Our Thanksgiving Holiday

I have been so busy with all the holiday hoopla, that I totally forgot to tell you all about our fabulous Thanksgiving holiday. You may not remember, but we were out of town for several days, and visited family in three different states.

First stop was Tennessee, where we celebrated Thanksgiving with my parents and siblings, as well as their spouses, and my niece and nephew. It was a full house, but we started the trip off with a bang when all the adults went to a NHL hockey game in Nashville for a grown-ups only night out. It's something we've never done before, and I think we all appreciated the fun without the kids! :) My brother and brother-in-law got an extra bonus at the game when they were picked for an on-ice game in between periods. They had to race across the ice in these inflatable hamster balls. It was hilarious! Go Preds!

Thanksgiving day it was evident there was a storm blowing in and the wind was blustery. My dad had a great idea to go to a nearby Dollar General and pick up kites to fly with the kids, After checking to make sure they were even open, my brother ran over to pick up several kites, and experienced his own Thanksgiving miracle! The kits all rang up for only $0.01 each! We had lots of fun flying the kites, and surprisingly John David did better than anyone, including the adults.

There were kites everywhere!

Looks like Aunt Rea and Aunt Crystal were strugglin'. :D

Look at John David go!

Poppy helping Kylie get her kite in the air

The cousins

Want some pie with that Cool Whip?

Hi Poppy!

Uncle Drew and Aunt Crystal

Aunt Rea and Uncle Clay

Before we left to head to Indiana, the kids and Jeremy and I celebrated Christmas with my parents, since we will be at home this Christmas. The kiddos got some really great gifts, including a Handy Manny that talks for Luke, and they were very surprised and excited. Thank you Grandma and Poppy!

While we were at my parents' house, the kids discovered an old Light Brite in the upstairs closet. They thought this was the best toy ever!

Soon we were off to Indiana, and I'll tell you all about that tomorrow! :)

We Disappeared and Had a Blast

With all the trouble I've had with my laptop lately, I haven't posted much about our family happenings. Most of my postures and things were being held captive. :) Anyway, Jeremy is my hero! He found a way to get all my pictures and files off my laptop, and while it is still not fixed, I at least I have all my goodies back.

Halloween was a very busy weekend for us with our church's Fall Festival, our annual Halloween party, and Jeremy's 33rd birthday! I managed to get a couple quick (but not very good) pictures that weekend. Actually, I only remembered to snap two. Sorry!

All my little monsters - Can you see our ninja?

Some of the food from our party. Don't you love our eyeballs?

The week after Halloween, Jeremy surprised us with a family getaway. It was nothing fancy, but we kind of disappeared for three days and got some much needed family time together. We made some fun memories, and had a blast. We stayed in a hotel only about an hour and a half away from home, swam in the hotel pool, stayed up late, slept in late, spent an evening at Chuckie E. Cheese, played at a bounce house, and so much more.

We happened to have dinner at a local Chi-Fil-A during their weekly Family Night while we were gone. They had the best clown we have ever seen! He was amazing with balloon animals and made things like mermaids, Elmo, and monkeys! Each of the kiddos got their own balloon animal. It made their night!

Kylie and her balloon octopus

John David got a lightsaber

Caitlyn and her balloon penguin

Luke got a little turtle that was also a bracelet. Isn't it cute?!

We are heading out of town this week to Tennessee for the Thanksgiving holiday. We will also be making the rounds to visit family in Indiana and Ohio, so we won't be back till the 3rd of December. It should be a long trip, but we always love it when we get to visit with our loved ones!

See Jeremy Preach!

From time to time, Jeremy gets a chance to preach at our church. He is such a great preacher, and many people in our church family love to hear him preach. Our church now films every service and post it on their website. Last Sunday night (Oct. 24th), Jeremy preached a powerful sermon called "Following a Familiar Voice." You can see it online at http://www.hylesbaptist.com/TalleyPublications, just click on the Oct. 24th service. The first several minutes are the beginning of the service, but then Jeremy gets up to preach (about 26 minutes in). It was a special "Team Sunday" so that's why our Preacher is in his RedSkins Jersey! :) Enjoy!

Wordless Wednesday - A Girl Obsessed

Happy Birthday John David!

Our Night with Mo Willems!

Last night John David and I got the chance to go to a reading/signing with one of our favorite children's author/illustrators Mo Willems. It was a fantastic adventure to celebrate his latest book Knuffle Bunny Free. We drove over an hour to Williamsburg, VA, to get a chance to be at the event. According to the event information the kids were supposed to bring their favorite stuffed animal. Right now, that is John David's Zonk from Ze Super Zeros. So we packed Zonk along with a snack, our Knuffle Bunny Passport, and brought along John David's favorite Mo Willems book, Naked Mole Rat Gets Dressed, to be signed by Mo.

The night was so much fun, with activities, pictures, the signing, and we got to listen to Mo himself read us two stories! One of the stories was an Elephant & Piggie book called We Are In A Book. John David liked it so much that we ended up purchasing the book at the event and getting Mo to sign it too. :) Watching and listening to Mo read his work, brought a whole new life to the stories, and I don't think I or John David will ever look at his books the same way again.

Mo also took the time to answer some questions from the audience, and John David shot his hand up in the air. Luckily, he didn't ask something crazy. :) We were pretty excited when Mo called on him, and John David wanted to know the obvious... Are you gonna write anymore Naked Mole Rat books? He was disappointed when Mo said he wasn't planning on it, but excited when Mo did a song and dance number entitled "Naked" that Mo thought would be perfect in a Naked Mole Rat musical. :D Needless to say, we were all laughing, and John David's been singing the "Naked" song ever since!

We're excited - Can you tell? :)

Doing Knuffle Bunny Activity Pages ...

Stamping our Knuffle Bunny Passport ...

Patiently {ahem} waiting to meet Mo...

Finally meeting Mo Willems!!!

Mo and John David making there best monster faces

One quick picture with Knuffle Bunny before we left

This night was special for John David and I, as we rarely get time to spend together alone. We had a really great time and made some lasting memories!

Pirate Party Fun

Last weekend while my parents were still in town, we held a joint birthday party for both my boys. It was actually in between both their birthdays, but it was close enough. :) My parents, who are pros at cake making and decorating, made the boys a fabulous pirate cake, and we spent the afternoon having pirate fun with the kids, and adults!

Aaarrrgh Matey!

Luke in his pirate duds

Luke the Terrible

Captain John David Lardbottom and his friend, Zakary

What a pirate face!

Captain John and his best friend, Raymond

Our pirate feast of quesadillas and tortilla chips

Grandma and Poppy

Even the moms hung around for some pirate fun

Blowing out the candles

What pirate fun we had!