My Little Pilgrim...

Because David was home and available to watch the kids, I got to go to Grant's little Thanksgiving feast at school all by myself. (I love having my kids all around, but I truly cherish the one-on-one moments with them when I can just revel in their cuteness.) The kids did a little mini-program with a skit and a couple of songs and then they FEASTED. Here are a few photos...

( Yes, I gave birth to that head!)

After the feast, he showed me the little book he made about Thanksgiving, and I asked him to tell me about each page. Here's our conversation regarding the first page...

Me: "What is this a picture of, Grant?"

Grant: "That's a battleship."

Me: "Really? I kinda thought it might be the ship the pilgrims sailed to America on."

Grant: "Oh yeah. That's what it is."

Me: "Do you remember the name of the ship they sailed on?"

Grant: "Um...The Cauliflower?"

Close, sweetie. Very, very close.

Happy Thanksgiving, y'all! May you gather some sweet, sweet memories.

Poor babies...

My babies are both sick...Grant, Jenna and I have had a cold for days and days. Mine has gotten better, but their colds have degenerated a bit. On Friday, Grant was diagnosed with an ear infection. The Dr. said it was so bad that she didn't even need to use the pointy light thing (not official doctor terminology) to see it. And yesterday, we found out that Jenna has pneumonia. Pneumonia! Doesn't that sound really bad? You'd think that a decent Mom would have known sooner that her baby was so sick. Anyhow, they are both on antibiotics that must be really strong based on the yucky-tasting factor and should be on the mend soon. Also, we'd appreciate it if you would say a little prayer for them.

I haven't posted a photo in a while so here's a picture of them in healthier times. (Thankfully, Jenna has outgrown her habit of squinting one eye when smiling.)

A beautiful story...

Way to go ES*N for advocating adoption and running a story that openly talks about G*d!

Where I've been for the last three weeks...

Can it really be that the last real update I've posted about our family was on Halloween? Life in the three weeks since then has been truly chaotic. Let me help you understand...I want you to close your eyes and imagine with me for a momont. First, visualize your house. Now pretend that you have 40 year old storm windows that are leaky and creaky and dirty. Not pretty, I know, but take heart, because you are getting new ones from the insurance overage on your roof. Yippee! To get them installed, you have to remove all of your blinds and curtains and move all of the furniture two feet away from every window in your house. A little messy, huh?

Now, you aren't able to put all the blinds and windows back up right away because your husband is crazily putting the tile floor down in the new master bath addition so that the new carpet that will be installed a few days after the windows won't get ruined. But the new windows are fabulous and you don't really need all the blinds up right now any way. Sheets will do in a pinch. Also, you will need to iron all the curtains, because hubby just kind of tossed them on the couch when he was taking them down and they are all wrinkled. That's okay though, because they were really dusty and could use a good shake when you have time.

Which you don't have. Time, I mean, because you are getting new carpet in all the bedrooms! (Hurray! Go ahead and do a happy Snoopy dance. I'll wait.) Now get moving because you have to move every single thing from all of the bedrooms and the closets to the living room. Here's where it gets really messy. Take a minute to truly picture this...ALL of the furniture and toys and things under the bed AND the closets and the floor of the closets of six people all stuffed any old haphazard way into your living areas. Say it with me now...YIKES! Oh, and since your kids are going to be switching rooms after this whole crazy upheaval and since you don't want to chance ruining the new carpet and the rooms are empty of furniture, why don't you paint a couple of rooms real quick.

Whew! Take a minute to blow your nose (you're excited because you can after being stopped up for a week) and admire your new carpet and your squeaky clean windows and the new paint colors. Isn't it lovely?

Now, have fun putting it all back!

That's where I'm at now...Putting it all back. It's a much slower process than the dump and run of emptying. I have to sort and toss out and re-arrange and organize. But we are all settled into our new rooms for the most part, and it is heavenly. David and I are in the new master room addition that he has worked so tirelessly on for forever, it seems. Cole didn't move to a new room, but we re-arranged his furniture so it sort of feels new. Mason and Grant are enjoying having more space in our old bedroom. And Miss Jenna is loving her new pink princess room as she calls it. I was worried she would have trouble transitioning to being in a bedroom by herself, but she has done great. I think we'll be able to put up her big-girl bed in the next week or so.

So maybe now you understand a bit better why I haven't called y'all. And why I forgot your birthday. And why my kids homework didn't quite get all finished. (Homeschooling gets a bit difficult when you can't get to a table!)

Our life has been in a crazy upheaval for going on two years now, but I feel like we will soon be able to turn a corner and be normal again, or at least find a new normal. I'm so sorry that I haven't been able to focus on my friends and extended family for a while now. Attaching to Jenna and trying to hold things together for our family has consumed every last ounce of energy that I have. That will be changing soon, I hope. I look forward to re-connecting with you all and having some fun! Thanks for loving me in spite of my craziness and neglect....You guys rock!

Oh and I'll be posting photos once the sheets come off the windows and we get a picture or two hung.

Verse of the Day

A wise man's heart directs him toward the right, but the foolish man's heart directs him toward the left. --Ecclesiastes 10:2


Don't forget to vote.

Halloween Fun

You've already seen the fairy princess. Now meet Indiana Jones (Posing like the movie poster. You can't see his whip cuz his hand is too far back) and introducing...Little Elvis!

It's a crying shame I didn't get a better picture, but trust me, this costume was sweet! There were a ridiculous number of woman-hours put into it. Gran made the costume, and I applied the bling. The glasses with attached sideburns complete the look. Grant was quite a hit as he said, "Thank you. Thank you very much" in his deep Elvis voice at each house.

Cole's inspired creation.

We were all teasing Cole about the amount of effort (zero) that he put into his costume, but you wouldn't believe the number of kids that passed us that would say, "That kid has a really good ghost costume." Go figure...

Those Elvis glasses are a crack-up!

The whole crew...Elvis is playing his air guitar for you

Cutest little punkin...our niece, Sophia



The Aftermath...

Fairy Princess with a mouth full of Kit Kat


Cole found that a sheet on your head in 80 degree weather is rather stifling.

Indy with his loot.

Friday Funny

Wordless Wednesday

Preschool Fall Festival

Something to think about...

It's Great 2 B 3!

My little girl is 3! I just can't believe it. I want to write more about alll of my emotions and thoughts about the last 20 months with Jenna, but I will have to save it for another post when I have more time. For now, let me just say that Jenna is a far different little girl than she was when she first joined our family. At three, she is joyful, laughs with abandon, shys away from those she is uncomforable with (which still includes most men), has attitude to spare, is smart as a whip, and is a total girly-girl. We had her party a couple of days early and it included all of her cousins and our closest friends and their three kiddos.

Just monkeyin' around...

Waiting to blow out her Dora and Diego cake. Dora is "da bomb" in Jenna's opinion. She talked about her "Dora party, and Dora plates, and Dora cups, and Dora napkins" for weeks. When I showed her the cake I was ordering, she squealed with delight! Gosh, it's fun making someone's day!
The guests were Jenna's favorite people--her brothers and cousins and friends.

Look at all that pink. And look at her giving the evil eye to poor Garrett who just wanted to see her gift, not hi-jack it! If you enlarge the picture, you can almost hear her saying NO, NO, NO!

Happy Birthday, Sweetheart!

We love you

If you can't count on the Tooth Fairy, who can you count on?

Cole lost a tooth a couple of nights ago, and when he went to bed, he made sure to tell me in detail where he left his tooth. The next morning, he greets me with, "Hey Tooth Fairy! You forgot to get my tooth!"

Oops.

And by the way, since when is he past the point of even pretending that he doesn't know it's me?

But I digress...So I replied to Cole, "No, the Tooth Fairy did not forget, she just got tired and went to bed early, but she made sure to ask Mr. Tooth Fairy to do the honors, but he apparently fell asleep on the couch and then forgot."

I got an eye-roll as he walked away.

Then this morning, Cole got up and plopped down on the couch in such a way that it was obvious he was annoyed. I sweetly inquired as to what was up. Because his brothers were in the room, he was thoughtful enough to answer, "The Tooth Fairy forgot again!"

Double oops.

Then Mason, in an effort to cheer Cole up, said, "Don't worry, Cole. One time it took her four days to get my tooth!"

So I've got to ask you, are you guys stuck with an unreliable tooth fairy too, or are we the only ones?

Pumpkin Patch

We went to a local pumpkin patch last night with some family friends and had a BLAST! This one was new to us, and had tons of fun things, but strangely enough, no pumpkins that I can recall.

They had a HUGE slide that Jenna and Grant went down a million times. Each time, Grant said, "Oh! I got a wedgie."

There was a giant water balloon slingshot. Here are the boys waiting in line.

Grant getting some help from Daddy.

Cole on the zip line.

Jenna doing the baby zip line.

Mason waiting his turn on the rope swing.

Jenna and Blake. Too cute for words!

The big feature was a ginormous maze cut into a 6 acre corn field. The kids thought running through it with flashlights was the hugest adventure.

Our sweet bunch. By the way, Cole is holding the map for the corn maze. Pretty amazing, huh? (You can click on the pics to make them bigger.)

A New Look!

I was checking in on my sweet friend, Wendy Lou, and I learned how I can decorate my site a bit. How fun! Oh how I wish home re-modeling were as fast and easy and CHEAP! Anyhow, enjoy the loveliness of my new background. I'm sure I'll be changing often just to keep things exciting for y'all. :)

Woven and Spun

I just read the sweetest nugget posted by a pediatric resident. It's definitely worth checking out... http://6yearmed.blogspot.com/2008/10/woven-and-spun.html

Huddle Time!

As I posted before, I usually only manage to get photos of one game per kid per season. Today was football day, and I managed by sheer stroke of luck to bring the camera on the day Cole was co-captain. He's #44.

Cole is in the middle of the picture blocking # 18.

The fans. Let's hear it for the Chiefs!

Oh. Well. Maybe after they've finished their snacks.

Sticks and stones may break my bones...

Can you believe that with three boys this is our first bona-fide, requires a cast and everything, broken bone? G-man was playing with some kids while at Cole's football practice last night when he tripped and fell in a wierd position. We debated taking him to the E.R., but in the end decided to give him Motrin and an ice pack and put him to bed and see how he felt in the morning. He fell asleep quickly, but woke up at 10:00 or so crying, so we decided to take him to the hospital then.

Why is it that it takes 4 hours to talk to a couple of nurses, get an x-ray, see a nurse practictioner and then get a splint? And they weren't busy at all! I'll never understand. Oh well...We were home in bed by 2:00 am, and Grant was up at 7:00. He was excited about staying home and watching cartoons (Kindergarten just takes away all your t.v. time) and getting a green cast (It's huge!) which he got this afternoon at the Ortho's office. He's bummed that he has to wait a whole day before anyone can sign it, but come Friday, y'all better have a Sharpie handy when you see him!

A day at the soccer fields...

Pre-game smiles.

Looking like a serious player... As opposed to the kid making like an airplane.

Aaah...half time snacks!

Grant spent more time talking to his buddy from school than paying attention to the game.

Victory run.

Meanwhile, the specatators didn't really spectate...

They colored. And played football.

Once Jenna joined in, they actually succeeded in bringing Cole down.

Garrett had a ball playing ball with Cole and Mason.

Two Cuties!

I'm not one of those mom's who always has her camera on them. I usually just pick one day during the season to take pictures and hope that will suffice to make my kids think I captured every moment. Today was the day I decided to photo Grant's soccer game, and I got a bonus, because our adorable nephew, Garrett, picked today to come to the game with Nana and Papaw.