Stuffed Like a Turkey

I don't care about all the turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes that come with Thanksgiving because all I really care about is being with family that I love so much! I wish we could transport the family of David, Jamie, Bob and Dan in a George Jetson flying saucer and it'd be the most perfect holiday ever.

Oh yea, and we love the football part of Thanksgiving.

We spent the WHOLE WEEK at Molly's house so David didn't have to commute back and forth to work and all that unlimited time together as a family of 4 was priceless reminding us of what we're missing every week and taking steps to change that. Difficult steps, but ones that need to be taken to be reunited. Sometimes I wish life came with a manual and steps to follow to make it easier, but we keep trudging along, praying, hoping and wishing for guidance along the way, leaning on people to be our rocks more than ever before.

If I say it once I'll say it 100x, but seeing the cousins playing together is like having Leave it to Beaver and Wally with us because it feels so wholesome, bonding and genuine. It's like I get to witness the early stages of what family means , knowing these will be relationships that will last in their life forever and the loyalty, friendship and dependency on each other will never waiver. Our kids are so perfectly separated with every age range represented (1, 3, 6, 7, 13, 15) but even though some are just a few years apart, but it's like 100 years in kid time.

I still can't believe Jordan and Katie are considered the big kids because they are still so little to me and I remember where I was when Jen and Jamie told me they were pregnant with each and it seems like just yesterday, but also like 200 years ago. They seem 200 years older than my kids because I can't fast forward to Lily and Grady as teenagers. My screen just goes black. I love the age of my kids so much and also like to peek at what's to come knowing it just gets sweeter and sweeter with every year.

Before the big kids got there, we headed to Monkey Joes which is like a bounce house place on crack. Except there's not drug dealers and is probably the coolest place on the planet for kids (and adults). Monkey Joe decided to stop by and say hi. All the kids were excited except for one little 13 month old.

speaking of that cute little 13 month old, he's walking (and falling and crashing) everywhere causing me great angst as he looks like Rocky Balboa most days. Then the bruises and cuts heal and more are to follow. We've rescheduled our family picture a gazillion times because of the black eyes, but I think we're just gonna have to snap and go with it signing his name as Mike (Tyson) on the card.

The weather screamed at us to go to the park so we take the obligatory trip where the kids had a blast until Grady choked (again) threw up everywhere, freaked everyone out and left in just his shorts with no shirt looking like a trailer park baby. My family used to live in a trailer park so no offense to trailer families. They're the bomb-diggity.



pre-choking-vomit attack...




I wish I had a secret mic on the kids where I could listen in like the secret service to find out what goes down with these little ones...

or the big ones...


and we came home to decorate our own house to make a memorable Christmas for the kids. I know I should love putting up Christmas and sing we wish you a merry christmas caroling all the way from the attic to the lighting of the tree, but I dont enjoy one moment of the mess, lugging, organizing chaos, and clutter until it's all up and then I want to leave it up for 365 days. The kids make all the work worth it though. Lily is gung ho about Santa this year and everything Christmas. We're introducing our Elf on the Shelf in a few days and he'll rock her little world. Kids make the holidays sparkle in ways I never expected and each year it gets sweeter and the pressure for a memorable holiday rises just a little more as the understanding and memory rises through the roof.

life is good (and tricky)

fall and summer everyday...

A lot has changed in a year....here's our family of 4 just last year.
Grady was a mere 2-3 weeks old tops.
.


and now look at our family of 4... we look like a real family with 2 big kids which is crazy cool....so much to be thankful for this year. and every year.

and Grady took a trip to the patch with his best pals Ross and Elliot...Kinsley too, but she was too shy to join the boys. Ok, maybe she wasn't there yet. Or maybe she was putting on her lipstick. Or maybe she was intimidated by all the chest bumping going on. can u handle the cuteness? Ross' shirt having charlie brown on it really shows the resemblance between Grady and his other identity.


switching gears a bit with the weather which is what we do in FL almost every other day, we visited our 2nd favorite water park when it was warmer. David has been gone a lot more than we're used to with his new job and so the quality time has gone through the roof when he is home and I especially see how unique and strong his bond is with lily because of the joy they have together and the sadness when they're apart. She is a lucky little girl to have a daddy like him and i feel like it's a gift she'll be able to use everyday of her life. She just doesn't know it yet.


and so will our little boy Grady who smiles from sunrise to sunset just because he gets to breathe our air....he exudes joy.

although he wasn't so sure about this waterslide...you can barely see him in the waterworks...



I love that my kids are surrounded by love wherever they turn by such strong role models; people with hearts of gold molding them along the way subconsciously chanting
"you are special. you are important. you matter. you mean a lot to a lot of people" in their ears every single solitary day.


Grady just turned 13 months yesterday, but he looks just as cute at 11 months. Spiked hair and all...


and our little ballerina is such a meditator of sorts lately...she'll suddenly declare she wants quiet time, insist on shutting off every single light in the house so it's pitch black only illuminated by the sliver of the moon and say "i just wanna wewax (relax) for a couple of minutes". I think she's gonna be a granola girl because she will race across the house to shut off a light left on ; she's hypervigilant about it saying she's saving 'ewectwicity" and scold me if i let the water run too long, she obsesses about picking up litter when we're out and about, shuts off fans religiously, and would never leave a room without shutting off a light. She even likes to unplug her nightlight to save some ewectwicity.
Guess who turned 1 together? (Not so)Baby Ella and Grady...they're connected in ways they'll never quite fully comprehend, but they sure like to babble together.


and share toys...

and play chase...

and share their hearts with each other...

and play peek-a-boo...

speaking of peek-a-boo, guess who wants to play hide and go seek around the clock? Good thing I played the game well into my teens and stopped only because no one would play it with me in college so we're a match made in heaven. I can't wait until Lily and Grady play it together on their own instead of Grady on my lap babbling like a crazy baby giving us away in seconds.

oh, there's our little Kinsleycakes....see? i told you she was quite the flirt.

Grady likes to play hard to get....

i'd pay big money to see what's going on in their cute little heads....

budding friendships are the cutest thing on the planet...

our little schoolgirl is thriving and loving school (other than the fact that she has to say good bye to me no matter how many times i kiss her hand)

Grady just takes it all in stride watching and observing all the while...

and unrolling 347 rolls of toilet paper, and (trying to) splash in the toilet water like he's in the bathtub...

no matter the weather, life is good.

Our little peanuts

i dont know how to contain my excitement when they look this cute...




a few months ago, molly mentioned g looked like Charlie Brown with his pumpkin sized head and striped shirt he was wearing. I immediately went online and bought his adorable Charlie Brown costume. Thanks to mom for help turning his black pants into shorts!!

Still searching the Webster's dictionary to describe this boy and his happy heart. I don't think those words exist...


and Lily was super jazzed to be Snoopy...


even Snoopy likes the Ipad...she'd correct us every time we called her Lily and say "i not yiyi, me snoopy" so we happily played along.



I seriously love seeing all the kids dressed up at Halloween and think we should make it a monthly tradition; like the 3rd saturday of every month is dress up and go get candy from our neighbors. we could all trade costumes because they're all so darn cute and creative.

and it brings the neighborhood in such a wholesome, leave it to beaver way...thanks Heidi for insisting on this picture and corralling everyone together....so worth the effort!


Thanks to Heidi and Jeff for hosting their 4th annual chili and hotdogs party....lily loved the hotdogs so much she had 2 of them! Say what?


and brings out the crazy drivers. I saw Peyton cruising around and i complimented her cool corvette car commenting on how spiffy she looked all dolled up...

she said "thank you, actually, it's a Mustang" and zipped off into the sunset. hilarious!

and I dont think I've ever seen a cuter newborn baby costume ever. the peapods were bigger than his sweet little head.

Snoopy snooping around for some sugar for herself...and Charlie Brown....woodstock too



About an hour into trick or treating, Lily complained of ear pain and we thought it was the costume. Brought her to the doctor today and it turns out she has an ear infection and sinus infection. Poor little snoopy-woopy! Good thing she got a bunch of houses under her belt and in her candy bag before it hit her out of the blue. Too bad Im eating it all since her appetite isn't up to par. Grady just smiled and then smiled the whole night...


life is good.