Let the decorating begin!

Christmas decorating. It happens in our home the day after Thanksgiving. We go buy our tree, pull out all the boxes of decorations, and let the good times begin. No matter the temperature outside, Christmas music is playing and we are sipping on hot chocolate. The inside is all decked out and so is the outside this year! While I was doing alot of this, the boys made sure the outside was as fitting as the inside.
I'll be taking more pictures at dark to show off all their hard work!


Welcome Christmas 2008!


As I was putting the finishing touches on the tree inside, I looked out my front window at my boys hanging lights outside.

For me, he climbed to the top of the oak tree to hang lights! They look great honey!

The inside tree all dressed up for the holidays!

Thanksgiving Feast 2008

The pilgrim and the Indian prepare for the feast!

The turkey chef hard at work.

The beautiful turkey that marinated for 12 hours and then was carefully placed in the oven by the Mr. and 4:30 am.

My pumpkin roll! This was a long process to make...lots of beating, rolling, spreading, rolling again, and chilling over night. At the end of dinner, it was all gone so I guess it was worth the work of making it!

And that is all I got.....in between hosting, cooking, serving, etc...I neglected to take many pictures. As you can tell, these were taken before our guests arrived and things got a little busy. We did have a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner with our family. Everyone was able to come and enjoy! I even got to sneak away after everything was washed and cleaned to go watch the new Vince Vaughn/Reese Witherspoon Christmas movie with Crystal, Val and momene. It was hilarious!!!

A Typical Ride Home....

Windows down, sunroof open…loving the nice temperatures- the sun is at its most brilliant spot in the sky. Beyonce is beautifully magnified on my Bose system….”If I were a boy”….my new favorite song to listen to on my drive home. (Strange lyrics but I love the melody and her voice). My favorite part of the song is approaching, the part in which I must snap along too (if you know the song, you know the part.) From the back seat, “Mama, Mama…SWWWWEEEEETS!” My ipod goes to pause (only the 5th time during my favorite song today alone….I can’t miss my favorite part, the snap part, you know.)
Yes Love?
Him: Mama, where are the Indians?
Me: (thinking are we talking Indians from India? Native Americans? …Thanksgiving time, I am going with Native Americans) ….
Him: (frustrated with my pause) mom, the Indians at the Feast!
Me: Yea-they (interrupted before I can get the next word in)
Him: Miss Paula says there is no such word as yea…you need to say YES.
Me: Thank you for being the grammar police.
Him: Back to the Indians, where are they?
Me: Well, as more people came to the United States their tribes were pushed further and further into uninhabitable lands and may were killed. There are reservations that still exist today to protect the Indians. But really many of us are from Indian bloodlines. So, to answer your question there is probably a little Indian in many of us- we just don’t wear the feathers and such like they did at the feast.
Him: Interesting, so who is from Indian bloodlines that I know?
Me: (recalling one of Nat’s recent blog entries- just wait Nat- you’ll love this) Well, for instance Ms. Natalie and Z & E are from Indian bloodlines.
Him: That is so cool. Did Z get to ride on that big boat, what was it called? Oh yes- The Mayflower?
Me: Well, let’s think about that question. Was it not the Pilgrims who came over on the Mayflower?
Him: Right…the Pilgrims, so Z probably was not on the Mayflower but I bet he got to go to the feast and got to try all that yummy food.
Me: (thinking…should I explain the timeline thing and that Z is just under 3 yo? No…time is still not a concept that a 4 yo truly grasps)
Him: Did Noah build the Ark and the Mayflower?
Me: (Geesh…) No baby.
Him: breaks out into a song…”Who built the Ark? Noah! Noah! Who built the Ark? Brother Noah built the Ark?
Me: If you can’t beat them, join them…sorry Beyonce you’ll be staying on pause until tomorrow. Me and the boy have some Noah’s Ark singing to do! And I snapped along…the whole ride home.

Holiday Crafts

Melting the soap & adding in the peppermint oil and red coloring.

The finished product!

Working on our Christmas Cards

The start of the card making.

We were very productive this weekend in planning for the holiday season. We got all the little gifts for doodle's classmates finished (ornaments), we made peppermint soap for our work friends and neighbors and I got some substantial work done on our Christmas Cards. We also cleaned the house top to bottom and bought all the groceries for Thanksgiving Dinner. We are hosting Thanksgiving! We love this time of year!

Friday Night Lights

We are football fans through and through. We usually make several games a season. This past Friday was only the first of this year (also will be our last as "our" teams are out of the playoffs.) I have been promising to go watch Shelbi and Dakota- cheerleader & band. We had a really great time even though the Mighty Mavs lost. Doodle finally mastered the Maverick sign and enjoyed watching them play. We got to spend time with our awesome family and friends.

As a side note, I am embarrassed to admit how many people came up to me to say "hi" and for the life of me I could not place them. This happened 3 times that night! Next season I need to study an old yearbook before I go!

The Great Turkey of 2008

Working hard to get those sticks in place.

The finished product!

Doodle had his Thanksgiving Day Feast at school on Friday. We signed up to bring the centerpiece. I had come across this cute idea in one of my magazines. We had so much fun putting it together and the Great Turkey of 2008 was a hit at school. By 10:00 am I had received a call from the school telling me how much everyone loved our turkey. Doodle was beaming proud!

Fire Ants End of Season Party

Give me some skin!

First trophy!

The Mr. gets a gift certificate from the parents as a thank you!

Doodle and Jackson

It's like a cooking show

These pictures crack me up! I was making dinner and my camera was still sitting out from our shoot earlier in the day. Doodle picked up the camera and started shooting. I did not think he had the camera on and went along with his "shoot." I was surprised to see these show up during the download. Does it look yummy? I was making Ratatouille Soup and Foccacia bread!

Because without you....

Love,
Thank you for loading and then unloading the love seat into the back of your truck.
Thank you for driving around until I found the perfect spot.
Thank you for doing that for me.
Thank you for going along with every crazy idea that I have.
Thank you for being so laid back and easy going- I love that about you!
Thank you for being you....
Because without you.....
Well, I can't even imagine!
all my heart,
dee

Sister Shoot!

My sister, she's a pretty girl...yep!
This is the first time I have done a shoot with her.
We were like little girls again....having fun and outdoing the last pose.
It was so much fun- I got to tell her exaclty what to do!
and just like little sisters do...she listened to her big sister!
It was worth all that bossing around, huh Crys?

Wedding time

My cousin, Jesse, got married on Saturday night. A fun time was had by all!


Cousins! Reigne, Oakley & CMW

Doodle looking handsome

How will I choose???

Christmas Card Shoot 2008
Our love seat..
an open field...
the two sweetest boys in the world...
these are only 4 of the 208 I am loving...
how will I choose which ones to use?

Sick Day

Doodle coughed all.night.long. I am sure it is caused by allergies. I woke up this morning with a sore throat and sinus headache. As the alarm went off at 5:30 am I quickly did a mental run through of my day. Yep- today is the perfect day for a sick day. While both of us could have made it through the day and our ailments don't require a visit to the doctor, we both needed an easy day at home. And so, that is exactly what we are doing. We snuggled under the covers until 9:00, got up and made some grilled cheese sandwiches and medicated, I'm blogging while doodle is "walking" a roll of string around the house and we will be heading for an afternoon nap here in a moment. We are not so much minding being a little under the weather today.





Our best attempt @ making "pitiful, sick faces."

A grilled cheese will make it all better, especially served up on a monkey plate!

I can't go outside so I will just walk a roll of string around the house, yeah! that sounds like what I'll do.