A Thanksgiving to Remember

I had to post about Thanksgiving before Christmas but this is cutting it close!

We drove to south Louisiana to spend Thanksgiving with my sweet Mamaw. I have so many aunts, uncles and cousins, second cousins and third cousins on my mom's side of the family, I truly have lost count. My Mamaw had TWELVE children; six boys and six girls.

Here she is and she was thrilled to have family together for the holiday. I need to post about how special she is and what an amazing honor it is to be her granddaughter.

Below is a picture of W waiting for all the food to be arranged so he could EAT. The girls happily obliged my photo op.

Here are three boy cousins looking for some boy things to do.

Oh look, same boys having having no problem having fun in the girly princess castle bounce house. A bounce house at Thanksgiving, you ask? Oh my yes, that is how we roll.

W and I at the end of a great Thanksgiving Day!

Here is MK loving on her great-Mamaw!

Two cousins getting together after a whole YEAR!
Our children love to ride on the luggage cart and here they are ready to roll.

The hotel had a little putt-putt golf course and they had a chance to play before we left.

This was too sweet not to include.

On our way home, we stopped as we crossed into Mississippi and had lunch with family that was not far behind us.

Cousins getting ready to say good-bye!

We have some wonderful Thanksgiving holiday memories.

Optimistic

I am such an optimist... waking up every day of my nine-day illness proclaiming it to be the day I would be well. My little blog has suffered again. In the list of priorities I guess it knows where it lies but I am hopeful and definitely optimistic that I will post more often. I have decided to do a year in review before year's end and hopefully hallmark the big events of 2008 on the blog.

There were a couple of notes I wanted to make about one morning this past week that I wanted to chronicle before it seeped into the recesses of my mind to never be uncovered again like so many others have.

I was rushing around one morning getting things ready for a monthly meeting at church. I had baked some breakfast for the meeting, organized all my notes and supplies for the meeting, fed the children and everyone was in various stages of getting ready. I am so grateful that A has become so self-sufficient at getting ready to go somewhere and can help others occasionally. W is always first ... he is the easiest. While MK ate her breakfast, I ducked back into my closet to change clothes.

As I perused the options I settled on an outfit while debating in my mind things like... I think I wore those pants to the last meeting, but not these pants.... and it is really cold... what about something warmer like a sweater but did I wear this to the last meeting a MONTH ago when it was cold? I decided I had no more time to have the debate with myself and picked something.

Sweet W was in the hall when I was hurrying by and I thought I would see if my SIX-year-old BOY would remember what I wore to the last meeting a MONTH ago. So I went for it, "W, do you remember if this is the same thing that I wore to the last meeting? I know not the pants, but the top?" He looked at me and said, "You are just beautiful." There it was. I could have cared less if I wore it a month ago or every day since. He made me feel special, made my day and showed his love. I hugged him and told him he made me feel special. He said, "I know."

I headed to the kitchen and was rushing MK to finish her breakfast so she could get dressed and she announced she was done. YEA! I said let's go get you ready and rushed to the bathroom with her trailing behind me. I told her I had her things laid out and all she had to do was put them on before her hair and teeth and then she says "Mommy, you are my hero!" I stopped in my tracks again...

There you have it. Two special moments I do not want to forget. I have so many and I want to write them all down but if I do not I will have to hold fast to the fact that I was busy living the life and soaking it up even if it lands in the recesses of my mind. It is all good and I am blessed.

Last Week In Review!

I have wanted to post about some of our activities lately but they have kept us too busy and then I came down with a cold or something. I ended up taking sudafed to help me breathe and sleep the last two nights and that leaves me with medicine-head. The upside, I am completely rested even if it was medication induced. So today my head is still clearing and I am behind on all the posts I thought of writing and pictures that needed posting.

About last week, before the plague, we had a lot going on besides the usual. There was a library trip for more references for A's research paper, pajama shopping for Pajama Night for two, some Christmas shopping, hemming Star Wars pajamas that were too long, Christmas parties for two classes, cookie donations for the homeless and the grand finale was taking the children to see The Nutcracker Ballet and Symphony.

I was going to video them telling us their absolutely favorite parts of the Nutcracker but I have not completed training in getting the video from camera to computer (with VOICES heard) and then to the blog. Not to worry, I am not giving up... my tech person said he would work it into his schedule soon.

I still plan to have a Thanksgiving post complete with pictures of that festive holiday so there is something to look forward to!

Fall Leaves.... and memories

The week before Thanksgiving, the tree pictured above was calling to me for a couple of days. I tried to push aside my weakness for the beautiful leaves .... especially since it was not in our yard and belonged to someone else. Since the house is for sale and no one lives there now the timing really was perfect.

For more history, it was a house that I lived in when I was five years old and in the first grade. Just another tidbit, it is in the town where we live now and I see it all the time but it is the first time I have ventured close to it since I lived there last. Okay, back to the leaves!

There was a lot of jumping and reaching. Sweet MK tried even though it was too high! Her big sister brought her plenty to make up for it though.

I had to get a picture of them on the porch. I do have a picture of my sister and I on that very porch when I was W's age.

There happens to be a great magnolia tree there too! Later that day when we were at home, A tied her leaf stems together in a bunch and put them in water and gave it to me. She shares my love for this time of year.

W fascinated with the "baby" leaf, dubbed by A.

After I held a branch down low enough for her to reach, MK picked one for herself.

Here they are posing by a brick fence that I posed by when I was little. I do have pictures of me and those bricks back then but you will just have to imagine for now.

I remember playing in that yard well, catching lightening bugs in a jar and making sure there were holes in the top so they could breathe and watching them until I fell asleep, lying in bed thinking of a name for my soon-to-arrive baby sister with my Daddy, going to the post office to pick up mail, eating peanut butter with graham crackers, playing on the school playground, counting to 100 and reading, going to church, celebrating Christmas and Easter and experiencing the different seasons.

It was a beautiful place and I am grateful I went back... even if I may have been trespassing.

Just in case any other former resident is interested, did I mention the house is FOR SALE?

Our Best Listener

Our MK is the Best Listener for Cubbies this week! This has been an award she has been after since Cubbies started in September. Her brother, W, has a stack of this very award. So many, in fact, we thought they were handed out just for him showing up. It turns out this award really had to be earned and W is an exceptional listener. MK has tried each week to "win" during the time they are expected to sit still and really listen to the lesson. There are some older children in her group and I just thought maybe next year she would have a better chance at really getting the award.

W would go with D to pick her up from class and W would always comment on her not getting the award and would appear disappointed with her. She was usually crushed but would soldier on to do better for W. W would say he would work with her so she could get it the next week. A week of pointers and practice would start and then he would send her off to the next meeting to try again and then this week it happened! YEAH!!!! D met me at the car with MK and W and there it was. W was beaming with pride and MK just couldn't stop smiling.

She did it! She WON!

Happy Fall!

The time finally arrived! ... to wear costumes for a reason. We do this around our house all the time anyway but today it was acceptable outside in public!

Here is our sweet little bumblebee. She made her own sound effects and even stung people.

Our Doctor A made sure all were well before we left.

Star Trek officer W was just excited to wear his uniform for all to see.

Here is the happy doctor just moments before she treated a cute bumblebee sting... see next pic.

The Bumblebee's next victim. Fortunately, he thinks she is great even when she stings.

I had to include this picture even though someone's eyes were not completely open because it was a great picture anyway!

Here they are finding a Banana to hang around with.

Happy Fall!

Acorn Cookies and a Pecan Harvest

Yesterday it was so cold and felt more like winter but we are still enjoying the fall so acorn cookies seemed appropriate. These are butter-pecan cookies with some chocolate and pecans for their tops.

The recipe is always misleading with baking them for about nine minutes because the entire process from beginning to end was more like three hours! ... and for the children it was FOREVER ... but they are delicious.

It was late in the afternoon and dinner to ponder when A discovered the pecan harvest that had to happen. We have been watching over those pecans closely. In years past, the pecans must have fallen in the middle of the night as the squirrel family across the yard watched carefully and made their annual journey to STEAL nearly all of them. Not this year! We have been even more vigilant and had great success for our first day. There are still many that need to fall but hopefully the squirrels will be on the short end this year.

Here is A with some of our pecan bounty that we managed to scoop up. It was freezing outside but it was worth it!

One more reason to love fall!

A Journey Home....

So there we were riding sweetly together in the car, just the children and me, singing songs and holding hands, but not.

This has been a busy day for everyone. It has been a great day for everyone, by all accounts, but that wears off during the middle of the afternoon and definitely on a long ride home. With another 20 minutes left to go and just ahead of our car I encountered a Highway Department truck ... full of asphalt... going slow. With no way around it and time on my hands I thought about many things but survival was at the top of the list.

Then, there was silence. It may have taken a moment or two for that to register because I was daydreaming watching the back of the truck and then I looked in the rearview mirror to see our children craning their necks to see the truck in front of us. There it was, a shovel ... hanging from a hook at the top center of the tailgate of the truck swinging back and forth much like a pendulum of a clock. Big shovel pendulum. That is when I realized it was a TRANCE ... a magical trance.

Mercifully, the truck stayed in front of us practically to our door and I was thrilled about it. Happily, we all skipped inside smiling. kind of. I have a new appreciation for the Highway Department trucks ... at least today!

P.S. A post from me with no pictures to show you ..... I know, SHOCKING!

Fire Station Tour

MK and W went on a fire station tour with our play group and had a great time. W has always enjoyed fire trucks and it was fun to watch them crawl all over the trucks and take a close look.

Soccer Fun

This has been a busy soccer season for us. Just today, we had FOUR games! MK is ready to play with a team and I am thankful she is too young for now. I am not sure how we are going to manage when we have all three children with different practice times and game schedules. They all love to play soccer and I am grateful it is the same sport in the same season. We could have it sprinkled with different things all year long for each one and right now this suits us fine.

In the picture below A is playing in her first game today running with the ball.

Here she is after a toe injury in her second game but playing on.
The next picture is W playing with his team and going after the ball. For his age, the teams are made up of boys and girls.

W really is enjoying his first soccer season!
There is just over a week left in the fall season and a break will be great but they are already looking forward to soccer in the spring!

A Birthday for W

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Bad Words

Yesterday we went to the library, had lunch and went to the grocery. While there, we strolled sweetly .... ahem... down several aisles in the race car-style grocery cart that seats two and has two steering wheels. With the siblings, naturally it was all love.... but not really.

As we passed this sweet grandmotherly lady who smiled at all of them and nodded at me as if she completely understood my shopping experience, my W said loudly "Mommy, MK said bad words!". The lady that passed us stopped and I braced myself for the next sentence. W announced, "She said DOUBLE DRATS!"

I turned and smiled at lady who had a little laugh. She said, Oh, that could have been worse. From my precious little sweet cheeks...no, there will not be worse. I asked MK not to say bad words and she said OK. That is settled. That should do it. Only good words from my little family...

Last Day of Five ...

I have always been a wee bit nostalgic and admittedly sad on the eve of a birthday of any of my children. I think about how much more I wanted to squeeze in the year before and how I wanted to write down details of all the great memories for further evidence of the great times.

When anyone would say that MK, W or A would be the next age before they actually turned it, I had to correct them, even if it were literally right around the corner. We just had more living to do at that age and I did not want to accelerate the process because I wasn't ready for it to be over.

So here I am today hanging on to FIVE and it will soon be eclipsed by SIX. There are more memories to make, more pictures to take and some journaling to do to chronicle the years of their life but I remind myself... IT IS NOT OVER.... life is just marching on as it is intended.

I am truly blessed and have this sweet family to love on so no matter the age I cannot be awashed in sadness while there is so much to be grateful for.

While I was doing all this pondering, I asked W to let me take a few pictures of his last day of being five and he looked at me like 'are you kidding?'... okay, he said that. Anyway, he indulged me and here it is posted and everything. W on his last day of FIVE!

MK is Four!

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Back to Academy for a 6th Grader and a Kindergartener!

Last week, Academy started back and A was excited to be getting back to see old friends, meet new teachers and have different classes.

MK was holding on to W when it was time to walk him in. He usually holds her hand but it it was cute to see her keeping her little grip on him.

Here is our little man all smiles after putting his backpack down and ready to go to assembly.
His teacher showed him the way to go to assembly for K-2nd graders and it was in progress so he walked on in with his hands in his pockets. He was just too cool to be fazed by new kindergarten people and surroundings.

MK looked so alone when we walked back to the parking lot so I thought I would make it up to her and take her for a treat before going to storytime. This picture was just too cute not to include. Here is MK fresh as a daisy from her nap that afternoon and ready to spend time with her W and A.