Happy Thanksgiving

I hope everyone had a very happy Thanksgiving. Eric, the kids and I had a lovely quiet day here. Last year i did a list of all the things i was thankful for. This year (probably due to the lack of time) i will keep it brief.

I am thankful for this:

and the rest of our family that weren't around our table. We are very blessed.

Farms and Fun

I am really slacking on my blogging.

That was a line i wrote Wednesday. You can tell that we are very busy here. I barely have time to turn around.

Quick update and then i am off to bed.

Eric flew to Birmingham on the 12th and excepted the award at the ABC ceremony. Friday morning he headed to Mississippi to try his hand at farming. Just reading that makes me laugh. Anyway, it was time to harvest the soy beans. I think it was past time but the rain had held everyone off. Eric and Wes got out to the field to find a dead snake that came from ?? maybe the header. Knowing Eric's FEAR of snakes, Wes snuck up behind him with it and rubbed it's twitching tail on him. HA! Wish i could have seen his face. Wes and my uncle got a good laugh. Welcome to the farm. Eric helped where he could Saturday and Sunday and got behind the wheel of the tractor and Dad's combine on Monday. He came back a changed man. I got him back in line though. :) He had a blast and is already itching to go back. Probably a bad sign. He arrived back home late Tuesday night. He will leave Sunday for Sebastian.

Kim flew into town to keep me company while Eric was hanging out, i mean farming. She helped me get all my lists in order and then came down with strep. She stayed confined to her room Saturday and i sprayed lots of lysol. Her antibiotics kicked in and she was feeling better the rest of her trip. We had a good time visiting and got some cleaning done. So glad she came to visit. She had a rough flight home so i am not sure she feels the same way. HA! Thanks for everything Kimmie!

Friday Eric and i attended Ella's Thanksgiving program at school. She was a pilgrim girl or a 'mercy me' girl as she calls it. Probably because that was her line. They sang a few songs, recited a poem, her teacher read us some of the class' work and then the play. It was really cute. We were then invited to stay for lunch in the cafeteria. Many parents took their children home and i even offered to take Ella to a restaurant but she declined. She would like us to stay and eat. We did. We were some kids behind Ella in line and when she was paying for her lunch with her lunch card she told the lady she was paying for ours too. :) The lady took her card and told her she would use it when we checked out. Ella smiled. She looked like she felt so grown up showing us how it all worked. :) So proud of her.

The boys are good. Jack keeps asking if we can sign up for soccer. John is all over and loves saying "uh-uh, no". Imagine that. He is all over and into everything. Potty training is great. Depends on his mood. I haven't changed a dirty diaper on him in...i don't even remember. Glad he took on the potty training task. Now if i could just get him to keep his clothes on. Ben is all over. Constantly pulling up on everything and following me around. He is always so happy to see me. Probably because he want's to nurse but i still love the smile. 4 teeth and has revolted against baby food. He likes to eat real food and loves biter biscuits. We are still trying to figure out his eating. He will be 9 months old in a couple of days. Time flys. He goes for a check-up in December.

Tentative plans for the move are in place. We will be moving out on the 22nd of December. To where exactly is still undetermined. We are looking at houses but in no rush. This will be move number 5 and i think i have the hang of it. Everything is in order and estimates are in. Still have a lot to do to prepare. Mostly getting it done around the school, gymnastics, cheerleading, Christmas parade, along with day to day activities without Eric will be a task. It is so strange to have a month to prepare. This is the longest time we have had. I think i like it better when it is 2 weeks notice. Anyway, everything is up in the air so i will keep you all posted. I can't wait to get down to the warm weather.

Goodbye Statesville....

Hello sunny Sebastian, FL. Eric got a call asking him to go to Sebastian for a job. Not even sure what they are doing but we are more than happy to go. We got the call as I was dropping Eric off at the airport so we don't have any firm ideas yet but I think we have agreed to stay put until Ella gets out for Christmas break. By "we" I mean the kids and me. Eric will probably go before us and get started. The job has already started so he is behind from the get go, not too bad though. We will find out more in the coming weeks and firm out our plans to make this another successful move for all of us. Will keep you posted!

Things to come

This is how we found John tonight. His bedtime protest had failed but he wasn't going out like that. HA! I hope this is not an indication of things to come.

Free Day!

Yesterday, Eric finally had some time to go see a race shop. I have seen most of them twice but i thought it would be fun to go with him too. First shop, Jr. Motorsports.

The boys joined in the celebrating! HA!

Eric and the wax Dale Jr.

Jack and Dale Jr.'s Dog, Killer

Happy Halloween

The kids and i picked up our Halloween pumpkins on Wednesday in preparation for the traditional Halloween pumpkin carving that would begin on Thursday at Ella's school. I never carve our pumpkins too early because they are usually so delicate that they might wither before Halloween night. We don't do so much in the way of celebrating this holiday. I do good to get a little cobweb on the porch. I just don't like this holiday very much. Anyway, my one effort in making it fun for the kids is to carve them a special pumpkin. Somehow i thought carving the character they were dressed as would be a great idea. Now the kids think that is normal. It hasn't been bad in years past but this year was interesting. I am rethinking this "tradition".

Ella dressed as Hannah Montana (like almost every other little girl in this country). She colored some of her hair, rocked some tights, boots, sequined dress, and a fur jacket. Jack was Superman. Fitting for him. It even had built in muscles. He still wears it around the house. His only let down was that we didn't purchase a matching Superman costume for Sam. John was Spiderman. Contrary to the photos, he loved the mask and the built in muscles. Ben was a monkey. We were going to get him a lion costume but we had a monkey and Tigger already. I call him monkey know that he is grabbing and pulling on everything so it seemed fitting. I loved it. He didn't seem to mind either.

It was a nasty day. Rainy and cloudy. We had new neighbors move in so we walked with her and her little girl, Rihannah. As soon as the rain stopped we made our way around trick or treating. It was fun and short. We took a few pictures when we got home and the rain started again. The kids enjoyed some candy and then switched up costumes and then to bed. A great day overall.

Busy weekend

Last weekend was packed with activities. Friday was gymnastics, Saturday was cheerleading and a trip to Asheville to see Eric's parents and Sunday was the Balloon festival before Eric left for Alabama.

Saturday Ella and i ran errands and then headed up to cheerleading practice. Eric was in charge of getting the boys ready and meeting us at the hospital so we could get on the road. I called as soon as we left and Eric sounded frazzled and told me he was trying to leave. :) I know that feeling. We left a little later than we planned. John had an accident and tried to change himself. Glad i didn't have to clean it. HA! We admired all the colors of the trees as we drove into the mountains. Jack swears they were not mountains just trees. I think we were spoiled by the beautiful mountains in Idaho. The changing leaves were still beautiful. We arrived at the Asheville Fun Depot for an afternoon visit with Mr. Mark and Mrs. Connie. It was an all-in-one fun place. Mini-golf, bowling, arcade, playground, go-carts, and batting cages. The kids had a blast! They played in the playground, mini-bowling, mini-golf, and in the arcade. Eric and i attempted the batting cages. I think i was a little more successful than Eric. :) It was a long drive home as we listened to the Auburn/ LSU game from the LSU announcers eyes. They weren't very kind to Auburn. The game wasn't any prettier watching it on TV.

Sunday morning we were moving slowly and didn't get to the balloon festival until 10. We should have check the schedule because the balloons left at 8. Well we aren't really sure they left because of the wind but they were scheduled too. The kids played in the bounce houses, until John had to pee. He attempted to pull down his pants and go in front of the entrance to the bounce house but no fear Eric got him moved to the woods. I guess the porta potty was out of the question. :) We headed home to get out of the cold wind. Eric left for Alabama and the rest of us prepared for the long week ahead.

Bouncin' Ben

He is growing in a hurry and is as handsome as ever. He started pulling up at the beginning of October so he has that down pat. He started crawling on Monday the 26th. He looks so funny. He uses one knee and one foot. He is realizing that he can go and do things now. So exciting. He has three teeth and one is coming in. He is getting big but doesn't go back to the doctor for another month. He is eating everything. Usually at least two cups of stage two foods at a time and nurses in between. He can also drink out of his straw cups. Hopefully that will eliminate any uses for a bottle going forward. Sleeps throught the night and takes two naps during the day. Still working on those coming at consistant times. He is a joy.

Jivin' John

John is getting big. Talking more everyday and is getting a bit clearer. So glad that the speech issue seems to have resolved itself. I guess i should have let him go at his on pace but never hurts to stay on top of things. He loves to go. Anywhere. Always on the move and if you don't hear him you should go and find what he is in to. He loves to unroll the toilet paper. Not sure why but he will unroll the whole roll and then hide the toilet paper in a basket or just leave it on the floor. I can't complain too much since he is usually in there to go to the bathroom. Yes, John has decided that he would like to potty train. I believe it is his "i am a big boy" , "anything you can do i can do better" attitude. I was happy to wait about 6 more months before we started this journey. I have found that waiting until they are closer to three makes the process easier on everyone and it takes a fraction of the time. Ella trained in a week and Jack was about a month. John told us in the car one day when he needed to go so i figured he must really want to. He is doing well. The peeing he has gotten the hang of (he needs to be reminded when he first wakes up) and the #2 is coming along. He does pretty well when he is under a watchful eye. :) I told Eric we might have one in diaper at Christmas. What will we do with only one in diapers? Eric says we will be very HAPPY! :) Yea for growing up!

Jumpin' Jack

Jack has finished his soccer season. I don't know if he was any better this go around than he was in the spring. He loves it though. He always has so much fun interacting with other children and just running around in general. Melissa, his coach, did bring him (and John) a trophy. He is starting to ask for school work and is really stepping in as my "big helper". We are trying to work some school time into our schedule. He is enjoying having Eric home more and loves playing with John. He also loves the new computer. I think he uses it the most. :) He takes pictures and videos throughout the day. Here are a few.

Everything Exciting with Ella

She is doing great. Last Friday, she is took her first field trip to the pumpkin patch with her class on Friday. Eric, the boys, and I are going to met her class there. We had a wonderful time. The weather was dreary but we made the best of it. We saw a presentation about all they do on the farm and then got to feed the animals. Ella's class got to build a scarecrow and then we took a hayride. The kids all got a free pumpkin and then Ella was off to the park for lunch and playtime. We went all looked at the park and then got the boys back into town for lunch. She loved the trip and getting to ride on the school bus. She is still LOVING gymnastics and cheer leading. Ella is working on her one handed cartwheel in gymnastics and learning her dance routine for the cheer leading competition. Her cheer leading group is also participating in the Christmas parade, i hope we will be here for her to enjoy it. You can imagine i am not very much help when she is practicing either of those activities. She is still doing great in school. Learning to write, spell, read and count. Always things she loves to do. She comes home and tries to teach the boys. Thursday was an early dismissal and that morning was dedicated to "dad's carving day". The school encourages dad's or other family to come and carve a pumpkin at school. Eric had to be out of town so i went. Ella and her friend Falina helped me carve Snaggles the cat. We had a great time. I got the pumpkin loaded and picked up Ella and her friend Terri. This was Terri second visit to our house for the afternoon. The kids enjoy the extra company and she is a sweet girl so i don't mind. Here are some of the pictures.