Snack time with Bedhead...

Admittedly, this video is not very interesting but I figure the grandparents will enjoy watching Pete have a noodley snack after his nap this afternoon...

 

This is sooooo Peter...

We don't watch the show (Family Guy, I think it is) but after several people (friends, salesclerks, complete strangers) told us "Oh my gosh, your son sounds JUST LIKE STEWIE," we you-tubed it and sure enough, Pete sounds JUST LIKE STEWIE.

Which means I probably look and sound just like that mom.   Ha ha ha.  We might have to start watching that show since clearly they're onto us...

It's beginning to look like Christmas...

We've been decorating our house for Christmas this weekend.  Ralphie, our Elf on a Shelf, even came back to visit us yesterday (and brought Santa-shaped chocolate the boys loved).

Can you find the Elf?
He's so tricky!

Charlie is obsessed with the Christmas tree.
We find him eating it constantly... and so all lower-reaching
ornaments have been moved up. 

So many helpers...

Christmas trees are just so pretty!

This is Pete's fave.  "Hot!" he says
every time he walks by the lit-up house.
Thank you, Gigi!

And the stockings were hung...
(Don't mind the doubled-up ones on the end.
We need one more hook now that Peter is here!)

We promised the boys
we'd decorate outside this year too!

Merry (early) Christmas!!!!

Thanksgiving...

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving.  The meal turned out perfectly... if I do say so myself.  :-)  Henry helped with every single dish we made and/ or baked.  It really is great having his help in the kitchen since it's actually becoming that... help.  I hope it's a tradition he and I share forever.

Mr. Silly helping with the apple pie...

Our pumpkin pie, fresh out of the oven!

Henry helping with the sweet potato dish...

Again with the sillies...

Pete was our Official Taste Tester... a job he enjoys very much!

Charlie hoping for scraps...

The line up...

Gobble, gobble!

After dinner, with full bellies...

Charlie and James waiting for the
Palazzinis to join us for apple and pumpkin pie!

On Friday morning we woke up and decorated the house for Christmas together.  The boys LOVE dragging out all of the decorations and tree and ornaments.  We played Christmas music and then watched "A Christmas Story" to get us in the mood.

Later in the day, we went downtown for the annual "A Dicken's Holiday" festival.  I'm so glad we went, especially since the kids and I weren't all that jazzed about going.  There were tons of people, some of whom were dressed in old-fashioned clothing, leading the parade and story-time.

We bumped into James's soccer coach and his
kids all dressed up for the special parade!

They handed out thousands of candles and once it became dark, everyone in the crowd lit theirs.  It was beautiful... but I always find it hard to get pictures of since everything ends up looking black.  These pictures really don't do it justice since it was so much prettier in person.

The boys with candles...

After the candle ceremony, they set off a bunch of fireworks over Town Hall to kick off the holiday season...

It was such a fun and festive way to welcome the holiday season.  The only thing missing was all of our family...

Turkey Day Prep!

Yesterday Peter, Henry, and I went for a nature walk to find a few fall things to decorate our Thanksgiving table.  We found a few pretty items for Henry to make a holiday centerpiece.

I certainly wouldn't call Martha Stewart over, but he did a great job decorating our tables!

"Write it on your heart that the ones you love
most are life's most precious gifts."

This is the first year we are going to celebrate Thanksgiving with just our immediate family.

Our menu:
Turkey of course
Mashed potatoes and gravy
Sweet potato dish
Green bean casserole
Fresh cranberry relish
Rolls and homemade butter (mom gave me a recipe for the boys to do!)
Salad
Homemade pumpkin & apple pies
Hmm... what classics am I forgetting?  Anything?

I'm armed with a bunch of 5-star recipes (off of allrecipes.com and my dad's favorite apple pie recipe) so hopefully it'll be a success.  I'm excited to make my first Thanksgiving dinner and to spend time being thankful for all of the many blessings in life!

Take THAT, Monday morning!

I'm not sure if it's the excitement of the holiday season in the air, the fact that the big boys only have a 2-day school week, or if we all just got a good night's sleep but we were in the mood to DANCE this Monday morning.  And by "dance" I mean jump around like fools.

This is James's favorite song these days... "Call Me Maybe."

7 am looks good on them, don't you think?  :)  Hope your Monday is off to a happy start too!

More ramblings by Hank...

Today our family split up for a bit.  Daddy took James and Peter to James's basketball practice and Henry and Mommy took Charlie to his puppy check-up.  Our car ride to the vet was probably 8 minutes.  It went like this....

Henry:  What happens when the sun's power is all used up?

Me:  Huh.  Good question.  I don't know.  But that didn't happen today.  It's just cloudy.

Henry:  Oh.  Okay.  Well what happens if everyone dies?

Me:  That's another good question.  I don't know, babe.  I don't think that's going to happen.  Let's focus on good things to think about.

Henry:  Well I think God died first.  And then Santa Claus.  And then the Easter Bunny.  Right?

Me:  Um... right.

10 seconds later...

Henry:  I really want a rock star dog.  You know, one with tattoos and dark sunglasses and probably shorts.

Me:  What in the world...?  What are you even talking about?

Henry:  Or we could take Charlie to a pool party.  But he'd have to wear floaties or he'd drown.  And he probably need googles.  Do you think they sell dog googles at Pet Smark? (He never retains the fact that it's actually called Pet SmarT.)

Pulling into the parking lot...

Me:  I don't know.  We can ask a sales clerk.  

So, if you also happen to be curious, they don't sell doggie googles... or doggie tattoos... or doggie floaties at Pet Smark.  It's a crying shame.

Dadisms...

Dadism:  Always leave the dinner table a little hungry.

Well, there's some advice I don't follow.  Does anyone??  Well, yes, actually... my dad did.  I have never met someone as disciplined as my father when it came to food.  He would literally count out french fries so as not to go over his allotted carbohydrate intake.  He actually ate a portion of meat the size of his palm.  He never went back for seconds.  Imagine that.  Never, ever going back for seconds.  Never, ever fluctuating up a few pounds or your jeans feeling tight.  Never, ever enjoying dessert or sugar in your coffee or pancakes.  Ever... for 45 years.  Unless you've eaten with my dad, it's hard to explain just how regimented he was... and how hard it became.

I hate that picture.  I hate it because it was taken on Father's Day of 2011.  The day my father was diagnosed with esophageal cancer.  I hate that the boys look so beautiful and so young and will probably never remember their Papa.  I hate that I made scrambled eggs for breakfast that morning, hoping it would be something my father could eat.  He refused them at the time but it literally broke my heart when my mom told me that after we'd gone home, he made scrambled eggs but couldn't swallow them, which is what sent them to the emergency room.  He had wanted the eggs.  He was just afraid he wouldn't be able to eat them in front of me.  I hate that I felt so fat that day, struggling to lose the final baby weight from Peter, and my dad seemed so thin.  I hate that this is the "heaviest" I'd ever see him again.  I hate that this day started the worst year of all of our lives.  I hate that I didn't know where to put my hand because what I really wanted to do was hug him so tight and make it all go away.  I knew that day.  I could see it in his eyes.  I hate that picture.

But I love it.  Because the boys look so beautiful.  Because it's one of the only pictures I have of me and him and all of them.  Because it reminds me of my heartache.

Shocking...

(So I know I posted this on Facebook last night but most of the folks who read my blog don't have Facebook accounts and I thought this was too bizarre-oh to not share.)

This "fundraiser" came home in James's book bag yesterday afternoon...

Wait... whaaaat??!  Did I read that correctly?  Sport Stacking?  No.  Come on... this is glorified "Flip Cup," the beer drinking game which penalizes drunks who can't flip over a cup fast enough by making them drink.  In fact, "Flip Cup" is being played all over college campuses right now as you read this.

What completely baffles me is that the company is selling this game as a sport!  It reads, "Students that normally don't show much enthusiasm for P.E. are now standing out as leaders in sport stacking activities."  Wait.  What?  Did they just say leaders in sport stacking activities?!??  Oh that's rich.  That's good.  That's IN-SANE.

And here's another kicker-- the sets run between $30-$40 (!) and then there's several pages of accruements you can purchase (like official bags, timers, instructional dvds).  How are these cups any different than the red Solo cups you can purchase for $2 at Target??

I don't know why I find this fascinating, but I do.  All of it!

Out of the blue...

After school yesterday, Henry looked at me seriously and said, "I wonder what they're doing up there."

"Who?  And where?  What are you talking about?" I asked.

"Papa.  I wonder what they're doing for his birthday in heaven... you know, cake or cupcakes."

"Yeah... me too, babe."

Today...

is my father's birthday.  He would've been 61.

James and his Papa
Summer, 2006

What goes up...

must come down.  Much to the chagrin of the boys, the bounce house had to be returned this morning.  And one guess who had to return it "because you have to drive the boys to school and it won't fit in the Civic."  Right.

Someone had their thinking cap on!

Much easier than rolling this monstrous bounce
house across the yard.  And 100% easier on me since,
as you can see, I didn't have to even pull it.

On the way back to Ft. Bragg to return it, the thought occurred to me that they might have to blow the bounce house back up to make sure it was in good condition prior to giving me my $50 deposit back.  Oh, surely not, I thought.  That would take too much time.

Oh surely YES... lucky us.

Every bounce house has to be inflated
and inspected prior to the refund being issued.

Even at 9am, we were 5th in line... 

We got to see several different varieties and sizes
being inflated and inspected which Pete enjoyed.

What in the world are these enormous
nail things used for?!  Are people
seriously renting these out?

Pete enjoying Smarties on the
MWR entry rug.

It wouldn't have been so hard this morning had I just been dressed properly.  I had my running shorts on to go to the gym directly from MWR and I was freezing standing out there for an hour.  Yesterday was about 75 degrees; today the high is only in the low 50's, and it's raining which always makes it feel colder I think.  Despite the effort getting it, putting it up, taking it down, and returning it, I'd definitely do it again for the boys.  They loved it!

Veteran's Day "Pig" Roast...

We had a great time at our Veteran's Day cook out yesterday!  Unfortunately Chris and his dad didn't kill any pigs  during their hog hunt (imagine me slightly chuckling and breathing a sigh of relief all at the same time) so the title may be more appropriately named Veteran's Day "Sam's-Club-Pork-Shoulder" Roast.  Regardless, the guys cooked it in the outdoor pig cooker and it turned out perfectly!

Right off the smoker...

Check out that bounce house!

Me and my dear friend, Meagan...

Gabby, Nicole and Shelby

Cortney

Jay in motion :)

Meagan, Cort, Me, Marie, Claire, Nicole

Some of the kids playing

Some of the guys Chris works with--
Jay, Chris, Jeff, Jared, Trey, Wayne

A cute little cactus plant I found...

Dessert time!

Clare made the cutest dessert...
cupcakes with different mini candy bars melted inside.  Yum!

Pete enjoying a cupcake...

I think he likes it...

Charlie received a unanimous thumbs-up from everyone.
He is, most certainly, the most chill puppy we've ever met.

James and his new buddy, William...

Henry and William playing

This has become a favorite new activity...

Lots of wagon walks with Charlie!

Chris and his pop

It was a great day-- the weather was absolutely gorgeous, the company was fantastic and all of the food was delicious!  Thanks to everyone who came and brought stuff and made the day special.  We appreciate it.