Twas the Night Before Thanksgiving

There is actually a great book titled, Twas the Night Before Thanksgiving by Dan Pilkey. You can go to his site at, I think, www.pilkey.com and do some pretty cool activities with this site if you have school aged children.

Anyhow, I wanted to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving! May you have a wonderful day of feasting, lounging, good football and a great day of shopping the following day if you so choose. I choose not to get up early for shopping.

In the honor of Thanksgiving I want to take the time to say what I am thankful for on this wonderful day (day beforehand). I am thankful for:

My Savior, who supplies all my needs!
My fabulous husband, who is 1/2 way through hunting season!!!!
My precious princess Caitlyn & adorable chubby Brent - the loves of my life.
My wonderful family and friends who are there for me day in and out!

My life is so blessed. I could go on and on.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Church Artwork

Baby D class got to make a hand print and then color their turkey. It was so much fun and all the "new walkers" did amazingly well spreading out their hand to place it in the ink and then on the paper. Brent was our guinea pig. The girls proved to have better fine motor skills and enjoyed the coloring much better, but if you look closely you can see one or two brush strokes from Brent's crayon. By the way, don't try this without a really good nursery partner!
Nursery teachers: Christy and Stephanie

Caitlyn's first hunt

Caitlyn went to the deer lease with her dad for the first time this weekend. I got a wake up call at 7:00 am this morning from Caitlyn. She was very excited to report that daddy had shot a deer and they were going to eat it! BTW, she will wait until it is processed and cooked!!!

Jeff said that Caitlyn was a trooper. They didn't get to the trailer until 11:30 last night and they had to get up at 5:30 this morning. To top it off it was only 37 degrees. Thank goodness for the new insulated boots and jacket and long underwear!

They were able to get into the blind just before sun up. Jeff had everything ready to help keep Caitlyn occupied and warm. He had a DVD player and a portable propane heater.

But luck was on their side. Just after getting into the blind and after the sun rose, Jeff spotted three does in the feeder. A young buck chased off two of the does but Jeff had the opportunity to shoot the remaining one. He asked Caitlyn if she wanted him to shoot it. She said, "Yes daddy. Shoot it. Let's eat it!" BAM!

In the picture above she wouldn't stand any closer to the deer and Jeff wouldn't push it. It was a really great time for Caitlyn to be with her dad, experience deer hunting and be successful in a short period of time. It might not be a realistic deer hunting experience but it will leave her wanting to go back for more and that is what we ultimately want.

Jeff was totally pumped up. This is a text I got. 100 bucks at bass pro shop, 40 dollars in snacks at walmart, daddy's little girl dressed in camo at 530 am, priceless

Jeff did say that Caitlyn did ask for me repeatedly on the way to the deer stand but was completely over it by the time they got there. I was just pleased to hear that he carried her the whole way there. She is getting so big but it can still be scary when it is dark out in nature. Her dad had been preparing her for the dark so she did great with that though.

Words!!!

Brent has some new words!

He has been communicating for a very long time now when he is hungry. It goes something like this - whaaaaaa! But it sounds much more fierce and direct. He has even more recently reached for my hand and directed me towards the pantry when he is hungry.

He says dada and some form of mama, but mostly dada. Rats! Recently he has picked up the word "uh oh".

This morning he said Caitlyn. I was getting him dressed and while I was doing so I wanted to start waking Caitlyn, so I started calling her name. He twisted his body to the side towards her room, looked as if he was trying to see her and repeated her name. Now let me fully explain that it would not have been coherent to any bystander except his mom. But it was clear as mud to me. He was facing her room, looking and repeating and it. It began with a "c" sound and had all the right syllables. It was clearly Caitlyn. He said it about 4 times. The same word.

He is becoming so aware of his surroundings and able to process directions (when he wants to). It is so cool to see his development. I can't believe we are already here, to the point that he is beginning to talk. Where does the time go? My baby is growing so fast!

A Christmas Discussion

Oh we have so many lately! And about gingerbread houses, her upcoming hunting trip with dad, Thanksgiving trip to Aunt Betty's house, and what she wants for Christmas but those are all other stories for other days.

This weekend we were at Kohl's shopping and she brought up Christmas again and so I decided to put a twist on it. "Oh yes!," I exclaimed, "What are you going to buy for your friends this year?" She got so excited so that she could give to someone else. She didn't know what she wanted to get for Mimi and Papa but she knew just what she had in mind for her cousin Olivia.

Then she asked me the cutest thing. "And mom, what's that other girls name that looks like me too?" I knew that she was referring to her other cousin that is the same age as she is, Olivia's sister, Ava. The other gentleman in the aisle chuckled as well.

Clean again - but for how long?

I cleaned out the toy room, Caitlyn's room and I'm almost finished with Brent's room. I organized every bin of toys and am selling about half of our toys at a new toy place in town. I'm so excited.

I started during nap time yesterday and got so much done. I knew I needed to get it finished or mostly completed before Caitlyn got in the mess. She was so cool about the project though. She asked what I was doing with all the toys. I told her I was giving them away so we could get new toys. She said, "Can I help?" I said, "Come on!"

When we went to her room and started cleaning she got so into it she was ready to give all her clothes, bedding, and pillows away. Seriously - she is ready for a clean start. Well at least she got some of the concept, huh? Love her!

One interesting thing I've noticed about my second child is that he does not play with baby toys, at all. He is so into all of Caitlyn's toys. I have to rethink all of the toys I am going to get him for Christmas that's for sure.

I'll get her back one day

Brent slept in this morning - until 8:45. It was a beautiful thing! I could have really enjoyed it too. Had it not been for my this little girl in my room trying to teach me a thing or too. She woke up at 7:30 and crawled into bed with me. She was content snuggling and watching tv for quite some time. But then she wanted food. That calmed her for a while.

Then she proceeded to tell me the sun was awake over and over and over again. When that didn't work she opened the curtains and the blinds to reinforce her lesson.

All I could think was, "This is great ammunition for when she is a teenager!"

On another note, she completely amazes me. She is growing up so fast. She has been getting on the computer, noggin.com. I never showed her how to get onto my Favorites but evidently she watched closely because she can get on the computer whenever she feels like it. She is able to click, slide, drop, roll the mouse, etc like a pro. It's astounding.

She painted again today and I was so impressed at how neat she is with the paints, water and brush too. She filled the paper with paints which I just love. I always encourage my students to fill the space in every grade level.

I tried to get Brent involved in the Aqua Doodle while Caitlyn painted but he had no interest. It was much more fun to open kitchen cabinet doors and try to throw dishes across the room. Some of the child locks have broken and daddy will be replacing those this weekend!!!! Anyway, do boys like to paint and color as much? He certainly likes to throw more than Caitlyn ever did.

Caitlyn Loves Brent

Caitlyn has never been jealous of Brent. In fact, the first time she saw Brent in the hospital she climbed right up in bed with me and asked me if she could hold him. He has always been her baby.

When we took Brent for his 1 year old shots we all got our flu shots. Normally Caitlyn does not stay in the room when Brent gets his shots but this time it was easier to keep her in since she'd already be crying from her own shot. She did indeed cry but not near as hard as when she saw Brent get his shot. She leaned her head back and bawled, crying, "Not my baby!" The nurse was stunned at her loving behavior. Brent let out a tiny whimper but he has great "hamhocks" so of course it didn't bother him much.

The other night I put Brent to bed and Caitlyn was right by my side. As we turned out the light and closed the door, Brent popped up and started crying. Caitlyn saw his face and it was really sad (I try not to look myself when I leave the room). She cried again because Brent was upset and she proclaimed, "He doesn't want to sleep. Please mommy go get him." Luckily for us both, he only cries for about 30 seconds.

Yesterday Brent was sick and throwing up all evening. Their babysitter reported that even though Brent threw up on her hand she still patted him on his back and said, "It's okay baby." She was very concerned about him all evening. (She still doesn't grasp the concept of a gentle pat but she does pat with love.) The first words out of her mouth this morning were to inquire if Brent was still sick.

It is so fun to watch Caitlyn interact with Brent.

Halloween 08

We had a fun time trick-or-treating! We have a great neighborhood to walk through and the weather was fabulous. Our friend, C is a lady pirate, Caitlyn was a cowgirl so of course Brent had to be a cowboy!

Mimi K just holding the little cowboy (no they didn't drive anywhere like this).

On a side note, Saturday Caitlyn broke my camera and Brent pulled my straigtening iron off the cabinet and on his face. He has a little burn on his face. Poor guy and I was right there and couldn't stop it. I would document with a camera but it's destroyed. Oops!