Thanksgiving and more...

I figured it was finally time to report on Thanksgiving. We had a wonderful time as always. My mother-in-law sure knows how to please her family! Eric's sister, Jennifer, and her husband Anton came down from Denver, and Uncle Mickey, Meemaw, and Aunt Trish joined in on the fun. Jennifer and Anton were a big hit right off with an airplane and a helicopter for the boys. I was supposed to bring a lemon meringue pie, but twisted my ankle playing volleyball the night before. I was still up in the kitchen getting it done when Eric made me sit down and said that everyone would understand. Poor Uncle Mickey had just taken his lemon meringue pie to the orphanage because he was told I was bringing one. I think that's the first time I've seen Uncle Mickey cry! :) Carter had the whole day planned out. He informed us that after lunch, it was naptime, then he would rake leaves, and then he would come in for some hot chocolate and pie. Isaac was more than willing to go along with it. That was our routine the following day, too.

Friday morning we all drove to Elgin to the Christmas tree farm and got Christmas trees. The boys are very proud of their tree and we have it up and decorated. Isaac and Carter are getting old enough for me to really have fun with them about Santa, etc. Eric just keeps walking by quoting "Oh, the tangled web we weave." Does it really hurt for them to think that our Santa hat was once actually Santa's and that he gave it to us when he got a new one? Or that we have Santa's personal phone number? Or...Or...Or? Ashlyn so far has surprisingly left the tree alone. The only ornament we have caught her eating had already fallen off of the tree. She can now officially climb the stairs, but that is only in pursuit of me. As long as I'm downstairs, she could care less about them. However, she LOVES the dishwasher. Fortunately she's still only teetering between being cute and driving me crazy. She hasn't quite reached driving me mad yet!

Hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving and good luck with Christmas already in full swing!

Yesterday's Conversation in the Car

Isaac: Mom, I know that most boys don't like girls, but I LOVE them!
Carter: Ooooo YUCK!!! That's gross!

At least we don't have to worry about Carter. Maybe solitary confinement for Isaac? I found out this morning that he's been taking his "treasures" (rocks, snail shells, random pieces of metal) to Katherine at school. Everyone else calls her Katie, but she asked him to call her Katherine. Kind of cute today...not so much in the years to come. Yikes!

Who needs a puppy?

The boys are always asking for a pet, even though they are terrified of almost all animals within a three foot radius (more like ten for Carter) of themselves. I don't know why they even want one....they have Ashlyn! She follows them around, gets into things she's not supposed to, and even eats after them under the table. Aren't baby sister's great?

Grandparent's Luncheon

Nana took the day off of work on Tuesday and came to Temple to eat with Isaac at school for his Thanksgiving Grandparent's Luncheon. It's nice to have grandparents so close and so supportive! Thanks for coming, Nana. We enjoyed your visit!

Family Update!

My early blogging addiction has subsided somewhat (life happens) and now I have such a hard time finding a chance to sit down and update.

Eric just started his Orthopaedic's rotation. We've been waiting for this one since it is one of his main interests and we're HOPING that when he's done he'll know what direction he would like to go into for sure. I've really enjoyed his new sewing skills. He needs all the practice he can get, so I have him pull out his suturing kits and he has now sutured the hole in our chair and Isaac's bear whose arm was falling off. He does a better job than me, so I'll have to keep lining up the projects! Do you think he would consider buttons good practice?

I stay busy, but at least no more preschool! I have three months of relaxation until I have to teach again. It's funny how quickly I have already filled up that time slot. I need to get started on Christmas projects, but the laundry always seems to loom ahead. I could always stay up a night or two, but when Eric is heading to bed at 9:00p and my pillow looks so comfortable, it's hard to stay up and be productive. Between PTO and Isaac's classroom, I was doing Elementary school related stuff four times last week. I'm really enjoying getting to know Isaac's class and the PTO's not so bad either. I'm the only one on the board that has little kids still at home and not in school, though. Sometimes that makes it tough, because everyone else is pretty free.

Isaac has decided that he's an artist and he is very serious about his work. He's drawing most of the time that he's home. It's great for me, kind of a bummer for Carter. I just think its strange coming from a kid that had no attention span for that sort of thing until he started school. Maybe there's hope for Carter after all! He is recovered 100%. I didn't realize how fast kids bounce back! It's nice to have him feeling good. Flu shots are tomorrow, so hopefully we can keep them all well the whole winter through. Wouldn't that be great?

Carter just goes about his merry way, usually being the bad guy. Yesterday he wanted to play "Prophets", so he came down dressed as Goliath. "Don't you want to be David?" "No." And there was no convincing him otherwise. Regardless of the story, he never wants to be the prophet. Even with Daniel and the Lion's Den he wanted to be the people that threw Daniel in. Not Daniel, not King Darius, not even the lions (they never actually ate Daniel, you know). I guess he'll grow out of it? This morning he found a great big puddle outside where they have been digging and draining some things around our apartment. It didn't take long until he was in the middle of it. He doesn't have too many worries.





Ashlyn eats her hairbows and makes car noises. Is there really much more that needs to be said? I was so excited that her hair was finally long enough (just barely) to put some little clips in, but I keep finding them in her mouth. That's why she had to stop wearing her bracelets, too. Isaac continues to be her favorite. He's always making her laugh. It's nice since Carter is always making her scream.

Laundry calls!

Make a slide show, scrapbook or ecard

Our Not So Fun Halloween

About 12:30am, Halloween morning, Carter came into our room (not an unlikely event) and as I was taking him back to bed, he said "Isaac needs you." When I get to their room Isaac is on his bed shaking and crying and he had sent Carter in to get me because he couldn't get down his ladder. After holding him for awhile I took him into Eric and told him something wasn't right. He put his expertise to good use and decided we better take him in. He thought that Isaac had appendicitis. After a night of Disney channel cartoons, 20 oz of contrast for his CT (not as good as he had hoped), a CT, and a mean ol' IV, the Dr.'s confirmed Eric's suspicions and they admitted Isaac. When Eric was taking him down for his CT, he told Isaac, "I bet you never thought you'd get to go inside a big camera." To which Isaac responded, "I never thought I'd be a battery!" They gave him nausea medication and some antibiotics, so Isaac actually started feeling fine. He was ready to jump out of bed so that he would be home in time for trick or treating. His face fell, his eyes filled up with tears, and his lip started to quiver when I told him we wouldn't be able to make it home. He ended up having a better Halloween in the hospital than he would have at home. Minus his costume, he still got candy, painted a pumpkin, watched movies, got new toys, and was waited on hand and foot. They finally took him into surgery around 5:00pm and he was zonked out until 12:30am. We told him that they were going to "fix" him, but I guess we didn't explain well enough because he freaked out when he saw his bandage. He does NOT like surgery, but is getting over it. We finally convinced him to walk a little today and that perked him up. So much for Superman this year!

One day after surgery. Not feeling so hot.

Two days after surgery. Life is getting a little better!