So Thankful...

We are especially thankful this year for our sweet Nathan. It was fun celebrating as a family of four. Nathan looked so cute in his "First Thanksgiving" outfit. It was hard not to think that this time next year, Nathan will be chasing Thomas around in the yard with all his other cousins!
Our family celebrated Thanksgiving twice this season, which always is a yummy way to celebrate! We celebrated Thanksgiving day with the Rhodes side of the family. I think we had almost 20 gathered for Thanksgiving dinner. It's nice that everyone brings a little something for the feast. We had fun catching up with everyone and talking about the next big holiday, Christmas!



















Speaking of Christmas, I celebrated Black Friday again this year. I was at the first store at 4 am. I only went to a handful of stores (Kohl's, Target, Walmart, Toys R Us, Bealls, and Gymboree) but I got such amazing deals. I was home by 10am and took a two hour nap. By late afternoon, I caught my second wind and we went down to I-drive so that Ken could go to Bass Pro Shops. Santa was already there. Thomas even said, "I didn't know Santa worked here!" Thomas has been rather afraid to see Santa and we decided to all see him together. It brought tears to my eyes when he told Santa the things he wanted. (The Big Dinosaur, more train pieces for his GeoTrax, jammies and Gator Golf). He is growing up so fast! Santa said that he has email now, so if he thought of anything else, we could email him! How funny! They took our first family of four holiday picture!



















Then, the Saturday after Thanksgiving we always go to my Mom and Dad's to celebrate. I have to admit it is less stressful when celebrating a few days after the main event. Everyone just enjoys hanging out. This year we played Trivial Pursuit the 1980's trivia game. We had so much fun! Mom did a great job on the yummy meal and dessert was delicious! I even allowed Nathan to try mashed potatoes. He enjoyed the few bites I gave him. He even learned a new trick! Watch....

Rite of Passage

On Friday, Thomas had another "rite of passage" as a boy. He got his first set of stitches. The day started off just fine. I dropped him and Nathan off at their schools and then went to work. I was visiting a teacher friend of mine, when the office paged me over the intercom. Turns out that Thomas' school was trying to reach me. He had slipped on the tile floor at school and bumped the eye on the corner of the sand and water table. They weren't too sure if it needed stitches and suggested that I come right away. Ken was on the river fishing so it was faster for me to get there. I quickly called Ken and told him to get home. I picked Thomas up and he was being so brave and calm. I took him to our pediatrician and they saw him right away. The doctor said it needed two stitches. They had to place Thomas in a straight jacket type board so that he would stay still. It was heartbreaking for me to watch. He was so brave! Luckily, I was able to meet up with Ken at my school parking lot to drop Thomas off to him. The crazy thing is that my class had their Thanksgiving show that morning and I was within minutes of it starting. My adrenaline was high the remaining part of the day but I am glad that Thomas is doing well after the whole ordeal. We go back next Saturday morning to have them removed. Here's a picture of what it looks like now.

Gobble, Gobble

Today was Thomas' Thanksgiving program. He was so excited to wear "dress up" clothes to school. He even got up without much convincing and got ready on his own. The program started at noon and Nana and Papa were able to come watch, too. The kids sang quite a few songs. They were so cute! We think Thomas sang the loudest. (A future American Idol winner for sure!) The program was followed by a picnic lunch. Nana packed us a great lunch and we were able to chat with Thomas' friends and teachers. Luckily, I took the rest of the day off , so he was able to come home and play for a while before we picked Nathan up from "school". It's hard to believe that this is the last preschool Thanksgiving show I will go to for Thomas. Next year we will be sitting in a Kindergarten classroom watching his special performance!

Boys in the Hood!

I bundled up the boys to go to school this morning. They looked so cute that I had to stop and take a quick photo. (Thomas has a bandaid on his forehead from bumping into a metal counter in his school cafeteria. ouch!)

Sitting Up!

Nathan showed us this weekend his new trick! When we place him in the sitting position, he can now balance himself and sit up. He seems rather proud of himself, too!

New Jammies

Nathan finally fits into his new jammies. Yes, they are size 6-12 months and he's only 4 months old! Thanks Aunt Emily!

BOO!

Well, I have to admit, there is a huge difference between being a working mom of two children. I typically would have had portraits made of the kids in their costumes, sent out cute Halloween cards, and made special treats for their teachers. Well, not this year! I barely bought their costumes in time and the teachers got Halloween note pads and dish towels! Thomas had a huge costume dilemma. He couldn't decide if he wanted to be Inspector Gadget, Andy Griffith (crazy, I know.) or Spiderman. Luckily, he decided to go with Inspector Gadget. I am so glad that Emily and Tom found him the perfect hat while they were out shopping. Nathan was a cute little horse. I found the costume several weeks before I bought it while having dinner with Ken's family at Cracker Barrel. Good thing I waited! I bought it one week before Halloween for 70% off! I love $6 costumes! I liked how it was a thin cotton, too. We had a fun Halloween. We started Trick-or-Treating at Nana and Papa's house. Then we went to a few houses in our neighborhood and then went to Emily and Tom's neighborhood for some Trick-or-Treating. Everyone had a great time. It was so neat watching Thomas walk up to houses by himself to collect candy. Gosh, he has grown up! Here's some highlights of our Halloween fun!