Thanksgiving 2008

Thanksgiving was at "the Barn" again this year!! After the Turkey Trot was done with and we had gone home and changed we drove over to Christopher's parents house for Thanksgiving dinner. His parents were there, Tyler and his wife Amanda, Phillip who just returned from a 2 year mission to Honduras, Cori and her husband Trent with their boys Russell, Carter, and Clark, Mom (Christopher's grandmother), Uncle David and cousins Sean and wife Sarah with their sons. Whew! That was almost a bible "so-n-so beget so-n-so" paragraph! It was a full house and the kids had a lot of fun, as usual!

After dinner Gavin ran off with his cousins, Christopher left with his dad never to be seen again until 9pm time to leaving time and so Reese and I went out with Caden to do a little teeter tottering out on the front porch to keep ourselves busy.

Caden holding on for dear life.

Reese pondering the perplexities of the teeter tottering eternities.

We also kept ourselves busy feeding the ducks at the lake.

Is there such a thing as over feeding ducks? Not in the minds of a 2 and 4 year old.

Riding larger than life size (to Caden) dinosaurs.

Playing the "I-have-the-green-hand-and-I'm-going-to-get-you" game!

The ever fascinating "take a picture of this funny face, Mommy!"

Then I found a cozy corner up in the loft and tried to get on the internet with no luck (it is super shotty out at the barn), and got bored again.

So, it was back to making silly faces with Reese and taking pictures of each other.

There were some pretty intense pinball moments with Gavin and Reese and I.

Complete memorization.

After the cousins left, Gavin and I had some time alone. I love this kid and love spending time with all my kids. I'm thankful that I have the time to do such and spend time with them during the day!

The kids went out with Granna just before we went home and came back with some prizes. Gavin and Legos (of course!) and Reese with a Belle toys set. Of course they had to play with them as soon as they got home!

Nice, Reese. Tea Pot has a body now!

I have a lot to be thankful for! I am trying to count my blessings day by day in my "Happy Book". More to follow on that. Hope y'all had a fabulous day! I'll be back later to update more from our weekend and catch up on your blogs.

Turkey Trot 2008

Every year the Dallas' Turkey Trot gets better and better. Our first year we did the 3k and last year was our first for the 8 mile which we liked so much as did again this year. This year was particularly awesome as we shared it with our favorite BFF's, the Cooks! Oh, and the weather was nice and warm unlike last year! (For details on the race itself, check out this post or this.)

This was Caden's idea of "smile for the camera"! He thinks he's so funny when you ask him to smile or say cheese and then he gives this face! This year it was Caden's turn to run with Christopher in the 8 miler.

Gavin ready to find his friends and get his Turkey Trot bounce on.

Reese with silly face and Christopher on our way up to the race.

The annual family picture (with mom behind the camera) at the race.

Reese and Daddy getting their crazy race face on!

Before the race started the kids went and explored the petting animals and then found this cute little pony. I just thought he was so cute and begged one of the kids to ride him b.c I could not!

Reese obliged!

But it was Caden that rode the cute littlest pony! He just thought he was the coolest little boy on the planet! He had a grin from ear to ear! It was super cute for sure!

Up close and personal with Reese's pony!

"Smile and say cheese!" A very satisfied Caden after his pony ride.

We then met up with our friends around the bounce houses and managed to squeeze in a family shot just before the race was to begin.

Aaron and Christopher just before the 8 mile race was to begin. I have no idea what Christopher was trying to say as I took the picture...hence the wonky face.

While the boys ran, the kids jumped!

Kaleb and Gavin. Friends since they were 2 year olds.

Reese and Madison. Friends since 8 months old.

Lots of bouncing. The boys.

And the girls.

We finally caught Christopher running past us with a sleeping baby boy in tow on their way to the finish line. Sorry my camera shot makes you look like you're melting Christopher!

Ah, yes, and the spoils of the race. Lots of free food. Oranges, bananas, yogurts, smoothies, juices...

This boy has attitude! Good thing he's so cute while he gives it!

Gavin, Reese, Kaleb, Blakeley, Marni and Madison waiting for the men to return with more free loot.

Our favorites. Elations.

Ever heard of this stuff? Christopher picked up an entire 12 pack of the diet kind and we have really enjoyed the flavor.

Christopher took his family role of provider very well with these new Dannon Danup's. I never took count, but they easily fill an entire fridge shelf in my refrigerator.

It was another great Thanksgiving kick off at the Turkey Trot! What a better way to start it off with family, good friends and about 35,000+ strangers! I love this time of year and I especially love this holiday tradition. Hopefully next year we can take all the kids on the 3k together as a family. Caden needs to grow out of being the "wild card" first! Until next year...

My Totally Awesome (& Exhausting) Week

The only thing keeping me together at this point in the week is the fact that this Friday, the 28th is the official days of Christmas in our house. Not by my wishing, Christopher's. I would start to decorate the day after Halloween if I had my wish. B/c I see Christmas and Thanksgiving one in the same, and no, not commercially speaking. Unfortunately I'm too tired to get into detail about such (just call me and I'll communicate my thoughts by phone! it's easier!).

My dear husband says I must wait until the day after Thanksgiving which is all fine and dandy, BUT, Friday, yes Friday I get to go shopping for my REAL Christmas Tree! Every year I look forward to getting our tree and I feel jipped with last years experience (tried a fake tree), so this year is gonna be GREAT!!

So, why was my week so totally awesome (&exhausting)? The kids have been home all week on Thanksgiving Break!! Need I say more? Yes, the mayhem has been in full force. I'm too exhausted to even blog about it!! However, while I was talking with a friend tonight Christopher overheard us talking about being so exhausted and mentioned I haven't even had a blog post in almost a week AND there have only been 11 posts this month! Something is seriously wrong, right!? So, I'm determined to tell you about my totally awesome experience of today...only, b.c I don't have the brain power to talk about the week.

Today I did laundry. No biggie right? Well, it hadn't been done in over a week and that is asking for serious trouble in his house! But in my defense, remember Reese's fire drill of last week? I had to get my washing machine replaced. My darling husband rushed to my aid and kindly bought me a new one. Today I initiated it! All 14 loads! This is not the story however.

This is:

You say, so what, what's with the pile of clothes? Look closely my friends and find THIS:

And THIS:

I started to panic while folding the clothes realizing that something had gone through the wash AND the dryer. It wasn't crayon unfortunately (we know how to fix that!). What was it? Then along came rolling THIS:

The chocolately culprit!

Where, oh where, did this come from!?!? We don't have pink kisses in our house! I HAD to figure this out to determine where it came from to know if there would be more hiding in other clothing. Backtrack time.

Yesterday we went to see BOLT with our fabulous BFF's the Cooks. (I know SURPRISE we didn't do another Chuck E Cheese date!)

Nope, no chocolate there. Lots and lots of spilled popcorn, but no chocolate.

Was it when we went to the Dallas Children's Museum with our BFF's the day before?

3+ hours of wall climbing adventures but I'm sure there wasn't pink chocolate kisses involved.

Then it hit me! DUH! Didn't Reese come back from a birthday party for her dear friend Chloe (from dance class) all crazy hyper with lots of PINK prizes?!?!

And pink unicorns? Wasn't there something about pink unicorns?

Yes, there was a pink pony made into a unicorn!

So, back to the problem at hand. We knew where the chocolate came from and that it was likely the only piece we'd have to worry about. Now, how in the world was I going to get chocolate that had been melted and dried into my clothing...WHITE...looking totally awesomely like new!?!? We took it to our never fail LA's Totally Awesome All Purpose Cleaner.

AND IT WORKED!!! Need I continue being the poster consumer of this product!?!? Oh, well, I'm totally in love with the totally awesome work in does on ALL stains. I even got blood stains out of my carpets with Totally Awesome. It's been one of those weeks! Nothing it can't remove and totally safe! I shall never fear what lurks in the laundry! No, it's Thanksgiving at the in laws that I fear...

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

Reese's MDS Thanksgiving Program 2008

If you've been reading our family blog long you'd know what to expect with this post. We've done it in 2006 (when Gavin was Reese's age) and 2007 with Gavin and now it's our baby girl Reese's turn! She was just sooooo cute for words!

Note: I was holding a 5 month old and a 2 year old was climbing my leg in a cramped room while taking pictures and video. Needless to say, quality may be lacking and you might have vertigo problems after the video!

Reese entering the room with her good friend Madison in front and Olivia in back. She was dressed as a little Indian.

Reese was really excited to perform (always) and was trying hard to contain her excitement from showing on her face!

Getting ready to say the pledge and prayer before the program!

Why aren't you taking video mom? This is good stuff!

The school (Preschool, Pre-K and K) did around 8 songs and were just as cute as can be. Reese knew the words and hand movements to all the songs and sang just beautifully. Here are a few video's I captured. (Remember my "note" at the beginning of this post!)

Sorry for all the video. It's the grandparent's and daddy edition since they weren't able to be there.

After the program Reese was showing off her Thanksgiving turkey place mat for our feast we were about to partake!

Can we eat already!?!?

Caden (we shared a plate) and Reese enjoying the feast. Like last year, I tried to bribe Reese with just going to Chick-fil-a or somewhere of her choice instead of waiting in line (with 3 kids and plates to worry about). I couldn't convince her like I could Gavin. Fortunately, Aaron saved my life and sanity and took baby R so I could get everyone food!

After a little grub Reese went with Caden to go play on the stage with her friends from school.

Olivia, Caden and Reese in the school Tee Pee.

Olivia and Chloe with Reese on the Mayflower!

Soon it was time to say our goodbye's for the week long Thanksgiving break. Here is Madison and Reese hugging. Soooo cute! They do this every time they have to say good bye to each other. Whether in the halls at church, play date or at school.

Reese and Olivia's hug. Again, super cute!

Group hug!

And because we can never leave a scene without taking a picture with various wooden characters. Remember the pumpkin patch!?!?!?