Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! We just finished a lovely Thanksgiving with so much wonderful food and amazing company. Almost every year we have lived here, good friends join us for Thanksgiving and this year we were lucky to have my parents join us too. We ate and drank and enjoyed our time together while feeling thankful to be so blessed.

This year, the boys also documented what they are thankful for in projects at school.

G-man...

My family, because they help me.

School, because I can learn.

Sports, because I like to play sports.

Crab, because I love to eat it!

My dog, because I like to play with her.

Food, because it keeps me alive.

Animals, because they are so "intertaining."

My rat, because I like to play with her.*

*Technically this rat lives in my classroom at work and he sees her a few times a year, but whatever, I'm glad he likes her.

Roo...

I am thankful for "I like my mommy, the best mommy!" (Awww!)

I am thankful for "Daddy. I like my Daddy."

I am thankful for "Osprey (his stuffed animal), he can make noise."

I am thankful for "Pandy (his stuffed panda). Sometimes he's bad but he still rocks!"

This Thanksgiving I am thankful for my boys. They have brought an energy and enthusiasm to our house that I didn't know could exist. Although it can often give me a headache, it also reminds me about enjoying life. So G and Roo, although you can drive me nuts, you still rock!

Potpourri

I honestly don't know where to start. Funniest stories? Scariest stories? Just plain fun stories? It's been a while and so much has been happening that this can just be the potpourri of blog entries.

Well, let's leave out major details of the scariest. In short, a few ultrasounds, multiple blood tests and a CT scan found that I have cysts and a few kidney stones. My daily intake of water has increased significantly in an attempt to hold them at bay. This Thanksgiving, I'll be thankful for my health!

Funniest? Well, Roo is always good for a laugh. We had a photographer/friend take family photos of us in October. You can see them on her blog at http://www.cracklephotographyblog.com/. What she didn't dare post was the picture of Roo releiving himself during the photo session in the field. Other than that little laugh and a generally uncooperative Roo, we had a good time documenting these years in G-man and Roo's lives. It certainly showed their personalities and one of the other postings on her blog gave me a new iPod song...what do you think? It's constantly stuck in my head these days! Thanks Crackle! (By the way, you will have to press the play button in the upper right hand corner of my blog to hear the song if you didn't already figure that out. Song's gone now but if you want to hear it, it's called What About Everything by Carbon Leaf).

Since Roo always seems to get the funny blog moments...I thought I'd give G-man a moment in the spotlight. THE big question was asked the other night. Of course EJ was out of town so I got to tackle the birds and the bees on my own. Not that I'm complaining. I don't mind being in control of these topics but it's still an awkward conversation. It went along pretty innocently until the long pause before realizing that one bodily substance had to get to the other. How does it actually GET there anyway Mom? At the moment of realization he was mortified and hid his head under his pillow like a ostrich in a hole. After checking in with him to see how he was handling his newly discovered knowledge, he reassured me that he has no further questions and wished he hadn't asked.

And for just plain fun...EJ had a round of cyclocross racing this fall to finish off his first season with Five Valley Velo. He had a great season of road and cyclocross racing with a few place finishes. Here's a picture of my hottie hubby at one of his cyclocross races. I do have to admit that cyclists are hot! I'm glad I have one!

As for me, aside from the revolving door of doctor appointments and tests, I hope to do well in an upcoming half marathon even though my training has been sporadic. Finish I will, PR...not likely.

So that's the update for now. I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving! It's my favorite holiday and anyone who knows me well knows it's all about the leftovers! This year, I'm looking forward to squash and turkey pizza! YUM!

YES!

YES WE CAN!

YES WE DID!

I hope you all voted!

I am looking forward to the next 4 years!

Happy Halloween and Then Some

Okay, we had a really great Halloween.

I wish I could share it in pictures but that would have required me to have a camera in hand, which I didn't. At times something else may have been in my hand, but never a camera. In fact, we were so happily crazy that this is the first year I don't have photos of the boys in costume with their pumpkins. So you'll just have to use your imagination for this one.

Our Halloween started with a very full house full of friends for a pre-trick-or-treat attempt at making the children eat something healthy. There was the most amazing spread of "bloody fingers" "witches brooms" "pumpkin soup" "hummus eyeballs" and one really amazing platter with an entire Halloween scene made of eggs, broccoli and olives which no one dared to eat ...if anyone knows who brought that let me know, and sorry we didn't actually eat it! We did this little shindig last year just for the neighbors and had much fun and success (I am measuring success in how much healthy food my children ate prior to the candy onslaught). So this year we expanded and let the boys invite whoever they wanted. It was big. I recall EJ a few days prior saying, "How many people are coming to this thing?" and you know it's bad when I reply, "I don't really know, but a lot." It was a lot and my only saving grace was that it was nice enough outside for the gaggle of crazy boys to be outside.

When I say crazy boys, I do mean crazy. I should specify the amount of boys we're talking about here. This will also give you an indication of how many boys are involved in our life. Kids only, 27. Twenty-seven boys under the age of 11 at our house. I may be missing a few, who knows. All I do know is that the core group of 7-11 year olds moved in a troupe that drifted around the street as one being. At two points I found them in their Star Wars, ninja, football player, baseball player, ax-man glory battling in different neighbors front stoops. I have really great neighbors, but this was above and beyond the call of neighborliness, really. You know it's reached peak craziness when you notice a friend in full ax-man make up and find yourself saying, "Is that a real bloody nose or just your make up?" It was a real bloody nose, no worries though, he seemed to think it just added to the effect.

By the way, if your wondering how many girls were in attendance (not including Moms). It was nine. Poor things.

As the party wrapped up, they all headed out to trick-or-treat in various parts of town. Except Roo. No, he was having a meltdown due to the sudden misplacement of his blue lightsaber. Forget that he had three others to choose from. He needed the blue one because then everyone would know that he was supposed to be Ki-Adi-Mundi. Right.

To finish things off G-man and I joined another party at a friend's house for a driveway bonfire and an introduction to Young Frankenstein for G-man and a vocabulary lesson for me. I now know what a merken is. It's not a slang way of saying "American" by the way.

Happy Halloween y'all.