Thanksgiving & an Early Present for Blake

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving this year. Granddaddy Jim & Granola drove up from Florida and Blake & Dylan were both here so that made it extra special. Granola helped Abby with her school project to make a gingerbread person. She cut out an extra so Jacob could make one, too! For Thanksgiving dinner, Steve made his mom's delicious dressing and I made all of our favorite sides. I ordered the ham from Honeybaked Ham and it was YUMMY!

After dinner, we played "Rock Band." Thanksgiving night Granola took Steve, Blake & Dylan to see "Four Christmases" while Granddaddy & I stayed home with Abby & Jacob. He & I attempted to play "Rock Band" and had lots of fun laughing at ourselves. When they got home, Granddaddy, Granola, Blake & Dylan played Boxerjam on the computer--very addictive!

That night, Blake got an early 16th birthday present--tickets to the Steelers-Cowboys game in Pittsburgh. Steve & Blake are heading out Saturday to spend two days in Pittsburgh. Blake is VERY excited and we hope this will be a birthday to remember for him!

Abby the Indian & Jacob's Thanksgiving Dinner

At school, Abby is learning all about Thanksgiving (Pilgrims, Indians & the Mayflower). One of their projects was to make some "Indian" clothes and then they had a Kindergarten Thanksgiving party. They ate beef jerky, raisins, cranberries and other food like they may have eaten on the first Thanksgiving. Ms. Hunter, her teacher, was very nice to make sure Abby had some allergen free foods because the other kids had popcorn and peanuts as well.

Jacob's pre-K invited all of the parents to join them in a traditional Thanksgiving meal. It was delicious and so much fun to get to eat with Jakey! My favorite part of the meal was to listen to the kids sing grace... too sweet!

I asked Jacob if I could take his picture and he wanted to make sure his marshmallow could be included~
Abby & her "clothes" and placemat!

Dylan's Wrestling Tournament

Last weekend, Steve drove up to S.C. to watch Dylan's wrestling tournament. He had 3 matches scheduled and he won the first one because the other wrestler didn't show up. He won the second match (9-0). He wanted to leave with Steve so he left before his 3rd match, but the guy he was supposed to wrestle broke his arm so he would not have wrestled anyway. Here are some pics...

The Pampered Princess

Yesterday, I took Abby to Sweet 'n' Sassy to get the "Pampered Princess" package (wash, cut, and style her hair; pedicure and manicure). She had a great time and chose french braids for her hairstyle. Here are some pics...




Excuse her messy face, they had ravioli for dinner!

Abby's toes (by the time she'd been home an hour she'd already scuffed her big toe).

Cube Starts with "Q"

The other night Jacob and I were playing a little game where one of would say "What word starts with a __ (place letter here)?" and the other one would reply with a word. Well, I asked Jacob "What word starts with a Q?" and he said "Cube." I said "Cube starts with a C." Then he looked at me and said very slowly "No, listen Mommy Q-Q-cube." It was very cute!

Abby and Jacob were given the opportunity to vote at school (not based on anything other than the names, I guess). Well, Abby voted for John McCain and Jacob voted for Barack Obama (which he says "Buk-O-bom-bom"). When asked why he voted for Buk-O-bom-bom Jacob said "Because he can dance."

Things here are going well. Blake is at a football game tonight. Steve, the kids and I are just hanging out. We're very ready for the holidays and our visit from Granddaddy Jim and Granellie (or as the kids say "Granola").

I will post some photos soon!

Happy Halloween

It is hard to believe it is already Halloween! We've been very busy with baking and decorating our "special" cupcakes (Steve and the kids made these together) and cookies, painting pumpkins (since poor Jake is allergic to pumpkins carving was out) and of course Trick or Treating. The kids had parties at school today, so I made some spider cupcakes and Abby was very excited because her teacher made the same kind (except with eggs) so that was neat. It was pretty cold tonight, but we had a great time trick or treating. Abby and Jacob had a blast running from house to house and ringing the doorbells. They had it down to a science that if the light was out we would skip that house. They made out pretty well and our neighbor made them great goody bags full of fun stuff. I also bought them some "safe" candy from Vermont Nut Free chocolates and some other non-candy stuff. So, they had a great evening as the Princess and the Knight. Blake went to a football game with some friends and Steve stayed home to give out the candy.

Our egg-free spider cupcake!


Abby contemplating how she is going to paint her pumpkin!

Jacob used all the colors on his!

Our beautiful princess!

The Knight, Sir Jacob!

So sweet!
After the goody collecting (Steve found these really cool bags that light up).

Abby all bundled up with her goodies (notice the nice bag from our neighbor).

Blake and Kristine

As promised... pics of Blake and Kristine. Don't they look nice?

Blake's Homecoming Dance

Blake went to the Homecoming Dance last night with Kristine. He had a wonderful time and has been resting all day. Here are a few pictures of him. I will post more of him and Kristine soon.

Princess Abby is Six

One of Abby's favorite expressions is "Oh my" and that is what I think when I think that she is now six years old. It really is amazing how quickly time has gone by. Abby has had some behavioral issues lately and she did not get a big party like she was hoping for. We started the day with breakfast in bed and a few gifts (new clothes for her big day). They don't allow parties at school but the teachers made Abby a birthday crown and sent her home with some little birthday goodies. They even remembered to send home "safe" treats. We had a small party with the five of us here at the house. Jacob had been home sick all day (Abby had been sick the week before and then I caught it after Jacob) so Steve, Blake and Abby went out to eat at Abby's favorite place Ruby Tuesday's. I made an egg-free cake that turned out great and Abby opened her presents. Overall, it was a very special day for all of us to celebrate the Princess!

Pumpkin Patch Field Trip

I went with Jacob and his class to the "Pumpkin Patch" which is run by a local church. They had volunteers who painted their faces, played bean bag bingo with them and read them a fun Halloween story. The kids had a picnic lunch and each got to pick a little pumpkin to take home with them. The hay seemed to make poor Jacob itchy. Other than that I had a great time and Jacob is still at that age where it is cool to have your mom with you on field trips.

A Few Pictures

I guess because I had the video my last post would not let me post any pics... so here you go...

Steve and Amy at the luau.

Amy and Dylan waiting for the go-karts. Blake, Abby and Jacob eating cake and graham crackers at Traci's.

Mid-October Already...

Time is just flying by and I can't believe that Abby will be six next week and Dylan fourteen. I really can't remember everything that has gone on over the last month, but we've been super busy. I met with Abby's teacher the other day to get her report card. She is doing very well in Kindergarten. Jacob is doing great in pre-K, too! Both of them love to rhyme and play "Raise your hand if you know what word starts with the letter ___!" It is so fun to watch them grow and learn. Jacob is always coming up with new phrases that crack us up. Unfortunately, Princess Abby has gotten into a little trouble with forgetting her "listening ears" and has had her birthday party taken away. Steve and I hated to do that, but she has to learn to be a good listener and follow our directions.

Last Monday we took Abby & Jacob to the Georgia National Fair. They had fun riding the rides and looking at the animals. They loved holding the baby chicks that had only been hatched two days prior. Even Princess held one which shocked us. I forgot my camera (go figure). Wednesday Patrick, Blake's step-dad, drove down here and picked Blake up so he could spend some of his fall break in S.C. That night Steve and I had a luau to go to for our Commander who is leaving for Hawaii. So, Abby & Jacob had their first evening baby sitter who was not in our family. They had a great time and we think we will use her again.

Steve, Abby, Jacob & I headed up to S.C. for the weekend so we could spend some time with Dylan before his birthday. Saturday we hung out and watched "Iron Man" and swam in the pool at the hotel. Sunday we went to Frankie's Fun Park and the kids had a blast. The highlight of the day for Abby & Jacob was they got to drive their own go-karts (See the video below). They did great. At the end Abby crashed into the parked go-karts when it was time to park and Jacob went past the parking area and was yelling "How do you stop this thing?" It was very funny.

After Frankie's we went to Traci and Patrick's and celebrated Dylan's birthday (and Abby's too). Abby loves seeing Logan and Hampton and Jacob really loves the dogs! Then, we picked up Blake and headed home. It was great to be able to live close enough to spend some time with Dylan.

A Trip to S.C.

We took a quick trip up to S.C. so Blake (and we) could meet his newest little brother, Hampton. Blake, Abby, Jacob and I all drove up yesterday morning. Steve stayed home to do some work and get a little rest because he has been very busy at work lately. It is exactly four hours from our doorstep to theirs. When we go there we visited for a while. Hampton is so cute! Jacob had a blast playing with all of Logan's toys. I think his favorite thing was the stairs in Patrick and Traci's house. Abby loved playing with Logan and her favorite thing was petting his head.

Traci gave us tickets to the zoo, so Dylan, Abby, Jacob and I went to the zoo. Jacob decided he was the boss and we had to follow him around the zoo. He looked at each animal for about 30 seconds and he was ready to move on. He kept saying "Let's see what animal is next." He finally slowed down when it came time to look at the snakes (which is the place I could have done without). They actually were pretty fascinating.

After the zoo we headed back to Traci's, after a quick stop at Target, and spent some more time visiting. It was fun to watch all the kids play together and of course hold baby Hampton. Patrick took all the little kids on a ride on their golf cart, with Dylan's assistance. They had a really great time and were not ready to leave for our hotel.

Dyl in front of the elephants!
Princess and Master Dylan
Mommy and the "Boss"

We were up bright and early today to head back home. We did have a quick trip, but it was nice for everyone to get to visit and for Blake to see Hampton while he was still tiny! Traci took some good pics of the kids that I'll post later!

Abby, Dylan (is he awake?) and Logan

The Constitution

I don't have any pictures, but Abby's been learning about America this week as it is Constitution Week at school. She now knows that the stripes on the flag are for the first col-tonies (colonies) and the stars are for the fifty states. She also learned the song "Grand Ol' Flag" which just so happened to be one of my favorites as a child! So, all week we've been singing that, "The National Anthem" and reciting the "Pledge of Allegiance." It is so fun to watch her learn things and this week has been especially fun because I sure love the American flag and all it stands for!

A Visit with the Parker's

Abby and Ethan playing in the sprinklers

Princess, Nik and Ethan on Steve's 4-wheeler
Ethan and Princess Abigail... they are getting soooo tall!
Crazy Jacob dancing!
Ab dancing like an airplane.
Abby and Nik (who just woke up).

Last weekend Travis, Kara, Ethan and Nik came to visit us. We had a wonderful time even though the visit was just too short. We are very excited that they are only about five hours from here and we look forward to more visits with them. Abby & Jacob especially loved seeing their old friends from Texas. They got to show them their favorite spot Monkey Joe's, ride the 4-wheelers, dance around the living room and their favorite backyard activity... playing in the sprinklers. We sure miss the Parker's and can't wait to plan our next trip!