turkey day: take 2

Yesterday the boys and I spent the day at Nina and Poppy's house for the Crooks' family Thanksgiving. Darren was working, so he wasn't able to join us, but as is the case every year thus far, all the siblings, spouses and kids were all able to be there. The cousins, Connor(9), Coby(6), John Michael(5), Cale(3), Lincoln(2 1/2), Juliet and Audrey(2 year old twins), Madison(2 in Dec.), and Lauren(1 1/2) all had SO much fun together this year. It was a zoo, but I've never seen all the kids play and have as much fun together as they did this Thanksgiving. I honestly thought the boys and I would just stay for a few hours (lunch was at 1), but we didn't get home until just before 10 pm. I always find that once I get there, I just don't want to leave...and the boys, well they're the same way. What a fun day. Can't wait to do it all over again on Christmas day.

first there was food...lots of food

Coby, of course was still at the table eating THIRDS when everyone else was done.

then the REAL fun began with a day of outdoor play (Connor and Poppy opted for golf)


Coby and John Michael had bicycle races (they got hot so they decided to go shirtless)


Poppy took Lauren and Cale on a wagon ride to the pond (the big kids followed on their bikes)


Coby rode the sit and scoot (the adults love this one as well)


The best part (aside from the fact that the whole family was together) was that the kids were worn out by the end of the day. They sat down and watched all of Madagascar 2 while the adults conversed. What a perfect day!

Oh, be sure and check out our photo site, I am finally up to date on it! I am going to try to keep up with it from here on out. We'll see how that goes! ;)

turkey day

We had a great afternoon with Darren's side of the family today and look forward to spending the day with my family tomorrow. It's so nice to be able to spread Thanksgiving out over a two day period so that we are able to fully enjoy time with both of our families without having to rush. I am thankful for so much this year, but my healthy, rambunctious boys and amazing husband top the list.

Sadly, I didn't get a pic of all the boys on this Thanksgiving day. The only pictures I took were of Cale. He and I spent some time outdoors while waiting for the turkey to get done (I was trying to keep him entertained).

I forgot to share the pictures from Cale's Thanksgiving feast at school last week. So, here they are...better late than never! Right?

pumpkin bread

I came home after church this evening and made two loaves of pumpkin bread. I've been meaning to make it since the beginning of fall, but just now got around to it. Maybe I was just not in the mood since it has been staying in the 70's here for the past couple of weeks. It is really hard to want to make pumpkin bread when it is that warm out. Today is the first day that it has really started to cool off. I LOVE it!!!! I am ready to be able to wear my sweaters, jeans, boots, coats and sweatshirts without getting all hot and sweaty in them. It finally feels like fall is here. Nothing says fall like cool, crisp weather and a slice of warm pumpkin bread. Mmmmm. I heart fall.

the day I became babydoll...again

When Darren and I were dating, he always called me babydoll. I have hundreds of notes that he wrote to pass to me in the hallways of Hefner Junior High (yes, that really shows my age as it is now Hefner Middle School) and on the front, most of them have babydoll written on them.

Imagine the surprise I felt when Coby called me babydoll out of the blue last night. The kids had stayed with Nina and Poppy while Darren and I went out on a date. Nina, of course, loaded their hands with leftover Halloween candy before sending them home. I was saying how much I love Airheads (the candy!) when Coby said, You can have one of my airheads babydoll! Then once we got home, I asked Coby to clean up his room before bedtime and he responded with Okay, babydoll. I could get used to this. What a full circle moment to have my 6 year old son calling me by the name his daddy started calling me when he was 12 (and sadly hasn't called me in years). I don't have any idea why Coby decided to start calling me babydoll, but I hope it doesn't stop any time soon.

post-edit: I had to come back and add something that I just remembered since the whole babydoll calling started up on our way home from date night. A few weeks ago, we told the boys that we were going to go out on a dinner date and Coby looked at me and said, "Ohhhh, you're gonna have a baby!!" Ha, this makes it sound like he knows something about baby-making, which I can assure you that he does not. Knowing that he doesn't just made what he said that much funnier to us.

sweet & cute from the 3 Cs

I've got a bunch of things the boys have either said or done that I've got to put on here so I will never forget. I say it all the time, but my boys crack me up. They are so funny and they don't even know it!!!

Just last night, I was enjoying a bubble bath and I let Coby take a shower in my bathroom at the same time. The shower is across from the tub and I noticed that Coby was holding the mirror Darren uses for shaving and holding it so that he could see his butt bottom. I asked him what he was doing. "I'm seeing if there's any hair on my bottom!" (Well, of course that's what he was doing, why didn't I think of that! ha) ME: Why are you doing that? Who has a hairy bottom?" Coby: Me and daddy!

Coby was in his undies, sunglasses, and wearing Mardi Gras type beads when I asked him if he was a rock star. Nope, I'm naked dude!

While driving past a cemetary the other day...
Cale: There's spring.
Me: Where's spring?
Cale: (pointing at cemetary) Right there. Spring has lots of flowers. There's another spring on the way to my school. (there is indeed a cemetary on the way to his school and it is full of flowers)

Five minutes before we were to head out the door to school yesterday, Coby suddenly felt the urge to take his lunch (keep in mind I'd made Connor's lunch quite a bit earlier, but Coby had told me he wanted to eat the pizza in the cafeteria). I quickly threw his lunch together. Once it was ready, he informed me that he'd eat at school. Me: That's fine, but you need to take everything out of your lunch box and put it all away. Coby: Oh my goodness! You are wasting my time! Now I'm going to be late. (I had to laugh to myself, I'm wasting his time!?)

Luckily there is a lot of sweetness that comes from Coby Lane to help balance out times like the above! He came home from school a few weeks ago and told me that he had a surprise for me after dinner. I was thinking some kind of candy, but after dinner he handed me a little gold bracelet. He got to go to the treasure chest at school that day and picked out something for me. He was so proud of himself. The bracelet has someone's initials on it, but I didn't mind. I wear it proudly. Coby is constantly thinking of others. Our most selfless child he is (not putting down Connor and Cale, it's just that Coby has always been a giver...the others, well, not so much).

As I was writing what a giver Coby is, I remembered something funny from a few months ago that showed he is still six after all and not always so generous. I needed some dollar bills for hat day at school. I went in to Cale's piggy bank (I was going to reimburse him!!) and his dollar bills were missing.

Me: Cale, where is your money?

Coby chiming in: I have two dollars.

Me: No, remember you gave me all your money to pay for the Star Wars legos a few weeks ago.
Cale interjects: I gave Coby all my dollars.

Me: What? Why would you give Coby all your dollars, Cale?

Now Connor gets in the conversation: Cale wanted one of Coby's Lego Storm Troopers and Coby told him he'd have to pay for it. :)

Last night, we were walking out to the car after dinner at Qdoba (can't beat the 99 cent tacos on Monday night!) and Cale took my hand in his, looked at me and said, "Isn't this a dreamy night?"

The boys and I were eating edamame with our dinner the other night and Cale asked if he could have some more endamommy. I said, what is it called? Cale replied, "It's really edamame,but I call it end-a-mommy."

Cale asked me why I'm a girl and why did God give me a va-China.

When Cale thinks something is cute, he'll say Isn't this so charmy!? (I think he's trying to say charming)

Me: Cale, you are super duper cute. Cale: No, cool. Not cute!

And thanks to Shaggy (from Scooby Doo), Cale always adds like to what seems to be every sentence. After I did something for him the other day, he said, "Gee, like thanks mommy for doing my project!"

Lastly, as we were walking out the door this morning to take "the brothers" (as Cale calls them) to school, Cale comes flying into the laundry room exclaiming, "I've got my backpack too!" And he did, a backpack on over his jammies. He always wants to be just like his brothers.

I realize that I didn't write anything about Connor, but to be honest, he knows about my blog and doesn't like me to put certain things about him on it, so I am trying to respect that. But, here is a cute picture of him on his way out the door to school (he was wearing shorts to school in November!!! It has been beautiful here for the past week!).

No pic of Coby this morning, he was too busy saying, "OH MY GOODNESS, we are going to be late!!!" He had NO time for pics, he needed to be at school immediately because he knew he was going to be the class leader today. He couldn't wait. A child who can't wait to get to school? That's a very good thing.

saddest movie ever

We watched Marley and Me last night for FFF*. Connor chose it (he informed me that he is getting a little too old to only be watching cartoony movies all the time so we're letting him grow up a little bit). Darren, Connor, Coby and I all cuddled up in our bed to watch it, while Cale was watching a new Thomas movie in the other room (he doesn't get to watch PG movies just yet).

Can I just say that watching Marley and Me is not the best movie to watch when you have a 13 year old lab that is not in the best health! I felt like I was watching my future unfold when Marley got sick and they had to make the decision to put her down. I am not one to cry during movies, but I was boohooing during this one. I was a sobbing mess. It was so depressing. I couldn't get it out of my mind all night and have still been thinking about it today.

FFF is supposed to be a fun time with the kids, not an evening in which I turn into crying disaster! At least the pizza was good and I did make Connor's favorite peanut butter chocolate pie. It was great. As was the family cuddle time. Maybe it wasn't so bad after all. Still, next week I am picking out the movie and it will not make me cry. It will have a happy ending.

*Family Fun Friday