My two favorite elfs

These two boys are by the far the cutest 'elfs' I have ever met - I am truly blessed to be their Mamma.

Noah is wearing his own hand made cap - a new favorite

Snow pants rock!

A few weeks ago, we found a pair of snow pants for Noah in a Thrift Store. Noah was not quite sure that snow pants would or should be included in his wardrobe, and only reluctantly tried them on, mainly to please his Mamma. We are also grateful for fabulous hand me downs from the bigger cousins - the red jacket keeps Noah warm and dry.
Well, the snow fell, the temperature dropped, and it was time for snow play. It quickly became apparent that jeans is not the best uniform for outdoor, wet snow play; snow pants is the way to go.  The pants now hang right by the door, at the ready, for a quick get away to play in the at this point rapidly disappearing snow - although I am sure it is not the last of the white stuff before the trees bud again in the spring.

Santa's Workshop

In preparation for my quick trip to Sweden and Christmas, the UPS and USPS have been busy delivering brown boxes of various sizes to our door. The boys and Bob have taken on the responsibility for wrapping and labeling, while listening to Christmas music. With the snow outside, the chill in the air, boxes and wrapping paper everywhere, and Christmas tunes, it is sure beginning to look like Christmas here in Mount Clemens.

Sweet factory

Lukas and Noah are enjoying their elective class - home economics - making holiday treats. They have gathered the supplies from the candy store, and from the pantry shelves, lined up the recipes and tools; let the production begin.
Fortunately, our front hall is so cold it functions as a second fridge to store completed treats. This is also an area of the house where we seldom walk, which means there is less pilferage, I mean sampling, going on...
The tins are filled, the bags tied up, all is ready to for family holiday festivities.

What a difference a month makes

A few weeks ago we visited the Detroit Institute of Art. It has been in the news so much, we simply had to find out what all the talk was about. It is a great museum and since we had to cut our time short, we resolved to come back again. While Mamma was visiting the Swedish relatives, the boys headed to DIA.  It is not even four weeks between these two pictures.

Snow

It is snowing! The boys were very excited about the snow, and could not wait to use the newly acquired snow shovel. Noah and Lukas arm wrestled for who would use it first, only to quickly concede to other - shoveling snow is hard work.
Playing in the snow is not... and while Bob shoveled, they played.

Fun guy time

This was a guy weekend. Mamma flew to Sweden for a quick birthday celebration. Although there was some school, some chores, there was lots of fun. Most of it was not captured on photo, but it can all be summed up in Noah's expression -