THANKSGIVING

This Thanksgiving was a great time! We stayed in Columbus. Mick was off, SHOCK! And the Dryden family came to Mimi's for a combined Thanksgiving dinner. I really enjoyed it and I think everyone else did as well. I think it must have been really cool for Brent (the Drydens are his first family, we are his second, and by the way, said Brent is Deidra's husband, in case you didn't know). Stay with me! LOL! Donna, Bren'ts mom, made these delicious Orange rolls and now I know why Brent and his dad kept circling by that bowl, they were awesome.

This is Deidra's traditional rice Krispie turkey. All the kids made feathers and wrote what they were thankful for on them. Ben said Buzz and Woody, not a real surprise there, he's loved them since he was two and called them "uzz and oody", those are also his Webkinz's pets names, it's a natural tendency and with a game cube and Jack and Will in town, there was going to be no thought put into his feathers. Sam said Mimi's stairs, Will, and movies.
Brent and his dad Dave
Uncle Will, Papaw, and Mick.
Ben eating on the sun porch.

Now...............the above pictures are "mens thanksgiving" including eating and watching the big screen, I'm almost positive it was football and the below are the women.

OOOH JAB!

So we, the women, take the kids to "Fantasy in Lights" at Callaway Gardens. Mimi, Dedge and I love a good light show and what kids don't love them too? Well, let's just say for the record the day started out at 68 degrees and we had to be at 30 by the time we got off of the trolley. BRRRRR, we were not that prepared! The wind was ripping!!!!Elle 'choking' Jack. They are so funny together! I love these kids!
Mimi and Sophie. Maybe they caught some fumes from the people in the front of our trolley who seemed to be REAL happy. They would get right up on the people working the trail and give a countdown and scream, MERRY CHRISTMAS, right when they got up on them and scare the living christmas lights out of them. It was hilarious. They were great entertainment for us. We enjoyed singing Christmas carols with them.
Poinsiettas
Little soldiers

Elle, Ben and Jack
Will and Ben in the snowflakes. And the hot chocolate mugs that were $5.50 a piece. They know how to work nostalgia there!
Sadie and Dedge, I think Sadie was saying, "Arrrrggghhhh"

Me and Ben. "I'll choke a kid". (for those of you who know)

Ben's Thanksgiving Program

Ben had a Thanksgiving program at his school and a lunch afterward. We were all crammed in there so I got video more than pictures but he is there in the middle singing his heart out!!

Get down boy, go ahead, get down!
Always tagged by the little brother. At this party one of the little boys came up and said, "um..could you tell Ben that he's my best friend" I thought that was so cute. Ben is such the sweet kid and "good citizen", as his teacher calls him. He is a special boy who makes us so proud!
This is his class' table. I wish you could see everyone in his class. So diverse, so lively, so curious, so awesome. Wonderful kids that are so much fun to be around.

The Sam family party!

YES!! Another cake from Publix! Life is good!
I explained to Sam that this is why we try to chew with our mouth closed. "But mom, I was saying cheese." I'm outwitted, outsmarted and outplayed all the time!
Yeah! Uncle Matt is home! Great opportunity for a photo-op with the Sniders. We love our cousins!
The Lego helicopter.

Sam loved his Legos that he got for his birthday and Ben loved them even more.

Birthday and Soccer fun!

This cake says Happy Birthday Andrew, Sammers and Thomas. Sam and Thomas had the same birthday the night of the soccer party and Andrew's birthday was the next day so we had a big cake for their birthday and everyone sang to them. Sam was excited, he was one of the boys this night!! Of course he isn't on the team but everyone is used to him by now. He practices with them, he's just not allowed to play in games.
The Birthday Boys, L to R, Andrew, Sam and Thomas.
This is Thomas' little sister Kate. She and Sam ruled the younger sibling club. They sat next to each other at most games and shared snacks. Everyone calls him Sammers on the team but it's especially cute when Kate says it.
He wore his Birthday hat the WHOLE day!
"I'm that guy!", "I'm this one", "NO, I'm that one", "No that one is my guy, that's me", this went on until Thomas' mom took the soccer players off of the cake. Smart lady!! And thanks to her for picking up the cake!!

Ben's soccer party

This is Ben with Coach Bryant receiving his medal for a great year.

This is a friend Thomas. We think he is a great kid and has a really neat family. Thomas and Ben were defensemen of the year.;)
Happy about that medal? Or maybe it's just the excitement of all these kids he likes in one room.
Team photo! Go BULLDOGS!!

Give Thanks, Sam the Indian!

Dad and Sam at the Thankful Feast.
Sam actually sang and I was very surprised because he tends to be so shy. He wouldn't even sing them for me at home even though I would catch him practicing. So we were delighted to see him performing!!
I couldn't catch him on the stage alone for a picture. This is as good as it got!
He was very proud of himself and so happy to have his mom and dad there.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SAMMERS!!

Tomorrow is my sweet Sam's birthday and we have been talking about it a lot lately. Mainly about how he wants Transformers. He wants Optimus Prime and Bumblebee and Decepticons and Autobots, do you know them? I do now and we haven't even seen the movie. And he is also going to turn seven after he turns four because he will say anything to one up Ben, in which Ben then turns 12 and well, you get the picture, they are 50 before we even drop Ben off at school. For their birthdays we always look through their baby books and talk about the day they were born and all the stages and the funny things they used to do. They always get a kick out of it.

Well, Sam's birthday is not shaping up to be the best for him. We have a soccer party for Ben's team tomorrow night, and I have a depo tomorrow that will make me miss out on going to his class for the cupcake party with his friends. (Mick is jumping in on it though, thanks honey, you're the best). And today couldn't be the all-about-Sam day because I was gone before he even woke up for a depo then I had another one tonight so I was basically away from him the whole day with the exception of a few hours. But do you know what I saw when I came home tonight? Sam had his baby book out on his bed wide open from where he had been looking through it. He knows his birthday is tomorrow and going through his baby book is so important and hilarious to him. It melted my heart because we have not even mentioned the baby book with the anticipation of this birthday. It gave me such hope that my kids will care less about what toys they had growing up and more about traditions and memories that we create together. It may not always be like this, but I have to say that is one of my favorite sights to date. It's the little things, right?

For all the complaining that I have done about Sam being curious, and stubborn and his spectacular ability to tune me out......he can melt your heart and have you in his palm and you never even knew it was happening. And heaven forbid if you get the smile and the wave to boot, you'll be done for, at least I am.

I LOVE YOU SAMMERS, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

P.S. I'm sure his traditional anything you want birthday breakfast is going to be lots of candy, maybe a pancake and some milk. It's okay one day a year right?