Let's Play the FEUD - with our Turkeys

Thanksgiving 2014

I've said it before, and I'll say it again, cooking ain't my thang!  However, I decided to do a small amount of cooking this year which consisted of making stuffing for our Thanksgiving meal at Mom's.  I have the best recipe ever from one of the best cooks I know - Karen Lou Deaton. I also purchased a sampler cheesecake from South Middle's girls basketball team which was yummy.  We started the day off at my parents house.  Mom purchased the game Family Feud which Isaac couldn't wait to play.  Eating ain't his thang!  He asked all morning/afternoon long when we were going to play.  Once we'd eaten, stored leftovers, and did the cleaning up, the FEUD began.  Paul had queued up the game show music so it was an authentic experience.  It was a blast!  After games and cards, we headed over to Matt's family's house for round II.  I opted for dessert instead of eating again.  I always have room for sweets.  Karen had old home movies playing on the television, and everyone got a kick out seeing them.  It's inspired me to take more video's of the kids.  I had about 10 VHS tapes converted into DVD home movies.  However, we don't have a camcorder that works well anymore.  We need to invest in a new one because iPhone videos just aren't the same.

Mom wanted a picture with all five grand kids for her Christmas card.  I thought this turned out pretty good.

Thanksgiving weekend also consisted of Matt taking the boys to see an Indiana Pacers game.  Isaac loves the Pacers, and fortunately, Indianapolis isn't that far from Bowling Green.  He surprised the boys with tickets to see the Pacers take on the Orlando Magic.  It was Matt's first NBA game, and they are hooked.  On the way home, Isaac told him, "Dad, we are die hard Pacers fans."

To make the trip a little easier, Matt decided to get a hotel room for the night through Hotwire.  Bonus, it had an indoor swimming pool.  Negative, it was also a functioning train station which made it rather loud (along with partying Pacers fans).  They went to Dick's Last Resort for dinner which is always entertaining. 

Isaac's hat is my favorite!  By the look on his face, it wasn't very amusing.   If you can't read it, it says My Parents just asked me to run away =).

Because the game landed on black Friday, the boys managed to score some great shopping deals at the novelty shop.  Die hard fans!

Mesmerized by the game.  I got a great deal on the seats because of a Veteran's Day sale (which is when I purchased the tickets).  NBA games are fairly long, and Matt said Miles was ready to go close to half-time.  Miles has Karson's "concert stamina" - he likes bedtime and routine.  However, Matt convinced him that they had driven a long way and were going to stay.  About that time, some stunt-people on pogo sticks came out and started performing during half-time.  Matt said Miles didn't take his eyes off of them.  That and cotton candy gave him an extra boost to make it to the end of the game.

Cutest Pacers fans, hands down!

 

While the boys were away, us girls did some SHOPPING.  We hit Jimmy John's for lunch and spent the day doing Christmas shopping.  Have I mentioned how much I love my daughter?!?  She is simply the coolest lil' chick I know.  We managed to get LOTS of shopping done and even found her a cool, new desk for her room at Big Lots (and she and I assembled it - oh yeah). We capped off the evening with dinner at Olive Garden, our favorite!

 

A co-worker of mine at SKyPAC got married on Saturday morning.  I had the best time hanging out with my friend (and co-worker) Debbie Sledge and traveling to Russellville to see Joe and Carolyn get hitched.  It was a great time and fantastic holiday weekend! 

SKyPACGivingTuesday

Enjoyed being part of a fun commercial shoot with my co-workers on Tuesday.

#givingtuesday

Momdom?

  Matt mentioned in his sermon a few week's back - there's one sport that everyone talks about this time of the year, and that sport is high school bowling.  Of course, everyone got a laugh out of the joke.  Matt is South Warren's boys and girls bowling coach.  Bowling season (for me) translates into single-momdom.  Is momdom a word?  If it isn't, it should be because I live in the world of momdom.  I guess if your hubs is going to have a THIRD job (outside of teaching and ministry), being a bowling coach isn't too demanding.  However, it's lots of running around for me.  I feel like our house is our train station - people coming and going at all times.  I have no idea what the point of all that rambling was/is except to say we are busy.  We have three kids signed up for basketball.  Karson is on 6th grade showcase and student lighthouse team which require both before school and after school commitments.  My outlook calendar is one giant grid of practices and events.  This time of the year is simply tough.  However, we do get to enjoy some moments here and there like the lovely Veteran's Day program at Plano which was last Thursday night.  We have the best music teacher in Bowling Green at our school.  Ms. Tiffany Harrington is not only a superb educator but puts so much time and energy into all the productions at school.  Our kids are fortunate having her as their music teacher. 

 My baby is on his third round of cavity fillings yesterday.  He's got the Karson-curse on teeth.  We have more money invested in his and K's baby teeth than in their savings accounts.  Matt has been the primary dental-visit  handler with all the appointments.  However, he had bowling practice yesterday, so we had to tag team it.  When I arrived at the dentist office, Matt told me that Miles had fallen asleep in the chair from the nitric.  They had to wake him up and fill his cavities.  He got real relaxed.  They have to put the paper gauze in his mouth so he doesn't bite his tongue, cheek or lips.  He felt pretty bad yesterday afternoon.  Once I got some ibuprofen in him and some food, he felt much better.  We only have one round left, thank goodness.

 Speaking of veteran's (HAH), Meme celebrated her birthday yesterday.  We had a short and sweet visit  with her that afternoon because Miles wasn't feeling good.  We sure do love her!

Snaggle Pooh

Look who lost a a front tooth!  I'm quite certain Mile is our first child who lost a front tooth without a replacement tooth right behind.  Karson and Isaac both had "shark" teeth - rows behind their baby teeth.  Miles started having pain on Tuesday night and could barely eat.  Yesterday morning we had cinnamon rolls - it's our tradition on Sundays and Wednesdays (church days) to have cinnamon rolls.  The rolls are the ooey-gooey Pillsbury kind and very soft.  Miles couldn't eat them and eventually got a fork and cut them into small pieces.I decided I needed to take action and start convincing him that he needed to just let me pull the tooth out.  I had loads of persuasive arguments - you don't want to lose the tooth at school, how will you eat lunch if you are in this much pain, your tooth looks blue to me, blah blah blah.  I knew this tooth would RUIN his day if we didn't get it out.  He finally consented after three rounds of me going into the bathroom with him and trying to convince him to let me pull it.  I felt terrible for him.  He was shaking, anxious, heart racing, scared - stinkin' teeth.  Two yanks later I got it out.  He was relieved, and the tooth barely bled thankfully.  He said it didn't hurt at all and was relieved.  16 more baby teeth to go - ugh!  At least we know what to ask Santa for for Christmas, eh?!?!

Daylight Savings, Bonfires and Banquets - It's FALL Y'all

 Last Wednesday night all the kids dressed up in their Halloween attire, and we did our annual trick or treating next door at Grant Village.  The residents there always look forward to seeing our youngsters and are so welcoming.  They also loved giving them lots of treats as well.  I love having them as church neighbors!

Karson wasn't "feeling" Halloween this year and struggled about selecting a costume.  We went to Party 1 and looked and found zilch.  She did finnd some festive shirts at Old Navy that she liked (Ghostbusters and a Black Cat).  For the church event, we opted for a ghostly look - nothing major.  Isaac knew early on that he was going to Bart Simpson.  I think I ordered his costume before Fall Break.  He's a planner.

 Fall Parties at Plano are always a good time, especially in the primary end of the school where the kids still dress up.  Miles resurrected an old costume from the Halloween stash - wolf Ninja.  I didn't realize it was about 2 sizes too small until he put it on for the church event.  He was unscathed by the Steve Urkel look and rocked it with some extra long black Nike socks.  That's just how he rolls.

2nd Grade Group picture!  Crack me up!  The kids were making those stuffed popcorn gloves.  I was helping Miles's table fill their gloves.  Once I got his (girl) friend's glove filled, she turned around and smacked Miles with it.  It was hilarious but I quickly reminded her that we didn't need to hit our friends with the gloves - only high-five them or pat them on the back.  Miles probably deserved the smack - HAH.  Thankfully, the gloves are soft and didn't hurt at all.

Halloween night was on Friday this year which made it easy on everyone (especially teachers).  It's nice having some flexibility on the weekend.  We decided to do our trick or treating this year in town on Pumpkin Alley (in the Briarwood subdivision).  We made a pit-stop to Granny and Grandads to visit with them.  When we walked in all dressed up, Granny had a funny look on her face and kind of swatted at me.  I'm sure she was confused by all these "characters" walking into her house.  She continues her struggle with dementia and has good days and bad.  We were fortunate to catch her on a good day and while she was awake.

 

We headed over to Karen Lou's around 4:45/5 to meet up with all the cousins and GET.THE.CANDY!  It was super chilly that night, and Karson decided early on that she was not going to dress up and go out this year which was fine by me. She and I hung back at Karen's and stayed warm.  Matt (Tommy, Brad & Hayley) braved the cold with our group and headed to pumpkin alley.

 

It's been a while since the kids trick or treated in Briarwood.  Matt said pumpkin alley was packed, and they even had to wait in line at some houses for candy.  Bless those people and the amount of candy that must've been purchased to host all those kids.

Isaac's costume was a hit!  Matt said he heard different people saying "Look, it's Bart Simpson."  If Isaac had his way, our entire family would have been The Simpson's.  He loves the show and his costume was complete, even with a padded belly.

I love Miles's excitement in this picture - he's getting some serious hangtime!

 Saturday was an eventful day.  Matt and I hosted the monthly church breakfast.  We served over 50+ people and were able to hand out 30 Thanksgiving food bags.  I love that our church has such wonderful outreach efforts.  Servanthood.  

We spent Saturday evening with some of our favorite people in the world - Erick and Melissa DeVries.  They live on a nice piece of property out Matlock Road.  They hosted a fall party and invited everyone out to participate in a Haunted Woods adventure.

 We grabbed some two-liters, I made my traditional witches hat cookies, we bundled up and headed out to their house.  This family knows how to throw a party.  There were tons of people, tons of food, and tons of scares - I'm not sure who had more fun, the adults or the kids?!?  Miles was tickled when he saw that his teacher was one of the "ghouls" (above) in the woods.  After the kids and some brave adults went through the woods, the kids got a turn to hide and scare all the adults.  I hope this becomes an annual event.  We loved it (even the Headless Horseman, who made his appearance towards the end of the trail).

November = Hybrid Fishing Season = Happy Deaton Boys

 Matt, Isaac and Colvin did some fishing at Barren River on Sunday afternoon.  A beautiful day on the lake!

Last night we celebrated with South Warren Middle School's volleyball team with our season-end banquet.  It was nice seeing all their faces again! I know Karson misses all of her friends from the team.  They are all such sweet girls.  The banquet was at the middle school in the cafeteria and catered by Olive Garden.  Coach Jackson took the time to recognize each and every player and awarded them with a nice, monogrammed pullover.  I loved what he said about Karson and wish I had it on video - he basically said he knows an athlete when he sees one (she is quick, can jump, always gives it her best effort).  I have always thought that about her, but it's nice hearing that from someone else.  Karson has a knack for sports and is very determined to do her best.  She was recently axed cut from the SWMS basketball team try-outs.  I know she felt defeated in that moment, but it's definitely made her work hard at improving her game.  She has been working fervently on her left-handed lay-up.  I'm looking forward to seeing her shine in rec. basketball.

Love this group - looking forward to next season when K's 7th grade team this year  becomes her 8th grade competitors next year =).