Halloween

Happy Halloweeeeeen in rounds.

                                          
This is the second house where we went trick-or-treating. The first was a total disaster for Nathan. He saw a kid in a skeleton costume and got freaked out, so that is why at this house, he is ecstatic upon finding "no skel-tuns!!" Feeling much more comfortable, he takes liberally of the goodies. He was absolutely the cutest kid in a costume.

Sometimes the boys get bored of playing with their toys. So we try to be creative and often they end up inventing their own recipes for fun. Like...

going outside and sitting on Ben. Or...

customizing their undershirts. Or...

                                                            playing horsey. Or...

                                                                        
 trying to play "airplane" with Nathan. While holding onto Nate's hands, Buster is supposed to lift him off the floor with his feet. But this what happens every time without fail. Lastly...

Nathan goes off into his own world and makes these "vroom vrooming" sounds, which surprisingly seem to entertain him quite well. This is one of my favorites to watch because his lips really showcase his chipped front tooth, one of his cutest features.

Fore!!!!

Here are the big boys taking some hacks at the local driving range!  Buster had a few really good ones - 25-30 yards!  I still can't get him to uncross his hands though so...lots of work to do there.  He wanted to hit with my driver and hounded me the whole time we were there.

Peter will never be a golfer.  This was the second swing at this same ball and after he missed it completely he threw down the club with both hands and I swear it was like Happy Gilmore all over again - beware Bob Barker ("I hate that Bob Barker!").  He did hit a few despite his baseball follow-through and also managed, somehow, to hit the white wooden divider between our stall and the one to the left.  The loud "thud" turned every head on the range - the boys thought it was awesome!  Can't wait for our first 9 hole round.  A case study on replacing divots!

Peter savors.

Buckle up. This is a long video but it shows in reality how Peter eats. When he takes a bite, he chews, tastes, licks his lips, and then licks and licks and licks. His tongue meticulously searches for EVERY crumb on or around his mouth. He savors every morsel, no doubt tasting each individual ingredient in his bite. Here he is eating a cupcake - a whole one - which might take up to 45 minutes. He thought, as I was pointing the camera at him, that I was about to take a picture of him, when instead I was filming the whole time. That's why he keeps looking at the camera that way and asks near the end why I haven't taken the picture yet.

Can you see why we love Peter??

The future of British Auto

A guy called looking for a convertible top boot. So after looking through buildings 1,2, and 3, shelves of tonneaus, the barn, and 6 foot weeds, we finally located one in a beastin van. Go figure. We dug it out of the mouse nests and it needed a cleaning. Luckily for us, Nate volunteered. No fear, Voelckers family. The future of British Auto is here.

The next video is one I took after the one above. Nate saw me filming him and got embarrassed - it's like he didn't know what to do and he was trying to say "Now you see it...(clap)...now you don't!"

Christmas 2011

This post is a little late but we couldn't not publish these pictures. We had a fast but excellent Christmas. Christmas is at its very best with kids.



We know what you're thinking- Please Santa, let there be an AbMaster under the tree addressed to Nate....is that candy in his hand??








Here's Nate, upon finding a fruit snack
in his stocking.














Here's Buster fully embracing the speed and greatness of Gordon.















And finally, Pete. Looking dapper in his new jammies, although little matters to him except for his trusty blanket and his thumb.

Grandma, Aunts, Uncles, and Cousins

The worst thing about leaving Nebraska was parting with Ben's family. The boys had become so very close with his mom and it was wonderful to see her on a regular basis. Nathan used to rush the door with arms wide open whenever he saw her coming up to it. She used to catch him up in her arms and say, "You do a lot of good for an old grandma!"

We miss you, Jill. It did a lot of good for us to be near you, too.




We grew close to Eric and Julia, as well, and fell in love with "Graham Graham", as the boys used to call him. He's the sweetest kid on the planet! Once when he was over playing at our house, he said to me "You so fun A-kuh!" Made my day. It would have been great to let these boys grow up together.























Here are the boys camping out for Friday movie night with more of their cousins. This was a favorite event and has now become a weekly highlight in our family.










How else could we get them to do this??