Adventing!!!!

I remember doing advent when I was a kid on those little candy cut-out boxes counting down the days until Christmas. The chocolate in those things were disgusting but it was the anticipation of being one more day closer to Christmas that was so exciting as a child. I have been wanting to buy an advent calendar for many years now but the price tag has always put a speed bump in that plan. And after Christmas they ALL seem to disappear. Well, this year I was flipping through my pottery barn catalog and I spotted a large Christmas tree advent calendar that looked homemade and had little pockets for special prizes each day. Needless to say I wanted it! So, I get on the internet and google homemade advent calendars and found a huge selection of homemade ones that were super cute. Then I began talking with a friend of mine who had decided to make one as well. She lovingly gave me all of her info to start and plan the days. I was just expecting to put a silly chocolate in each pocket and call it good. But her idea was so extremely awesome that I just had to copy and I knew that it would be special for Addison. She LOVES Christmas and it will be exciting to see her pull out the tag each day and discover what our activity will be. I'm looking forward to making this a yearly tradition. I will be posting some of our activities of advent probably a week's worth at a time. As you are probably already aware I am three days behind. We did catch up tonight though and are looking forward to what tomorrow has in store. I hope you all are enjoying this holiday season.

Thanksgiving!

Our Thanksgiving this year was spent with my dad's side of the family. We spent the morning lounging around watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and then headed over to grandma's. We enjoyed our day of laughter, games, food, looking at the Black Friday ads and relaxing together as a family. It was a lot of fun! I am very blessed to have great relatives! Hope everyone had a fantastic Thanksgiving!

Turkey cookie (next year I'll try a little harder - cute but not like the picture I saw)

owl cupcakes (made by my sis - way to go teets!) They were a hoot!!

Dinner with the Fam

Rhett gets a turkey cookie

Rhett enjoys his turkey cookie

Addie Grace with her turkey shirt on

Rhett Douglas sporting his turkey shirt

Crafts!!!

O.K. - so I've been inspired the past few weeks to do some crafty projects. I stumbled upon a blog that I LOVE called "The Crafty Crow" and it's got some of the cutest projects on there for kids and links to more crafty-type blogs where I got some fun ideas. I have always thought of myself as a crafty person - I LOVE crafts. I always have! However, while I was looking at about a million blogs yesterday I became humbly aware of the talent that is out there and needless to say I have very little of it. I envied quite a few of the things that others have made but was inspired to tap into my creativeness and give it a try. I posted a few pictures of the projects that I have finished. I do not yet have a sewing machine so they are done by hand - and please try not to look too close because you can TELL they are done by hand. They will never make an appearance to anyone besides my kids and husband and I don't have to tell you why - pictures are good enough. I post this simply because I believe I am going through a phase in my life - a crafty phase - inspired by many whom are dear to me and many whom I haven't met. I hope to continue this journey of craftiness whenever time and funds allow.

I copied this from a blog - It's Addison's hand sewn and stuffed to make a turkey.

I liked the one the lady made better but I will cherish this one because it's Addison's hand.

I had gotten some cute fabric squares from Craft Warehouse a while back when they were having a sale and brought it out to do something with it. I made a small pillow for Addison that she can have on her bed during the Christmas season. It's definately far from perfect but she loves it and that's what counts.

Halloween 2009

Trick-or-treating at Grammy JoJos and Papa Pouie's

My Princess

My Pirate

My Prince, Princess and Pirate

Cousins getting ready to trick-or-treat

Trick-or-treating at Connie and John's - our beloved neighbors

Rhett LOVED trick-or-treating - he even decided he was going to go inside a few houses and check things out. We had fun watching him and laughing at his drunken pirate walk (his everyday walk)

Nate and Becky helping Pirate Rhett to the next house!

Rhett's first trip to the ER!

Well, I knew that with our son Rhett a trip to the ER was imminent I was just unsure about why and when. That question was answered on Monday evening. It's easy to take for granted how the completely normal can turn in a second to tragedy and pain. Like every other evening Rhett was jogging around the house with something in his mouth. Much to my dismay this time it was a metal hanger. No, I do not usually let my child run around the house chewing on a metal hanger but the accident occured before I was aware of his object-of-the-minute. All I heard while cleaning the kitchen was a fall and a cry. I ran into the living room to see him stand up with a hanger in his hand. I really didn't think anything of it and just assumed that he probably scraped his lip or mouth a little. That is until I saw a fountain of blood oozing from his mouth. I hurriedly grabbed a wet towel and proceeded to clean up his mouth. I saw a little scrape on the inside of his cheek but probed further and discovered that he had punctured a hole in the back of his throat. It was probably half an inch long and looked terrible. Rhett however seemed to be uninterested in the recovery process and decided that he was just fine to continue on his normal tirad around the house. I immediately called Jeremy and told him to come home. In the meantime I called a nurse who told me to take him into the ER. I kinda freaked out a little bit - thinking surgery, a overnight stay in the hospital, yikes! And Jeremy didn't even want to bring him in at all. However, even if it was only for my piece of mind it was going to be worth the trip to swine city to discover the fate of my son's throat. Well, to make a long story short we arrived at the ER around 6:00 pm, sat in the waiting room with all of the feverish fellows for about 30 min. then were transported into a room to await the doctor. He didn't show up until 8:00 pm. By this time Rhett is extremely hungry (the nurse on the phone told me not to feed him or give him anything to drink until the Dr. sees him) and tired. Once the Dr. arrives he takes his handy dandy tongue dispenser and his tiny little flashlight and proceeds to glance for about 2 seconds into Rhett's mouth. All to this conclusion - "Mouth wounds tend to heal fairly quickly and all by themselves, However they often get infected so I'm going to prescribe you some antibiotics for any infection that he may get." I have to say that my reaction to this news was at first one of extreme relief and then of extreme frustration in realizing that Quick Care could have told us that as well and saved us a LOT of money. So, our ER visit ended at 9:00 pm with a trip through the WalGreens drive-thru pharmacy while Rhett downed half a cheeseburger in the backseat. 

It has been two days since his accident and I'm a little more paranoid with what he carries around now. I am also praying that it will heal quickly and it seems to be doing just that which is a huge praise. I'm not going to take him to his pediatrician in the morning like the ER docs said too because it looks to be doing fine. I can tell it's healing and I'm not going to pay the $20 co-pay for the doctor to tell me the same thing.

So, for Rhett's first trip it wasn't so bad. Let's just hope there is a lot of time before his next trip in and that next time a trip to Quick Care will do the trick.

Cabin Trip #4

So - we just returned from our 4th cabin trip this year and probably our last until spring. I would go into great detail about how much I love the cabin and how much fun we have but I say that every time and so I think most of you know how I feel about this place.

This time we went up with Jeremy's family. We had to pack a lot of fun into a day and a half but I think it was accomplished. We played games, went on hikes, roasted marshmellows, watched movies and took pictures of the cousins. A great time was had by all!

Pirate Rhett turns 1

Well - It's officially been a year since Rhett entered our lives and I have to say it feels like yesterday and yet it feels like it's been forever ago. I can't believe how much they grow in just 1 short year.

For his birthday this year we did a pirate theme for many different reasons: One of them was that Rhett had a pirate costume for Halloween, I found pirate party accessories for 70% off and the third reason was that our house decor supports the theme. So, it was rather an easy choice and we had so much fun with it.

Unlike most 1st birthday parties I decided to make Rhett's a little bit different. Once the guests arrived I sent them on a scavenger hunt for a buried treasure. They had to read through clues depicting Rhett's different stages of his 1st year to find the treasure. Uncle Aaron was the lucky pirate hero who successfully dug up the treasure chest and graciously gave it to the children to divide the loot. It was a fun way to celebrate Rhett's birthday with our friends and family.

When it came time to devour his cake he really wasn't too sure about it. He dipped a few fingers into it, licked them off and then tried to pry the tootsie roll cannons from the side of the cake. He didn't really eat hardly any of it but he did make quite a mess.

The opening of gifts was quite a fiasco with all of the children suffocating me and asking to help Rhett open his gifts. So, I gave each of them a gift to open and show Rhett - it worked out well I think. Rhett of course didn't seem too excited but he did seem to enjoy the attention.

His birthday was a lot of fun and I'm so grateful for wonderful family and friends to help us celebrate. I thank God every day for my precious little boy and feel so blessed that on October 3rd, 2008 our lives were changed by this little man who constantly fills our family with so much joy and laughter.