Coming soon to a mailbox near you

We had some family pictures taken at Shelly Lake a couple of weeks ago and of course I think we picked the coldest day we have had here in Raleigh to do it on! It was freezing, especially being so close to the water! We were all bundled up before we started taking any pictures and all had to throw off our coats right before saying cheese! Our friend, Sherri Ferguson took them and did a great job!

Blake was worried in this one that he was shivering so much he might fall in the lake!

It's beginning to look a lot like..... Christmas!

Keeping in line with our annual day after Thanksgiving tradition... the rest of the world goes shopping, we put up the Christmas tree. Well, we actually used to be a part of the rest of the world, that is until we had THREE children. Hitting the mall on Black Friday is definitely not in our best interest any more! The boys were so excited and Asher was actually able to hang some ornaments this year. Caleb just wanted to hold everything (see comments below!) We love decorating for the season. Blake even got outside and hung our outside lights on the house. We are enjoying the tree even with all of the "patroling" I now have to do. With two running, chasing, crazy boys, a baby, and not to mention a dog, it's a wonder the tree has never fallen over!

O Christmas Tree!
Nate thinks the tree makes a great floor gym!

Hmmm.... what are these things?

Getting the tree out... Caleb is so excited he wants to "hold it" (observe exhibit A "holding" up his hands!)

Thanksgiving Blessings

Our Thanksgiving this year was rather low key. (Really it is every year since our families in Alabama and Arkansas are a bit far away!) We actually love just staying home and doing our own thing. Blake and I finally have all the cooking part down to a science and even managed to get everything finished at the same time this year so everything was nice and hot! We had turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy, sweet potato casserole, green bean casserole, cranberry sauce, and cherry and pumpkin pies! Blake made his own pumpkin pie for the second year in a row and did a spectacular job! His was quite proud of himself I must say! We are already talking about what new things to try and or add to the meal for next year. Of course the boys didn't quite appreciate the feast the way we do so in the midst of it all we made, yep you guessed it, PB& J! Definitely the meal of choice for Asher and Caleb! They did eat a few leftovers for dinner although I think they mainly just cleaned up the rest of the crescent rolls! The weather was gorgeous so the boys had alot of fun playing out on the back deck. We of course watched the Macys Parade, alot of football (as usual!) and just spent time together. I realized as I was making this post that all my pictures are of the boys, but thought it was fitting as we feel so blessed and thankful to have been given such precious boys. They are growing up so fast and we look forward to many more Thanksgivings with them as they grow.

My two little indians!

All FOUR Hickman boys (after all, Isaiah really was our first boy!)
Watching the Macy's parade.

Nate checking out the scenery

This was actually before any turkey was eaten!

Playtime with Natey- Nate!

We now have a three month old! I can hardly believe how fast time is flying by and am trying to savor every minute of the baby stage. Asher and Caleb are finally starting to realize that Nate can do something other than sleep, eat, and cry! The other night was so precious as I had Nate lying on the boys' spud bag. Asher and Caleb were running around like the banshees they are, but when they saw Nate decided to sweetly start talking and playing with him. I think this is really the first time that they have both been interacting with him at the same time. Nate was loving all the attention and really "talking" back to his brothers. I thought the moment was so sweet and quickly started trying to capture the moment. Here are some other pictures of Baby Nate.

tummy time

Hmmm.... not sure about this bumbo thing

Whew... all worn out

Tis the Season!

Well it is officially November the first! Yeah for the holidays! I know, I know, it's still rather early, but November first is when Blake officially permits me to break out the Christmas CD's. Now I don't listen to them exclusively, mind you, just here and there! When I used to teach second grade we would have parent/ teacher conferences around this time and to help me out during my day of conferences (definitely not one of my favorites), I would play my Christmas CD's in my classroom to help my mood! Thus became the November first tradition. This year for my birthday I got stockings for the boys from Pottery Barn Kids. I have always wanted them, but thought it best to wait until our family was complete to get them so they would all match and they wouldn't go changing the design on me or something! (Not that we are completely positive that our family is complete but....) I was so excited when they came and cannot wait to hang them up! Don't worry, I won't hang them until at least the day after Thanksgiving! In other news.... today was flu shot day for Asher and Caleb. Nate is still too young to get one. Caleb also came down with the hand, foot, and mouth virus so you can imagine what fun we are having with that! And Baby Nate has decided his thumb makes a pretty good paci!

the boys fun, new stockings
He has officially found his thumb!