Thanksgiving 2010

This Thanksgiving was filled with a few of my favorite things... family, friends, food, and football*.

On Wednesday, we had lunch at our house with my best buddies... Jeni and Leslie. Leslie and I were roommates in college, and all of us have been friends since high school. Rush and Sydney Frances had so much fun playing with Jeni and Jonthan's daughter, Olivia. SF and Olivia had on matching patterns from Kelly's Kids. I guess great minds think alike. ;-)





On Thursday, we went to my parents' house to have a HUGE Thanksgiving meal. I must say that this feast was delicious. Wanna hear the menu? Smoked turkey, ham, chicken, dressing, cranberry sauce, homemade macaroni and cheese, squash casserole, broccoli casserole, sweet potato casserole (with the crunchy topping), peas, strawberry salad, rolls, chocolate cake, bread pudding, pumpkin cake, sweet potato pie, and pound cake. I just gained another pound by listing it all again, and I probably left something off the list. It was all delicious. I ate TWO plates FULL. I was literally in pain. That's what you are supposed to do on this holiday, right?The kiddos had their Thanksgiving lunch at a very special table this year. It was the kids' table, but not just any kids' table. This table belonged to Gigi (my Mama) when she was a little girl. Then, Ivy and I also played with it when we were little girls. Rush and Fran loved having their lunch at the little table. I like thinking about everyone from our family sitting in those little chairs through the years. I'm a cheeseball like that, though.



One of my favorite parts of the Thanksgiving weekend was getting to hang out with this little cutie pie. My sweet niece, Kate, kept everyone on their toes because this cutie patootie is crawling and pulling up on everything. She is so cute and sweet. I love being Kate's aunt!! P.S. Her AU onesie has been bringing us luck each weekend, and it worked like a charm this week, too.



*{Disclaimer: OK. Truthfully, football isn't one of my favorite things. Mainly, I just like to go the games to see the band and watch all the pregame/halftime stuff, but when my alma mater has a perfect season, beats UA, will play in the SEC Championship game next weekend, and has a shot to be National Champions, football becomes one of my favorite things.WAR EAGLE!!}

Swing and Swide

Rush and Fran had a great time this weekend playing on their new(ly put together) swing set! They actually got the swing set from Gigi and Papa for their birthday, and we just got it together. I know... just in time for cold weather. Oh well! We are still enjoying it, and it also isn't cold. The weather is in the 70s. We are going to have to wear short sleeves on Thanksgiving!

Every afternoon, they ask, "We go swing and swide?" Rush's favorite part is the see-saw, and Sydney Frances seems to like the swings and slide equally.

Rush was in a grumpy mood this past Sunday when we were playing, but I managed to get a few smiles out of him. He is a little thrill seeker and loves to be pushed high or to have you surprise him with a sudden push. He will laugh and laugh!

Frannie was in a particularly sunny mood. Maybe she was inspired by her rainbow motif sweatshirt. :-) I got some good smiles from her!

Busy...

Sorry it has been a while since I have posted anything. We've been busy around here. I have been spending a lot of time answering this question....

"Wus dat, Mama? Wus dat?"

and this one....

"Why do dat, Mama? Why do dat?"

and then this one...

"What doin, Mama? What doin?"

Apparently, all TWO year old questions come in TWOS. :-)I have two very curious little ones around here these days!

Oh yes, we have also been busy styling hair around here. I put some velcro rollers in Syd's hair early one Saturday morning. She felt very grown up. So enjoy this cute curly head:

Happy Halloween!

Introducing Alice in Wonderland and The Mad Hatter...




We had a really busy afternoon and evening today! Our neighborhood has a Halloween Carnival with lots of fun things for the kids to do. I think Rush and Sydney Frances were both slightly overwhelmed by all of the kids in costumes, snacks, games, and people. Mostly, they looked like this the whole time...

So, I would say they had fun, but I don't know if they did. I think next year they will understand the whole idea a little better and be more comfortable. They did "go fishing", get some Halloween stickers, and have some popcorn. They also played "Pin the Nose on the Pumpkin" and the "Witch Hat Ring Toss."







Don't get too excited, Rush.



They got a little more excited after we got home and started talking about going Trick or Treating. We did a little trial run, and I put some candy in their pumpkins. That seemed to do the trick.





Getting ready to leave...


The transportation...


The first stop! This family had candy in a bowl on their porch. It was a good place to start. No pressure! Ha!



We made it to around 10 houses or so. They really did a great job and were much more willing to go up to the doors than I thought they would be. My favorite part of the night was Rush's reaction at each door. After being given a piece of candy, he would just stand there and stare. I think it was all a lot of hype for just a little bit of candy. Ha! He just kept standing there like he was waiting for the big deal to happen. More than one person commented on it, and I thought it was so funny! One guy even said, "I feel like I should invite him in or something. I don't think the candy was enough." Hahahaha!!

After the festivities.. checking out the goodies!


Fun night!

Pumpkin Patch

This past weekend, we went to a pumpkin patch in a nearby town. It was "out in the country" but also happened to be just outside my Dad's hometown. It was a fun Sunday afternoon outing! It took us around twenty minutes to get there, so we took along a snack for the road trip.

Candy Corn mixed with salted peanuts...my new favorite Halloween snack! If you haven't ever tried this combo, you won't believe how delicious it really is mixed together. Just buy a bag of candy corn and a can of salted peanuts and mix them together in a big container using a wooden spoon. Then, EAT the candy corn at the same time you are eating a peanut. It tastes just like a Payday candy bar. YUM! It also makes trips to the pumpkin patch even MORE fun!

I found out that the family that operates this pumpkin patch camps at the farm each Fall on the weekends when the patch is open to the public. I saw campers and other signs of camping while we were there. What a fun place for their kids to hang out each Fall! There was lots to do... hay ride, train (kiddie) ride, homemade ice cream, concession stand, inflatable jumpy things, wide open spaces to play, and of course, pumpkins.. in a patch! I think with the weekend being the one before Halloween, the pumpkins were somewhat picked over, but it was still interesting to see how they grew. We saw some really big ones and even some white ones. There was a sweet couple there that offered to take a family picture, so we got a picture with the biggest pumpkin there. We didn't buy a pumpkin this time because we already had two pumpkins at home. I want to turn those pumpkins into boy/girl twin pumpkins. Our neighborhood has a pumpkin decorating contest, so we may try to win "Most Fun" by creating "twin pumpkins"! {If I get around to actually doing this, I will be sure to post pictures.}
















You just looked at those last two pictures and thought, "Huh?" Didn't you? We do not live in Kansas nor are we Chiefs fans, but Phil has a knack for finding pieces of Americana wherever he travels. Want to know the most interesting part? He buys it all in gas stations. The twins will have a random collection of these little pieces of "history". They also have a Betty Boop bobble head that does a hula dance. Just what every kid needs, right? Phil thought the kids just had to have this little gem. I have to admit... Rush loved it! He yelled "NUMBA ONE!" all the way home and made us laugh. Actually, the kids always love these little things that Phil buys because he makes them fun. It's the little things, right.

Later that day, Auburn was ranked number one in the BCS Standings. That was super fun, too! :-) A perfect way to end the day!