Gobble Gobble!

Gobble Gobble is one of my favorite sayings! I dare you to say it without smiling. My father use to torture me from across the room, wiggling his fingers at me, making me laugh from tickles yet to come. Makes me happy just thinking about it. Yesterday was our first Thanksgiving in our new home. I set a beautiful table, inspired by my memories of Grandma Chism. I made Turkey place care holders, that were a hit. A friend said, how did you find the time to squeeze that into your day. Always time to make things beautiful I say. I split the meal duties with Andrea, however, she got the harder leg of work. I cooked a very good turkey, green beans, and salad...along with lots of snackies. She made 5 pies, potatoes, stuffing, brea cranberry appetizer and I am sure more I can't remember. We had enough food to feed twice our numbers. The best thing about our meal, was that Poppa Chuck made it home from the hospital to have dinner with us. Truly a Thanksgiving to remember. I love this holiday meal. I am nostalgic at so many levels. My grandparents were all over the meal in memory and life. Grandma Chism for her creative craft beauty, Joe Joe for his love of family and olives....and Sweet Momma who made my first turkey a success! I am about to have my second child, and I feel so bless for what is already around my table. Another Angel baby is going to make it that much more special. Love makes my heart float! Gobble Gobble!

Pumpkin Party 2008

Pumpkin Party 2008 was a huge success. This crazy house of ours is a perfect venue for such a large gathering. Carving was done out back with the fire blazing....even though the sun was shining. Food was inside on HUGE dining room table. Kids were playing hard, either outside on the Astro Turf or down stairs on the plush injury proof carpet. This year the carving was terrific. Bob and Abby came out again to win, and did. Alana got her first placing as I removed the "family winning" restriction and first time attenders Rob and Tammy dibble placed third with a free hand marvel. I am really looking forward to next year when I am not such a large pregnant pumpkin myself and can part take in a few cold ones!

Big Ass Flag!

Am I allowed to say that? There are really no other words to describe the gift I got for Peter's birthday. He is truly a man that is impossible to buy for so eccentric is the way to go. He loves the flag, and now I fear that it may never come down. It fills the entire South window wall of our home and what is great about that is that we now have privacy from our neighbors. I can go from the shower to the closet without being seen (I am vision with the IMMENSE belly I am sporting). It is a nice luxury you all take for granted! The flag will stay up through the elections, that is for sure! Aaron and Peter have been singing for days now, "American F$%^ Yah"! It is funny the first 100 times you hear it....

Punkin Time!

I have the cutest family. I am blessed. We dragged Peter away from the Seahawks game to go to a Pumpkin Patch! The kids all slept on the way, but when we get there they were excited. There was a corn maze that was truly aMAZing. If you got all 12 locations, you could win $100,000. We tried without the map for awhile, but then resorted to the map realizing we didn't have enough time to wander two miles worth of path. Roman talked of Alien movies he had seen, and Alana was very eager to get all twelve markers. We got 4. HA! We then picked our pumpkins. Roman getting a HUGE one, Alana getting a long skinny green one with a long top and Dante picking the largest of them all. He then pointed to many he wanted his dad to put in our wheel borrow. It was adorable. They are all adorable, my husband, his kids, our kids....our family. Again, I am blessed!

This isn't for me?

Oh the joys of traveling with a toddler. I feel so sorry for the fellow that sat in front of Dante on the way back from Denver. Dante kicked him for three hours straight. On top of that Dante told us in no uncertain terms he was not happy about being locked in that chair for so long. Peter was a trouper, pulling out all the stops. The best time consuming project was ripping each and every page out of the Sky Shopping magazine. The truth is, we should have let him have some of this Scotch prior to take off. I am sure all those around us would have liked a drunk sleeping baby better than our happy loud unhappy kicking cutie pie. I remember my mom saying once about Aaron, "if he wasn't so cute he wouldn't have made it." I get that statement a bit better now.

Independence

Dante is nothing if not independent. He wants to do everything on his own. He is currently feeding himself and doing a very good job. This series of photos makes me laugh, joy, determination and the look of "what? I've got this handled"!

Here comes fall

Every day I am amazed at what Dante understands. He is using sign language with a real understanding. His words are "all done", "more" and "please". He uses them in all sorts of situations and it thrills me. Both he and I are gather great joy from the communication. As the weather turns and we wait the fast approaching birth of our second child I am so thankful for being graced with Dante. He is such a good boy and truly very easy to care for. He rarely complains and as long as he is fed and rested all is golden. I can only hope that his baby brother is half as delightful!