Thanksgiving

Gabrielle had a school assignment which involved making a list of what happens when she spends time with her family and/or relatives. Her list included: Share our love; Hugs & Kisses; play games; have lots of FUN; play on the computer; & go on walks. Her 2nd assignment was to think about a time you are together with your relatives using her senses to recall memories. She was given the following prompts:
I see ... my brother outside
I smell ... a sencie burning (Scentsy wax burner)
I hear ... laghter and kissing noises (melt my heart)
I taste ... spagettie
I feel ... my grandma's clothes (she said "You know, Mema's clothes when we snuggle all the time)
{Gabi's phonetical  spelling of the words sencie, laghter & spagettie}

Dawson's art project from preschool was an adorable turkey that said "I am thankful for My Mom & Dad"

Photo taken Sunday November 18th while dining at Applebees

This Thanksgiving I am thankful for:

• My MIL's contribution to our Thanksgiving meal and all the additional help she provided during her stay while I was under the weather
• Black Friday shopping from home in my comfy clothes
• An unexpected blessing from my brother and sister-in-law in Alabama
• Costco's amazing pumpkin pie paired with Cool Whip
• Our 3 beautiful children with their obnoxious playful behavior and all 
• Beautiful Fall weather which has permitted the above aforementioned hooligan's to play many hours outdoors using their expansive creative imaginations to entertain themselves
• The current topic sessions in my daily devotional readings which have been very enlightening, inspirational and impactful
• Chick-fil-A Peppermint Chocolate Chip Milkshakes 
• Hubs putting up the Christmas tree & outdoor lights while the girls (GG, Mema & I) went shopping
• Our little people decorating the tree solo and doing a bang up job doing so - I mean this in the sense that they did indeed do a great job but also in the sense that they broke several ornaments in the process :(

We hosted Thanksgiving dinner here at our home. We enjoyed the traditional feast of turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, dressing, cranberry sauce, dinner rolls, Iowa corn, Snicker salad and pumpkin pie for dessert. It was delic'! The rest of the day entailed Christmas decorating and restfulness.

Hicks Halloween

Halloween 

What is there to say really?

 3 kids + 

A family friendly neighborhood + 

 Trick or Treating = 

Lots of Candy!

This year my uber fun loving, shopaholic, creative sole friend Holly styled our kiddos. 

In other words, we recycled her kids costumes from last year and BAM our kids instantly became the stinkin' cutest Jedi, Princess Leia & Yoda. 

Her talented mother-in-law sewed these costumes. 

{Holly informed me that Gabrielle wore the Princess Leia costume backwards. Oops! }

The weather was PERFECT! The Lankford's and the Rigdon's joined us in our hood for pizza & trick or treating. McKenna amazed us by wearing her costume, including the hat, the entire night. She was such a spit fire to watch. She was determined to keep up with the bigs and would scurry herself up to the entryway, cautiously crawling up the steps and would then thrust her hand out for a piece (or several) of candy. She would do this several houses in a row and would then resort to crawling back into the wagon to unwrap a sweet treat and indulge. Stinker. 

She was too.darn.cute! 

We did miss several traditions this year which were somewhat of a bummer. Due to Travis's work schedule combined with uncooperative weather temps, we didn't make it to the pumpkin patch. We have also attended the Twaddell's annual Halloween party the last several years and they chose not to host this year with plans to have a huge one next Halloween. 

This year did bring several new traditions that were fun and we will look forward to in future years. Travis and the kids planted pumpkin seeds in the summer and our backyard turned into a mini pumpkin patch of our own. It looked like a jungle really, but did in fact produce some nice pumpkins! We also carved two large pumpkins with the kids. More on that in the following post.

D Man!

This little dude had school pictures taken last week so I snapped a handful myself before he headed out on the bus. Can you tell he isn't a fan of the sun?

Little man started expressing interest in learning how to read thanks to his friend Brandon who was a very early reader. We introduced him to some early readers and over the course of a couple of days he was comfortable reading several of them. It has been so rewarding seeing him advance in his word recognition.

Dawson's current loves include: Legos, Tom & Jerry cartoons & his Nintendo DSI. He will sit content for looooong periods of time engrossed in playing his DS if we allow it. Too bad it couldn't magically teach him to read, write, encourage his weekly scripture memorization, etc. Wouldn't that be a beautiful thing?!

21 Months

My Sweet Sunshine,

You are 21 months old now and a ball of fun and energy.
Some of your favorite words are:
No!
Mo peez for more please
Mitah here? 
Soapie for Sophie
Mommy, where are you?
Bye, see ya!
Uh Oh, Drop it!
Shoes on
Bubboh Bafh

* You count 1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 9

* You aren't too interested in singing the ABC's but will sing A, B, C and you never miss a beat by interjecting W
* You are obsessed with carrying around my iPhone with iTunes blaring. The funniest thing about this is all I have on my phone is a random mix of some country Christmas music. You shove the phone at me after each song and fuss until the next song begins to play. 
* You love to help with the laundry, unload the dishwasher & draw masterpieces on Sissy's homework (it never fails you scribble on the assignment that has to be turned in).
* You have come to LOVE wrestling with Bubby. There really is no better sound then the two of you giggling and loving on one another.
* You got "sick" with the tummy bug this month. Nine straight days of diarrhea equalled many, many a diaper change, more than the normal frequent baths, and lots of bootie doo. You also threw up for the first time on the way to meet GG in Clinton, MO for brunch.
* It has just been within the past week, give or take, that you began to sit for a few minutes and watch TV - a cartoon or dancing while watching Dancing With The Stars.
* Unlike your older siblings you don't have the vocabulary or show signs of interest to potty train. I'm OK with this - your Daddy is a bit more anxious to get the process rolling. I did get a little "soft" as I was organizing some tubs in the basement and pulled out Sissy's first panties. I may have squealed a little at the cuteness of their tiny size.
* If there is a way to exit the house (i.e. the garage door gets left opened, the front door is unlocked or the back sliding door is open with the screen closed) you are G.O.N.E.! There is no containing you. You, my child, are a lover of the outdoors and have no limits or fears.
* You inherited your Mema and Mommy's sweet tooth. I pray you don't also inherit our dental history as well. 
* You are NOT a fan of getting your finger nails or toe nails clipped. I find it comical wrangling you as you contort yourself and scream "No!" Really it is anything BUT funny as I break out in a sweat of nerves, but I have to laugh as I hear myself say "I WILL win this battle" and then the second I am done you jump down from my lap and run away in glee as if YOU won. Stinker!

Your big blue eyes slay us. You can be a complete stinker and then flash us those baby blues and I just crumble. You are our sunshine, our littlest love, the final piece to our family puzzle. You are loved more than imaginable! Smooches my sweet McKenna Jane.
Love,
Mommy