A Bunch of Turkeys

Enter his gates with thanksgiving,and his courts with praise!Give thanks to him; bless his name! Psalm 100:4

From our family to yours

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Families are like fudge ~ mostly sweet with a few nuts!!

Hot Head(s)

I'm one of those multi-tasking moms during worship service on Sunday fully equipped with snacks, newspaper toy circulars, coloring books and crayons. It's kind of hard to get into worship-mode mentality with three kids on the pew, but I try my best to keep them still and quiet. Karson has been coughing a lot lately (who hasn't???) and hasn't had the best temperament. She was in a "funk" yesterday morning and being a bit uncooperative. On a side note, Karson has always had a strong willed personality. She would rather lose every toy and privilege than to put her own shoes on when asked. She might crawl down the hall instead of walk (especially when we are in hurry). We learned early on that spankings are useless with her. You could beat her until she's black and blue and she will NEVER YIELD. Needless to say, she is in time-out A LOT. She'll argue with a brick wall. That's her personality. Of course, she's grown up a lot and doesn't act like that all the time (or even most of the time), but she has her moments, and yesterday was one of them. I sat down in the pew at church (practically on the wooden arm rest) and asked Karson to scoot down. She moved over a whole millimeter, and I was still squished. I asked her to move down some more, and instead of being compliant and obeying, she growled, "I already did". By that point, I decided she needed a little assistance and gave her a firm scoot in which she toppled over and smacked Miles right in the head. He's crying, she's fuming, and I'm aggravated. Snacks are divvied out along with coloring books and crayons. Karson takes her art work very seriously. Her school teachers rave about how talented she is. Soooo, she's working on a masterpiece during church and lo and behold, we don't have a brown crayon. Karson looks at me and asks, "how do I make brown?" I told her to mix black with yellow (right???). I have NO IDEA how to make brown. She starts swirling the colors together and getting angrier and angrier because NO BROWN. She's about to blow a gasket and decides to get EVEN with her portrait. She starts sounding out words and writes the following phrase on her paper:

It reads: I HAT THIS PICHRE

One of my favorite movie quotes is from Halloween H2O when Laurie Strode tells her son "Okay, John. I know that you get your smart mouth from my side of the family, so I'll cut you a break. " I can TOTALLY see myself saying this to Karson when she is a teenager. Hopefully, she won't be as hot headed and smart-mouthed as her mom =).

This one reads: I (heart) yow and cats and dog and dukeys

The photo at the beginning of this post is one I had her do on a plate at The Paint'n Place of our family (Princess Sparkles is the black blob). The above are a few samples of her art. It really is adorable and priceless!!!

Reality at It's Best

The best time to find Halloween costumes (or any costume for that matter) is, none other than, the day AFTER Halloween when they are being clearanced out. I am ALL about a bargain (especially when it comes to cheaply made costumes). I knew the choices might be slim considering Halloween fell on a Friday night. I was pleasantly surprised at Wal-Mart's selection on Saturday morning though. I guess many people were still in sugary filled comatose stupors and not out and about hitting the sales--like CRAZY me. Isaac found his dream costume--an Optimus Prime Transformer. He has had it on four days in a row this week. Needless to say, it WREAKS.

And, now for a commercial break from our sponsor Isaac Deaton singing the "Monster Truck, Dinosaur, Color" song.

In other news, cousin Elizabeth spent the night last Monday since we'd all be out on Tuesday for Election Day. I don't know who had the most fun--Karson and Elizabeth, Miles or Princess Sparkles? We may try a boy sleepover soon with Evan.

And now for another commercial break--a performance by Miles Deaton, aka Dancing King. He sure does love to Boogie!!! I am about to throw in the towel on the whole...preventing the boys from taking off the couch cushions, throwing them on the floor and using them as a trampoline...bit. Boys are about as destructive as a MAC truck coming through a house. And, while I'm on the boy note, what is it about boys that is SOOOO HAND-SY? If they aren't tackling, pushing, wrestling, pinching, tossing, hitting, smacking, etc., then things just aren't as they should be. It's truly impossible for them to actually "keep their hands to themselves."


The time change certainly took its toll on Miles this morning. He fell asleep, armed with a light sabre, around 11 a.m. After a 30-minute power nap, he was ready to go.

A New Spooky Tradition

We got to trick or treat for the first time with our beloved cousins this year on Halloween. Paul and Shannon hosted a little soiree at their pad in Talbott which will be a new tradition. We had a late start getting ready for the big event. I decided to tote the boys over to Karson's school party at Plano in the late afternoon (which meant Miles didn't get a nap). We opted for the power 4:00 p.m. nap but needed to leave by 5:00. Needless to say, he wasn't a happy camper getting his Superman gear on. Isaac decided on a last minute costume change from Spiderman to the Blue Power Ranger (last year's get-up). Karson didn't want to wear a tank top underneath her Barbie Cheerleader outfit. Yada, yada, yada and then we took off from the house and left the diaper bag behind, had to turn back around, yada, yada, yada, stop at the store and get ice, blah, blah, blah and finally arrived a few minutes late.

BUT, we finally made it and joined our crew:

Miles getting into the Halloween spirit!

Isaac's school party.

Karson's "Fall" party.

A new addition...

and NO we're not pregnant. We are officially pet owners again. This time it's a pet hamster named Princess Sparkles. Karson is thrilled to have her very own pet, and I'm happy for her. I decided to veto the decision to "not get a hamster" when she came home last week with a Family Pic-to-Gram which included three boxes: adults, kid's and pet's. Karson, of course, only had pictures drawn in the first two boxes. Soooo, on Saturday, she and I went to Petco. Since, I knew NOTHING about owning a hamster, I sought the advice of the trained staff and purchased a Black Bear (which are supposed to be the most friendly and fun). After buying all the supplies and signing the following statement: I commit to being a responsible pet owner by providing a loving, safe and appropriate environment for my companion, we packed up Princess and headed home. Surely, they didn't notice that I had my fingers crossed behind my back =). No, I hope that Princess Sparkles has a long and happy two years in our home.

A Game of TAG

I must answer the following questions with one word answers (which will be IMPOSSIBLE for me since I LOVE to talk):

1. Where is your cell phone? dunno
2. Where is your significant other? bed
3. Your hair color? brown
4. Your mother? helpful
5. Your father? loud
6. Your favorite thing? sweets
7. Your dream last night? weird
8. Your dream/goal? peace
9. The room you're in? living
10. Your hobby? walking
11. Your fear? stomach-bugs =)
12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? working (FT)
13. Where were you last night? home
14. What you're not? running (in the 10K tomorrow)
15. One of your wish-list items? wallet
16. Where you grew up? KY
17. The last thing you did? Facebook
18. What are you wearing? clothes
19. Your TV? off
20. Your pet? nada
21. Your computer? Dell
22. Your mood? sleepy
23. Missing someone? no
24. Your car? mini-van
25. Something you're not wearing? watch
26. Favorite store? Target
27. Your summer? BUSY
28. Love someone? Matteo
29. Your favorite color? purple
30. When is the last time you laughed? everyday
31. Last time you cried? dunno

So, here are a few people I will challenge...
Shannon
Kim H.
Melissa D.
Kim C.

Karson is SIX

My little girl is officially six and no longer little. She and I made cupcakes for her class after school yesterday. She meticulously decorated each cake with sprinkles. I took them in for snack this afternoon and her class sang to her.

We let her pick the dinner venue--Chuck E. Cheese's (honestly, anything sounds better than McDonald's to me). We decided to celebrate on a smaller scale this year. We had a petite cake at Miles's party, and I took her to Toys R Us over the weekend to pick out her gifts. I let her choose what she'd like this year. I wanted to get her a hamster, but her Dad didn't think that was a good idea. Actually, I agree with him on that decision--(a) I am highly allergic to guinea pigs--which aren't the same but who knows??? (b) hamsters are nocturnal and sleep is a high priority in our house (c) the brothers--I'm sure our delicate pet wouldn't last long with them. Sooo, we are the proud owners of a couple of the Puppy/Kitty/Horsey in Your Pocket sets. Karson is inundated with toy sets. It started with Little Peoples, then the Loving Family Dollhouse, Dora's Magic Castle, Littlest Pet Shop, Ponyville (big and small), Tinker Bell Fairies, Princess sets (Sleeping Beauty House and Little Mermaid sets), and NOW the new pocket sets. I'd love to part with some of these sets (and did give the Dora set to a needy family), but I ENJOY them just as much as she does. We haven't tackled Barbie who is my absolute FAVORITE. I had 36 Barbies and 3 Ken dolls growing up. I know what you're thinking...so FEW =)??? No kidding, I was still quietly/secretly playing with them in middle school. I explained to Karson that once you go with Barbie, the other sets are history. Barbie will take over your room. She has her own mansion, Ferrari, pool, airplane, stable, etc. She's high maintenance and requires an "all or nothing" attitude if you own her. Those of you die hard Barbie fans know EXACTLY what I'm talking about. Anyway, back to the birthday girl, I have to BRAG on her for a minute....

We had Parent/Teacher conferences this Monday at school. Karson is above average(reflecting a strong performance) on all her test scores scoring a 7 in reading assesment (phonological, literacy, phoneme-grapheme correspondance, and listening) and mathematics (concepts and communication, process and application). I have NO IDEA what any of those assesments mean, but I am PROUD as a PEACOCK. She will take the same tests in the spring, but her teacher feels she will already be working on a 1st-or-2nd grade level by that time since her scores are already as high as they'll get. Her teacher wrote this on her progress report: Karson has the best personality! She is such a sweetie (not to mention smart and creative)! She is an asset to this classroom. Here are some photos from her classroom party: