happy thanksgiving!

passing the time

now everyone waits for the meal... luck for us it was a warm day and they could go play outside!

playing chess with big pop.

mason had been really, really looking forward to playing football.

watching the thanksgiving day parade.

forget the parade - let's open presents!

back to the parade wearing some new slippers from big pop and grandma.

orange on orange

there was still lots of action in the kitchen. madelyn was teaching grandma and manning how to make her apple pie.

and one more gift from big pop and grandma (it's their christmas present for the all the kids):

update: after setting up the xbox one and playing a little bit, we decided that the kids were too young for it and exchanged it for a wiiu. the purpose of the gaming system was for the kids to have a disney infinity. thanks big pop and grandma!

happy birthday, daddy!

daddy's birthday is on thanksgiving this year! he doesn't mind too much because it means that he gets his favorite meal on his birthday. (last night we took him out for barbecue - one of his other favorites.) 

we started the day with presents! i will be busy with the meal the rest of the day and we go to see the christmas trees at night. it was now or be rushed. and who wants to wait for presents?

i love the look between maddux and big pop in this picture.

mason was SO excited about giving his gift to daddy - a chipotle gift card for a 'date night' with each other. yum, yum!

matt had a lava lamp when we first started dating and it didn't make the cut during one of our many moves. last year there was a lava lamp at one of his office white elephant parties and he really tried to leave with it. so when i saw one at bjs a few months ago, i knew that he had to have it for his birthday. the kids were almost as excited as daddy about having one again!

daddy had great fun teasing the kids about getting food since we used all food containers for our wrapping.

we love daddy so much and loved celebrating him! love.

thanksgiving surprise!

this has been a really difficult secret to keep but big pop and grandma are coming for thanksgiving! papa is having some surgery so he and nana aren't making the trip this year. we decided to extend an invitation to my parents - and they accepted! we really didn't think that they would be able to come and almost didn't invite them because we didn't want to make them feel bad. 

this was the first holiday they have ever gotten to spend with our kids and the first i have spent with them in almost 12 years. i was just a little excited. and then the kids had today off from school - for the first time in years and years the district gave off the wednesday before thanksgiving. surprising the kids was going to be more difficult with the older ones there too. the original plan had been to take the littles to the airport and have the bigs surprised as they got off of the bus in the afternoon. oh well. at least i had the excuse of matt's birthday this week. i told the kids that we had to go pick up one of daddy's presents from the airport.

and it worked! they went into like shock when big pop and grandma started walking towards them. they recognized them before i did but had no reaction. i had to tell them that they could go hug them.

but then they were super excited, jumping all over and telling them all the words! we haven't seen them since june and big pop hasn't been here in two years!

we picked up some lunch on our way home and big pop entertained the kids with a special activity - marshmallow/dart shooters - while we waited for daddy to get home early from work.

the kids were super excited! maddux said that he always wanted a marshmallow gun.

big pop brought all of the pvc pieces and decorative duct tape.

madelyn used all the colors.

ready for battle. big pop brought one for daddy to defend himself.

after trying out their new dart blowers (big pop brought nerf darts and marshmallows for them), everyone took a break for the wild kratts christmas special. there had been more than a few tears shed when we missed it this morning. there was no way we were going to miss the afternoon showing.

this will be a shorter visit and we are going to make the most of it! love.

well-check

mason might still be recovering but this boy is 5 and it is time for his well-check! he checks out healthy - here are his growth stats:

height: 47 inches (98th percentile)
weight: 49 lbs, 6 oz (91st percentile)
bmi: 63rd percentile

his doctor expects him to grow quite a bit this next year because he was a little lower on his growth curve (his personal curve) than in past visits. she said that this is most likely because he is getting ready for a growth spurt this year.

since we were there with everyone except madelyn, we went ahead and got the boys their flu shots/mists. i always let the kids choose. mason got the mist but maddux and manning opted for the shot. maddux was already getting other vaccinations so one more needle wasn't a big deal. except that it was. he screamed his head off and is surprisingly strong! he was fine once he was dressed and in my arms. manning on the other hand got the shot and said, "that didn't hurt at all." he was delighted to get a band-aid.

mason had some trouble inhaling the mist last time so i gave him a little prep for what it might feel like (tickle, drip in his throat, taste funny, etc.) and he did much better.

now one more trip back for madelyn in a few weeks (she has always gotten one at school but for some reason they weren't going to have them this year until january which just seems too late to even bother).

another reminder of how thankful we are to have healthy children and access to healthcare. love.

sick

on our way to chuck e. cheese yesterday, a friend told me that i had timed our visit just right to pick up the stomach bug in time for thanksgiving. i laughed it off because i get a little germ crazy at chuck e. cheese and we have never gotten sick. until mason thew up this morning! (of course, i sent her a quick text to congratulate her on calling it - which she couldn't believe.)

since he thew up again after i called him off of school today, he won't go back again until after the thanksgiving break (because of the 24-hour rule). he is pretty bummed and i am feeling fairly certain that we won't have any hope of seeing his coat he lost last friday again now.

praying for the rest of us. love.

sunday funday

so a few months ago manning had a set back in his potty training - like he stopped using it for #2. for him, his underwear were as good a spot as any. he would not wear a diaper and would not use the potty. we don't know what happened because he had been using the potty successfully for like two months. after several failed attempts at bribes, we finally found the one that worked for him - chuck e. cheese. i went to their website and printed off a two week reward chart (they have them for everything if you ever need a good bribe - nose picking, reading, getting dressed, etc.). the way we (read: matt) figured, around the time manning completed the chart it would be maddux' birthday and we could roll the two trips into one! so today was the day!

daddy was feeling extra celebratory and we stopped at their favorite frozen yogurt shop - sweet frog - on the way to chuck e. cheese for pizza lunch and fun. (madelyn is happy, she just has an enormous gummy candy in her mouth and can't smile.)

manning's new "cheese" smile. sigh.

mason jumps in with a real one!

 and maddux wasn't excited at all...

once we had finished our pizza, we were off. i stuck with manning, mason and madelyn paired off and maddux and daddy were a team. chuck e. cheese on a sunday afternoon is not for the faint of heart. manning loves the 'rides' and asks to have his picture taken with each one, each ride.

we ran into maddux' friend lexi's family there too. as her mom put it, "why are you guys here? no one comes to chuck e. cheese on a sunday of their own free will." i told her we were paying a potty training dept.  they were there for a family birthday party. coincidentally, i caught lexi in the background of this picture i was taking of madelyn and mason. i didn't realize until i looked at the pictures on the computer.

jackpot! we hit the 500 ticket jackpot on a random chance game.

the kids had a blast and matt and i were ready to go. it was a fun family afternoon! love.