Thanksgiving in DFW - day 3

Friday we celebrated our "big meal," but the morning began with more GI Joe time!!! 

 THen the boys eventually went out back and the football began!

 One of the things I am most thankful for... my wonderful husband!

 Then we took the kids to the park.  They loved playing on the swings, running from Daddy monster and hiking down to the creek.

 Grandma and Grandpa stayed home to fry chicken for lunch.

 While lunch was cooking, Justin, Karyn, Jason and I took the kids down to a new creek for look for fossils and explore.  Austin stayed up top with the mommas and was full of smiles and cute things!

 The three big kids had fun exploring!!

 Then it was finally time to eat!  Look at that sweet kid table!

 Here's our feast... fried chicken, mashed potatoes, green beans, and rolls.

 After eating, we took the kids back dow to look for more fossils!  They collected three pail-fuls of rocks and treasures!

 Before Justin's family headed home, we took some family photos...

We got up early on Saturday morning and drove home.  It was a nice break and a fun visit with family!

Thanksgiving Trip to DFW - day 1 and 2

The kids had the whole week off of school, and on Monday and Tuesday we enjoyed some calm time with just the 4 of us.  On Wednesday we got up early and headed north.  Our first stop was to visit Aunt Evelyn.  She was not feeling too well, but was up to chatting.  We stayed for over an hour and left encouraged.  Revelation 14:13 is Evelyn's favorite verse... "Then I heard a voice from heaven say, “Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.”

“Yes,” says the Spirit, “they will rest from their labor, for their deeds will follow them.” 

Our next stop was the world's greatest trading card shop on Arlington.  We stayed here a good, long while.  The owner is probably in his early 70's and was so personable and loved that there were two little boys interested in cards.  We left with a bag full of goodies!

 Then we made it to Grandpa and Grandma's house.  We were all hungry, so we went to downtown Roanoke and ate at a new burger joint.  It was GREAT!! They had homemade root beer that I would go back just for the root beer!!  The burgers were all original.  Jason has the buffalo-venison burger and I had the turkey burger.  It was SO yummy!!!

 It was early even though it was dark, so the kids started playing with the best thing in DFW... Jason's old GI Joe toys!

 The next morning was TG Day.  Since Justin's family was spending the day with Karyn's side, we had a low-key non-traditional day... and it was wonderful!  All 4 boys invented broomball in the backyard.  All you need is a wiffle ball, 2 brooms and 2 plastic golf clubs.  They played until their feet were brown and they smelled like puppies!

 For a cool down, we played Cars Monopoly... our favorite!

 Rylan showed Grandpa our new scrapbooks!

 And for dinner we enjoyed chicken spaghetti.  It was a great way to end a great day!

Thanksgiving Sweet Treats

We went up to DFW for TG this year.  The day before we left the boys and I did a little baking.  We have done so much baking in the past and with school, it has been a little harder this year.  So all three of us were so excited to get in the kitchen and get messy!

I had pinned a ton of TG ideas, so I let the boys pick which one they wanted to make.  Rylan picked the Indian Teepees.  We started by mixing a yellow cake mix and then baked it in sugar ice cream cones.  That was tricky!!  After snipping off the tip, Rylan dipped the big end in chocolate and then in green sugars to be the grass.

 The finishing touch was adding pretzel sticks to the top!

 They turned out really cute and tasted fantastic.  He was so proud of his creations and LOVED eating them the rest of the week!

 Jacob picked Pilgrim Hats.  He started by unwrapping the Reese's cups.

 They he laid out the Fudge Stripe cookies.  I squirted a bit of icing onto the Fudge Stripe and he put the Reese's on top of the icing.  Then I added an orange slice square.

 They turned out really cute too!  And they were a hit with the family!

I can't wait for our next baking experience!!!  I love my little chefs!

Front Yard Football

November was full of football... either the Wildcats on Friday nights, college on Saturdays, keeping up with Jason's MOnkey Pharaoh Fantasy team on Sundays or DAILY front yard football with Dad... this was a month of football!

Here is Rylan being the QB... ready for the snap!

 Rylan passing like Aaron Rodgers and Jacob trying to be JJ Watt and bat the ball down.

 Now Jacob's being receiver...

 Touchdown!  Jason has been trying to teach the boys some basic plays... the Slant, the Out, the Curl and more.  Jacob is really picking them up and thinks he is hot stuff! :)

 My three favorite football players!  These are the good old days!

Here's Jacob's play book - created by Daddy!

GI Joe book

The boys are officially in the "GI Joe phase" of their childhood.  It all began with Jason's old toys that Grandma kept.  Then for the boys 6th BD, Landon gave them a few figurines of their own.  Landon's dad let us borrow his GI Joe price/info guide.  It has become the favorite book of both boys!  I think they have the whole thing memorized! hahaha  Jason could not be more happy with this new toy love... which I think is adorable! :)

Holly's BD and Blessing Bags

The week before Thanksgiving at Bible Study we had a little fun before and after the studying!  Holly's BD was TG Day and we HAD to celebrate with a surprise breakfast!  We had Buc-ee's breakast burritos, pigs and something sweet (that I made and can't remember!).  Holly was surprised, we laughed and talked and gave her her Subway Art set. All in all, it was a great way to celebrate one of my besties!

 After doing a little studying of God's Word we got to doing some serving!  Last year we made some blessing bags and we made some more this year!  We each brought a few items and placed them on the coffee table.

 Let the bag stuffing begin!

 Sweet little Kylie even got in on the servant fun!

 Now to find some people in need to share with a bag of goodies and prayers from us to them.

Thanksgiving Feast

The Thursday before Thanksgiving, the Kindergarten classes had their Thanksgiving Feast in the school cafeteria.  Rylan's lunch is about 20 minutes before Jacob's, so we got to have lots of time individually and together!  Here is Rylan and Mommy!

 The food was surprisingly good!  This was my tray... turkey, dressing, cranberry, sweet potatoes. beans, roll and pumpkin pie.  The dressing had lots of flavor!  The kids got to choose mashed potatoes or chicken fingers too.

 Rylan thought the meal was great too!  In class, he made a cute Indian headband with battle codes on it.

 Brotherly love at the Feast!

 Jason and the boys!  It was really fun to all 4 share a meal in the cafeteria.    I was pleasantly surprised at how calm it was!  It was very organized and went very smooth.

 Jacob only ate the turkey and my pumpkin pie, but thought the experience was great!