• my husband who I love dearly
• my two boys that I love more than life itself
• our wonderful family and friends
• the fact that everyone is healthy (knock on wood)
• my job – even if I sometimes complain about it, I am very lucky to work with my friends
• all the teachers in my childrens’ lives (kindergarten, music, art, gym, swimming lessons, bible school, coaches, etc)

I hope that everyone  has a safe and family filled Thanksgiving tomorrow!

Apparently I am.

Kenny and Luke were playing legos and I overheard Kenny say, “No, Luke, I get to be mommy because she’s the boss of the house.” 

Eric is going to love that.

Kenny had a Thanksgiving feast at school today.  The kids dressed up in their Indian gear and ate a lot of turkey, ham, muffins, popcorn and fruit. 

Front view

Back view

This was one of Kenny’s homework assignments.  We had to work together to disguise our turkey so he would be safe on Thanksgiving Day.  We turned ours into a leprechaun at the end of a rainbow.  

Luke (of course) had to try on Kenny’s outfit once we got home.

Guess who going to do the 5k now - Kenny.  He’s going to walk with me (after I was sick for so long, I’m not ready to run the whole thing).  We did 2.55 miles today in 47 minutes.  So, I think we’ll finish right around 55 minutes (but hopefully we’ll go faster). 

Don’t worry about waiting for us afterwards.

I only put up a few of my (as in mine, not the boys’) ornaments this year.  These have always been my favorites and made the cut:

This was the angel that topped our tree when I was growing up. 

I loved Miss Piggy when I was little.  At some point I’ll have to post the picture of the birthday that my grandparents gave me a Miss Piggy birthday cake.  The cake was of her head and I thought they had killed her.  The look on my face explains it all.  

You can’t have Miss Piggy without Kermit.

I have two of these ornaments.  One collar says Casey and the other says Maddie.

Pottery Barn sold a set of reindeer ornaments maybe ten years ago and I bought them all.  Here’s one of them.

I don’t need to explain my love of Jayhawk basketball.

Our Christmas tree is up and the inside of our house is decorated for the holidays.  I didn’t take out as many decorations as usual.  I figure that less is best (or safer) this year with Luke and Mac running wild in the house. 

Can you believe it?  I got a picture where they are both smiling.

If any of you like to make your own calendars, I want to show you this feature that Snapfish has.  I usually use a different company to make mine but then I saw how Snapfish lets you put individual pictures on specific dates.  If you look below at the December page, you can see that Mac’s birthday is on the 3rd, my MIL’s is on the 5th and my dad’s is on the 18th.  I really, really like this feature.

Luke’s quote of the day:  “You do it again and you go in time out.” 

Can you tell where he’s been a lot lately? 

We’re going through this lovely stage with Luke right now, full of now’s and sassing.  I’m not talking about the sweet little “Mommy, can I get down now” type phase, I’m talking about the screaming, “Mommy, you get me down NOW” phase. 

The other morning he went into time out twice within 45 minutes of waking up.  He had asked for a banana (when I knew he wouldn’t eat it), took one bite and wanted down.  I said no, he got mad and yelled “I beat you up”.  Or it may have been “I beat your butt”, which isn’t any better.  Lovely.  Time out #1.  When he came out of time out, he still didn’t want to eat the 5 bites that I had requested and yelled  “get me down NOW.”  Time out #2.

He’s had a few more time outs since then but that day was definitely the worst one. 

I just need to remember that this stage will pass.

I signed Kenny up for bible school this year at our church.  He goes for an hour and a half, once a week.  I was a little worried because his class is made up of 3-5 year olds.  Kenny’s a really smart kid (and I’m not just saying that because I’m his mom) so I was a little worried that he wouldn’t learn enough with the younger kids.  But then he sang us this song yesterday:

I think he’s doing just fine right where he’s at.

Billy, welcome to the world of home ownership.  May your fence never fall over and your roof never leak.  Enjoy!