Thanksgiving

November 2013

Haley’s teacher taught her all about the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade, so Haley ran to my room early in the morning asking if they could watch it.  I set them up with a fun Thanksgiving breakfast in front of the TV so they could watch it.

Hayden thinks duck sounds better for his Thanksgiving breakfast!  He went hunting…so he earned it!

The kids were busy making place mats for our Thanksgiving dinner.  They got bored with the parade pretty quick- too much talking, not enough floats!

We spent this Thanksgiving in Memphis.  My Grandma Dee was in town and the only ones we were missing were the Caswells.  This was Julie and Reed’s first Thanksgiving as a family and it was wonderful being all together.  (Although, John, Margie, Megan and Tom Platten are always the missing piece to a Memphis Thanksgiving to me!)  Dressed in Maroon and White we had a great dinner and many laughs sitting around the table.  Haley and Trey got to break the wishbone.  Neither of them had done it before and my Dad loved teaching them about it.

My favorite thing about the night was listening to Grandma Dee and Avery laugh together.  The sweetest sound.  Whether they were playing hide and seek or just giggling on the couch, the two were inseparable!

Another great part of the night- WINNING THE EGG BOWL!!  I was in line at a store chatting with an Ole Miss fan when the final overtime score came in.  VERY exciting.  Although, I wished I’d just gone home to watch it with Hayden.

Because of the “new” shopping hours for Black Friday/Thursday, the traditional sister shopping experience wasn’t what it used to be but I took Haley out to hit a couple stores on Black Friday afternoon then stopped for Mexican.  It was so much fun having lunch, just the girls!

 

Soccer’s Over

Soccer season came to an end last weekend. It was an interesting season to say the least. Trey Boy really wanted to play around sign up time. But as we got into the season, he had mixed emotions.

He actually did a really good job…especially considering he’s 4 and this was his first season. If there is one thing he needs to work on, it is to be a little more aggressive. But his coordination is great. It was fun to watch him progress throughout the season.

We didn’t sign him up for spring soccer. He did a little too much complaining about playing and practicing. We want him to do things like play soccer, tee ball, etc. But we also want him to do what HE wants to do. And if he doesn’t want it, we don’t want to force it. Of course, the week after spring sign ups (which again, we didn’t sign him back up), I asked him what his favorite sport was…what he’d play if he only got to pick one thing.

You guessed it…he said soccer!

Tonight, we had their end of the year party at Rizzi’s. A local pizza joint in Arlington. Food was pretty good. And the kids had a ball. Trey got a trophy. And he really cherishes it. I can tell because it actually made it out of the car and up to his room. 🙂

 

Little Athletes

We have had a busy fall.  Trey played soccer, and Haley is cheering.

Trey mentioned he wanted to play soccer so we signed him up to play this season.  He liked, but didn’t LOVE Tjust making faces at us as he ran up and down the field.  When it wan’t his turn to play, he’d find other ways to keep himself busy with kids on the sidelines, but it didn’t have to do with sports.  We had a great coach, and it was a great learning experience for us all.  I think we are going to give ourselves a little break from the games/practices and wait till Trey is a little more interested.  Can’t expect too much from a 4 year old.  🙂  Although, with a dad that is a photographer, he made Trey look like a pro in these pictures.

Haley wanted to play soccer, but we missed sign-ups.  So, she tried cheerleading.  Our church started using the Upward program this year.  The girls cheer for other girls playing basketball one game each week.  There is practice once a week as well.  It has been really fun and Haley is enjoying it.  Don’t laugh, but they asked me to help out with the teams, so I’m the assistant coach.  If you know my “cheerleading” background, you are definitely laughing right now.  I am not very coordinated and I’m sure it’s hilarious to watch.  Hayden has been very kind not to point that out!  It is really fun doing this with Haley though.  As a bonus, Avery is getting great exposure to cheerleading.  She marches around the house doing the cheers ALL the time!  We need to do a video of our family doing them because we are all getting the cheers down pretty well by now.  I’m amazed at how easily the girls have learned several cheers and a dance routine!  Oh, it is SO cute!!

Avery’s a trooper going to all the practices and supporting her Big Brother and Sister!  She can spell “HUSTLE” and we do that cheer a lot when we are in a hurry.

One of the cheers the kids chant the most often is the one my Dad made up on the fly to try and impress the kids with his cheering know-how: “Rock ’em.  Sock ’em.  Kick ’em in the pants!  Don’t forget to step on the ants!”  Maybe my cheering skills are inherited.  LOL.

Halloween Night!

We did a terrible job decorating for Halloween. Usually we do the spooky spider webs on the front porch- in addition to the ones already there!- pumpkin garland on the fireplace, crafts hanging around that we’d made from Pinterest. But not this year! We went simple- carving pumpkins and having them lit on the front porch.

In true Haley fashion, she made a very elaborate face- five eyes with fire, a nose, a mustache, and a mouth with fangs. Trey went with a really spooky face to “freak everyone out” and we made a silly face for Avery. It was a really fun family night and the kids could not have been more excited or proud to put the candle in them and let ’em shine!

 

As for costumes, we went LOW budget. I sold a ton of costumes that we didn’t wear or fit and told the kids to pick one out of the closet to wear for Halloween. Trey picked SpiderMan…and so did Avery. We have both sizes so it worked out perfectly! (both bought at a garage sale for under $2 two years ago!) Haley, in true Haley fashion, went a more creative route. After thinking and being VERY concerned for weeks ahead of time, she decided on being a Book. Yes, a Book. She had a grand design plan and we set out to make it together. I laughed because she was overly tired one night and overly concerned about what she’d dress up like for Trick-or-Treating. She was crying and I just had to laugh because she was so upset about something that wasn’t going to happen for 2.5 weeks! I’m more of a “wait-til-the-day-before” kind of worrier. 🙂

The book design was all hers and was better than what I was thinking in my head. She drew the letters for the Title (I didn’t even know she could do bubble letters), cut them out , and taped them on herself. She was determined for her book to have pages and came up with that part as well. My job- collect the cardboard and poster board. We have done a few projects together lately and it has been the most fun. We love that we are both creative artists and come up with really fun ideas together. (Just wait till you see her Polar biome for school!!)

 

Our prayers were answered (great teachable moment) because the torential downpours stopped an hour or two before it was time to go out to collect some candy! We visited our close neighbors- our favorite stop was Mr. Will. The kids love him and he gets visits from the kids pretty often…he is our adopted Grandpa! He’s got a jar of peanuts and the kids get to go over to eat peanuts with him! So sweet. I call them the Peanut Pals. Well, he came to the door in a skeleton mask and surprised the kids. We rolled with laughter…and fright! Avery kept saying, “You a pirate, Mr. Will?” She thinks the skeletons are pirates because of the skull and cross bones flag on a pirate ship. 🙂

 

Next, we met up with our friends (who also had a mini-Spiderman…plus, Captain America and a Ninja Turtle. We were feeling VERY safe that night surrounded by crime fighters. We went to a trunk-or-treat. THIS is the way to do it! (at least for our kids’ age group.) The kids had fun and we didn’t have

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to hustle Avery up and down driveways trying to keep up with the faster kids. Haley’s costume was an absolute hit! Everyone was remarking at how creative it was. I laughed becasuse I loved seeing people’s faces when she told them what she was- A book. They got the, “DUH!” look. My sweet literal child, I just love her!!!! I told my friend, the Mom of the other Super heros we were with- we get the award for bringing the biggest group of heros…and the cutest! She agreed, so I’d say it was unanimous. 🙂

Now we have candy galore and the kids are thinking of ways to earn it. We have our not-so-hidden, and increasingly shrinking stash of chocolate hidden in the freezer!