A Kansas Thanksgiving

We decided to try our hand at driving to Kansas this year for Thanksgiving and we were pleasantly surprised at how well the kids did with the drive (especially Dex!)  We had made plans to stop in Oklahoma on the way there but when we reached Oklahoma in the early afternoon, the kids were so excited to see Nanny and Papa that they asked if we could drive straight through.  It was definitely a LONG trip, but so worth it so be able to spend more time with family in Kansas!

We unfortunately did not take a lot of pictures this trip, but we had a blast hanging out with all the cousins, having a wonderful Thanksgiving day meal (along with Black Friday shopping that Nanny and I now promise to never speak of again) and ending with a fun night going to a KU game!  So many fun memories made on this trip.  And now we know we can do that drive more often in the future!

(Nanny and I in line at Target on Black Friday.  We won't talk about what happened next...)

The third wheel

Poor Dex is constantly being dragged from game to game, practice to practice, activity to activity for one of his siblings.  I guess that's part of the deal when you're the 3rd kid. Being the youngest of 3, I remember many days on the sidelines of the soccer fields watching my brothers play and even working the concession stand with my mom.  Those were actually some of my favorite memories so even though I know it's exhausting for him, I hope one day he will look back on these days and smile.  Because I tell you what, he's got YEARS ahead of him of this!

Also, it goes without saying that he's usually the HIT of the game, no matter where we are.

I did finally sign us up for a class at The Little Gym which he absolutely ADORES and he does go to his little school on Mondays and Wednesdays so little by little, he's got his own thing going on too. :)

Frankenstein, a copy and a scary old man!

I think the days of our family-themed Halloween costumes are over unfortunately. The kids really like doing their own thing which was quite random this year! For the first time, we went on a Halloween hay ride in Glen Lake which was super fun.  Then, on Halloween night, we went to a friends house where a big group of kids gathered and played before trick or treating.  Dex didn't quite understand trick or treating yet, but I know next year he will be ALL about it.  The kids had an awesome time, as usual!  I think their favorite thing about Halloween is counting and sorting their loot when it's all over.  And I love that they know what candy is Mom's favorite (Almond Joy) because they don't love it so every single Almond Joy that they get comes my way!  WIN!

Mark took the kids to a pumpkin patch earlier in October so I had to sprinkle in those pictures too.

Happy Halloween from Frankenstein, a copy and scary old man!

The "B" says "buh"

Dex is a big fan of the Leapfrog DVD called "The Letter Factory".  The minute I put it in he was HOOKED and wanted to watch it any time we were in the car.  The video is super cute with the characters, Leap and Lily, learning the sounds that all the letters make.  A couple of weeks into it, we were playing with these foam letters that Nanny bought Dex.  They stick to the sides of the tub when they are wet.  Sure enough, he started holding each one up and saying the sound that it made!  We were all in shock!  That video was paying for itself in SPADES (ha). 

The first video is Dex right after he started watching the video (he's 19 months old here) and the second one is more recent.  He can identify all of the letters now and say all the sounds they make.  Take THAT Kindergarten!

We are working on shapes, colors and numbers now.  Where are Leap and Lily for those?!

Basket-ballers!

Every Summer, Jake and Maddie go to a basketball camp in Austin called Brandy Perryman.  It's a 4 day camp and they love it.  Last year, Jacob walked away with a few trophies.  This year, Maddie got her fair share!  I just love these videos I took of the awards presentation.  The Broxtermans were well represented!

Mini vacation at Great Wolf Lodge!

The big kids have been begging us to go back to Great Wolf Lodge ever since we went to the one in North Carolina a few years ago.  Since there is one in Dallas, we decided to take a couple of days away as a mini vacation this Summer!  This one was a bit different -- it had an outdoor waterpark portion of the resort which we loved (NC didn't have that) but it didn't have putt putt golf or bowling which was a bummer for the big kids.  I was a nervous wreck with a toddler around all that water even though Dex could have gone ALL DAY LONG!  It was a quick but fun trip and gave us a little taste of vacation before our upcoming CRUISE!

One of the downsides of traveling with the baby and having everyone all in one room is when Dex decides his wake up time for the day is going to be 5:15 am.  Instead of waking everyone up, we have to escape the room and find something to pass the time.  This resort was very close to the airport which  made watching the planes land very fun!