We flew in the Tuesday before Turkey day.  Met by Gma & Papa so we could borrow their caddy as our wheels…better than any rental we would have got!! :)  Upon landing we met our friends the Koosers for lunch at Pei Wei.  It was a total surprise to Shonda as she thought she was meeting Ken for lunch!! Hehehe! Yummy food and finally a good hug & visit with my friend!

A quick stop to Wal-mart for me to get a memory stick for my camera.  Left it at home!! ugh!  (Thus no pics of our flight) Off to Melvern we went.  That night met some of the Burnetts & friends the Partridge family (haha) at Buzzards. YUMMO grub!

Matt played video games & here’s Aidan with my cousin Asher. Hopefully Aidan didn’t pick up any of Asher’s ornery antics! :)

I would give thanks any time I get me some Randy Gales Cake! Yum!!  Isaac & Weston manned the end of one table.  Cute boys!

 

Wednesday night we gathered at Marcia’s for dinner.  We had a mexican feast followed by oreo balls & strawberry trash. MORE yummy food!!  Isaac loved the messy oreo balls & we all loved seeing my brother’s g/f Beth!! So great to see her now that they’re “officially” dating. ;)

    

Thanksgiving day we all gathered with the Brennan crew at Adam’s house.  Lots of fam & fun. 

Isaac & Beth.          Aidan’s favorite was the cauliflower & broccoli :)

The kids table. Emma, Aidan,  Dallen & Madison.  That kid table has seen a lot of kids throughout the years!! :) Papa & Great Papa fell victim to the sleepy agent in the turkey :)

Aunt Lisa & cousin Megan.                      “Bef” & Diane

For the first time in who.knows.how.long we tried to get a pic of me with my sibs.  It was worse than trying to get a pic with 2 yr olds hyped on sugar. Marcia on the left, our older.wiser.handsome brother Adam in the middle and the older.wiser.beautiful sister on the right (ME! haha!).

Many, many hours of Rock Band.  I played for the first time…just the base drum part as Adam played the sticks! :)  Me and Diane in our annual pic together!

 

Isaac & Great Papa.

  

Friday we departed the Burnetts to head south to the Stouts.  We arrived Friday afternoon.  Much to the surprise & delight of the kids their cousins Alex & Dylan were there!  I thought Emma was going to pee her pants she was so happy to see her buddy Dylan! Friday night we went to Winfield to eat some Goo. Oh.so.yummy!  You wouldn’t think we were short on good mexican food out here in AZ!

After dinner we drive through Isle of Lights at Winfleld Park, stopped by and got a hug from my friend Kristina headed back to Atlanta to get kids ready for bed b/c we made plans with Chris & Mandy to see the 10 pm showing of the new HP movie.  It was great to celebrate their 11 year anniversary with them!! I miss the time we used to spend with them in our B.K. (before kids) years. :)

Saturday AM Libby came over to join us to decorate sugar cookies.  A lot of sprinkles, sugar & frosting was consumed in the making of these cookies.

I think there was frosting under all those sprinkles & candies!!

We even forced Alex to join the “kid” fun. Aidan did something like this- lick, dump waaay too many sprinkles, lick frosting, spill frosting, repeat..

Our dinner complete with all the traditional fixings was held at an old church turned community building behind Dwain & Peggy’s house.  It was nice to all sit down at once and eat as a family. 

Emma was excited about Gma’s thumb rolls & seeing Aunt Mandy!! :)

 

Isaac says yum to stuffing!   Guys (&Mandy) enjoyed several hands of cards.

   

Their card playing gave me perfect Libby snuggle time!! So happy to see her, squish her and thank God she is healthy and fully recovered from her sickies in October!

 

Dylan & Aidan playing army men & eating ice cream!

Grandma has pictures of almost all her grandkids bathing in her kitchen sink.  Isaac’s turn!! (& Aidan insisted on joining in.  He’s a bit too big and looks like he’s all legs!)

  

It was probably the messiest bath to date.  They really got into dumping water toward each other…mostly missing the sink all together! :)

 

We were able to attend FCC on Sunday, lunch with Gma & Papa like “old times” and then a relaxing visit with the Koosers while the kiddos played.  Monday Matt & I headed toward Wichita so he could have lunch with his work friends & I spent time with some Derby friends.  Coffee at Starbucks with a few church gals & then took lunch to Shonda & Becca who were home not feeling the best. 

Tuesday was time to head out. It was a great visit. Too short.  Didn’t get to see a few friends I really wanted to see. But grateful to see the ones I did.

The trip home was more eventful as at the TSA check point it’s discovered I was given someone else’s boarding pass. Isaac & I had to run back to the counter, get a correct pass and back through security just the two of us.  Practically undressing and sorting contents of your purse AND having his sippy cup “gas tested” all the while containing Isaac was a feat.  Once through we proceeded to our gate, got the kids a snack.  When they call family boarding we head to the line only to realize I don’t have my pass.  I sprinted back to the security check point.  It was there.   By the time I was back we were the LAST 5 people on the plane.  Yea trying to find 4 seats or even 2 and 2 so Matt & I could be with the kids…impossible.  Everyone sitting on the side of the plane with three seats were sitting with the middle seat empty.  All five of us could have sat in a line directly in front/behind each other.  No.one was budging.  Finally I said “well Emma you’re going to have to sit here between these two nice ladies.  I will sit behind you with Isaac.”  Leaving Matt & Aidan to find seats back toward the front of the plane.  I said that expecting someone to offer to move. OH.NO.  Emma is in tears and the old ladies, instead of offering to move try to encourage her to sit between them. REALLY!?!?! The steward says to Matt “this is what happens when you get to the airport late!” Oh.no.you.didn’t!!!  Good thing I didn’t hear her say that.  Matt told me of it later.  Finally a gentleman offers to scoot over so Matt & Aidan have a seat.  An old lady by the window offers to move, but they actually move the lady on the isle.  She was haaappy. NOT! But it gave Emma & I a seat with Isaac on my lap.

All this to say…do these people REALLY think they were going to not actually have to sit directly next to someone.  One at the window.  One at the aisle.  No one in between?!?!  Just like when you land….do people really think it speeds up the unloading process to all jump up and jam to the front of the plane. 

We were all exhausted and all the boys had a nice rest on the plane ride home.

Ok so no curriculum ordered, but yet another conversation with Emma tonight (and the INSANITY that is the circle drive) keeps making the idea cross my mind.

We are leaving our house heading into town.  It was about 5:30.  In an attempt to keep Aidan awake I was talking to him trying to get him to look around.

Me: Ah, kids look at the sun.  It is so colorful going down behind the mountains.

Emma: (insert tone of “mom do you know ANYthing?!”) Maaaamaaaa the sun is NOT doing down. The sun doesn’t go DOWN we are turning away from the sun. The earth spins and we are now on the side of the earth away from the sun.

Me: Oooooh K.

She then rambles on about how the earth spins around once each day, but goes around the sun once a year. She is obviously paying attention during Science.

Perhaps too much attention. She then says:

“Hey mom did you know that million of years ago there was a big rock that traveled through space and all of a sudden it……(about this time my mind actually blacks out cause I’m all “She is NOT about to explain the Big Bang Theory is she?”.)

I come back to as she is saying “there was an explosion and all the pieces came together because of gravity….(insert more blackout memory loss)….formed the earth and other pieces became the moon….

I honestly can’t recall all the detail she shared as I was frantically trying to figure out what my response would be. I started with “Oh.  Where did you learn that? Do you know another story we’ve read that talks about how the earth, moon & stars were created?”

Her: Blank stare. Me: allllll (silently) whhhhhhhat?!?!?! really Emma?????

I add “you know like who created all the animals on the earth.  Fish in the sea…animals on the land…” By this time Aidan is so excited talking about space & some how rockets came into discussion that it was hard for Emma to hear me from the far back with noise of brothers.

When we stop at our destination she says “oh, God.” YEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSS Emma. God.  THE creator. Whew. Me+parenting=epic.fail. I explained that some people believe it happened as an explosion, but Daddy & I and many others believe what the Bible tells us.

I explain that I believe something as detailed, calculable, and intricately DESIGNED as our solar system must have had a DESIGNER. A magnificent designer.  An all knowing unexplainable DESIGNER. We don’t have all the answers.  We don’t have allll the details to fully explain it.  But a god you can fully explain is a god you have created.

I asked her what she thought.  A. Rocks collide and all of a sudden we have planets, moons & starts that rotate & spin in intricate patterns OR B. that each detail was planned and spoken into existence told in the Bible. We discussed how we believe the Christmas story and don’t pick and choose what parts of the Bible to believe.  We take the whole thing as the truth from Genesis to Revelations. Every.last.word.

So tonight when she handed me her bible before going to bed I knew exactly what story we would read! :)

Never expected this in 1st grade. And actually didn’t expect it from her teacher.  We had our differences in the beginning, but he threw me a JESUS bone in conferences which mistakenly put me to ease.  On guard Christian soldiers.  On guard.

98 pictures taken of Aidan alone.  There are MAYBE 3 good ones.  No kiddin.

The runner ups below.

I’ll take blame for the angle of the “Cactus growing out of my head” picture.

He starts with the traditional “Showing my teeth, is smiling” smile.

Then we model the “Looks like I’m gunna poo” pose.

Here’s the “My face is toward you, but my eyes are looking for coyotes”. 

Next is the “I’m smiling, but think I saw a car drive by”

 

The “OUCH my knee hurts” pose.

 

“Oh, SQUIRRIL!!”

The double whammy “Show my teeth to smile paired with blinking” shot.

After he tipped over and hit head on cacti needle we have the “Really mom.  Are we done yet?”

 

A “why can’t I talk while you take pictures”

   

“Me sooo sleepy”

 

Tell him to smile.  This is whatcha get.

 

You said to smile, but said nothing about having my eyes opened.

 

Me: “open your eyes Aidan” Result:

   How do you cross only one eye?!?!?!

Isaac was no better today.  He moved around sooo much that the thought of taking photos of him sedated crossed my mind.  Either that or get a pic of him with pacci in his mouth running away from me!!

Then Aidan’s shoot followed…whew…you saw the above results! They wore me out!  I’m tempted to torture them for life by featuring their silly pics on our 2010 Christmas card! It would be a true depiction of my life! Emma may be the only child featured this year! UGH!

#1 Take some dramamine as this video is shaky due to a 1 yr old that doesn’t like to be anywhere but his mother’s lap.

#2 Be glad this is not smell-ivision.  Aidan apparently “sharted” in our mad rush to the program.  It was us with the stinky kid.  Right behind the girl with BO!! Whew.  Wonder why no one sat near us? Hmm.  No not really! :)

Here she is in her dress from last year.  She wanted to wear it and I didn’t want to spend $$ on yet another foo-foo dress with matching foo-foo shoes. :)  BTW I think she grew 12 inches since last year.  It was shooooort.  Yikes.  Didn’t know they were doing hand motions above their head…