Illinois, here we come!

We loaded up the troops the weekend before Thanksgiving, and headed 15 hours up to Illinois to visit my sister, Jennifer, and her family. I know, crazy huh? It was actually a very fun car trip...the kids did great...and Luke and I actually got lots of time to hang and talk. (thank you DVDs!)

C.J., Tag, and Harley on our first morning there. Chillin on the couch...

Breakfast with Austin. Check out Tag's morning hair. :)

Still sleeping in their heads.

And introducing Noah Charles Howard, born October 12th. Isn't he the cutest??

And of course all the kids wanted to do was "hold Baby Noah!" Tag must have asked me this a dozen times a day. He loves his new cousin.

C.J. works for the John Deere International Headquarters there in Illinois....so it seemed like everyone in their neighborhood had a riding lawnmower! Well, Luke couldn't stand it. He had to mow their grass for them just so he could try it out. :)

And everyone sat out on the back porch to watch him!

Tag loved sitting in Noah's bouncy chair. What's up with the sunglasses??

Just swingin'. Noah is the best baby! I never heard him cry the whole time we were there.

We had to have a wait-list to hold Noah. :)
Their back yard is HUGE...so we had lots of play time out there. Wow, look how nicely mowed their yard is!

Nice hair-do, Beth.

Reading with the boys.

"Pease hold Baby Noah!"

Peace out, dog.

Another highlight of our trip was going up to C.J.'s office and climbing in all the big tractors. So much fun!

A scoop of cousins.

That's a big tire.

A great place to do an arabesque.

Helping with bath time the morning we left. All the kids were such big helpers with Noah and Austin. We had a wonderful time! Can't wait to go back again....