. The boys poured orange and white sand into small plastic footballs as a keepsake. They also got Smokey coloring books and crayons.

I guess Noah's legs were a bit tired after walking in the parade and running around Gate 21 after craft time, so he hopped in Brenton's little stroller. Brenton thought is was fun to get to push Noah in the stroller for once instead of the other way around!

The next day was UT's homecoming vs. MTSU. Eric had to get to campus really early to help set up the alumni tailgate in Circle Park, so I met him there later with the boys. The first thing Noah noticed was the giant inflatable Smokey.

The boys enjoyed kid games, a bounce house and yummy food from Buddy's. We love living on Rocky Top!

Brenton's favorite song

One of Brenton's favorite songs is "The Shark Song." Once he learned the motions, he'd go around to his teachers and try to get them to sing it for him...all the time! Miss Beth caught him in the action and sent this video to us. It's such a cute video and captures his personality perfectly. I can't believe he's 17 months old already!