After Thanksgiving Magic....

We hung around here for Thanksgiving this year since Mommy had to work the Saturday and Sunday after. We had dinner with our friends and neighbors, Christine and Carl. Carl fried his first Thanksgiving turkey in what they call a "turkey fryer" and we call a "crawfish pot"! Carl thought it was a bit overdone, but we thought it was yummy! Their two year old, Michael, looks a lot like Daniel--some people even assume they're brothers when we're out together--and both my boys love him. William has even been known to argue with me on occasion that he's their cousin :-)

The day after Thanksgiving is usually when we pull out the Christmas stuff & decorate, after we go searching for a tree, of course! Since we're planning to head home for the holidays, we didn't want to get a live tree this year, so we headed to Lowe's to pick out the perfect artificial one. BUT, before we did all that, the boys were surprised by a little bit of Christmas magic: Trix came back!!

From November 2010

Boy, were they happy to see him! William reminded Daniel that he was going to keep an eye on them & report on their behavior to the North Pole. He also reminded him that you could never, ever touch Trix or his magic might disappear!

After all the Trix excitement (and after breakfast, of course!) we picked out a tree, then rushed home to get out the decorations. After putting the wild man down for a nap, the big boys helped Mommy & Daddy hang all the decorations up on the tree. Every time an ornament came out of a box, one of them yelled, "Oh, my gosh--it's the McQueen one!", etc. I think they might have honestly been as excited to see all of the familiar ornaments as they will be for their gifts on Christmas morning!! (Then again, maybe not!) So, a big thanks to Nana for all the Hallmark ornaments--they were definitely the highlight of our tree decorating this year.

From November 2010

And, the finished product, complete with Hallmark ornaments and homemade preschool creations :-)

From November 2010

Movie Night

There were a couple of Christmas shows that came on TV this week that we recorded for the boys so they could stay up late and watch one night. We put Colin to bed, made popcorn, then snuggled in to watch a Madagascar Christmas Special and then a Kung Fu Panda one. Here is how things started:

From November 2010

And, how they ended! I didn't think Daniel was going to make it all the way through the second show. And, I have to admit--rare four year old snuggles make Mommy very happy!

From November 2010

Just Like Them!

Colin spied a teddy bear in my toy closet today. I bought this for William for the airport the couple of times I flew with both big boys when William was under 3 and Daniel was a teeny one. Colin got very excited when he realized the bear went on his back! It's a BACKPACK! JUST like the big boys use! I had to immediately put it on & then he wanted pictures. Oh, this little ham of mine :-)

From November 2010

From November 2010

Enapay

William's kindergarden class learned all about the Pilgrims and Indians at Thanksgiving time. They had a big Thanksgiving feast right before Thanksgiving and made their own Indian costumes, complete with headgear. Each child had to pick an Indian name and that name was the name they went by at the feast. William was very methodical about choosing his name--we had to get online and look up Indian names and their meanings. He vetoed a ton of them before settling on "Enapay", which is a Native American Souix name meaning "brave". Here is my little Enapay, all costumed up:

From November 2010

And, then just because everyone has to get in on the action, Enapay the second:

From November 2010

And, the third!

From November 2010

And, then just because you can't pull a camera out these days without little man running up to you & yelling "Cheese!":

From November 2010

LSU vs. Ole Miss

My friend Lea and I have tried for two years now to have a big blowout football party for the LSU/Ole Miss football game. Last year, it didn't work out because we were out of town the weekend of the game, but this year, we made sure to keep our calendars free! We invited a few friends and neighbors, scoured cookbooks, made drink lists (and grocery lists, and decoration lists, but who's counting??), and threw together a pretty awesome party, if I do say so myself!

A quick snap of the tiger threatening old Colonel Reb pre-game:

From LSU vs. Ole Miss

Pic of the table, complete with green felt football "field", yard lines with numerical markers, and lots of yummy Southern-inspired food! We had mini-shrimp po-boys (otherwise known as "sliders"), cheeseburger sliders, bacon-Rotel muffins, Louisiana smoked sausage right from the heart of Cajun country, spinach dip, and that was just to start! Red beans and rice was the main part of the meal, and we finished up with ooey-gooey brownies and Southern pecan pie for dessert!

From LSU vs. Ole Miss

From LSU vs. Ole Miss

Lea & I, all decked out in our opposing team gear:

From LSU vs. Ole Miss

Kinda grainy, but here are all the women. Some people chose to support one of the two rival teams (brave, brave, brave people!) and some stayed "neutral" and were very careful to stay away from both red/blue and purple/gold, and still more just wore their own team jerseys:

From LSU vs. Ole Miss

And, the guys:

From LSU vs. Ole Miss

And, of course, we were very happy when the outcome turned out in our favor! Although, the game was a nail-biter and much closer than it was "supposed" to be. Lea was excited that her team hung in there the whole game, & Scott & I were excited that LSU managed to squeak by in the end! Geaux, Tigers!!!!

From LSU vs. Ole Miss

Daniel's Thanksgiving Program

Daniel's preschool has a Thanksgiving dinner every year. Each grade level performs a song and dresses up in Thanksgiving costumes. This year, the two Frog classes were Pilgrims. The parents sit far back from the stage & my camera wasn't behaving very well (and by the end of the night, neither was my toddler!) so I didn't get many good pictures of the performance. Here is one of Daniel heading up to the stage, complete with Pilgrim hat:

From D Thanksgiving feast

William and Shelby waiting patiently for their dinner:

From D Thanksgiving feast

And, Daniel and Luke waiting for theirs:

From D Thanksgiving feast

Overall, a great pre-Thanksgiving celebration with our good friends and "family"!