Deer Hunting!

The past few weeks have been pretty quiet.  Dale went hunting during the first weekend of deer season and the boys and I just spent a quiet weekend at home.  The boys were decked out in their Deer Hunting gear the day daddy left for good luck.  It must have worked because he got a button buck.  The following weekend Dale took me deer hunting.  Every time I get a chance to do any kind of hunting I never see anything, but just being out in nature is fun enough.  Well we saw three this time and I got my first deer!  I was pretty excited.  We also took the boys to their cousin Landon's 5th Birthday Party!  They had so much fun.  There was a pinata, cotton candy and a Bounce House!  Now we can't wait for Thanksgiving!

Will 

Max 

Levi 

Levi in the Bounce House! 

Max loving his cotton candy! 

Will in the bounce house! 

Me and Levi going down the slide! 

Dale, Will and Max going down the slide! 

My first deer!

Will's scratched up face.

So while playing in the leaves last Wednesday Will stepped on a walnut and fell to the ground.  We're not sure what he fell on, but here is his battle wound! He bled and his eye was swollen for a couple of days.  It's already looking much better.  We're just thankful he closed his eyes!

Our first family vacation!

Dale and I want to take our family vacation at Table Rock Lake next summer.  Since neither of us knew of places to stay we decided to take a long weekend with the boys to check out some resorts.  We left on Thursday afternoon and the drive down went great.  The boys didn't get antsy until about the last 15 minutes.  By then we were on some windy roads so they entertained themselves by saying "wee" every time we went around a corner or down a hill.  When we arrived in our room they were so excited and were running around, well, like they've been strapped in a car for 4 hours! 

Friday morning we walked around our resort to check things out and then went swimming in their indoor pool.  They had so much fun that they wore themselves out.  After their nap we drove around scoping out other resorts for next summer's vacation, went to dinner and then drove through the Christmas light display at Shepard of the Hills.  The boys were really quiet after a while and we didn't know if they were even looking any more, but then there was a display that was a bath scene.  We were telling them to look at the ducks in the bath tub when they started saying "Elmo".  Dale and I were confused when we looked up and there was a very tiny bottle of Elmo soap on the shelf in that display.  I guess they were paying attention!

On Saturday morning we went down to the lake to feed the ducks.  The boys were quacking at them as if they were having a conversation.  We then took a walk on the trail to look for deer.  As we are walking Levi is yelling out "deer, deer" like he is calling for one of our dogs!  After their nap we went to Silver Dollar City for their Christmas Festival.  We played, rode a train and saw beautiful Christmas lights.  On the train ride there is a stop at Grandpa's house so that he can tell you about Christmas.  It was completely quiet when Levi sees the donkey on the nativity scene and starts naying like a horse as loud as he can!  It was very cute (at least to us)!  We finally came home today.  The drive home wasn't as calm as the drive there, but wasn't bad either.  Our first family vacation was very fun and was deemed a success.  Now we can't wait to go back in the summer and get out on the lake!

Eating breakfast!  Will, Max & Levi

Max

Will

Levi 

Levi, cold and pooped out! 

Will, cold and pooped out! 

Max, not cold and not pooped out!  He would have stayed in the pool all day if he could.  

Will excited to see all the balls to play in at Silver Dollar City!

Max sticking the balls in the vacuum at Silver Dollar City! 

Levi watching all of the balls fall from the ceiling at Silver Dollar City! 

On the Choo Choo!  Levi, Will, Max & Dale 

Me with Will, Max & Levi back at our cabin. They were in rare form and being very goofy!

Will thought he was funny by walking around with his coat on his head! 

Who knows what Levi is planning! 

Max wrestling daddy!

Feeding the ducks with daddy.  Max, Levi & Will

Leaves!

So it's officially the beginning of leaf season at Hackmann Lawn & Landscape!  With how many trees we have, there was plenty to clean-up around here.  The boys watched out the window all morning as the leaves were being blown to the street to be vacuumed up and taken away.  But to the boys surprise, they left a big pile of leaves in the back yard for them to play in.  They ran through them, jumped in them, were thrown in them and even slid down the slide into them!  It was an afternoon of excitement at the Hackmann's!

Max, Will & Levi 

Levi 

Max & Will 

Will 

Max 

Will 

Levi

Horsing Around!

Dale's mom had a toy horse in her basement from when she was a little girl that she wanted the boys to be able to enjoy.  Of course, since it's older, it's not quite up to today's safety standards!  It's metal, has springs hanging out and the legs are very wobbly with a little rust on them.  So after a little TLC Dale got the horse up and running.  The boys think it is awesome!  They sit on it rocking back and forth saying "yee-ha"!  Grandma is very excited that her grand babies are riding the same horse she did.  Here are some pictures of our cowboy's taking "Betsie" for a trial run as we were working on her!

Levi:It's a little blurry, but the look of excitement on his face is priceless!

Max 

Will