Thanksgiving Fun!

So this Thanksgiving was a bit different. We were not even sure if we'd be able to go to my parents' house because Grant had been sick Tuesday night. However, since no one else had gotten sick by Thursday morning we decided the coast was clear as far as the flu and that we could safely travel without infecting my family (who has fallen victim more than once to one of our plagues!). Unfortunately, about 2 hours after we arrived, Jack was hanging over the toilet and spent Thanksgiving either sick or sleeping. Here is a picture of him buried in Ryan's lap--poor baby!

Caroline enjoyed her first Thanksgiving! The girl LOVES turkey. She gobbled (pun intended!) it up. There wasn't much else I could give her that was dairy-free, but she did enjoy the pumpkin and banana bread I made. Yum!

Grant and Aunt Melanie bonded. She loved tickling him, and he loved telling her to stop (but really meant for her keep going). It was so cute! We are going to be sad when she moves far away!


Our family tradition is that the boys get to do the dishes after the meal. Grant loved standing on a stool and watching Papa do the dishes. Maybe Grant will be able to help in a couple of years...

One of our favorite parts of the weekend was seeing Caroline and Barrett (my sister's baby) interact with each other. Barrett is exactly eight weeks older, and they were so cute together! Here they are eating breakfast together.

And here Caroline is eyeing Barrett's food.

Jack, Grant, and I made these place cards for our dinner. Jack even wrote some of the names. He chose who got which ear of corn, too. It was sweet--too bad Jack didn't get to enjoy dinner with us!

Grant thought the rolls looked like a hat. This kid cracks me up!

We went to St. Charles, where they have people who walk around in character and pass out cards. Jack likes to collect the cards. He is the kid in the orange coat. I like how the card looks like it's glowing!

Here is Mimi with two of her grandbabies. We loved Barrett's out-of-control hair. Someday Caroline will have hair, too!

And one more picture of Caroline, this time in her Christmas jumper. The bow probably stayed on just long enough to take this picture!

I have so much to be thankful for this year. As I've heard of friends who have had hard times, it makes me thankful for my family, friends, home, job, church, and so many other things. This is a great time to remember all the blessings I've been given. Thank you, Lord, for all of it!

Gobble Gobble

For your Thanksgiving viewing pleasure, here are some pictures of my beautiful turkeys! :)

We have had a week of illness so we're hoping and praying that we all stay healthy through the night so we can celebrate the holiday with family. Grant missed his preschool Thanksgiving celebration because he threw up last night, so instead of wearing his Thanksgiving hat, he is holding a picture of a turkey he made at school last week. Jack is dressed in his Thanksgiving garb--well, a head-dress and bead necklace. I am just thrilled that they are both looking at the camera and don't look too dazed and confused. These boys crack me up!

An unfortunate mispronunciation

This post is mostly serving the purpose of a heads-up for anyone who may interact with Grant soon. Let me also say that Ryan and I do not curse. Ever. Well, at least not out loud... (I feel I must confess it really depends on the day as to how many words enter my thoughts, but no one else hears them. And I suppose I can't speak for Ryan when he's not around me.)

ANYWAY...Grant is now talking and loves playing with trucks. The problem is his pronunciation of the word "truck" sometimes sounds like a certain curse word. And, of course, it's not a lightweight curse word. So, for anyone who may hear this in passing and wonder, what did that boy just say? Yes, it does sound like THAT word, but, trust me, it's not. Hmmm...at least I don't think it is...

Jack's cornucopia of thanks

For school Jack had to decorate a cornucopia with things for which he is thankful. Never one to waste the energy on frivolous art, he cut to the chase and listed and drew one thing: Jesus dying on the cross. I guess if you are going to be thankful for something, that is the most important thing! (And yes, if you see a stain his paper, that is coffee. He is the son of two teachers and still has dirty homework--ugh!)

nine in nine out

"Nine in nine out" is an organization that tries to raise awareness of the importance of babywearing. They say that your baby is held for nine months in the womb and should be held for nine months outside of the womb (or something like that). I personally LOVE wearing my babies and am thankful that I started when Jack was just a newborn by putting him the Baby Bjorn. I have since bought a Moby Wrap, a Kozy mei tai, a Hotsling, and an Ergo. I have to say that the Moby is my favorite for newborns and young infants, and the Ergo is my favorite for older infants and toddlers. Here are some pictures of Caroline in the Ergo--doesn't she look happy?

the front carry

the back carry (I haven't done this one as much but will as she gets older--she likes pulling my hair when she's on my back!)

my 9-month-old all snuggled up

So now Caroline is nine months. Seriously, how is that possible? She is so much fun and is such a blessing to our family! I'm so glad that I've been able to wear her a lot in the past nine months, especially because it's hard to spend much focused time on a third child. I am so in love with my little girl!

Happy 9 months, baby girl!

Letter to Pixar/Disney

Dear Pixar/Disney:


Last weekend I watched "Toy Story 3." I realize that it came out awhile ago, but since I have 3 young children, one of whom was nursing every 3 hours when it was in the theater, this was my first opportunity to see it. And fortunately, I was able to watch it alone so no one saw my tears. Yes, this movie was a tearjerker, which I'm sure you knew when you made it. As a parent of preschoolers, my days are quite long, and I often find myself wishing that bedtime would come soon. It is hard to remember that, although the days are long, the years fly by! It will not be too long before my oldest son is off to college and leaving us (and possibly his beloved bear) behind to stare at his empty room. This movie made me stop and realize, if just for a moment, that the time with my children is so precious, and I need to redeem it. Thank you for the reminder!

Love,

A mother who has a tendency to forget

Blast from the past

Today I have had two experiences with my children that prove the old adage/verse, "There is nothing new under the sun."



Story One: The boys were playing nicely together! Woo-hoo! (This, perhaps, does NOT go along with the adage.) When I went in to see what they were playing, I was thrilled to see that it was "library," a game my sisters and I used to play. Of course, when we played it back in the day, our library had stamps, pieces of paper taped to the backs of books, and a card file system of sorts. All the boys used were beeping sounds and a cassette tape that they pretended was a scanner to check out books. I have no pictures to share of this experience because their room is a disaster, and my embarrassment about the mess overrules the cuteness of the video--sorry!



Story Two: This is one with which all parents can identify. I desperately wanted to get out but had to weigh whether the potential rise in blood pressure that often accompanies such trips was worth it. After deciding yes, it was necessary, we went to Target. As any parent of preschoolers knows (well, I assume this is true of all parents--maybe not!), where to put the kids is the first discussion/argument that one must have. I opted to let Jack walk and Grant ride in the back. (Really, whoever put that sign on the seat that says kids should not ride in the back of the cart was not the parent of 2 monkey-boys!) Things were going relatively well until I pushed my luck too far and wandered over to the section of clothes for me. Here is where the adage fits: my sweet little walking boy did what my sisters and I loved doing when my mom would take us shopping--he started crawling between the clothes and on the floor and giggling like he was having the most fun in the whole world. I could not get upset because I remember how much my sisters and I loved it. It really is funny how quickly I can transport myself back to these experiences so many years ago. It will be fun to see what other fun games they play that my sisters and I enjoyed, though I doubt my boys will be using sure-to-come-Barbie dolls as anything other than weapons!

Jack's pets

Ryan and I are not pet people. We like the idea of pets but know that, really, pets are not something either of us want, especially at this point in our lives. I tell Jack that we have children, not pets. (Although, at times, I feel like I have both!) Jack, however, desperately wants a pet. After reading a Berenstain Bears book in which they had a bird, he decided he wanted a bird. He has always pretended to have a dog, using his stuffed dogs as his props. The following pictures are of his newest "pets."

For our classroom Halloween party I bought some capsules that had these Halloween sponge shapes inside of them after dissolving. Because I had two left over I let the boys each have one. Jack's dissolved into this skull shape, and I figured that we would be able to toss it after a day or so. Hmmm...unfortunately, Jack has also read in the Berenstain Bears book where Sister Bear has a pet fish, and he decided that this skull would be his new pet fish, appropriately named "Skeleton." Each morning he put fresh water in the bowl and put the "fish" in a holding bowl filled with water while he did that. It was cute to see how careful he was with it. He has not changed the water for the last few days, but I am scared that if I throw it away he will notice. I'll wait a bit longer.

Here is his other pet: a paper crane. Jack and Grant went with Ryan to school, and Jack found the paper crane in the recycyling bin. He just could not believe that one of Ryan's students intentionally threw this away. He decided to decorate it with some markers, then named it. Any guesses on the name? Paper Crane Jerusalem--yes, the last name is Jerusalem. Love it!

My patriotic kiddos

On Tuesday we (okay, I) voted. In honor of this amazing privilege that I have as a citizen of this country, I dressed my children in red, white, and blue. And, I must confess, part of my motivation behind this was to put Little Miss in her patriotic headband. How cute are they! And more stunning is the fact that all three of them sat and were willing to have a picture taken! (I'm ignoring the fact that they were not all looking at the camera--you can't win them all.)

A plethora of pumpkins

So I'm finally getting around to posting our Halloween pictures. We had a fun time celebrating Halloween with our three kiddos. This day is definitely much more fun for me now that we have kids.

We had talked about doing various Halloween events (a trunk or treat at a nearby church and/or a Harvest Festival at our own church), but since Grant was sick, we opted to skip those and just stick with trick-or-treating in our own neighborhood. He was still running a fever while trick-or-treating, but the poor boy was willing to dress up and go to a few houses--afterall, Halloween is just once a year! Once he'd reached his limit he came back home to Mommy while Jack continued on in his quest for loads of candy. Caroline visited a few neighbors, who oohed and aahed appropriately (as well they should have--she was stinkin' cute), then helped pass out candy to the kids who also admired her cuteness!

Daddy and Jack carved a pumpkin before going out (well, Daddy carved, and Jack poked it with a pen on the backside)

Ryan with his finished product--no doubt this is the reason they won the next night!

Jack the Knight

Grant the Winnie the Pooh pumpkin

Our family with our plethora of pumpkins (we just kept getting more and more this year!)

Mimi and Papa were still here when the kids were dressed in their costumes so we took a picture with all of them together.

Mommy and Caroline--isn't she just adorable?

the boys waiting patiently through the torture of picture-taking

Grant examining his spoils

Grant loved his pumpkin so much that he slept with it the next day--too funny!

Mimi and Papa visit!

We were excited to have my parents visit over the weekend. We took them to Waterman's Pumpkin Farm (the one with the dinosaur). Unfortunately, it felt a bit more like fall than the last time we went, so we were all shivering by the time we left. And even more unfortunate was the fact that poor Grant had caught the fever virus than Caroline had earlier last week. Poor baby! He was shivering not only from the cold but also from the chills. Here are some pictures of their time with us.

up close and personal with Miss Caroline (or Beauty, as Jack now calls her)

Yes, this is our best picture of Jack and Mimi (at least you can see that C. does have some hair growing!)

Can I just brag and say that I made that bow on Caroline??!! I'm pretty proud of myself!

I'm sitting at a weird angle so you can see the babe. I'm really not trying to give my mom the cold shoulder!

I don't know why Jack was sulking, but for some reason he was not happy. He perked up later thanks to funnel cake. The boy LOVES funnel cake!

Okay, so this is the before shot--as in BEFORE Grant tried to climb off the ride, BEFORE the poor child screamed and held onto Papa for dear life, BEFORE we told the attendant to stop the ride. I think Grant knew what he was talking about when he said he didn't want to go on the ride. (Of course, being sick didn't really help matters!) On the flip side, though, Jack had such a great time that he and Papa rode on it again--without Grant!

Halloween party!

Last Wednesday the boys had their Halloween party at school. Caroline had been running a fever from Sunday until Tuesday morning so Ryan took the day off so I could be there for the parties at school. The kids went trick-or-treating around the Y, then had a little program of songs that was attended by some parents. It was cute. Of course, my child was the ONLY child in the whole preschool who chose to sit instead of stand for the songs. I decided that, instead of being the mom in that situation, I would defer to his teacher and let her decide if she wanted to encourage him to stand. Here are some pictures of the boys (and their sister, who came to watch). I just have to say that Grant is really not an unhappy child--he just doesn't like to have his picture taken!

Grant collecting treats

my knight in shining armor (Jack's favorite costume was "Thing 1"--he has a "Cat in the Hat" interest lately, thanks to the TV show)

Caroline, AKA "Xena, warrior baby"

And, just to prove that he does smile, here is a cute one of Grant--albeit with a full mouth but still sweet!