Some Pictures

Here is our family at Thanksgiving.

Here are the kids dressed up for the wedding:

Turkey Talk

We've had a rather quotable Thanksgiving today, so I thought I'd share my favorites....

"It's a mix of red and blue."

That was Brett's smart alec answer to Alyssa's question, "What's The Color Purple?" Of course, she was referring to the Broadway musical that was performing during the parade this morning. And daddy knew that....it's no wonder our 4 year old knows the meaning (and proper use) of the word "sarcastic".

"Am I sick?"

This was Gavin's question after Brett and I were commenting on his sideways viewing of the tv. He seems to prefer watching television out of the side of his eyes- left or right. it's rather amusing to watch, we're just starting to wonder if there is a reason for this.

"Now, it's going to hurt you."

This was Brett's comment to Eli as we were trying to give him a haircut this morning. My aunt's wedding is this weekend and his hair was sticking straight up. Brett always cuts the boys' hair, and Eli usually loves it, but this morning he decided it was hurting him and proceeded to scream at the top of his lungs. And, once you star a haircut, it's pretty impossible to just stop in the middle. Brett got frustrated with Eli's scrreamin and squirming. I mentioned quietly that that may not have been the best way to settle him down.

"Yeah, but what were you for Halloween?"

Another Gavin quote- this one is response to my uncle who was a life-long fireman telling Gavin that he used to be a fireman. Gavin was less than impressed, I guess.

"You need to pick out your wrapping paper now"

From one uncle to another aunt, after we were teasing her about her age. We were all sitting around my other aunt's house where my grandparents happen to reside. My deceased grandparents. They now reside on my aunt's entertainment center in nicely wrapped boxes- floral for my grandma and a more regal, manly stripe pattern for my grandpa.

But, my favorite quote for the day was Eli:

"Happy Thanksgiving, LaaLaa"

This was at about 7:15 this morning. What made this so delightfully amusing was that we thought he was sound asleep. He was laying on his belly, clad only his diaper, in the middle of our bed.

Overall, it was a very pleasant Thanksgiving. It began this morning with the all of us sitting around eating breakfast watching the Macy's Day parade, then heading over to Brett's parents for a turkey lunch, then out to my aunt's for visiting with my family and a little dessert. Poor Gavin crashed in the car on the way home. The girls are now in bed asleep, Eli is of course still wide awake, and Brett and I are flipping between the end of Grey's Anatomy and the Chiefs' game.

So, what does it mean when....

....the drive-thru lady looks down at you and says, " Wow! How far along are you?" To which I politely reply, slightly exasperated, "34 weeks" "MAN!" she says "That's a really big belly for 34 weeks!"

Bragging on my baby girl

I try not to post too many "Mommy brags" on my blog, but with how hard I've worked with Lauri to get her to write, I deserve this brag as much as she does- well, maybe not "as much", but close.

We are working on pronouns right now, and her grammar lesson today required her to write three sentences on a woman from the Bible using her name once and then the pronouns she and her. This is what she wrote:

God made Eve the first girl alive and the second person alive. God told her to not eat the fruit from one tree. She ate that apple from the tree and God told her to go out of the garden forever. She went out of the garden like God said.

She wrote this all by herself, without asking for any help at all. Progress!!!!

TV Watching

Last year, Brett and I never really watched tv. We couldn't follow a show for the life of us. This past spring we picked up Desperate Housewives and Grey's Anatomy- it was a nice end to the weekend for us to relax watching these shows. This year, with Brett being in bed by 8pm, I've joined him and started picking up some new shoes to watch, so our level of "television involvement" has increased. Plus, for some reason, it seems that during pregnancy I can't focus on reading- not a clue why- I can usually read through a couple books in a month, but I just think I don't have the energy that it requires anymore :)

So, last night, we're watching Desperate Housewives, and I am actually shocked by what happened- that doesn't happen to often- and I actually laughed out loud at a couple quotes. The one that sticks out in my mind though, is when Lynette's husband (talking about taking custody of his daughter from a previous relationship) says,

"I thought you didn't want five kids."

And Lynette quickly responds,

"I didn't want the first four either, but they're starting to grow on me."

I looked at Brett and just burst out laughing :)

By the way,the show that follows DH, Brothers and Sisters, is very good. Something about the way the the characters are written-the family dynamic- something- it is really good tv.

Not exactly the type of book club I imagined.....

but still a lot of fun.

I picture a book club as a group of people sitting around with coffee and snacks making pithy comments about wonderful classics.

Tonight, it was sitting around in a circle sharing our favorite book title, drawing a book cover with construction paper and crayons, and playing a game of "pass the book". This was Alyssa's book club that she designed for us. She planned this out all day and made up little cards for us to fill out.

We had a lot of fun sitting around for about 20 minutes going over our favorite books and showing off our drawings.

Halloween Pictures

Nothing like celebrating Halloween with your cousins :)

We have a pink Power Ranger, Robin, a blue Power Ranger, Buzz Lightyear, another blue Power Ranger (from a different season), a Mickey fireman, and a cowgirl.

The kids stayed out for quite a long time. They were frozen by the time they got home, but they all had fun. We now have a grocery paper bag over halfway full of candy. It may not sound like much, but trust me: it is.

Check out the Power Ranger poses from two and the goofy smiles from the other two:

My Boys

Tonight Gavin came busting into our room while Brett and I tried to take five minutes to talk without interruption (a very rare occurrence in our house). He came in a started singing and dancing around. I could barely keep a straight face. We finally managed to kick him out when he came twirling back in a minute later with his "beebee" covering his head. On top of that was Alyssa's American Girl top hat (a sparkly pink) and he was carrying the matching dance stick. He continued to sing and dance around our room, so by this point we gave up talking. He is such a performer its ridiculous.

Eli gets to sleep by laying in our bed at night, and he was in a particularly goofy mood while we were trying to settle him down, so I was asking him all kinds of questions. I asked him, "Are you a baby?" "No" "Are you a big boy?" "No" "What are you?" "Eli boy" He's still awake right now making monkey noises (thankfully quietly since daddy is already asleep) and licking my arm as I type. Side note: We managed to get rid of his "Paby" (pacifier) without any fuss from him. He hasn't even asked for it. Woo hoo! Hopefully, he'll forget all associations with it by the time his little sister is born in 6 1/2 weeks. (YIKES!)