Rockford IL Children's Museum

On Thursday we made a trip up to Rockford IL to meet my friend Lisa and her son Tyler at the children's museum there. What a great place for the boys! They had an amazing little kids section that we could have spent all day in... that is if they didn't have a FARM section!!!

Camden combining a field of corn

Both boys in a tractor (sorry Grandpa, it's the wrong color tractor!)


And the tractor table- Donovan spent a LONG time here!

Water table fun


Donovan operating the crane

Camden operating the crane

The wind tube was a lot of fun too- they would put a fuzzy ball or a scarf in one hole and the wind current would shoot it through the tube and back out another hole.

Mechanic Camden

Mechanic Donovan

My Little Caregivers

All of the sudden Camden and Donovan are very interested in taking care of their teddy bears. They will fill every seat in the kitchen with stuffed animals and feed them lunch or sknak (snack). Today I caught them taking care of diaper changes and naptime!




Nigh-Night Corduroy!

Even teddy bears need to use the potty!

School Show

Today the boys participated in their first school show! How stinking cute is this group of two year olds singing Jingle Bells and Rock the Baby?!!



I also love how serious Donovan is about his jingle bell ringing and rockin' that baby. Camden on the other hand is just having a blast jumping.

Santa's Wonderland

Today we visited The Bass Pro Shops in Bolingbrook. What a fun time the boys had! They got to explore the whole store- rode in the glass elevator, watched the fish in the huge fish tank, climbed in and out of tents and saw lots of animals (on the walls!)

After exploring we went over to the Santa's Wonderland area. They played with remote control cars/trucks, climbed on 4 wheelers, and "drove" a big boat.




We also attempted a Santa visit, 3 times! The whole way to the store "I see Santa, I see Santa". The boys excitedly got into the line (store was empty so luckily there were no other people in line) They took one look at Santa and ran. Super! A little while later they got curious and said they wanted to go back. Okay, I'll admit- I did tell them Santa had candy for them. Donovan with his little legs shaking and Camden with a death grip on my hand approached Santa for their little candy cane. As soon as they had their treat, they were outta there! Now, I'm not one to force the jolly man on my kids- no reason to traumatize them when we are supposed to be steering them away from strangers so I was going to just let the whole picture with Santa thing go.

Well, Santa paid Camden a visit at the remote control car table.

Now Camden is cool with Santa- because Santa gave him a car to play with. Meanwhile, Donovan has put himself in the stroller still clutching his candy cane "I go home, I go home". Finally when we were getting ready to leave I asked them one more time if they wanted to see Santa. Surprisingly they wanted to! We finally got their picture taken with Santa... of course Mommy had to be right there too!

Light Box

Grandpa Reyelts made us this awesome new light box. Mommy plugs it in and turns off the lights for a fun new way to play!



Today we brought it into the basement to make it really dark. Mommy put a tub of rice on top of the light box- it was so much fun!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We spent this Thanksgiving at Grandma and Grandpa Reyelts house. Uncle Dennis, Aunt Marla, and Cousins Jonathan and Kristin came too with Great Grandma and Grandpa. The boys had lots of attention as they played cars and looked through the John Deere ad that Great Grandpa brought.

Reading some books while we work up an appetite!



Grandma's yummy ham


Table #1- Do you see Donovan eating out of MY jello salad bowl? Yea, I never got any of that! He also scooped most of the jelly off my dinner roll. Next time, he sits by Grandpa!

Table #2

Donovan and Camden enjoying their Thanksgiving meal- Camden's obviously eying something good on Donovan's plate!

Painting = Smiles

Nothing brings a smile to Camden and Donovan's faces like paint!

Trick or Treat!

This year the boys really got into the spirit of Trick or Treating. As we headed down the sidewalk the boys just thought they were going to Kasey's house (our neighbor girl who babysits the boys occasionally). They were very confused when we made the go up the first neighbor's driveway. After two house of that they realized all these people were giving them snacks! Cool! We hit all the houses on both sides of our street. The boys came home with very full treat bags. The best part- the cars that Kasey's mom gave them. A great distraction so we could hide the rest of the candy!

Off to trick or treat- Look at those excited faces!


Camden's turn to ring the doorbell


They were so excited to get back to our house, Camden tripped and dumped his bag. Donovan quickly "helped" Camden pick up his candy (right into his bag!)


Donovan and Camden- Halloween 2011








Camden and Donovan with Baby Rylin

More Pumpkin Farm Fun!

Here is our trip to Dollinger Farm in Channahon. It was a Monday so Rylin was with us that day. The boys Great-Aunt Rose met us at the pumpkin farm for a little while too.


climbing the haystacks

Donovan playing in the boat

checking out the "tent"

Aunt Rose pulling the boys

Camden driving the fire truck

The 3 kiddos- no chance of getting anyone to look at the camera!

My un-photogenic boys




Off to Bengston's Pumpkin Farm... again! We got a great deal on Groupon so we took Grandma Reyelts one day after school. We rode the tractor/wagon "hay ride", visited the pumpkin patch, rode the train (a few times!), and went in the "fun barn". What a fun way to spend the afternoon!

Of course we had to check out the tractor.


Donovan and Grandma watching the tractor pull in

Camden on the train with Grandma

Boys in the corn pit