Thanksgiving 2011

I'm so far behind I was minutes from giving up... So I'm going to try to do this from my phone to catch up! Miss Saylor had her First Thanksgivings this year! We had a great week of family and food and started at my parents house, went to Joel's moms on Thanksgiving and hosted his Dad and family on Saturday. Uncle D even came to visit!! Saylor is saying "da da da" and talking all the time. Harrison is asking everyday how many days left till Christmas and has got great holiday spirit! Hudson wants to watch all nature and hunting shows now over cartoons :( We are decorated for Christmas and enjoying all the magic it brings having little ones around :)

Here is their tree they decorated for their room.

Here is Saylor's tree

These were hysterical, they came home from school with these.... if you know Joel you know this is going to put some pressure on him as he doesn't hunt! But looks like he will have to give it a go this year!

The kids table at our Thanksgiving was very helpful in keeping attention!

Harrison had his first "coffee" (hot chocolate) and giggled the whole time.

Sissy on Thanksgiving

I pulled out the tea party on our Thanksgiving, it hasn't seen the light of day so I thought if not now I will never get it out!

This is Harrison's, so sweet and so true for him!

Let me fill you in...

This is the longest I have gone without blogging...It has been quite busy around here! I have to say as crazy and unstable as this life can be right now... the kids are all at the most fun ages and are saying the funniest things. They are fun to hang out with...if they have napped and eaten ;)

Harrison at the doctor when we found out he has asthma, (who knew!?) I hope it is something that is not constantly around and he will grow out of! We now have steroids, allergy meds, nebulizer and antibiotics to give to a kid that has hysteria when its time to take a vitamin.

Kayla our youngest niece turned 3!! We went to her fun party at Mitchell Farms.

Kayla, 3, Kali, 5

It's Halloween everyday at our house!

I turned 30 this month and Joel had a surprise party for me at home... and he did such a good job. We had tornadoes the night before and had no power all day and as the first guest showed up it turned on, he was sweating it!

I made the comment how birthday parties really do change with age...10 years ago I didn't know this many kids much less were there kids at my birthday party!! I loved having them there they always make it more exciting!

Joel and his Dad hanging new curtains!

Uncle Matthew assisted ;)

Before

After

My 3 stooges

Happy Half-A-Year!

Happy 6 months old to Miss Saylor on November 3rd! Where has the time gone!? She has brought all of us so much joy we want it all to slow down. Hudson couldn't believe it when I told them that she was 6 months that morning. He kept asking, "she is 6 months?" and then, "I just can't believe it!". Harrison keeps saying he is ready for her to stop growing! She is noticing everything, reaching for everything and smiling all the time. She is off the charts in every category and the doctor said she will probably be tall!

So proud and big!

She was excited about her presents for 6 month olds.

Our little "sister sue", "Saylor Mae", "Saylor Bug", "my highness" (Hudson)

Halloween 11

We celebrated Halloween this year like never before and I guess that's just how it's done when kids are in school! The boys went with their cousins Kali and Kayla to their Grandma and Grandpas for a Halloween party where they went on a hayride, bobbed for apples, roasted marshmallows and trick-or-treated. Then we all went to Zoo Boo, then they had school parties (Fall Party) and then Halloween! This meant many costume changes over the week.

Hudson at his class party at a football player

Harrison, Saylor and Mrs.Mary Ann at Harrison's school party. (as a football player)

Carved pumpkins...Saylor's was a heart but it's hard to see.

Hudson, Harrison and Liam trick-or-treating.

Happy Fall Yall!

We are loving the Fall weather and activities this year! Here is what we have been up to...

Saylor has been practicing sitting and standing (with help)

We went to pick out 3 little pumpkins.

We are silly in the mornings, Hudson kept sweeping his hair out of his eyes so we fixed that problem.

We went to USM's Homecoming and played with an old pal, Emma!

We baked Halloween cookies!

We went to the fair! It was so much fun, Harrison LOVES feeding the baby animals, isn't this thing cute!?

They rode ponies for the first time at the fair also!

She loves when her brothers get on the floor and play with her, that is who she is looking at behind me.

The month of projects

This past month our garage has not had a car in it, instead we had about 3 projects going at once at all times. We had some old things that we were restoring and bringing new life too and now that they are in place I wanted to share the before and after pics! Joel has seriously been working just about every night after kids bedtime and when he could on the weekends....thank you for all your hard work and inhalation of toxic fumes honey!

Here is the old door we found in a pile, Joel pointed it out and we loved and could not decide what to do with it.

So we cleaned it up added a clear coat to keep the lead paint covered and put hooks on it. Now its our hall tree.

It was so heavy, I hope the wall can hold it for years to come!

Here is his Grandmother's piano, a Baldwin that was built in 1982 (looked up the serial #)

This was the project that about did Joel in, he sanded and stripped and painted that thing probably 10 times total. He couldn't get the paint consistency right and then once the paint store gave him the wrong kind so he had to strip it down and start over and after I think 4 coats it is clean and crisp and perfect!

Against our new Grey wall (another project)

The antique craigslist sofa and chair that was a thorn in our side (and took up the garage room) until we finally found someone to recover and refinish it.

The finished product, I didn't get a full picture but you can see it is like new!

The chair and our old light fixture.

The old pew from Providence Baptist Church that Joel wanted for the back deck coming out of the pew graveyard!

After a few repairs and a clear coat for weather protection, we can seat about 10 more people now! It is so long, 12 feet!

The accident

Last week, we had an emergency that seriously scared me "sober". By "sober" I mean straight the heck up out of the fog of motherhood of 3 small tiny children. I don't have pictures, understand I didn't take the time out to document.

Harrison was napping, so I took Saylor and Hudson out back to play. Saylor was in her baby swing and I was rocking while watching Hudson swing down on the playground. I saw Hudson playing by the monkey bars, climbing up and down the ladder, he would swing out and come back. They don't go across them yet, ours are so high! Next, I thought Hudson was swinging on a bungee cord hanging from one of the bars. I knew something was wrong and he wasn't responding when I yelled his name but I could here something. So I RAN (flew) down to him and thought his shirt was stuck on the hook and when I went to lift him off I saw it was lodged in his arm, it had hooked him as he jumped off the monkey bars and ripped through and stuck in his arm. PANIC. I saw the inside of my baby's arm...PANIC. Long story short...I got all kiddos in the car, turned on my hazards and raced to the ER. I tried to make it fun so they didn't realize I was a hair from coo coo. "You didn't know Mommy's truck could go this fast did you, this is fun!!!" They took him right in, sedated him, cleaned it, explored it, and sutchered him right up. He was SOOOO brave, minimal tears, he didn't cry when they gave him an IV or anything else. Harrison was big too, he saw the wound and just worried about his brother hurting or being scared.

So I just want to say, it could have been tragic, it missed all the veins and arteries right there at the top of his arm, it wasn't his face or neck, he truly had a guardian angel. I have been complacent in the fact that boys will be boys and I just realized how fast things can change. It was a random preventable injury. He is fine, never had any pain and or complaints. WE are so thankful! I just wanted to document ...... so ..... how about them Eagles SMTTT?