My guys....

My guys were all home over Thanksgiving. That really doesn't happen often anymore:(
Stuart and Doug are in college at Freed and come home pretty often. I am likely to see them even in the middle of the week (I love that!). But, Caleb and Joe are just not around as much. Joe is home every month or so and Caleb in the Army is rarely home. I did manage to get them in their "uniforms" over the weekend. Pretty good looking guys:) (lol..even if I am their mother!!)

Comments

I'm really silly. I had decided that no one ever commented on my posts....until I realized today that I did not have moderate comments marked and realized lots of people had commented and I never knew! I know that's silly. But I now have turned the moderating back on so I actually know when a comment is left! I sure did enjoy reading the "old comments"...thank you all:)

Only a mom would love this face!!

My Tasha has a great pod this year in school! (In truth ALL my kids have great pods!!)Tasha loves her teachers and they are really great ladies who work in unique ways to encourage the kids. Tonight between the Middle School girls and boys basketball games Tasha's pod preformed to "Thriller". Tasha made a wonderful zombie! Most of all, she had all kinds of fun!! Scott, Sarah, Snelling, Mercedez, Rosie, Bella, Michael and Lita all were there to watch her performance:)

Again.....

Did I mention Chelsea is engaged?? :) Then did I mention she is getting married in FEBRUARY??? That really is pretty soon.... Did you know the bridal "lists" you look at are mostly in increments that are closer to a year, not in mere weeks. The next few weeks promise to be very very exciting!

My chips....

I wouldn't really say I have many couch potato's, but it happens sometimes. Over the weekend I didn't have potato's I had chips...a whole bag of game playing chips! These kiddos were laying around, all linked together by DS games playing Mario Kart. Hilarious to listen to (except my fall apart "you ran over me" ones)! Not a normal occurrence, but a fun one and one that included a big range of people:)

They should have been twins!

This duo is a mess, sure enough! I say smile and they always seem to hear "be ridiculous". I do love the silly, and sometimes it takes these two a while to get to the "good" picture!

One too many Pilgrim Hats!!

Sandy made these great Pilgrim Hat cookies that everyone loved! Dad and Clara Ruth are investigating them in this picture:

Sandy is so creative and they were very very good( I know this because our family ate about 400 of them!!).

Toward evening Cooper climbed up in Chelsea's lap (she was sitting closest to the remaining 10 cookies) and began eating pilgrim hats...about the time he finished the second one, in spite of certain sugar rushes....he fell asleep:)

Thanksgiving Football...little people style!

We seem to be strong in this family when it comes to boys. Little boys currently....with middle boys....and big boys. The little ones joined football Saturday in a couple of different games.... which meant the middles did not play as much (way to rough and had to "watch and learn"), my big guys doing a great job of making hero's out of little players:) The end result was lots of cheering and lots of touchdowns!!





After a while football changed to basketball and we had some really great spectators:)

Thanksgiving BIGtime:)

I cooked for days, had lots of food and yet my favorite parts was most definitely the people!! The people make the holiday (of course!!). SO here are my people pictures!
Scott and me:)
Joseph and John:
My sister Jennifer and her youngest son, Skylar.
Tasha and Mercedez:
My brother Jon, Jacob and Doug...the 6 footers:) Except Jon insisted on measuring Jacob and Jacob is 6'1". Growing boys!!
Caleb and Stuart...I think this conversation was likely a funny one. Wish I had been listening:)
Chelsea with my brother Jon's family,Kim, Alexandra and Zachary(who is sporting his Thanksgiving Day broken arm).
The living room which is always converted into a big old dining room. I am so thankful for this room...it is great!!
Sandy and Michael, the last two through the line.
This is Sarah and Chads annual "food" picture:)
Bronte wanted to join us....instead he settled for playing with Cooper and Jacob through the window.
Sarah's Tennessee picture with my sister Sandy's three little boys (Cade, Chance and Cooper)....they are so very sweet:)

Adding on to our family:)

In February we will be up one more boy:) Over Thanksgiving Bo asked Chelsea to be his wife! I really never thought about adding to my family this ways, but it sure is a great way!! I'll get an awesome son .... even better than that....I'll be getting an awesome son who has a job (Youth Minister in GA), who is financially secure, educated and so very respectful....oh yeah...and he LOVES my Chelsea!! I think I should have had this kind of kid first(although without children I would never be able to experience it so wonderfully)! How very blessed we are:)

Giving Thanks!

Thanksgiving around my house is pretty calm:) The Saturday after Thanksgiving it crazy(since it is the eating/visiting/big family day). This morning Jacob arrived home....with Caleb and his buddy John. We got up early and enjoyed chocolate gravy. John is from California and even though he had never heard of this Southern breakfast staple he quickly decided he loved chocolate gravy. Scott's parents are on their way. We will be grilling burgers (beef and turkey) for lunch. My kiddos have already been outside playing in the cold (very very cold considering our last few days!!). I have had a wonderful day so far, full of some REALLY great things to be so very THANKFUL for!! Pictures and blogging in full will come later:)

Hope everyone has time to stop and hug those you love, sit and enjoy the fellowship, and most important find some time with God....He is the reason we are so very blessed...give thanks!!

The day before Thanksgiving.....

The day before Thanksgiving and all through the house....was.....a bit of everything:) Jacob and Nick left to drive to Georgia to pick up Caleb and his buddy. All I can say is a GPS does not always take you the way you should go....thankfully Jacob has a Daddy with a cell phone (he answers) and good advice.

Chelsea and Bo were up and with us most of the day, heading to Nashville this afternoon for a fun date here.

My big guys Doug and Stuart were here for all day football and fun:) Doug had a one on one football tournament for the kids...TASHA won!! But don't ask the boys...it's a bit embarrassing. Except Seth who says he never played her(being eliminated by Michael) ...so he wasn't beaten by a girl..lol:)

Sarah took Tori to the Doctor. The choice was take her or babysit...she took Tori and they made several side trips on the way home. Tori has had an allergic reaction to something unknown. Her face is looking much better!

Stuart let to girls (Tasha and Tori) ride with him to the courthouse today to check on his tags, but the office was closed. He also took a side trip taking the girls to the River City Museum. The girls LOVED it...of course, perhaps the hanging out with a big brother was what topped it:)

This is the "cleaned -up" version of my funny football loving championship winning daughter:
Carlton is home for Thanksgiving. He worked today picking up the Fall scene out front (that is all dead). He spent the other part of the day in the game room playing games.

Scott and I did not grow up in the Ramen Noodle generation. It is truly not a well loved dish of ours. That said, it is CRAZY to us that our children ALL love them!! They beg for them..yuck! Tonight Scott and I had left over chicken and dressing and the kids had Ramen Noodles...I feed them all for $1.99 (plus a little cheese!). I am thinking Scott and I might need to learn to like them:)

Neat big brothers two!

This morning Stuart went to the elementary school for 4 hours. Stuart has to observe in a special ed classroom for 4 hours and our great friend Gladys Allen is letting him come in with her class. I know he will be entertained:) My 4 elementary children were hoping they got to see him. Big brothers are kinda like celebrities:)

Big Brother Doug!

One of the neatest things about big brothers is the fact that little brothers are watching them. Truly what would be the use of a big brother without someone trying to keep up with them, trying to measure up to them, even trying to pass them up? I say it so often, but it is so true, my little boys sure do look up to the big boys. They try to be like them. I love that. I have some really neat big boys!! Those boys understand about family. They really do understand their responsibilities to family, but beyond that to individuals. I love catching them in those teachable moments. Last night Doug took Seth to spend his $5 birthday money from Uncle Thurman and Aunt Sandy. Seth was wanting a football "really bad" even more than that he felt he "needed one". I smiled as they left. I loved that Doug jumped in and took over that responsibility, and Seth probably loved it even more!

I did not realize Doug was going to get the camcorder. But when he came in smiling and asking if I would like to have it early because he knew we had lots of things coming up...OF COURSE I wanted it early (I am one of those silly people who hate to wait!). But in the middle of hugging and talking about the camcorder Seth was right there with us. He hugged me and said "I hope you like it." Doug made Seth part of that gift!! Seth stood with a big brother who did something for me....Seth stood with a big brother who set an example of giving, they talked about it and discussed it. As excited as I was about the camcorder? The example of big brotherhood I saw could have made me cry!

I am so very blessed with wonderful children:)

Weekend:)

Our weekend was fun and busy....a normal duo around here! Friday night my sister Sandy came to meet me and Sarah (and Sarah's friend Meagan) to go see New Moon. We had such a good time. I love getting to spend time with Sandy and my girls:) We went to the late show and Sandy spent the night. I cannot remember when we last had a slumber party? She got up and stayed until lunch running around with Chelsea, Sarah and me. So much fun!!


These smiling faces helped prepare and deliver Thanksgiving dinners at the church Saturday morning. It was a great morning full of great stories:)


Getting back from running around I found my sister Jennifer at the house. It was exactly 11:45. She thought it was Thanksgiving dinner day at my house. And she was actually ON time for the very first time EVER!! Just the wrong day...well, 7 days early:) lol! She and Skylar stayed for the afternoon. I had two little sisters in one day...a big treat! Skylar and Michael (thank you sweet Michael for being so patient) played games for a long time:)


Sarah helped the boys make this cool field goal:) Thank you big sister!!

The day would not have seemed right without some drama...which did happen(of course). The football, right in the middle of a very serious game, got stuck on the roof. Sarah worked and worked to get it down (thank you Sarah). But the day was saved as Dad got the ladder and Tasha saved the football!



And Sarah locked Jennifer's keys in her car. Who knew my silly sister would leave her keys in her car?? That is a huge no-no at my house. Thankfully Jennifer did have a hidden key!


The day slowed down and actually ended with Sarah,Snelling,Chelsea and I going to see the movie Blindside. A must see movie! I loved the story...especially that it is a real life story. Pretty neat way to end our crazy Saturday!!

Sunday afternoon Michael went hunting at Papa's with chaperone's Sarah and Snelling. They didn't shot at anything but Michael was excited over the turkeys and does he saw!


Jacob and his friend Nick helped Chelsea and I move about a billion pounds of furniture. I sure do love helping boys. Perhaps I should say, I love helping boys with good attitudes!! These two sure have that:)


And keeping the neatest for last...Doug gave me an early Christmas present! I have really wanted one of these. But, it just was not and could not be at the top of my purchases. I am so excited. Plan on spending Thanksgiving and Christmas playing with it! Jacob said, "Hey mom, you can't put videos on your blog can you?" (lol) I smiled and said with excitement, "I sure can!" Thank you Doug!!!!