A Great Morning for the Park

The high today was an unseasonably warm 58 degrees. Grandma, Aunt Wendy, and the cousins joined Bubba and me for a stroll to the park. The kids got rid of tons of energy and Wendy got a great workout pushing the double stroller. The slide and the merry-go-round were the biggest hits!

Thanksgiving Festivity #2

For the past 2 days we have had the blessing of all of my husband's family under one roof (ours). The fellowship and the food were fantastic. My in-laws did a great job with the Thanksgiving day food.

Here are the early morning, not-quite-awake faces of Bubba and his cousin, Keely.We celebrated Christmas and Thanksgiving but the best part was just having the cousins have a chance to play together.



Bubba loved playing Santa and passing out the gifts and the big cousins didn't seem to mind letting him "help" them open the gifts. Bubba's favorite gift was the CARS movie. We all watched it together on Thanksgiving Day or should I say we were all in the same room as the kids watched the movie and the adults did a little napping. More unwrapping!

Pheasant Season

My husband plans and waits as patiently as he can all year for pheasant hunting season to arrive. Hopefully our baby will not choose to arrive when he is in a far off field out of cell phone range :)

This year Bubba is very interested in the whole process and not fearful of all the feathers and anything having to do with birds (like his mom). Uncle Todd is my husband's favorite hunting buddy. Here they pose with their bounty and our old hunting dog, Rexie.

Around the Table for Thanksgiving

Finally it was time to eat. Nanny asked us each to say what we were most thankful for this year. Bubba went right after Nanny so he picked up on a few of her phrases. His answer to the big Thanksgiving question “I’m thankful for my husband, Rexie.” For those of you who don’t know, Rexie is our dog :)

Thanksgiving Festivity #1

On Sunday after church, we went to Nanny & Papa's house to celebrate our Thanksgiving. We were minus our clan of 4 in Arizona but we enjoyed much family bonding nonetheless.

In this first photo you can see that Uncle Yee was a little more into the male bonding than the others.

Nanny led the female contingent with her infamous "Home Ec Award" proudly displayed on her chest with a safety pin.

Aunt Klions made her first-ever, completely from scratch pie crust which was deemed fabulous by all tasters. Photo #1 is her cocky smile as she started out feeling very confident.

Photo #2 Show there was a little stress when the stickiness almost made her quit before she got it in the pie pan. Photo #3 is the beautiful result right before it went in the oven.

Santa Claus Came to Town

The big man in RED made his first appearance in town today. Papa joined us and of course we got there early for a front row seat! At the first siting Bubba gave a tentative wave, but after that - as you'll see - he was all gung ho! Santa had all of the kids sit down to hear him read The Night Before Christmas (for all you English majors - sorry I can't underline the title but I'm not sure how to do it on the blog). By that point - Bubba was content sitting only inches from his boots.

After the story, Santa started asking each of the kids what they wanted him to bring them for Christmas. When it was Bubba's turn you should have seen the look on Santa's face as my sweet boy chirped "A backhoe and a combine please". That's my Iowa boy! Now Santa (aka Mommy & Daddy) will have to go on a quest to fulfill this very special request.

Next - while Mommy was chatting with a friend - somehow Papa got Hank hooked up for an on camera interview with Channel 2 News where he repeated his backhoe/combine comment which was not what cheesy, blondie reporter was expecting. We'll have to see if they use it on the air tonight but my bet is N-O.

Bringing Up Boys

This fall we've spent our Monday evenings with 4 other couples watching a DVD series called Bringing Up Boys. As young parents with all of our kids age 3 and under, we can use all of the help we can get.

Our kids have gotten to be even greater pals as they spend an hour in our basement with Ruthie the Queen of Babysitting (our hero!). Their favorite part of the night is when they make their great escape up the basement steps for the sweet treats made by one of us .

Tonight was our last regular gathering before all of our new babies arrive. The pic is of Bubba and his pals enjoying chocolate cupcakes.

My sister's making me do this

My sister, K2, says that everyone needs to have a blog especially when our families live so far apart. So even though I am less than 4 weeks from having our Baby Girl I'm adding something to my to-do list because like any good firstborn I always do what the crazy middle child says??? Check out Dr. Kevin Leman's Birth Order Book if you don't get the sarcasm :)

Here are a few pictures to get my blog going - they include my 35 1/2 week pregnant belly, K3 & my son post-haircut, and my goofy parents who wore the same sweatshirt - out in public -without even noticing it until my sister pointed it out.