Surprise Surprise!!

WOW!!! First off, I turn 40 on December 5th and it was Tom's 40th birthday on theNovember 25th. That night, after a crabcake dinner and chocolate cake dessert, my parents told us that they had to go to the airport and pick up someone, "He". Neither one of us knew who it would be. I thought it was my father-in-law, Tom thought it was his brother. ERRR, wrong, It was my best friend Jessica from Texas. I invited her to come for Thanksgiving, but she told me she already had plans... little stinker. I was truly shocked! My father-in-law and brother-in-law already had plans to come in on Friday midday, this we knew because the guys were going to attend the UM vs. NCState game on Saturday the 29th. Anyways, the 7 of us celebrated Thanksgiving together (my folks, the 4 of us and my best friend). The next day we had plans to go to our neighbors surprise birthday party.... ERRR.... it was for us! Surprise!! We walked in and there were all these people holding up pictures of us infront of their faces. What?? It was a big thrill. Tom had family and friends there from Miami,FL; Milwaukee, WI; Greensboro, NC and Ft Myers FL. WOW! We also had the "Treestand Posse" there as well as friends from Asheville, NC and friends from GUMP (the kids preschool). What a wild surprise! The food was delicious and my folks put on a little skit for us. Several people got up to talk, as well as Tom and I, and we just enjoyed ourselves. Here are some pictures.

They gave me the cake because we already sang for Tom on his actual birthday.

Everyone who was in attendance.

Our familes.

The three cousins and uncle Bob.

NC Museum of Natural Sciences + more leaves

One week later we decided to go and see "Rexie". The "Night at the Museum" dinosaur, except ours isn't a T-Rex, it's an Acrocanthosaurus ("Acro" for short). Acro is the T-Rex of the south. They have a full skeleton that was found in NC. They made a footprint to depict how big it was. Little man just loved looking at the dinosaurs and the video. I had a hard time pulling him away.

That's not a real deer... atleast not anymore. They have lots of stuffed and live animals to see.

In with the butterflies. Little man liked the pineapple plant.

Leaves, leaves, and more leaves!

Frolicking in the leaves!

Gosh! I just LOVE Fall. I don't think Tom cares for it as much as I do, that's because he has to suck up all the leaves with his riding lawn mower. Even though he wont admit it, I think he truly likes getting out there and riding around (smile). A few days before these pictures were taken it rained and a bunch of our trees shed all of their leaves. It was definitely the peak of the season. The temperature on this day was in the low 70's. Absolutely Beautiful! We went to Marbles in the morning and came home and took a nap (both of them- which is unusual for her). While they slept, I raked the front driveway and made a pile for them to attack later on. Our neighbor came over and played with the kids, she is the one with her feet in the air (in the pink shoes). My favorite picture is the last one, with all the leaves in the air after they threw them. We really had a good time!

The driveway, you can barely see the thing, I had to zoom in just to find it.

What happens when you get a running start and jump backwards into a pile? This!

I caught her doing it twice!

We just finished burying little miss when she popped out

Her attempt at falling in backwards.
Little man woke up
Daddy came home to help rake.
WEEEEEEE! What fun!

Marbles Museum

The Marbles Museum is located in downtown Raleigh and it is a fairly new museum. There used to be two separate places for kids to go and they combined creating Marbles. These guys really love going there and it is great fun. There are several different sections and the trick is making sure they are both in the same section. It isn't always easy and takes a little bribery, "After this I promise we will go to Chick-Fil-A for lunch and play inside if you follow me to get your brother!" That usually works (smile) Here are some pictures of our time there. The first section of pictures starts inside a real bus (half of it) and has all different types of activities and places to play. The bus, a boat, a car, a firetruck (wooden) but with real firefighter clothes, an ambulance as well as a pretend triage full of baby dolls and baby beds (the kind you see in a maternity ward - clear plastic). There is a post office with actual equipment to weigh the boxes, and a postal truck and dolly ramp to slide the packages on (as well as a lobby complete with lane poles to wait in line. There is a wooden barn (one sided) with huge stuffed animals (some bigger than the kids), a pretend front porch, as well as a pretend stage complete with dress-up costumes and curtain to pull back. There is a three table train set (they all connect) as well as a Jungle tree complete with rain forest stuffed animals. But, I think the thing the kids love most about that area is the food store (complete with all different types of containers and plastic food) as well as the home kitchen (complete with pots and pans). I can't drag them away from that area. Well. here they are:

I was driving the bus but mom is slow getting the camera open, and I don't wait!

You enter the play area from the bus this way... weeee!

She's so alert, she even put on her life vest before getting in. Way to go

Out of my way mom, I've got a fire to put out!

Ain't I a cutie.... I hittin' the streets of a big city.... lookin' for babes (babies that is!)

Here's the ambulance. He just turned on the light! Thank God it doesn't make noise (smile).

Here is doctor Stucker, setting up an IV for a patient

Mommy is now the patient

OH! We LOVE to shop and play cashier!!

When you leave the enclosed play area above, you can head towards the "water park". It's all about water there. For the older kids they can do experiments and there is a room that simulates life under the water (complete with huge stuffed animals that live undersea and many books for read as well).

Hey Mom! Look what I figured out.......

SPLASH!! Ain't it great mom!?!
When you leave the water park you head straight for the ole' pirate ship.

Swab the deck ye Matey!

LAND HO!

I believe you're right there Capt'n!

Anchors Away!

Upstairs playin' drums in Rio De Janeiro.

Here we are after playing for three hours, we could keep going!

Halloween, finally!

Well, it has taken me almost a month to find the time to get to the computer and figure out how to move this picture from snapfish to here. I am SO glad it finally happened! LOL

Little Miss' new favorite princess is Snow White so here she is as her favorite, and little man went as a "BumpBean". His costume is recycled, it was hers when she was 18 months old.

We left candy on our front steps and headed out just at dusk. We met up with a few neighbors and continued on our way. Boy, we aren't used to walking in this neighborhood, up and down the hills, so with the amount of walking we did, we would have hit 100 houses in our old neighborhood in FL. LOL Here we probably went to 40 houses. Either way the kids came home with pumpkins full of candy (ok, half to three-quarters full). They still have candy left over and a day doesn't go by without both of them asking me atleast twice a day for candy. (LOL).