Thanksgiving 2010

The kids and I headed to Waco last Monday to catch some Baylor basketball games and hang out with my parents, also known as Nanny and Papa. I got to have an extra fun evening on Tuesday when Sunni and I went to dinner (sans kids) and were able to just hang out. WooHoo!

Then, early Wednesday morning I loaded up the car and drove my boys on down to Spicewood. Steve flew in on Thursday morning. Steve and Shereda hosted Thanksgiving this year. Stewart and Hunter were there, along with Grandmother, Aunt Janet, and Uncle Bill. You know who was missing? The Mareks!! The Shans took their boys to Mason, Texas for some good ole hunting with Shannon's parents. I'm sure they created lots of great memories. But we still missed them and the boys missed their cousins.

Here's Shereda carving the turkey while Stew steals a bite. Let's just say that a 25 pound turkey was more than enough for this family.
Shereda bought a puzzle for us all to work on. It was tough. Lots of pieces and a very odd shape. I don't think it was finished by the time we left.

The dining table is all set and ready.

Here's Grandmother with her 2 children and their spouses. From left to right: Steve, Shereda, Grandmother, Janet, and Bill. This was our first holiday without Granddaddy. I'm thankful that Grandmother was able to come spend it at the Lakehouse with us.

Janet and Grandmother had a great time bonding with the boys and playing games. Carter is always looking for someone to play games with him. I think he found some new buddies!

We are thankful!

Yummy! (photo taken for Shanan)

And what is Thanksgiving without football? Grandmother, Janet, and Bill left for their homes and the rest of us got ready for our evening. We bundled as best we could and headed out to the Texas/A&M game. It was so so so cold that we left in the 3rd quarter. Texas lost the game, but we still made great memories.

On Friday, Shereda and I hit the San Marcos outlets for the day. It was crazy, but fun! Then we all went in to Marble Falls for dinner and a walk through the outdoor holiday lights. The boys loved the whole evening. Steve and I drove back to Waco on Saturday to hang out with my parents, Granny, Mamaw, and Papaw. Then we loaded up once again this morning to hit I35 one last time for the trip from Waco to Highland Village. It was a tiring but fun week. Let my birthday week now begin... followed by Christmas. Hold on, everyone, it's gonna be a crazy December!

More Disney Photos

Disney is brilliant. Really, they are. They offer their guests a "photo pass" that you use at all the parks. Basically they have professional Disney photographers stationed throughout their parks ready to take your photo and load it on to your photo pass. Then you can buy the CD after your trip is done. Since we had a great coupon code and the Disney dollars from my Disney Visa, we got our photo CD for free. However, I think I would have paid for it anyway. It was so convenient to just give them the pass and let them take the photos. I didn't take my big fancy camera with me anywhere. We spent time at Epcot, Magic Kingdom, and Hollywood Studios. We also got lots of photo pass pics taken!
Mickey Mouse and the boys- gotta love Mickey!

Pluto

Minnie Mouse

Donald Duck

Goofy- he's so tall!

Our photo from the Test Track ride. We rode this a couple of times!

Here's the boys at the entrance to Epcot. The wine and food festival was also going, so it was fun to see all the different countries selling food throughout Epcot.

Hollywood Studios was a blast!

The boys were on the hunt for Daisy Duck (we never saw her during our previous trip in 2007), so it was extra exciting to get her autograph during this trip.

Talk about TALL and SHORT! Sully (the blue guy) and Mike (one eye) are the starts of Monsters Inc. They didn't give autograph, but were happy to take photos with the boys.

We took the boys on the Tower of Terror ride. We told them it was just an elevator ride so they wouldn't get too scared. I think they were justifiably scared on the ride, but they were brave. No tears. But they certainly did not want to ride it again. Steve wanted Caleb to get on the Rock n Roller Coaster with him, but Caleb had already read about it and knew it went upside down. So he refused to go. Steve went as a single rider, which made it a quick line for him. Maybe next time...

Who doesn't love Mater? He was bouncing around and making noises. I think the boys really enjoyed seeing him!

Our final pic before leaving the Hollywood Studios for the last time. Toy Story Mania was their all-time favorite ride at this park.

Main Street of Magic Kingdom

We ran into Donald again after riding Runaway Mountain and Splash Mountain.

The Castle!

Perfectly posed photo

We stayed late at the Magic Kingdom one night for Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party. They closed the park to everyone else unless you had a wristband. They served hot chocolate and Christmas cookies. They had a special Christmas parade and a beautiful Christmas fireworks show with all Christmas music. I think it was my favorite part of the trip.

Santa Visit

Although it's not yet Thanksgiving I took the opportunity to go ahead and visit Santa. Knowing my big boys are in school every weekday until we leave for Christmas vacay, I opted to take them to Waco's Richland Mall this morning for a quick visit. As you can tell, Brenner was less than enthused. In fact the mere site of Santa sent him into a frenzy. He was clinching my shirt and nuzzling in as close as possible. As I pealed him away and onto his brother (not even onto Santa) his screams escalated into full hysteria. Like the good mom that I am I told the lady, "Just take the photo. I don't care how awful he looks. We'll cherish this one for many years to come." So, there you have it. Santa Visit 2010. At least the boys had fun. Carter later told me that this man was not the real Santa. And why would he think that? Well, Santa is at the North Pole working to be ready for Christmas.

Disney World

Steve attended a work conference at the beginning of last week in Orlando. Caleb, Carter, and I joined him on Wednesday for some time at Disney World. (Brenner went to Waco to spend quality time with Nanny and Papa)
We stayed at The Boardwalk- one of the Epcot resorts. We stayed here last time we came to Disney and loved the location. We can walk to Epcot and Hollywood Studios and take a bus to anything else. We had a beautiful room overlooking the water and boardwalk.

Here's the boys in line for Test Track at Epcot. They were willing to go on just about everything.

Love these guys!

Caleb and Carter enjoyed listening to the seagulls outside of the Nemo ride.

The carousel next to Cinderella's Castle was a highlight for Carter.

Our first ride at Magic Kingdom- Dumbo!

Steve and Carter are sitting in the back of the ride at Splash Mountain. He did the 50 foot drop with a brave face. However, he didn't want to ride it again.

I opted to sit out the teacups. I saw how fast my boys went when they were 3 & 5, so I didn't want to know how fast they would go this time around.

As we were leaving Magic Kingdom the boys decided to try out the hula hoops on Main Street.

It's genetic. Those boys could hula hoop all day.

And their favorite ride at Hollywood Studios was Toy Story Mania. It's a 3D carnival game ride. So much fun! We rode it 3 times!

The Green Army Men were everywhere outside the ride. When the boys walked by one of them yelled, "Watch out, troops! It's the Orange-Striped Army Men!" So funny!

Time to share an ice cream cone!

Kidd Kraddick and his morning show crew were broadcasting live from our hotel on Friday morning. I've listened to them every morning for the past 10 years. Every November they take their Kidd's Kids trip with families of chronically or terminally ill children to Disney World. I hadn't realized when we planned the trip that whey would be there when we were there. I was determined to find them while we were there. On Friday morning we walked by the Dance Hall on the way to Hollywood Studios and I heard Kidd Kraddick's voice. We walked in the Dance Hall and saw the morning show up on the stage doing their Friday morning live show. So fun!

We ran into Big Al Mac from KKINTM at Hollywood Studios. After chatting and getting a photo, a guy walked up to Steve asking who was the celebrity we were taking a photo with. He was a bit disappointed to find out he was a DJ. I was a bit starstruck though.

At Hollywood Studios we went to the American Idol Experience show. They do 5 shows a day and one finale each night. Real park guests go and try out that morning. They pick the best 15 to come and perform in the 5 shows. The "winner" of each show gets to go to the finale. The winner of the finale show gets a golden ticket. That ticket allows them to jump to the front of the line at a real AI audition. We really enjoyed the show. The host surprised us with Kimberly Locke (a former AI contestant- she came in 3rd the year Ruben Studdard and Clay Aiken were in the finale).

There's so much more to our trip, but these were some of the photos off my camera. We paid for the photopass, so once the photo CD is mailed to us, I'll be able to upload more photos.

My Pilgrim

Introducing Caleb as Patrick Henry.

"Give me Liberty or Give me Death!"

Pitiful

I just don't feel good. I can't quite figure out why. I don't want to eat much- unless it's a donut. My bottom is blistery red from pooping in my diaper 6 times a day. Mommy has made a paste out of Desitin, Aquafor, and Maalox that seems to help a little. Mommy is also mixing probiotics in my yogurt to help the bacteria in my tummy. I want to play, but after a little bit I just want mommy to hold me. She doesn't seem to want to just spend all day in the recliner with me, but I really wish she would. She keeps telling me about all these things she needs to get done, but I don't think anything is more important than just letting me sit in her lap.

Chipped

Study the 2 photos. Do you see a difference? One photo was taken before face-planting on the tile floor and the other was taken after.

Lightning Soccer

We just finished our 5th season with the Lightning Soccer Team. Carter absolutely loves playing soccer. I think anytime he gets to be a part of a team, he's having a great time. He plays a lot of defense this season now that we've been moved to the big boy fields. They play 4 on 4 and Carter often hangs back to be the sweeper. There he is above kicking the ball.
Carter enjoys talking to both teams.

Kicking the ball down the field.

Trying to get in the mix.

Such a cutie!

Here he is with his buddy, Kaleb. Such silly boys.

And here's our bookworm. He's ready for his baseball game and trying to get more Reading Counts points at school while quietly supporting his brother on the soccer field.

Here's the Lightning families. We're all great friends. Been together for 2 1/2 years now. Carter's baseball coach is Cory who is in the green shirt sitting on the ground. Many of his soccer teammates are also on his baseball team.

My little athletes.