And they shall call him "Scribbles No More"

I see more and more evidence of Younger Brother leaving toddlerhood and becoming a boy every day. Sniff sniff.

Literally two days ago, his "drawings" were all scribbles. And now all of a sudden today he's making pictures....and not the kind a parent pretends to see either!

See!
That's a house in the middle with curtains, me on the left, Big Sis on the right, and stars in the sky.

Well done Buggy!
But you're still my booga-B!

8 Thanksgivings

Thanksgiving is probably my favorite holiday!
Unfortunately, daddy had to work so we will be celebrating in the traditional fashion on Sunday. We all just relaxed, played, and watched the parade this morning. And this evening, the kids and I headed down to the station to surprise him.

Every year, there is a potluck at the station for the people who work on Thanksgiving. And it was there, 8 yrs ago today, that my dad introduced us! Aww. And this year we sat up at the desk with our children filling every available chair. :) How crazy is that?! I love you Honey! I am exceedingly thankful for our 8 Thanksgivings and all that has gone along with them!!!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING everyone!!!

Outtakes

I thought the kids looked so cute all in feet pajamas Saturday morning (just finished uploading the pics tonight). So I had in mind the great idea to take a picture of the four of them together! Yeah. I did get one or two pretty decent shots-eventually. And now for a look behind the scenes...

Okay everybody, sit right here, look at me. Brother get your hand off Sissy's head.

Come back Sis.
Boys, it's all fun and games until someone gets hurt...

...and then it's just a whole lot of fun for Biggest Brother!

It's okay Littlest Sis. It's okay.

Reposition.

Everybody look at me. Smile!

(Younger Brother has mastered the art of the painful smile. Big Sis is observing.)

She's a fast learner.

Come on guys, we're almost done.

Everybody look at me.

One, two, three...Smile!

Now we're gettin' somewhere!

I'll take it!!!

Clothing Credits

Thanks for the cute new outfit Mrs. R! :)

Fireman Joe

Younger Brother is still at the age of excitement about school. And he takes what he does there very seriously!

So Thursday night he blurted out in a tone of urgency, "Mommy! We have to take cookies for Fireman Joe tomorrow...he's hungry!!!"

His Preschool class has adopted a local fire station. They make cards and send treats and such to the firefighters, and Fireman Joe came to visit his class last week. His teacher suggested food as a treat idea, and from that Younger Brother apparently deducted that firefighters all over the city are going hungry! We must bake them cookies!

I could tell it was super important to him, and he was so eager to help, that I didn't have the heart to send him to bed.

He stayed up way past his bedtime helping me put dough balls on a cookie sheet and sprinkle them with sugar.

Let me just point out that 8 to 10 minutes is an eternity to a lightning quick 4yr old boy such as himself!!! He checked the oven about every 30 seconds to see if the cookies were done. I told him he was going to burn his nose so he flipped on the oven light instead...

and waited

and waited

and waited!

Until finally, the moment he had been waiting for...

Ta-Da!

Fireman Joe, you won't be going hungry tonight!

Me and My Girl

...well, one of them anyway. :)

Sunday after church, while her siblings were playing with Grandpa, Daddy and I took a few pictures of me and Littlest Sis together. I finally got the opportunity to upload them. Thanks Daddy, I am honored to share the frame with my girl!

Question of the hour...

As I was checking out at Giant Eagle this evening, Biggest Brother randomly piped up and asked,

"Mom? Way back in 1999, were the dinosaurs still alive?"

My response, "No. It was a way way long time ago...like 1980."

It's okay, daddy used to sing the alphabet song all inverted and jumbled up, and he still learned to read. :) Oh, and according to my sources, you too can own your own modern day Stegosaurus family (pictured above). The adult stands 28ft tall and they are only $21,000.00 with shipping!

"May The Fork Be With You"

Okay, admittedly the title of this post is a little morbid...but so was the project assignment that Biggest Brother brought home from school!

If it's too small to read, the assignment said that November is a dangerous month for turkeys, and to disguise the turkey below to keep him from getting the ax essentially.

This was Brother's original turkey. We were supposed to use our imaginations and household items and work together to give him some sort of disguise.

Thanks to Biggest Brother's outstanding creativity, my job was easy! He started working while I was putting his siblings in bed and pretty much had it all figured out by the time I came downstairs. I really only had to help cut the fabric and glue it down. We used one of daddy's old t-shirts.

Behold, Emperor Palpatine turkey!

If you are unfamiliar with that particular Star Wars character click the link for a visual...

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/14/17601883_5dc7393d8d.jpg?v=0

He even colored and cut out a gray face for him.

Force Lightning

And a lightsaber in the left wing!

Outstanding job Biggest Brother!!!

That turkey rocks!

Pigtail Perfect

Big Sis is quite a sight to behold in the morning!

Strange and crazy things happen to her hair in the night...

In fact, Barbie seems to suffer from the same phenomena...

I couldn't care less if she (Big Sis, not Barbie) had on a brown paper sack and a mop on her head. She would still be beautiful!

She however, has very strong opinions on the matter!
Apparently the presentation of a princess is nothing to be taken lightly, and she does not take kindly to a naturally tousled do.

So every day she sits up on the bathroom counter and gives me express instructions regarding her hair. Lately it's been a passion for pigtails! But it's not only a style, it's a science...she carefully selects which barrettes or bows she wants, how many, and where to put them. Specifically where to put them! Then she points to the bottle of no-frizz curl spray (she likes the smell of it I think) and motions to her pigtails for the finishing touches. She then checks the finished product out in the mirror and says, "Beu-ful! All done!"

And there you have it!

Today, it was two pigtails, up high, with silver glitter butterfly barrettes...and bangs pulled to the side with a pink clip.

Yes Sis, you are beu-ful!
Though just as beautiful in the 1st picture as in the 5th,
I do admire your sense of style! :)

Feed Mill Day, Hooray!

Being as old as she is, Sugar is missing some teeth and requires a special type of grain. I have been unable to find it at any of the mills in our area. So every few months I make the trek out to Plain City to stock up. There's nothing like some coffee, some XM radio, and a drive in the country to spell relaxation...and it's actually become a tradition I really look forward to!

Now that's what I call some special occasion coffee! No, I don't consume this caliber of Starbucks just any old day. Which is another reason Feed Mill Day is so cool.

That's a venti nonfat iced white chocolate mocha latte with whipped cream and caramel drizzle in the cup and on top.

Oh joy oh joy oh joy! :)

Then on to another one of my favorite past times, a long drive in the country.

It's so nice to look around and see nothing but land. Not a housing development in sight!

There are however, some very nice horse farms along the way!

This one is my personal favorite! I snapped the pics as I was driving by at 50mph, so they don't quite do it justice in my opinion.

Wow, nice place! The horses I always see there are gorgeous as well!

My destination at last!

I got a couple of weird looks standing at the mill taking pictures of a water tower.

I don't think the good ol' boys at the loading doc are much into blogging...perhaps I'm wrong.

The Payload!

350lbs of Manna Pro Super Horse Senior in the back of my truck =

Happy Pony!