Happy Thanks-mas Everyone

I hope everyone has sufficiently recovered from Thanksgiving and associated goings-on this weekend.  We had a wonderful Thanksgiving.  Brandon's family came down and brought lots of desserts with them, and we got to spend lots of time with family at my sister-in-law Val's house, who lives about 40 minutes away from us.  

We are thankful for many things this year.  Among those that won't make me get teary-eyed and unable to resume blogging include:

--Uncle Jeremy becoming a dentist before the Era of Orthodontia begins in our house.  (Please, oh please, become an orthodontist)

--my mother-in-law agreeing to make Baby Girl's crib bedding.  Brandon and I have been unable to agree on a SINGLE bedding set that we have looked at for hours over the internet.  Who knew I married a man who wanted pink and frills?  And who hated sock monkeys?  Anyway, we found a print for the bedding we both like, and we ventured out to the fabric shop Friday and bought just about everything we needed.

--NAPS!  Did I mention "We ventured out on Friday"?  Not only did we venture, but us ladies were at JC Penney, oh yes ma'am, at 4:30 am on Friday.  We were finished at the mall by about 7, and then went to the madhouse that was Kohl's.  I realized that I consider it a sport to find the shortest line to check out in.  At Kohl's, the line for the front registers stretched around the store all the way to the back.  The customer service desk was not taking purchases, but I decided that if I should need to make a payment on my Kohl's card, perhaps they would let me buy my two measly items there at the back desk.  And they did.  So I only waited about 3 minutes in line.  But then I got in the big long line to hold a place for the rest of the girls while they finished shopping.  So by the time we finished up with all of our shopping at around noon, the bed was looking really good.  This may be my last "Black Friday" shopping experience.  Yes, the prices were good.  I just don't know if they were "wake up at 4 am" good.

--Another potato dish at Thanksgiving dinner.  I made my potato casserole because I love it, and Jeremy made mashed potatoes.  My casserole just didn't taste right to me.  About half of it still got eaten, but the texture or something was different.  It wasn't until last night's bought of insomnia that I realized I had left out an entire stick of butter.  Yeah, it needed that butter.

--Early Christmas shopping.  Since this is the last time we will all be together with Brandon's family for a while, we decided to exchange our Christmas gifts after Thanksgiving dinner.  Before dessert, even.  Hence, Thanks-mas.  Last Christmas, Dane and Aidan opened all of their presents on Christmas morning, and I think the sheer volume of gifts at once was overwhelming.  So they will have a few weeks to really enjoy some of the gifts they have already received before the next wave hits.

Some favorites of the day: 

Both boys got a new pair of shoes.  This is monumental in their worlds right now because they only have one pair of shoes to wear, everything else is in storage until we get back into our house.  Dane's shoes were too big and will be his special shoes when he outgrows his current tennis shoes, but Aidan's fit perfectly.  He calls them his "skateboarder shoes".  They have Spiderman characters on the sides and SHOELACES.  He took a nap in them on Thursday because he did not want to take them off.

The boys got a couple of new games for the Wii.  Dane almost wet his pants he was so excited.  This was not a "posed for the camera" face that he usually gives us, this was actually how excited he was:

And Baby Girl even scored some gifts.  Like this ballet ensemble.  Not quite sure what to do with a tutu.  Someone with girls, please advise.

--High school football playoffs.  One of the kids in our high school group plays for Klein Oak, who won their 3rd playoff game Saturday!  Brandon and his dad had a road trip to Round Rock (and beyond, actually, but they eventually made it to the stadium) on Saturday to watch the game.  When I was in high school, I was a trainer for a football team that went 15-1 for the season, ending in a trip to the state finals.  It was so fun, and it's been fun to watch someone we know get to experience the excitement of the playoffs during the holidays.  Go Klein Oak!!

--Key lime pie.  Again, this may not be a "traditional" Thanksgiving dessert, but I love, love, love it.  So I made one.  And since Thursday, I have single-handedly eaten 3/4 of the pie.  And by single-handedly, I mean the baby had some pie, too.  Fortunately, Brandon finished off the last quarter of the pie yesterday morning.  To protect me from myself.

I hope you and yours had a very happy Thanksgiving, or Thanks-mas, or whatever mixture of holidays you celebrate this time of year.

Gobble Gobble

Dane and Aidan had a "Thanksgiving Feast" this past Thursday at their preschool.  Aidan's class (FOURTEEN 2 and 3 year olds...please pray for his teachers) made turkey hats and special place mats and learned an interesting Thanksgiving song, complete with motions, sung to the tune of "I'm a Little Teapot".  It goes something like this:

I'm a little turkey

Short and round
Here are my tail feathers (this is where he turned around and made "tail feathers", but I don't have a picture of that)

Here is my sound:  Gobble Gobble!!
When I see a hunter...
Yes, it's true.

I'll be a turkey dinner for you!

All sung with big smiles and lots of gusto.  They wrapped up the feast with a lunch consisting of turkey sandwiches, fruit, pretzels, and juice boxes.  Just like what the Pilgrims ate.

Dane's class also had a special lunch planned.  First, he got to lead his class in The Lord's Prayer.

Then, he made a lunchmeat face, and proceeded to model the lunchmeat face on top of his own face.  So he probably smelled suspiciously of Oscar Meyer turkey for the rest of the day.

He definitely noticed that we had our camera with us...please note "Dane Eating Sandwich, Pose #1":

And "Dane With Sandwich, Pose #2":
He didn't have a mildly inappropriate turkey song to sing, so I had to resort to taking pictures of him eating.

I hope everyone has a great week!  I should be posting a few more pictures from my sister's wedding and also our "Thanksgiving story" that our pastor read in service today. 

From Lindy's Wedding

After an extraordinarily lazy week of doing practically nothing, I have finally gotten around to blogging a few more pictures from Lindy and Andy's wedding last weekend.

Here is our little family.  Thanks to some super cute school pictures taken last week of the boys, this will not be our Christmas card picture:

Aidan with his signature pose:

And with his co-ring bearer, Gage, Andy's precious nephew:

You thought I was joking about the "signature pose" thing, didn't you?

Dane passed out programs, which were designed by Uncle Andy himself, and they were very cool and original.
Some quality cousin time:
(By the way, this is the best Aidan's flower looked the whole night.)

Here's what my children chose to do during the reception:

There may have been a bride and groom at the wedding, also, but I'm still waiting on a few of those pics...

Goin' to the Chapel

This past weekend, this girl:

married this boy (Raphael, second from left):

I have so much to blog about this past weekend, but frankly, I'm holding out for the good pictures.  Because apparently the only photos I managed to take the entire weekend were of my sister putting on her make-up.  And those are just not representative of the weekend.

A couple of quick observations:

1.  How is it possible for me to be genetically related to her:

No, really.  Did I get all the "witty" genes, and she got the "smokin' hot body" genes?  Um, God, is it too late to trade?  She can have witty.

  

2.  The only pictures I seem to have of Andy are of him blowing an air compressor in my son's face and dressing up as a Ninja Turtle for Halloween.  Seriously, he really is a great, mature, grown up adult.  Seriously.

More, much more, when I can get my grubby little hands on some pictures from wedding.

Less Outnumbered than Ever

Here are a couple of shots from the ultrasound yesterday.

This first one is a profile shot.  To the right is baby's head, you can see the tips of her fingers near her chin.

Here is the money shot.  Our precious daughter flashin' the trash.  The picture is from the bottom looking up.  Baby's skinny butt is to the left, with her legs sticking out to the right.  And in the middle, no weenie.  This is definitely different than Dane and Aidan's ultrasounds.

Here was the conversation I had with the sweet ultrasound tech:

US Tech:  Can you tell what you're having?

Me:  Where's the weenie?

US Tech:  There's not one.  You're having a girl.

Me:  Are you sure?  Is there another angle we could check?

US Tech:  No, this is the angle.  It's a girl.  Congratulations!  AREN'T YOU EXCITED?!?!

Me:  Of course.  These are just tears of joy.  Yes, joy, that's it.

Brandon and I are gradually getting over the sense of terror and shock we initially felt last night in the ultrasound room.  (I'm not gonna lie, glee and joy were not the initial emotions experienced.)  And we are getting more excited about having a girl.  Really, we are.  Still nervous and have no idea what to expect, but I'm going to enjoy the shopping part of a daughter, I think.  

One thing is certain:  she's going to have to be one tough cookie to hold her own with these two.

Or, we may just have to dress her up as the damsel in distress for Halloween to stick with the theme.

After the ultrasound, we asked the boys what they thought the baby in mommy's tummy was.  Aidan immediately said, "A tiger!", and Dane thought it was a girl.  Dane told me today that we needed to get some girl toys, like perhaps Hannah Montana stuff. 

Oh, sweet mercy.  HANNAH MONTANA STUFF?!?!  

Start prayin' for me now.

Early Shopping

Dane and Aidan did a little shopping and picked up something for the new baby:

Yes, it is a girl!  We had an ultrasound this afternoon, and let's just say, there was a definite weenie deficiency.  Not much doubt about it.  Ultrasound pictures to come soon...

And, yes, I know the outfit is pink.  In fact, it looks a bit like the chicken pox.

Halloween 2008

I hope everyone had a fun and safe Halloween this year!  We had the best Halloween yet.  Every year this gets more fun, as the boys get a little older and more participatory.  

I learned a few things trick-or-treating this year:

1.  Grown men in masks wandering around large groups of children kind of freak me out.

2.  I love chocolate.

3.  If you are a 17 year old chubby girl and trick-or-treating, and have to explain to people that you are not dressed as a "Fairy", you are a "Hot Fairy", maybe you're not.

4.  Val is a better cookie decorator than I will ever be.

Aidan went as Leonardo the Ninja Turtle, which was what Dane was last year.  (This is a recurring theme at our house.  Last year Aidan was a dinosaur, which, you guessed it, Dane was the previous year.)  Brandon made the Ninja Turtle costume last year, after observing the cheesy Turtle costumes being sold in the stores.  Dane went as a Knight in Shining Armor.  He has no idea what a knight is, he just knows that weapon-carrying is involved.  And he got to pose with a big sword much of the night.  Big Boy Joel went as a lion, which, apparently, also involves weapons (nun-chucks, to be more specific).  

Ever try to take a picture of three boys as they are preparing to trick-or-treat?  This was the best it got:

Here are a couple of shots of Aidan's costume.  He was so excited to be a Ninja Turtle.
Please note the shell detail.  If I was making a shell for a costume, it would involve green spray paint and perhaps a black Sharpie marker if I was feeling extra creative.  Not so for Brandon's shell.  Multiple colors of green paint and various paint brushes were used last year for this shell.
The shell, however, was a bit large and didn't easily lend itself to wagon-riding.  By the time we got to the last house, this is what Aidan was wearing:
Is he an extra from "Flashdance"?  Jane Fonda from the aerobics-video years?  You decide...

He's going to kill me when he is 19 and I show these pictures to his girlfriend.

When we finished trick-or-treating, we returned to Val and Izzy's house for a bit of sugar cookie decorating.  I was quite proud of my purple, lopsided pumpkin with near-legible icing-writing.  I am normally not quite so artistic.  Of course, Brandon kept asking me what "Manoy" was...

Then I saw Val's cookies and my Inferiority Complex Involving All Things Artistic flared up:

Then I saw the last cookie Val decorated and was reminded of one of the many reasons why I love my sister-in-law:

On a completely unrelated note, one week from today my baby sister is marrying Andy.  Not-Quite-Uncle-Andy ("NQUA"), also dressed up for Halloween.  He is Raphael, 2nd from the left in this picture.  

I think he's going to fit in with the family just fine.