Thanksgiving Festivities

Today was the most relaxing Thanksgiving we've ever had! We spent the morning laying around and straightening up the house and watching movies. We even enjoyed some rain in the early morning. Around 1:30 we headed over to Grandma and Grandpa Webb's house for dinner. We had a lot of fun there. Cade and Myla enjoyed playing with their cousins. Grandma Webb also prepared a fun turkey activity for the grandkids to do. (Sorry for the dark, blurry pic)
They are both saying "turkey!" in this picture. :) What they did was tell Grandma or Aunt Jamie what they were thankful for and then Grandma or Jamie wrote it on a feather and then the kids glued it on and colored the turkey. I love the heart they glued on too. The kids loved it and are very proud of their turkeys. If you look closely on one of Myla's turkey feathers it says, "Aunt Jamie." I love that. We all gave Jamie a hard time because she was the one who wrote on Myla's feathers. But Jamie asked her what she was thankful for and she pointed to Jamie and said "you." Myla does love her Aunt Jamie.

After dinner we headed over to my Grandma Medlin's house for some pie with my mom and aunts, uncles and cousins. Cade really, really, really enjoyed his chocolate pie. He even asked for seconds, which is really weird for Cade. And is was some stinkin' rich chocolate pie. The kids played in the dirt making mudpies while the adults watched and chatted about whether or not we were going shopping on black Friday. We are, just in case you were wondering. :)

Then we came home, took baths and played around. It was a very nice, relaxing day. And now...

Let the Christmas season officially begin!!

What I'm Most Thankful For

Have a very happy Thanksgiving!

My Sweets

Just a few pics that warm my heart:

Some Daddy time.

Cade is obsessed with this "lion." He told me I had to take a picture of it with him and Gav.

Myla and Cade are really best buds. They love each other. It's the sweetest thing to hear them playing and out of the blue Myla will say, "I lub you Cade." And Cade will say, "I love you too, Myla."

Oh...They Make Me Laugh

Last night I went in to check on the kids and this is what I found:

This is Myla trying to sleep with a bed full of toys and shoes. There were legos, crayons, a pack of diaper, boots, cars, Thomas trains...so much stuff on her bed. So funny. They just crack me up.
She also loves the new hats Aunt Aubs sent and wouldn't let me take it off of her. I woke her up when I took all the toys off and tried to take the hat off but she started crying so I left it on. Those flowers are a craft project from Cade's preschool last year. I guess she really likes it. :)

Cade had his fair share of legos and other toys on his bed. He started crying when I started taking the cube away (the thing on his pillow). He said his toys were sleeping in there. They are so funny. I never know what I'm going to find in the morning.

Crazy Eights

My friend Hollie tagged me to do the crazy eights...and I've been a lazy blogger lately (although I do have a camera full of photos begging to be posted) so here I go:

8 shows I love to watch:
1. What Not to Wear
2. Fringe
3. The Big Bang Theory
4. Law and Order: CI
5. Whatever, Martha
6. Dora the Explorer (I put this here because I love it when my kids watch it. It give me a few minutes to do the dishes or throw a load in or blog. Ok, mostly blog.)
7. The Office
8. Pushing Daisies

8 of my favorite Restaurants:
1. Chevy's
2. Cafe Rio
3. Arby's
4. Texas Roadhouse
5. Red Robin
6. Souper Salad
7. Some Burros
8. Cousins Subs

8 things that happened yesterday (I'm expected to remember?):
1. We got the cutest hats my sis-in-law made us for Christmas in the mail (love, love, love the early Christmas gifts by the way Aubs)
2. Made a little boy cry
3. Made pumpkin waffles for dinner
4. Carried the laundry upstairs to fold, and never got around to it
5. Made cute hair clips for Myla
6. Went to Hobby Lobby
7. Cursed my car, Ms Frizzle, for being sick, then apologized to it, patted it on the dashboard and asked it to stay alive until Kevin graduates
8. Went to the midnight showing of Twilight. Yes, I'm crazy, I saw it...at midnight...with all the teeny-bops who wore "I Heart Edward" t-shirts and squealed everytime his face came on screen. Dawn, Nicki and I went. It was fun to hang out together. I have to say though, you know you're getting old when you think the Dad is hotter than the guy who is supposed to be the hottest guy on the planet.

8 things I am looking forward to:
1. Thanksgiving weekend...four whole days with Kev, no school and no work!
2. Christmas
3. Kevin being finished with school
4. Finishing Myla's Christmas dress...it's being a beast right now and I want to give up.
5. Rachel's first b-day party tonight
6. Bradley coming over to play this morning
7. Winning the biggest loser contest...that's right, I'll be taking the pot y'all.
8. Gavin sleeping through the night. I've got serious bags under my eyes. Serious bags.

8 things on my wish list:
1. Gavin sleeping through the night.
2. Serger
3. Cupboards painted next weekend.
4. New stove. She's burning half my food and leaving the other half undone.
5. Someone to come clean my house for me. :)
6. Peace on earth
7. Happy vehicle
8. Gavin sleeping through the night. Did I already say that? Yeah, that's why I need him to sleep through the night. My memory is fading.

8 people I tag:
1. Jamie
2. Michelle
3. Beka
4. Alisa
5. Heidi
6. Abbey
7. Jill
8. Heather

The Gavman's Fun

Gavin is growing up so fast! Sometimes he'll do something new and I'll think that he shouldn't be doing that already. But then I remember that he is 5 months old. Well, he's been pretty restless lately, not wanting to just lay on the floor or be in the swing or be held. So we got him a new toy...his first non-hand-me-down toy! It's a little walker-type thing that he can sit in and play with toys, but he can't walk around in it...just bounce up and down. He LOVES it! He was laughing so hard when we put him in there. He couldn't get enough of the toys and the sounds they made. He and Cade had a good ol' time playing with each other. It warmed our hearts. I wish we could've gotten how hard he was chuckling on video, but we ran out of tapes. Bummer. But, I did get some cute pics.

Playtime

The weather is beautiful..finally! This week we went to the park with our Haws cousins. It was a great park out in Chandler--perfect for little ones.

Myla Connor with his dinosaur
Gavin smiling at Rachel.

Sweet Rachel

Jared

Cade
This kids have been playing outside a lot more now that the weather is nice. One of their favorite things to do is draw with sidewalk chalk. This was the result yesterday...

Myla's pink hands.
And Cade's blue hands. It didn't only get on their hands of course...it got everywhere! Good thing chalk washes off easily.

Pero

There's a chill in the air! 'Tis the season for Pero. Mmmmm.

Hope

Whew! It's over. No more phone calls. No more attack ads. No more speculating. No more confusing politics, wondering who we can trust...for a brief time anyway. One thing I have observed throughout this election season is how divided the country seems to be. It makes me very uncomfortable. Does it have to be that way? Don't we all basically want the same things? To be free, to be safe, to be able to provide for our families, to be happy? Whether or not the election turned out the way I wanted, I do feel hope for our future and the future of our children. Without hope we live in a dreary world. We can be unified as a country. This isn't the Democrat States of America or Republican States of America. This is the UNITED States of Amercia. It seems that can be forgotten.

I love what John McCain said last night in his concession speech:

"These are difficult times for our country. And I pledge to him (Barack Obama) tonight to do all in my power to help him lead us through the many challenges we face. I urge all Americans ... I urge all Americans who supported me to join me in not just congratulating him, but offering our next president our good will and earnest effort to find ways to come together to find the necessary compromises to bridge our differences and help restore our prosperity, defend our security in a dangerous world, and leave our children and grandchildren a stronger, better country than we inherited. Whatever our differences, we are fellow Americans. And please believe me when I say no association has ever meant more to me than that...

I call on all Americans, as I have often in this campaign, to not despair of our present difficulties, but to believe, always, in the promise and greatness of America, because nothing is inevitable here. Americans never quit. We never surrender. We never hide from history. We make history. Thank you, and God bless you, and God bless America."

And so I choose to hope.

Don't Forget to...

A Little Cuteness

As I was making dinner today I looked out into the living room to see how the kids were doing. This is all I see of Gavin:

Pretty much all I can see of him are his cute little feet poking out of the blanket. I had to take a picture.I LOVE baby feet...especialy when they curl their little toes. So sweet!

The Simple Woman's Daybook

Here is something new I thought I'd try. For more day books go on over to see Peggy at The Simple Woman.

For Today...

Outside my Window...the sun is shining brightly!

I am thinking...about how to develop more patience.

From the learning rooms...potty training!

I am thankful for...sweet little ones that I get to love on everyday.

From the kitchen...chicken fried rice and eggrolls.

I am wearing...my workout clothes, currently not serving their purpose. :)

I am reading...Brisingr.

I am hoping...for a better world for my children.

I am creating...aprons, always aprons!! And loving them.

Around the house...it's pretty quiet. The kids are napping and I'm cleaning, and blogging.

One of my favorite things...is sewing. I'm in my groove!

A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week...potty train Myla, vote!, clean my bedroom and attempt to remove the fingernail polish Myla dripped all over the carpet, sew some more!

Here is a picture thought I am sharing with you...

How can you not love aprons when they can be so dang cute?!

Halloweeeeeeen

That's how we pronounce Halloween in the McMillan family now.

Halloween this year was fun. I think it is the first year that the kids truly appreciated that Halloween = free candy. And they got into it!

Here we are out trick-or-treating. Myla said, "twick-tor-tweat" with her cute little lisp. Cade just held out his bag. We couldn't get him to say it at all.

Ninja Turtle Cade with his cousin Spiderman Jared.

Ballerina Myla with Grandma Cat. Are ballerinas supposed to have pizza sauce on their face?
Tigger Gavin

Here are the Haws and McMillan kids enduring the papparazi-like flashing of Nicki's and my camera. It was funny. I think they are used to it by now.

Well, October is over. Now I don't have to feel guilty anymore for the days when I didn't follow through on my 31 Days of October plans. I did learn that I do a lot more crafts and educational things with the kids when I plan them out in advance. I think I am going to try something like it again, just not as ambitious as to do it every single day. We still need time for free play. With October over, now we can look forward to Thanksgiving and Christmas. Yay!!