Thanksgiving with my favorite people....

Mom, Dad, Theresa and her family joined us for Thanksgiving this year. Greg started his famous turkey after work this morning. It was amazing, as usual. We had all the traditional favorites, thoroughly enjoyed each other and ate too much. After Theresa and her crew headed home, Mom and I slipped out for a little shopping. We happily tackled Old Time Pottery, accomplishing much but mostly making room for dessert! Afterward, we planned to hit Toys R Us, but bailed upon arrival! Holy Cow, people are crazy! There had to be 1000+ people standing outside in the freezing rain. There isn't a deal around worth that mess. Returning home after the kids' bedtime made dessert that much sweeter, in the quiet company of my husband and parents.

Each of the grandchildren contributed a hand print to our Thanksgiving wreath.

He's ready for the pros!

Mason is Makenna's buddy, but really likes playing with Kate.

One of Grandma's boys! Love this kid!

Dad says pumpkin pie is an excuse to eat cool whip. When planning our meal, I called and asked him how many 5 gallon tubs he thought we'd need and he suggested only 2!

Check out these rock stars!

Games and dessert.....it was a great day.

Early Holiday Fun

Note the little fingers reaching for the cookies in the bottom of the photo.....Ty hoped I was really distracted!

She's thinking a lot about Christmas....already!

Kate came down the stairs this morning and sat on the bottom step. After a few quiet minutes (which are really rare when Kate is awake), she said the spot where we put the big stuffed Santa needed something. Really? Hmmm....what do you think we ought to put there? After a thoughtful expression crossed her face, she decided the big stuffed Santa would be perfect! Score one for Kate.

During Family Fun Night last night, Ty was given his own bowl of popcorn. He was delighted and had it refilled twice! Up until now, I had only given him the soft part of each piece of popcorn, but he is clearly ready for big boy food!

Makenna's health update

Poor Makenna has not eaten since Sunday. She has visibly lost weight this week. Her 103 degree temp finally broke today and she is no longer taking Tylenol and Motrin in rotation every three hours. I had to take her into the doctor yesterday because she woke up with a mouth full of blisters. I was convinced it was still viral but had to be sure given the duration of the fever and body pain. Sure enough, she has a virus, but she tested negative for mono. It was so weird since her symptoms mirrored exactly what her friend's did and Hannah was positive for mono....anyway, given the season upon us, we are relieved that this will wrap up in a few days and she should recover quickly. We were also informed that this is not contagious so we pray it stops with her. Dr. Rezaei was out of the office so we met with Dr. Sepheri who prescribed ice cream and milkshakes for two days to add fat, calories and comfort for the painful blisters. Makenna likes Dr. Sepheri!

On a fun side note, I had to run errands today since we've been house bound all week. My van's transmission acted up again so I pulled off the highway to restart it and see if it would comply. It did. Praise God. Kate said that we'd call Daddy if it didn't work because he is really smart. I agreed that he is really smart but inquired as to whether or not she thought I was. She thinks I am too but since Daddy works at UPS, he must be smarter. Hmmm????

So I moved the toy box today......

Happy Birthday Lauren!

Lauren was celebrated this weekend. Her baptism and birthday fell within two days and she was well doted upon. Kelsey spent the weekend with us and they requested donuts for breakfast. She chose whole grilled chickens, mashed potatoes with gravy, homemade mac n cheese and slow cooked green beans for her birthday dinner yesterday. It was a starch overload but oh. so. good. We topped that off with cookie cake. Her gift was her concert ticket to see Justin Bieber this past week and we also gave her his new book. Overall, I think she is having a great birthday!

We had to celebrate a day early since Erin has school and works on Mondays. It is the one day a week we don't have dinner together as a family. As of three am, we were really glad we celebrated yesterday because Makenna appears to have Mono and our house no longer feels like a party!

Little blessings

This boy is wild and 16 months old today

Kate and Ty are both captivated by this little guy. He is a sweet little addition to our family two days a week.

Last week, I hit a mailbox with my passenger side mirror while avoiding a school bus in oncoming traffic who was left of center. I counted myself blessed to have hit only a mailbox and turned around to find the mailbox I hit to make it right with the owner. I knew the general vicinity but after two round trips looking for the right one, I couldn't narrow it down because four in a row were bashed in.....apparently this is not uncommon on that road! I was worried about it and talked with Greg about how to find the right one. Kate, the helpful one, has looked "for the mailbox Mommy hit" every time I've taken her out. By her calculations, I've hit no less than 1000 mailboxes thus far!
My van is having some mechanical issues and Greg was under it in search of our latest culprit this morning. Kate, again, our helpful one, pulled her little battery operated jeep up next to my van and her dad on the garage floor and told him it didn't sound right when she started it. That just happens to be the issue my van had a month or so ago when the battery was dying!
Greg was off work this week. It was a beautiful week. The weather was amazing and we did a whole lot of nothing. It was the calm before the storm. The upcoming season stresses us out with the demands of everything that comes with it so it was just wonderful to hang out together all week. Have I mentioned how much I love that man?

A Beautiful Day.......

She's got "Bieber Fever"!

Yes Cherie, she does still live here! Lauren is camera shy and doesn't let me take her photo often. I took advantage of her great mood today and am happy with the results. She is going to the Justin Bieber concert tonight with Kelsey for her 14th birthday this weekend. 14! How on earth is that possible? I love this girl. On a really funny note about the upcoming concert, Kelsey had a young man at school ask her out on Monday. She told him she had to wait until after the concert, "just in case". These silly girls are convinced they will someday marry that boy! Hilarious. I know for certain that Lauren would not tolerate a spoiled, high maintenance musician for long!

Little Man

He's saying "eww" which happens to be one of his favorite words.

Let's just say the back of his head is well documented as I can't seem to catch him looking at the camera for more than a split second!

Don't grow up too fast....

Swinging is still one of Erin's favorite past times. She prefers the trampoline, but ours had to be taken down this year.

She says this is "Stop, Hammer time"!

She had to play dead on the train tracks because I didn't want her on them!

Not in photo, Mom having minor heart attack....I can't believe she is old enough for this!

 

She hates this one, but I love it. She was coming down the slide.

Did I mention he's Daddy's boy?

 One of Greg's favorite country songs is Brad Paisley's "Anything like me" and it talks about a man discovering he is having a son and dreaming of his son's future under the pretense of "if he's anything like me". I can honestly say, we will have done very well if Ty grows up to be anything like Greg.

The new "all done"

Throwing food wasn't enough?

Just like Daddy

Ty is trying to throw his ball up into the air just like Daddy does. Greg makes the football spiral and Ty watches him do it every morning. In fact, if Greg lies on his back in the living room, Ty will bring him the ball and wait. This is most certainly "Daddy's boy".

Introducing Cameron

Kate loves having a real life baby doll in the house again. She asked me if he would get into her things yet.....give it time!

So sweet!

What a happy boy!

Ty's health update

Looking at this photo, you wouldn't know it but our little guy has not yet perked up to his normal happy self. He  is slowly improving. We saw Dr. Rezaei for his follow up blood test today which revealed he is still fighting a virus but also showed his white blood cell count climbing closer to a normal range. So, at this point, we are waiting out the virus and hope to have our happy boy back soon! He lost a pound this past week and really couldn't afford that so we hope to see his hearty appetite rebound as well. Sleep would be wonderful too......

In the moments he's felt like playing the last few days, he's been trying to jump. It is hilarious to watch. He puts forth so much effort and those little feet never leave the ground. It is just too cute.