Thanksgiving Morning

I think I've said this before... but there are days when lines from Carter's books pop into my head. Today the line was... "and happy Thanksgiving yelled everyone!"

We had a great day today. My sister and brother-in-law (Cari and Scott) made the 14 hour drive from Colorado to spend four days with us. There's just nothing like being with family during the holidays. We started out the morning with our traditional Monkey Bread and the Thanksgiving Day Parade. It was fun this year because Carter wanted to help make the bread.



After the parade Cari and I started on our desserts while the boys played in the backyard. The weather was amazing. Dan built Carter a fort to play in... but of course all he wanted to do was park his cars. Still lots of fun!




Check out the bobby pins in Carter's hair. I want his hair to grow out just a little more... but it's always in his face right now. Dan didn't let me leave them in very long...

Thanksgiving Evening

Fred and his older brother, David, came over around 3pm to shoot hoops and watch a little football before dinner. We had a blast!

Here is a picture of Cari and I in our Grandma Harris' old aprons. It was really special to have them this year. We are holding 4 of the 5 desserts we made!

David jokingly asked to be in the picture. It kind of snowballed after that...

Dan with the leftover turkey...

Scott holding Zephyr and Fred with a dish and dish soap. We were all laughing pretty hard.

Pecan pie, homemade chocolate cake, pumpkin pie, homemade coconut cake (thanks to Audrey for the recipe, pans and coconut!) and coconut cream pie.

David and Fred... they ate so much dessert and then even took some to go. Before they left we spent a couple hours playing Mario Cart in the basement.

Enjoying some pie.
It really was a great day! We have so much to be thankful for.

Oh yes he did...

Or maybe I should say... they did...






This afternoon is the much anticipated annual basketball game between the middle school class that brought in the most canned goods for the food drive and the faculty. Dan wanted to add a little spirit to the game. He's supposed to shave the rest of his hair off as soon as he gets home... but we'll see... He'll be attending the Thanksgiving Service at our church alone if he doesn't!

Trying out his skateboard from Papa...

Well... it's been a sad weekend in our house. Our high school football team lost their first game of the season... which translated to their last game of the year and probably Fred's last game ever. It was the game before the state championship game and the same game they lost this time last year. It was very sad.

Thanks to a good friend, Dan and I had the chance to go to the game together and leave Carter at home. It was freezing... but still well worth it to be there for Fred's last game.

Fred coming off the field...


Steven taking pictures for the school newspaper...

And here's the ambulance that eventually took Fred to the ER with a concussion. It's not the first time Fred has been taken away in an ambulance... but it was the first time I was sitting in the crowd. I thought I was going to throw up. Steven looked up from the field and screamed my name as soon as it happened. I looked up and saw Fred laying in the middle of the field.

They were eventually able to move him to this bench. He actually waited to leave until the game was over. Dan spent a few hours in the ER with him and then brought him home to our house for the rest of the weekend.

Fred loves football... but his main sport is track and field. He'll start training for that after Christmas. We're just thankful we're entering the non contact sport portion of the year.

Listening to Carter put words together has been so much fun. In the last couple weeks his vocabulary has exploded. We can now understand what he is saying almost all of the time.

So... this morning Dan let me sleep in... when I finally came downstairs I found a roaring fire in the fireplace and Carter and Dan sitting separately each with a book in their lap. So fun! I sat down next to Carter and he eventually began to park his trucks on my feet. When I told him I was going to get up and get coffee he told me he needed his trucks to stay on my feet. I asked him if he would go get some for me. So... he got up and helped Dan fix every part of my coffee and then "helped" Dan carry it over to me. After that he decided he needed some coffee of his own. We're teaching him the right way to spend his mornings!

Something to stand still for...

Leave it to my Dad (who lives in CA) to forward me an article with a picture of (and a line about) Fred that I had no idea about. This ran in yesterday's Suburban Journal.

The high school football team has had another amazing season. They got this far last year... but lost the game they will be playing this Saturday. You can see a little bit of Fred in the picture... he has his arms around the guy that is being tackled. I don't totally understand the game... but this morning he was telling me that he only needs 168 yards on Saturday to bring his total to one thousand. I guess there are different types of yards... and he already has more than a thousand of a certain type but needs 168 rushing yards... maybe... I don't know! We're just really excited for Saturday's game!!

Caught in the act...

What am I going to do with this kid?









Maybe it is time for a new bed...

My husband is an AMAZING cook. And by amazing I mean that after almost 7 years of marriage he has done the majority of our cooking... and it's good... really good. I have started to take on more of that role in the last year because the poor guy just does not have time... and surprisingly I've really started to enjoy it. The one thing I have not taken on is the grill. He is by far the master griller... and his meat is one of the few things that all four of our boys will eat (and say is good). So... tonight Dan and I had a meeting at 6pm. It's pretty much the worst time for both of us to leave the house. It's right around Carter's bedtime, it's dinner time, and the guys are usually starting to arrive at the house from practice and different things. Knowing we wouldn't be here for dinner and the guys would be here with someone new I picked the easiest dinner possible... burgers. Of course I was just thinking BBQ sauce... but apparently this is what Dan was thinking...

6 burgers combined with blue cheese and rolled in peppercorn and 6 burgers with his special seasoning... amazing! Too bad we weren't there to eat it...

I also wanted to post this picture of Fred and J tonight for a couple reasons. First because they were joking around and I realized that their shirts kind of matched and they were holding their beloved cell phones in the same hands (yes Fred's shirt does say State Prison and yes I have gone to the store with him while he was wearing that shirt... that's a story for another time) and secondly because of Carter tonight. I tried to put him down an hour early so the sitter wouldn't have to worry about him and 4 teenagers... but of course my plan backfired. He cried for the first time in months when I put him to bed and then not so surprisingly got out of bed about 30 minutes after we left. In the middle of our meeting I got a text message from Fred asking if Carter could have some milk. I said sure but to make sure he was back in bed by 7pm. So... Fred brought Carter downstairs, got him some milk, played trucks with him, gave him a 5 minute warning and then put him back to bed with NO problem! I love that Carter has hardly known a day without Fred or Steven and that our starting high school running back can put our child to bed with no problem. I love that Carter is growing up in this place... I know that it will shape him in such an incredible way. What an amazing gift it is to be here... even though it's not always so easy.

Hello Winter...

This is where we sat almost all day today...

It's hard to believe Carter was wearing shorts yesterday. We even saw a few snowflakes when we were out tonight! I love fall and winter!

I found this coat for Carter a few weeks ago. Fred told Carter it was nice. So... Carter has been walking around saying... "Fred say dis nice."