We celebrated Turkey Day with our favorite local gang.   The three families did Thanksgiving together in 2009 and again in 2012.  (old pictures are FUN!)   There are now 5 kids 5 and under and they play very well together.   Since the adults eat very well together, it works perfectly!   :-)

Deciding once again to go non-traditional with our menu, we nonetheless (and not surprisingly) had a TON of food.  There were too many dishes spread out to get a pic so we went with the "put everything on a plate and document it that way" route:

Clockwise from the roll:  roasted brussels sprouts, pork loin stuffed with pears, blue cheese, and cranberries with a caramelized onion cranberry pan sauce, roasted potatoes, cranberry sauce, carrot souffle, broccoli, sweet potatoes and apples. salad (in the middle), and (in the dish to the left), Moroccan braised beef served over ditalini.

I actually didn't take any pics of the desserts, I'm realizing now.   The dinner was so colorful and tasty that the desserts couldn't compete....especially since one of them lost its life in the driveway on the way out (RIP pumpkin pie).  We also had a french apple pie, macaroons, and chocolate avocado pudding.

The ladies:


The oldest and youngest guests:


Even though Miss C is but 6 weeks older than Kellen (not pictured), she seemed to enjoy playing with big brother Brady.   (Her expression not withstanding)


Hmmm.....maybe she didn't enjoy it!  ;-)


The plaid shirt boys:


The girls:


The boys in a gigantic pile-up while C looks on demurely:


Trying to convince her that she should love me!


The BG and Joel were both there but managed to escape the lens.  Shocker!   ;-)

Hope everybody had a wonderful Thanksgiving!!!!!!

Wishing everyone a blessed and restful Thanksgiving shared with loved ones!! 

In case you've been wondering after the last two posts where the B-man has been hiding, here's a clue:  NOT anywhere near a comb!  

Behold his kindergarten school picture:

Apparently, photographers (or their assistants) no longer smooth down the hairs.  I mean, seriously?  Give this kid at least a finger-comb!!    Oh well.  Posterity and all that.

Miss C has hair issues of her own--like, why doesn't she have hair in the front?!--but still managed to be quite cute in the autumnal scene the photog at her school used!

Forget "Whispering Rainbow" or "Sparkly Butterfly" or any other such moniker I've seen mentioned online recently as alter egos for little girls.  I think our CJK would be Sally One-Sock.

I would say that 90% of the times she escapes downstairs to watch a show or play with toys, she emerges wearing only one sock.  I finally realized I should be capturing such moments and it only took a few days to get these.  I was kinda disappointed that 1 out of the 5 featured a sockless right foot because I was beginning to think it was left or nothing.

As I write this post, we are still searching for a sock from yesterday's outfit.

Girl's crazy.   

But we'll keep her.


PS:  Sally One-Sock would like to give HUGE BIRTHDAY GREETINGS to her Opa!!   We all hope you have the most wonderful birthday, Daddyrags!   Go wild and take off a sock-- all the cool kids are doing it!  

Okay, not really farmer.  But a girl should never use heavy machinery without a purse!


(the frog umbrella at her feet is critical, too-- what if it rains?)

Or maybe he just wants to keep his tooties warm!!

HAPPY FRIDAY!

Our weekday morning routine:

B knows he can't get out of bed until 7 AM.  Sometimes he sleeps past then--and even as late as 7:40--but just as often, he's popping up right at 7.  We have to walk out of the house at 8:10 to go to the bus stop, so there's a pretty big swing in there in terms of how much time there is on any given day to accomplish breakfast (always a banana, usually a cereal concoction of Cinnamon Life, Quaker Cinnamon Squares, and Frosted Mini Wheats but sometimes scrambled eggs and a waffle/bagel), me making his lunch, getting him dressed, brushing teeth, etc.  Oh, and I have to get sister dressed since she also has to trek out in the near-freezing temps. (I usually get her changed upon waking up since she still is about as anti-giving-up-diapers as one can be so I just go ahead and take off her pjs right at first.)  She never leaves her room until I get her or tell her she can come out so that sometimes buys me extra time if I need it; if she gets up when he's still asleep, however, he will not be asleep for long!

I still find myself on most days being awake by the time the BG leaves at 6.  Some days, I run/walk on the treadmill for half an hour.  Sometimes I just stay in bed catching up on the outside world via the iPhone until after 7.  Yesterday morning, I did the treadmill and then had just enough time to watch The Mindy Project on DVR before realizing I still needed to put the blog post together before my self-imposed deadline of 7:30.  It was a "pop up right at 7" morning for B so he got to enjoy a little iPad time in our bed while I was finishing up my tasks.  At some point during the morning routine, I walked into his room and saw this:

 "Um, Brooks, what are those weights [that live in the basement] doing upstairs in your room?"

"I was working out this morning!"

"Did you go get them this morning or did you bring them up last night and sleep with them?"

"I slept with them!"

Of course he did.   And of course I asked for a demonstration:


And of course someone didn't want to get left out!

Believe me, I am fully on the "don't decorate for Christmas until December" bandwagon.   That said, however, the kids have developed a real love for the "dun da da da DUN dun DUN dun dun" line of music from the Nutcracker Suite.   What?   You're confused?

Does this help?  (Yes, this video is very.very dark.  And quiet.  But that is Miss C Nutcracker-ing it up from her bed):


She and I did some fun shopping earlier this week and she was super excited to pick out a Nutcracker ornament for herself (purple sequins!) and for B (spindly legs!).   Now we just have to keep up with them until we get a tree in a few weeks!

While the BG did some serious leaf-tending in the front yard over the weekend, there are still plenty of 'em all over the back.  The pile he made under the rope swing is of particular fun to the young lad:


We had quite the bright and sunny day yesterday after a pretty gloomy weekend.  By the time we went outside to play, however, the wind had picked up and it was nearing the crazy early time the sun now sets.   She didn't seem to mind:

Oh, how the guys in my family make me laugh.

As has been well-documented here, the B-man loves a wide variety of games/apps on the iPad.  One that has been especially fun for him of late is called Paper Monsters.   (Not surprisingly, he has the entire intro of that linked commercial memorized and recited it to me, complete with a deep voice!  Ha!)

Basically, the game takes place in a land of paper and cardboard and there's some big dude named Lord Papyrus.  That's pretty much the extent of my knowledge.   That didn't stop me from thoroughly enjoying this little video from the over-the-weekend leaf-raking time, however:

Since nothing eventful happened yesterday besides me finally hanging up all the clothes that had piled up on my dresser, I figured today's blog post could be a Flashback Friday.   Then I decided to go an even lazier route (no photo-scanning involved!) and grab a pic from Nov 15, 2008 and Nov 15, 2011 to see what the wee ones looked like in the first November of their lives.

11/15/08


That was the fall that Rosemond & Co. came up here twice within 10 days-- such a treat!!  It will shock no one that I still have that sweater and considered wearing it just yesterday.  I am nothing if not fashion-forward.  (Fun fact:  just about exactly 2 years later, that little girl would gain twin brothers!)

11/15/2011

Just a baby girl in what totally looks like a maternity top!  Still cracks me up.

HAPPY FRIDAY!

I had way more fun at meals yesterday than I usually do!   For lunch, Miss C and I had a car picnic before doing some serious shopping:

Then for dinner, I journeyed down to a fun urban area o' restaurants to meet up with Anne who is in town for a work conference, and other high school friend, Cait, who came up from the south for our catch-up meal.  The quality of our time together was much higher than that of this photograph, FYI:

I'm SO glad that Anne's conference kindly waited until this week to happen so that I was able to escape.  Wouldn't have worked any of the preceding weeks/months with the football schedule!!   It's always so nice to get out and about!!

The title would have worked better on a Thursday but alas, it's Wednesday and these pics are all I've got!

From the weekend:   Meelie LOVES her "Mr. Frumble book" (aka Richard Scarry's Best First Book Ever that I totally got at some thrift store) because her daddy reads it in a fun voice and the little female character magically becomes a girl named Camille.  She has also become insistent that the Mr. Frumble book is read on the couch under a blanket.


From Monday:   since the B-man had a half-day the first two days of this week, I was able to schedule him to participate in a study for 5- and 6- year olds that the Lab for Early Social Cognition at the nearby university was running.  There was a separate but related study for 2- and 3- year olds so both kids got to "go to college."   The kids had lots of fun playing with the undergrads in the waiting room before and after their time in the observation room; here, they're getting instructions about digging into that box for a prize!


From Tuesday:   talking to each other through the random sculpture thing outside the library because, well, why not?

It dawned on me recently that we have almost no videos of Miss C chatting like we do of her brother.  Ah, the poor put-upon second child, doomed always to think she is second-rate!  ;-)

I decided to see what she would choose to perform if she were to be recorded and was not surprised that she decided to sing her favorite song.  She was a little hesitant and didn't quite get all the words in the right place but she was awfully cute.  (She's also pretty quiet so you might have to crank it up.)

From "Stand Strong," the theme song of the Kingdom Rock VBS the B-man attended last summer (that she has learned through its playing in our car):

We will trust, trust in God alone.
We will stand, stand upon His word
and whatever comes our way, 
We are strong.  And we are brave.
His truth, truth will be our guide
through the day and the darkest night.
Our God will give us strength.
We are strong.  And we are brave.

Take one:




Take two:



Then we switched gears completely for the finale:

 Saturday afternoon, I came upstairs for a break from cheering on my Uncle Fred's Mississippi State Bulldogs against those darn Aggies to investigate what the rest of my family was doing.  I peered outside and saw this:


Those three sure love to play outside!  Though it was a titch chilly, I accepted their invite to come see them and caught some of the shenanigans on camera:


Side note:  the BG apparently believes that we should cheer for college football teams because they are from the state of Texas.  This must be one of those times where my 12 years in Corning paid off because I have NO SUCH LOYALTY.  I sure was rooting for those West Virginia Mountaineers to beat the Longhorns, too, because why on earth would I support either A&M or UT as a proud Baylor Bear?  (Although Brother tells me we should be rooting for UT to be as highly ranked as possible to help out our rankings when we play beat them on Dec 7....blah blah blah.)

Weekend wrap-up:  1) my kids are thrilled to have their much more fun daddy around.   2) I am thrilled to have their much more fun daddy around.  3) I continue to be shocked that I love nothing more than couch time watching college football.  (Speaking of shocks, I'm also relieved to know that Shock Linwood's real name is Rashodrick because, otherwise, I was super curious as to whether the baby's birth was a surprise or something!)  

PS:  At this point, Sheils is getting ready to write a comment about how my grandfather graduated from UT.  (Am I right?!) :-)   And that is true.  In his honor, I'll put them one notch above the Aggies.

• GO BEARS!!!!!!!!

• I know it's often said that we are too connected to technology but I gotta say that I find watching sporting events with smartphone in hand is the way to go.  During the course of the big game last night, I was texting with Polly, Geoff, and Big Daddy plus Facebook-commenting/reading/liking with a whole bunch of others.   It's such a fun way to feel closer to both the action and our friends/family.  (Polly gets the prize for multitasking: she was in overload between the Redskins, Capitals, Univ of OR (hard loss there, Ducks!), and Baylor games!)

• I totally forgot until watching the Fox Sports coverage last night that Pizza Hut is a major sponsor.  I feel so confirmed in my decision to take advantage of their "Any Pizza for $10" deal last night....especially since I found an online code for each one to be only $9!!   Pretty sweet to get a large pizza with any combo of toppings you want for only $9!!!

• Speaking of food, I posted an expanded version of this pic on FB last night: 

• Speaking of the BG, the last game of the regular high school football season is tonight.  The Rams go into it with a 5-4 record so it's a chance to end up with a winning record!!   The opponent is not an easy one, however, so it should be an exciting game.  Unfortunately, it'll be much colder than the freakish heat wave we had last Friday where I didn't even have to put on a sweatshirt until the second half!  I hope the kids won't freeze before either the game is over or we've established a rock-solid lead!   We shall see.

• In between now and the game, I need to do about 87 loads of laundry.  I can tell the colder temps are settling in since I now have my weekly "fleece" load!

 HAPPY FRIDAY!!

Olive came over to play earlier this week and the girls were quasi-twinsies in tunic tops and leggings.  It's so fun to imagine these two growing up together!


And, for a fun Thursday Throwback, here's Miss C sporting those same elephants back in September 2011!

Only the finest at Wegmans!

Actually...we totally went to Teeter for this particular shopping trip.  It just happens that the vast majority of my bags are from Wegs.   Way back in the day, I used to fret about taking bags into other stores but gave up on that concern sometime ago.  We now live in an area that taxes 5 cents per shopping bag so my reusable bag stash gets quite a workout.   I've found it's easy to remember in places where I buy food (and I don't mind not having an overload of plastic bags at home) but I often forget in places like HomeGoods or the mall.   I'm getting better about remembering, but it's kinda sad not to have a stockpile of paper shopping bags from stores anymore!

Sunday, we decided to take advantage of the brilliant sunshine and introduce Big D to the nearby adventure park.  The kids and I went mountain-climbing:


Then we analyzed the map and realized we could walk down a trail from the playground to get to the Gardens that way rather than moving our car to a separate entrance.  Turned into quite a trek-- a wonderful source of exercise and nature-appreciation!

There was an outdoor school area set up:


The BG trying to teach them the art of map-reading:


Thanks for coming to visit, Big D!

Big D is a man after my own heart in terms of understanding the extreme importance of planning meals in advance!  We'd been trying to figure out where to go to dinner Saturday when, that morning, a Groupon deal popped up for a restaurant that I'd heard announced at football games as one of the program's newest sponsors.   I'd driven by its slightly-off-putting strip location several times but hadn't ever checked out the menu until the coupon appeared.   We all decided the food and drink options sounded like a perfect dinner feast and, since Big D's Texas Tech Red Raiders were playing at 7 pm, we made plans to eat early!

Before-dinner poses:


"Hung up" by Big D:


We unabashedly took advantage of Big D's generosity (and the Groupon) and ordered two appetizers and two desserts along with the ribs/steak/burger we also got.    Clearly, we enjoyed it:


The kids went AFTER the slice of red velvet cake:


The adults enjoyed the "not for young'uns" banana bombe brownie sundae creation that involved some sort of triple-rum sauce.    No pictures because we were too busy attacking it!

We certainly appreciate any local business that offers support to high school programs and it's also always good to be reminded that a nondescript exterior can be hiding some serious tastiness!   I imagine we'll find ourselves back in that place again before too long-- I mean, they have TEN kinds of macaroni and cheese!   I have some tastin' to do!!

This is Gerald.  You might know him from the Elephant and Piggie series by Mo Willems:

Gerald was pretty excited to attend a Halloween party last Saturday afternoon.  Unfortunately, the BG put his ear/trunk apparatus on top of the car while buckling in Miss C....and then drove off.  A friend saw it the next day, high on a pole on a street with the name Clover in it.  Once she realized later that it was ours, she directed the host to go get it.  Unfortunately, he thought it was in a "clover bush" and couldn't find it.  You can't make this stuff up.

In any case, RIP Gerald (the costume).   Walking over to save the day was our wonderful neighbor who brought us a Batman costume from when her boys were younger.  Who cares that the B-man probably doesn't know much about Batman?  Who needs to understand their costume?  (cringe cringe.)

Yesterday was a day of parades and parties.  The elementary school said, "No Masks!"  So I sent B to school without a mask as directed.   Guess what every other kid had on at the parade?  Exactly!   Apparently he didn't feel like wearing the pants, either.   Not a very impressive crime-fighter, this one:


We still had a good time!

Later on, the real Batman came out to play.  He joined a little giraffe, who also enjoyed a parade and party yesterday at her school.  But going trick-or-treating through a neighborhood??  Best. Thing. Ever!   "Me want to go to another house!" she'd say after each visit.


We were there, too, and glowing!


Candy is GOOD.


The End!

Except, it wasn't.....because neither of those two ghouls had fallen asleep at 9:00 PM when this guy walked in:


HAPPY FRIDAY!!!