Thanksgiving

What a wonderful Thanksgiving. We headed down to Dothan on Wednesday night. We got lucky with traffic because we left later, but decided after listening to Nolan cry on and off the whole way that never again will we travel at night...at least not for awhile. Poor Nolan just wanted to roll over and lay on his tummy. We made it to Dothan in 4 hours though which hasn't happened in a long time.

Thursday we spent the day at my Mom and Dad's playing and helping my Mom cook. My sister Jamie and her family came for dinner along with my Aunt Teresa, her husband and 2 of her grand kids. I can't remember the last time I saw my aunt so it was really nice to see her. It was a great dinner. My mom made her cornbread dressing...one word...YUMMY!

Nolan is his Thanksgiving outfit

Cole and Nolan playing with Granddaddy

Friday I went and ate lunch with some old friends from High School. Some I haven't seen in years. It was wonderful to see everyone in person. Several have blogs which I stalk :) . You all haven't aged a bit girls!

Of course, I got a little shopping in too. Not much, but a little :)

Saturday morning we headed back to Atlanta as my parents headed to T-Town (aka God's country as my Dad calls it) for the game. ROLL TIDE!

Jason watched the game and Nicholas and I started decorating for x-mas. He loved putting out our village houses. Below are some pics of the tree and the mantle. I loved the way they both came out.

Reasons to be Thankful

Okay, I'm going to get serious again. I pray that my husband doesn't get mad at me, but he sent me a email a minute ago about the holidays. As most of you know, he lost his Dad this past March to cancer. It all happened very fast and totally took us all by surprise. There are times that I still can't believe he won't be here for Christmas and the many other family functions. Nicholas still talks about him. Any time we see a white truck, he asks about Pops. Any time he thinks about the lake or fishing, he mentions Pops. I'm so thankful that in his short life he has such fond memories of his Pops.

Here is some of Jason's email...
"I spent to much of my short adult life thinking Dad would be there for me into his old age. I did not see him enough, talk to him enough, or hug him enough. We should come together as a family and accept differences no matter what they are.".... "The day will come when the only thing left will be memories. "

How true for all of us. The day will come when all we have left are the memories. What will you remember? Please I pray, don't let petty differences come between you and your memories. I may not always agree and like everything about my family, but they are the only one I have. I love you all so much and I hope you know that! Now I'm off to pack so I can go make some more memories for me, Jason and the kids!

PS...Nicholas is so excited about going to Grandmomma's and Grandaddy's house for Thanksgiving. He has asked everyday when we are leaving.

Busy Busy

When most people refer to this time of year as busy, most are referring to Thanksgiving and Christmas. In our family we are referring to all the birthdays...5 out of the 8 grandkids were born between 11/21 and 12/8! Yes, that's right 5....check out the last couple of years for us.....

2003 - Jake is born
2004 - Nicholas is born...on the day of Jake's 1st birthday party!
2005 - Scout (Jake's little sister) and Audrey are born - within 4 days of each other!
2006 - Cole (Jake and Scout's little brother) is born

The running joke in our family is who might get pregnant in March to deliver the next November baby! So tomorrow we are off to Dothan, not just for Thanksgiving, but to celebrate all of our November/December birthdays! Happy Birthday Kiddos! I love you all!

Birthday Weekend

Nicholas had a great 4th Birthday! We started Friday morning by surprising him with Breakfast in Bed. I went and ate lunch with him at school that day and then we all went to Chucky Cheese for dinner. We got him Hungry Hungry Hippos and we played about 20 games Friday night before bed!

Nicholas blowing out his candle on his cinnamon roll

Playing at Chucky Cheese

Saturday was his Pirate Party at our house. He had 7 friends come and had a great time. We had a treasure hunt and they all got into it more than I ever thought they would. They ran around from clue to clue, it was so cute. His cake was Pirate hat that I made. It wasn't bad if I say so myself. All in All it was a good day. He got some really cool toys. Grandmomma made Nolan and Nicholas matching Pirate shirts. They looked so cute. Grandmomma and Granddaddy spent the night so the kids got to spend a little more time with them today before they headed back to Dothan. The only sad part of the day was that my nephew Jake was sick so he didn't get to come. Jake and Nicholas are like two peas in a pod. Of course, the bright side is that we will see them in a couple of days for Thanksgiving.

All the pirates ready for the treasure hunt

Reading a clue

Nicholas reading a clue

Ready for cake

The cake


Nolan enjoying some cake

Nicholas is 4

I can't believe my little baby is now 4 years old. My dear sweet Nicholas. How the time has flown. You are such a joy and I can't imagine life without you.

There are so many things I love about you:

-the way you are so determined to do things right the first time. I hope one day you finally realize that is it okay to fail. You definitely get this from Daddy...he likes to be good at everything too.

-the way you love to cuddle

-the way you love your little brother. It is so sweet watching you worry about him

-your energy. You never stop and I love it. I love watching you play fumble with Daddy while watching football

-the way you love to be center stage. It is so funny watching you dance for all of us. You definitely get your rhythm from Mommy :)

-the way you want to know everything about everything. I hope you never lose your thirst for Knowledge.

Here's Nicholas through the years.

1 year Old - Where is his hair?

2 years old - Still loving the paci


3 years old

4 years old

In the words of Nicholas

Kids say the cutest things...

1) While eating penne pasta with diced tomatoes in it..."Mommy, I like these (the tomatoes), they are made of ketchup." FYI..the night before I had told him that Ketchup was made from tomatoes.

2) Last night 1am our room...."Mommy I don't want to sleep in my bed." Me-"well then you won't get a prize this week for staying in your bed." As he climbs into our bed - "That's okay Mommy, I'm sick of prizes."

3) In the car on the way home yesterday, he was being really whinny...Me - "I think someone needs a nap." Nicholas's reply - "Nolan does"

Pan-Can Walk

Saturday we spent the morning at Grant Park at the Purple Stride Atlanta 5K Walk/Run. This is a Pan-Can event to raise funds for Pancreatic Cancer. Jason got involved with Pan-Can after his Dad passed away from Pancreatic Cancer this past March. It was uplifting to see the survivors and those currently fighting the disease out there. They had a doctor from UAB talk about the research they are currently doing. I pray that a cure is found for this and all cancers. The kids enjoyed the walk even if it was a little cold. They both got their faces painted. Nicholas was a pirate and Nolan got the purple Pan-Can symbol put on his cheek. Nicholas even got to start the walkers on their walk. He got to announce Ready Set Go over the microphone. He was so excited!

We spent the rest of the day relaxing and running errands and then met Julie B and her daughter for dinner. The kids had so much fun together. Then back home to watch Alabama football...Roll Tide!

It is such a beautiful fall day here in Atlanta today. A little cold, but there are no clouds in the sky and the sun is shining. Hope your day is just a beautiful!

Nicholas and Nolan with their painted faces.

The remembrance wall

Earl's memorial on the wall.

Nolan and Jason

Show Me

Happy Friday! Isn't Friday the best day of the week? You know you get to sleep in the next day and you don't have to go back to work until Monday...Yeah!

I started reading a new book a couple of nights ago. It's called Rediscovering Catholicism by Matthew Kelly. I've had it for awhile, but am just getting around to it. I felt like I needed to share what I've read so far. The book starts off with an imagine this....Imagine that you are watching the news one day and hear a story about a village in India where people are dying from a new form of the flu. A couple of days later the flu has spread all over India, then Iran, then Europe until it hits the US and heads to your town. It kills everyone who gets it, but wait...the doctors have found a cure they just need the blood of someone that hasn't been infected. So every American heads to their hospital to get tested. As you wait outside with your husband and child they come out...they found someone. They call out the number and it's your son. They grab him before you know what is happening. After a couple of minutes they come back out and ask you to sign a consent form for his blood and you notice that the # of pints needed isn't filled out. The doctor replies, we need it all. The book asks, could you walk in there and sacrifice your son to save the world. And what if you did and the next week they hold a ceremony to honor your son and some folks sleep through it and some don't come because they have better things to do and some that do come don't really pay attention. Okay at this point I was crying. It really put into prospective for me. The book goes on to talk about how we need to be a "show me" Christian not just a tell me. It quotes Gandhi who was asked why he never became a Christian. He said if he ever met one, he would become one. So today I'm challenging myself and everyone, Be a "Show Me" Christian. Let's all go out and show the world what it means and how it can change their lives. Not just through our words, but through our actions.

Okay, enough deep stuff :) Because Hillary has commented that every good post needs pics, here you go.

Nolan and Nicholas in their chairs

Nicholas with his Kipper

Nolan with his teddy. My friend Julie B made this and Nolan loves it!

It is the first thing he looks for when he goes to bed.

It never leaves his sight all night. Thanks Julie!

BIL

My BIL pulled through surgery fine....so thanks for the prayers. He will be in the hospital in B'ham until at least Saturday and maybe until Monday so please keep praying for him and my sister. Also pray for my parents. They are watching the 3 little ones in Dothan. They were very much acting their ages tonight (Almost 5, Almost 3 and Almost 2)! I'm tired just thinking about it :)

Another great weekend

What a beautiful weekend! The weather was fantastic.

Friday I surprised Jason with a kid free dinner to celebrate his promotion at work. I could tell he was mad when he got home and saw that the kids had McDonald's for dinner and I haven't cooked. I let him stew for about 5 minutes before I told him the babysitter was on the way :) We went to a great place in downtown Roswell called Pastis. I was so nice to have a grown up dinner, but I missed the kids.

Saturday I got to go shopping all by myself! Tiring, but fun to get away and get some x-mas shopping done. Of course, I had to be home by 3:30 so that Jason could watch the bama game. Roll Tide by the way.

Sunday, we spent a relaxing day at home. We cleaned up the backyard and Jason and Nicholas fixed the swing set all getting ready for Nicholas's b-day party in 2 weeks. I still can't believe he will be 4! Where have the years gone?

Please send a prayer up for my sister and her husband on Wednesday. They are going to B'ham for him to have back surgery. Hopefully this will help end the constant pain he is in.

Way to go Jason!

I just wanted to give a shout out to my hubbie. He found out Tuesday that he got his promotion. He has only been with the company since March and is now taking his boss's job. I'm so proud of him and I know he will do great!

Halloween and Homecoming

What a weekend! We had trick or treating Friday night (which was blast) and then Alabama's Homecoming game on Saturday. Roll Tide by the way...#1 in the country...I just hope they can win out the last 3 games. I'm so excited for the players.

We trick or treated in our neighborhood on Friday. Nicholas was an Alabama football player, Nolan was an elephant, I was a cheerleader, and Jason was Coach Saban.

This is the boys going thru the candy when we got home

Coach Saban - notice the money coming out of his pockets :)

Getting Candy


Me and Nolan with some neighbors...notice her costume...
she was a "one night stand" it was so funny!

The Family...even Shannon dressed in her Alabama jersey.

Saturday we headed to Birmingham and Tuscaloosa. We dropped Nolan and the dog at Reenie's house (Jason's Mom) for the day and Jason, Nicholas and I went to the game. We met up with my parents and my nephew Jake. This was the 1st time my dad got to take one of his grandsons to a game. He was so excited as was Jason to have Nicholas there. Both the boys had a great time cheering for the Tide.

Jason, My Dad, Nicholas and Jake

Alabama scoring a touchdown


Nicholas cheering

Jake and Nicholas in front of the Bear Statue

Jason and I with our friends Kara and Ethan. Kara was my
big sis in the sorority and they actually introduced Jason and I.