Giving Thanks

For me, Thanksgiving began bright and early... not because I was cooking, but because this year I, along with my Father-in-Law, Mark and my Brothers-in-Law, Steven and Ryan, participated in the Gobbler's Run- a 5k race held at 8 am on Thanksgiving morning. This was the first time I had ever participated in a 5k (which is 3.1 miles) and it was a pretty good experience. My goal was to not walk at all, which I accomplished, even during one point when my side hurt so bad I thought it might split open. But I pushed through the pain and eventually the pain went away. I ended up finishing the race in 31 minutes and 27 seconds. I was the 251st to finish out of the 535 who ran it, and the 20th out of 42 in my category (females 19-29 years old). Steven and Ryan came in just behind me at 32:09. Mark totally showed us all up and finished it in 25:31. And here is a lovely picture of the 4 of us after we had run. I think having the race on Thanksgiving morning is a pretty good idea... I didn't feel bad at all about having that 2nd (or 3rd) piece of pie!

When I left for the race, Michael and the boys were all still sleeping. I got home just in time for breakfast. Eric decided that morning that he was a big boy like his brother and refused to sit in the high chair to eat his breakfast. He was so excited to sit next to Matty in a big boy chair and he was being sooo adorable.

I did do some cooking on Thanksgiving. Michael requested a chocolate peanut butter pie, so I made that for him. I had been craving a cherry pie for a while, but was pretty sure no one else would eat it. But I decided that Thanksgiving would be a good excuse to make one. I was right... no one else really wanted cherry pie, but I swear I didn't eat the entire thing by myself.... both Matty and Grandma Cindy had a little piece. As for the rest of it... all I can say is it was sooooo yummy. Actually, Matty was really excited when I told him I was going to make a cherry pie, due to the fact that Cherry Pie by Warrant is one of his favorite songs from Guitar Hero. He was asking me for a piece of it all day, and when dessert time finally came he took one bite and then proceeded to ask for a piece of the chocolate pie instead. I guess the actual pie just doesn't live up to the song for him. I also made Fried Green Bean Bundles. This was a Paula Dean recipe that I wanted to try. Basically, you steam some green beans, take about 4 and tie a strip of green onion around them to make a little bundle, dip the entire bundle in buttermilk and then coat it in seasoned flour and deep fry it. I know this sounds horrible, but I did use lowfat buttermilk and fried them in Canolla oil, which is kind of good for you. They were really good.

We came home from Grandma and Grandpa's pretty early (after a few rounds of Mafia) and put Eric to bed. The Incredibles was on TV that night and we decided to let Matty stay up and watch it in our bed with us. About a half hour into, Mike was totally out, which was good because he had to be at work at 3:45am for the start of the Black Friday sale. Matty and I stayed up and watched most of it- he asked me to put him to bed about 20 minutes before it was over.

The day after Thanksgiving, while Michael worked his 12-hour Black Friday shift, the boys and I put up the Christmas Tree. Eric is totally intriged by it. I put most of it up while he was taking his nap, and then when I brought him down after he woke up, he stood there and said "wow, wow, wow" for a while. The ornaments have gradually moved up our tree as Eric has taken them off and I've moved them out of his reach. He also really likes to wear our Santa hat. He'll put it on and then say "Ho Ho Ho" and then laugh and laugh. He also really likes to use it to play peek-a-boo.

Where's Eric?

PEEK-A-BOO!!!

When I took these pictures of Eric, he was actually really sick, even though you can't really tell by looking at him. All 4 of us have dealt with illness this month. First I had a cold... or maybe it was allergies. I'm never quite sure, but I think it was a cold because Matty came down with something quite similar right about the time I was getting over whatever it was. Matty was pretty much better by the time Thanksgiving came around. I thought we were all done with being sick, but I guess Michael and Eric were feeling left out. Eric woke up Monday morning with a pretty bad cough... he sounded like a seal barking. As the day went on his voice got more and more horse and he was weezing while he was breathing. The next morning he seemed worse, so I took him to the doctor and she said it sounded like it was settling into his right lung, which, of course would become pneumonia. So he was perscribed an antibiotic and a nebulizer and now he seems to be doing better. Even though it is sad that he is sick, his cute little voice sounds even cuter when it is all horse! And just when I thought we were done, Michael got home from work last night and said his tummy felt weird... and ended up being up for a lot of the night... I wont go into detail... he seems to be feeling a little better tonight, but I doubt he will have the energy to go to school tomorrow. Hopefully he and Eric will fully recover soon and then we can be done with illness for the rest of the winter!

The First Half of November

I can't believe how quickly this month has gone! I love this time of year- the trees out here have gotten so beautiful this last week. And the weather has been pretty nice. I've been having so much fun playing out in the yard with the boys or taking them in the double stroller down to the park in the neighborhood accross the street. On Monday, I pushed them around the neighborhood for about 2 miles and then we went to the park. After we had been at the park for about half an hour, Matty started doing the pee-pee dance and I realized I hadn't made him go potty before we left the house. A whole bunch of thoughts went through my head. We could get in the stroller and head back home, but even with me pushing the stroller as fast as I could up the hill to our house, there would be no way we would make it without an accident. So I decided it was time for him to have his first outdoor peeing experience. I didn't really like the idea... this is a park we are technically not supossed to be going to because we don't live in the neighborhood. I could just see someone looking out their window seeing Matty watering the park shrubs and running over to throw us out. But I had no choice. So I took Matty to the most secluded corner of the little park and had him aim through the bars of the fence, praying he would hurry and that no one was looking out their window. Thankfully it all worked out and the crisis was over and we played for quite a bit longer. I guess I should probably discuss with him the fact that it was a special circumstance and that he can't just go wherever and whenever before something embarassing happens.

Last Wednesday, it was our turn to host Matty's Joyschool. We only had two of his friends over because the third one was out of town. For the main activity of the day, I had them go out in the yard and collect pinecones and pretty leaves and then we used them to make turkeys. Then I had them tell me things they were thankful for and I wrote it on the leaves. Matty was thankful for: Mommy, Daddy, Eric, friends, turkey and leaves. I think the best part of the day was when they were running around in the yard looking for leaves. We also read a couple of Thanksgiving books and sang some songs about turkeys, etc. I guess they had a fun time... the girls didn't want to leave when their mommys came. I'm not sure what they learned, but I guess fun should be the whole point of preschool anyway!

This picture is of the kids playing with playdough at the beginning of joyschool. The little blond girl on the right is Emma. Matty has announced that he is going to marry Emma when he grows up. He always tells me that when he is a big Daddy, Emma will be his wife and that he thinks she is really pretty. I guess he likes blonds!

And here is a picture of Matty with his leaf and pinecone turkey...

Here are some other cute pictures of the boys. They play together pretty well usually. Eric likes to beat up on Matty, which does not make Matty happy. They really like bathtime... especially if I make it a bubble bath. Matty likes to make funny hats out of the bubbles. Usually he'll say they have on witch hats or something like that. And then they will both start doing their "evil laughs", which always cracks me up. They'll entertain each other for quite a while. Usually until I realize the water has cooled down and Eric is shivering.

Eric is trying to say quite a few words now. He does really good with things like hot, up, uh oh, cup and ball. He tries to say Matty, but it usually sounds like Mammie. He also tries to say his own name, but it usually comes out like Eckic, which is really cute. His new favorite trick is to climb up on the computer chair. He'll pull himself up on it and then stand up and nearly fall over the side about 20 times. He likes to flap his arms around while he's standing there and it looks like he's trying to fly. Then he'll sit down and pound on the computer keyboard until he gets my attention and I make him stop. He is just the cutest thing. It is so hard not to laugh at everything he does... even when it is something potentially naughty that I should not be laughing at.










One of Matty's favorite songs right now is War Pigs by Black Sabbath. This is because his Uncle Hayden has the Guitar Hero game for his XBox and Matty thinks it is the coolest thing ever. I admit it is a pretty cool game (although with how much time they spend playing it, they could have mastered a real guitar). But it is mostly heavy metal songs on the game. Matty already loved Sweet Child of Mine by Guns and Roses (which is also on the game) and now I can't believe how many different heavy metal songs he can recognize. Although I find it a little inappropriate for a 3.5 year old to be singing along with Ozzy Ozborne, it is hard to get over how cute it really is. Maybe I will try to take a video of him singing it and post it on here. The funniest part is that he makes up his own lyrics to the song, which is good because I don't think I could handle him singing lines like "see the bodies burning". Instead he sings things like "See the Pirates fighting... see Spiderman getting the Green Goblin".

Trick-or-Treat

Here's our little Froggy and our Ninja Turtle. Matty had been saying for months that he wanted to be Leonardo for Halloween, but I never saw any costumes that looked like they were worth the money. So I looked for a pattern and found this one and then bought $1/yard fabric from Wal-Mart, so the entire costume cost me about $15 to make. Eric's froggy costume is one Grandma Cindy found at Goodwill. He loved wearing it.

This is the first house they trick-or-treated at (besides Grandma and Grandpa's). Matty's big Ninja Turtle feet made it had for him to walk and his big head made it hard for him to balance, so Michael and I eached carried one of the boys from house to house and we switched off every once in a while. It was a little different from past years- usually Matty has refused to be carried, but this year he was begging to be. Usually, he makes sure we get every house, but this year after we were about halfway through the neighborhood, he asked if we could go home because he was tired of seeing spooky things. That was fine with us. We were happy to be done and give our arms and backs a rest!

I could not get Eric to stand or sit still to take a picture in his Froggy costume. But that is pretty much Eric. He is always on the go, always wanting to explore and discover new things.

Here is Matty doing some Ninja poses. My favorite thing about this costume was seeing him from the back. He looked so adorable walking in it. We got him some Ninja swords to go with it, but decided that for the saftey of the other trick-or-treaters, we'd better leave them home.

When we got back to Grandma and Grandpa's, Matty... or I mean Leonardo... decided to relax by playing the piano. It looked so funny I couldn't resist taking a couple of pictures.

Halloween-Related Activities

Here are some of the things we've done in the last week to get ready for Halloween...

On the morning of Michael's birthday, we went out to breakfast at McDonalds (they were having the Monopoly game...) and were planning to go to the pumpkin patch afterwards. Well, as we were just finishing up our hashbrowns (we bought like 10 because they each came with 2 Monopoly game pieces...), it started POURING down rain. Luckily we had parked near the door and managed to get back to the car without getting too terribly drenched. We sat and debated whether or not we should still go pick out pumpkins. Every few minutes the rain would let up and we would decide to go... but then the rain would start pounding again. Finally we decided to brave the weather. The boys had a blast splashing around in the puddles as they looked at all of the pumpkins. After being there for about 10 minutes, it started pouring again and we all got pretty soaked. The boys had fun though and that's what matters.



That night Mike had to work, even though it was his 28th birthday. So the boys and I borrowed Grandma's van and drove to Penney's to surprise him with some balloons and we went to eat dinner with him (McDonalds again.... we really wanted to win Monopoly...). I made him a giant Napoleon for his birthday. Basically it is a French pastry that has Bavarian Cream inbetween layers of puff pastry and then it is topped with fondant. It was beyond delicious and I was so glad it turned out so good... considering it was the first time I had attempted one.

I spent most of the last couple of weeks sewing Matty's Ninja Turtle costume. Here is a picture of the first time he tried the whole thing on after I finally finished sewing it. When I bought the pattern, I didn't realize how much sewing it would actually be. It was worth it in the end though just to watch him walk around in it.

This is a picture some mice I made for our Halloween party at church. The bodies are basically made of fudge and then rolled in crushed oreos for the black ones and powdered sugar for the white ones. The ears are sliced almonds and the eyes are candy sprinkles. The noses are little dots of pink icing and the tails are caramel squares that I rolled out. I thought they turned out so cute.

On the day before Halloween, Matty and I made cookies. We always have a lot of fun baking together and he always looks so adorable in his Power Ranger apron. Daddy got home from school just in time to help us decorate the cookies.
We gave Eric a cookie to eat. We didn't put any frosting on it. He wouldn't eat it. We put a tiny bit of frosting on it... he took one bite and then still wouldn't eat it. We gave him some grapes and he gobbled them up. Then he threw the cookie on the floor and asked for more grapes.

After frosting all of our cookies, we went out on the back deck to carve our pumpkin. I had gotten a pumpkin carving kit with stencils and Matty wanted us to make a vampire pumpkin. But after looking at it and all of the tiny pieces we would have to cut out, we convinced him that the "scary tree" pumpkin would look much cooler and he agreed. Matty started off wanting to clean the "pumpkin guts" out all by himself, but after a couple of spoonfuls, ended up asking for help. Eric seemed to think his main job was to either get the guts back into the pumpkin or dump them out all over the deck, both of which he succeeded in a few times.

On Halloween morning, we went with Matty's joyschool to another pumpkin patch. This one had mazes, fish ponds, a huge mine shaft slide and a 10-minutes long hayride to get to the pumpkin patch. It was just Matty and two of the girls because the other one is on a family trip right now. The kids had fun running from one activity to the next. Eric wanted to just walk around and explore the place and kept trying to wander off. We tried to feed the kids a picnic lunch, but a swarm of bees kept following us and we decided to go eat in the car.

Recent Happenings...

Here's what we've been up to since I last updated the boys' websites:


We spent a day with Matty and Eric's cousins and aunts at the Museum of Natural Sciences in Raleigh. Matty's favorite part was seeing the BIG dinosaurs. Eric just liked looking around at everything and wanted out of his stroller.


One night in September, Grandma Cindy had a lady bring a couple of ponies to her house for all of the grandkids to ride. Matty really liked riding the boy pony. He wouldn't even consider getting on the pony that had pink bows in her hair. We tried putting Eric on one, but he did not go for it. He was holding on to me for dear life as I tried to set him on the pony and got very upset. So we posed for one quick picture and then I took him off so Matty could ride some more.

Matty had his first day of Joyschool. We have it once a week and rotate between 4 houses. So that means once a month we have it at our house. It is Matty and three little girls from his nursery class at church. I think he likes being the only boy and he seems to really be enjoying going to "school" every week.

In September, we spent a day at Pullen Park in Raleigh with Matty and Eric's cousins. We rode the train, the boats, and the merry-go-round. The boys had lots of fun and it was a beautiful day.