Thanksmas!

We celebrated "Thanksmas" over the weekend at my Aunt Betty and Uncle Mike's house in New Castle, VA. Their daughter and son-in-saw, Jenny and Nick, were in town from Seattle for a holiday visit. They termed the occasion "Thanksmas" since we all got together between Thanksgiving and Christmas to celebrate the holidays. We sure had a great time! Drew and I went along with CC, Day Day and Cristie. Since we were just going for the day and it's about 3 1/2 hours away we decided to take only one car. George stayed home with David cause we thought the car ride would be too much for the little guy (he's not the biggest fan!). Drew on the other hand stayed busy talking to us, watching movies and playing Angry Birds on CC's phone (I refuse to put it on my phone in fear he would beg to play it constantly). Aunt Betty had yummy food, lots of drinks (maybe too many for some people reading this??? Not me, I drove us home!) and games. We all had a blast and enjoyed lots of laughs!

Aunt Betty, Mom and T when we first arrived.
Most of the crew outside of the new cabin Uncle Mike built. He is so talented!

Drew thought the cabin was his own personal playhouse. Here he is in the loft :)

"The mule." So fun to ride around in around their property. Not that I actually rode in it myself! Drew was first to get in every time and somehow Day Day always managed to squeeze in too!

Drew took full advantage of being the only kid there (Whitley didn't join us on the trip because Tom's parents were in town). I was beginning to think Drew continued to run back to the cabin just to see who would race after him and bring him back. This time it was Aunt Cristie AND Mel Mel!

The guys. Drew loved being in that photo!

The cousins from oldest on the left to youngest on the right.

Uncle Mike built an incredible tree house! I wish I had a picture looking up at it. Wonder if it would make you as queasy looking at the picture as it does seeing it in person. Holy cow, it must be the tallest tree house ever built! It has three levels. Here's Drew going up just a few steps.

Jedi Training for Drew's 5th Birthday!

Our Drewby is 5!!! Gosh, that seems like such a big birthday! From the minute his 4th birthday party was over, he's been talking about the Star Wars party he would have for his 5th birthday. He stuck with that theme all year so that's what we went with! He only listed a few kids when we talked about the invite list so I decided to have the party at home this year. Thanks to the internet, I found lots of "Jedi training" games for Star Wars birthday parties. Drew celebrated with David, Whitley and seven good buddies. Although there were ten kids in the house, it didn't seem all that chaotic to me. I tried to organize lots of games to keep them busy and although they enjoyed those, they also just wanted to play. There were lots of costumes, light sabers and other Star Wars fun. Then on Monday the 12th, Drew's actual birthday, he celebrated at school with his classmates. He has really made some good friends there so I'm glad he was able to celebrate with them too. Thank you Sam's Club for the delicious cakes for both parties! Happy birthday to our smart, handsome, funny Drewby!!! We love you to pieces!

We went out to dinner at Red Robin on Drew's birthday. We had such a nice dinner out. It made George and I laugh that we all had such a good time. Drew turning five made me feel kind of old and then the fact that we had a fun dinner at Red Robin just confirmed that fact. Oh well, can't remember a time that I've been any happier than now :)

In costume (of course!) for his party.

Drew really wanted cool decorations. Here's what we did with the dining room table.

Whitley plays "Pin the ear on Yoda"

Stomping out the hot lava (red bubble wrap).

Grabbing the candy after attacking the Darth Vader pinata.

The whole group.

The "Yoda soda" was probably the biggest hit of all! See the empty punch bowl? Green sherbet and Sprite, an easy and fun treat! I glued Yoda ears on the green cups and George drew Yoda faces on them. They turned out really cute!

Tiger Fan Heaven

We seem to become bigger and bigger LSU fans the more time goes by! Seeing the Tigers play is definitely one of the biggest things we miss about Louisiana. We have been yearning to see them this season and were finally able to last weekend at the SEC Championship. Big thanks to Ward for the tickets! Not only did we see the Tigers play (and win!) but George and I had a fun little getaway as well. We drove to Atlanta, but without the kiddos, it was kind of relaxing. We talked and listened to our Tiger tunes and before we knew it we were there! Our first stop was dinner at Kelly Butler's! She is one of my best friends and I was beyond thrilled to see her!!! She and her husband Jeff were fabulous hosts and made a delicious dinner. Their boys, Clay and Austin, were sweet as pie and I enjoyed reading them a bedtime story since I missed my own little guys. After lots of laughs and good food, we headed downtown to our hotel. We grabbed a beer at a nearby bar and enjoyed seeing so many people in purple and gold! There was a dessert cafe attached to our hotel so we ended our fun evening with two huge pieces of delicious cheesecake. We slept pretty late on Saturday (8:30 I think!) and then went on a run. We ran through the College Gameday area and tailgate spots sporting our purple shirts. Gotta love those Tiger fans that screamed out to us that we were nuts and should be drinking! The morning flew by and soon it was time to go see Ward at the pep rally. We were like kids at Christmas when the band started playing! Makes me giddy just thinking about it! We sure enjoyed catching up with Ward and wish it wouldn't have gone by so quickly. We met up with Kelly and Jeff for a quick drink before the game and then headed for the Georgia dome! If you watched the game, you know LSU didn't exactly start off strong. But when they got ready, they really got ready and and we had an absolute blast cheering for them! Geaux Tigers! A couple of more beers post game with Kelly and Jeff, some yummy greasy food and another piece of cheesecake later, we called it a night. We got up and on the road pretty early Sunday, excited to see our the boys. They had a fabulous weekend as well, spending it in Myrtle Beach with their grandparents. Thank you to CC, Day Day and Me-Ma for all you did! They entertained the boys with a movie, Christmas train ride at the mall, visit to see Santa, beach trip, shopping and lots of good eats. A text I received from Daddy before the trip? "What do the boys like that you won't buy them?" I think they were a tad spoiled!

Me and Kel!
George and I on top of Tiger One at the SEC Fan Fare pregame.

In front of all of the LSU scores. Impressive season!

Geaux Tigers!!!

When I told the boys they were going to the beach, David went and got this suitcase of CC's that is at our house, wheeled it to his room, threw five pajamas in it, sat inside and grinned! Hysterical!

Me-Ma knew that the local mall does train rides during the holidays. It was a big hit with the boys!

And Bass Pro Shop does free pictures with Santa. Mom took a picture of the picture and texted it to me. She's pretty darn good with that smartphone! The grandmas said David was very shy and Drew spoke real softly to Santa.

Thankfull (as in, stuffed!)

We had a very nice Thanksgiving with Judy, my parents, the Watson's and Tom's brother and sister-in-law, Dave and Terri. We hosted but it was so easy since everyone helped by bringing a dish or two (three for Cristie and Tom!). We had way too much food but it was all delicious. I thought it was one of the best Thanksgivings. The weather was perfect so the kids were able to play outside and we enjoyed our fried turkey right by the pot! Of course the occasion was extra special because we were able to celebrate with our loving family which we are so thankful for!

We went to see Mom and Dad the weekend before Thanksgiving. It was a gorgeous weekend so the boys were able to play at the beach for a bit.

The Davis family went out for the Cary Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving Day. Drew ran his first mile as a participant in the fun run! Way to go Drew! Then I ran the 8k. I placed in my age group and won a gift card to Inside Out Sports! It wasn't much but covered my entry for the race.

Drew proudly showing off his participation ribbon.

The David's didn't run but sweetly came out to cheer us on! We missed having CC there but it was nice of her to offer to stay behind and get the turkey started.

David wanted a shirt like Drew so I gave him mine :)

The first of two delicious Thanksgiving meals. Thanksgiving day warmed up and we had a great afternoon outside. We dug into our first turkey, a fried one, as soon as it hit the table. After pigging out, we played and hung out, hoping to work up an appetite for round 2, a more formal sit down dinner. I can't believe how much we ate!

Sweet Cristie brought Christmas ornaments for the kids to decorate. They were really into it! We also had some other crafts which kept them busy. Cristie did an awesome job of entertaining the kids which earned her a seat at the head table for dinner, meaning the non-kids table :) It was a funny story! Mom, Dad and I sat with the kids but actually had a very nice meal and good conversations. Well, except for one little incident. We went around the table and shared what we are thankful for. I broke Drew's heart when I didn't say his name first during my turn. I didn't name people, I just mentioned some things I was thankful for. When I looked at him I could see the hurt as he started to tear up and I realized what I had done. It was hard to explain to him that as a Mom, of course he and David are what I'm most thankful for. All he kept saying was, "Well, if you are most thankful for me than why didn't you say it first?" I couldn't dig my way out of it! I spent the next few days reminding him how thankful I am for him and he eventually got over it. Whew!

David and Me-Ma preparing the whipped topping for pies. David always makes his way to the kitchen, stool in hand, if he hears someone cooking!

I love this picture!

Whitley with her Uncle Dave and Aunt Terri.

Silly Drew making us laugh.

Had to get a picture of Tom and George.

We put a movie on after dinner and those little rascals asked for popcorn. Day Day delivered of course, not one but two bags of movie theater butter.

We worked on Christmas decorations over Thanksgiving weekend. Had to share this picture of the tree after the boys put the ornaments on. They were so proud of their work. Their work is very clear, David's ornaments are all at the very bottom and Drew's are about a foot higher. It's been three days and I'm embarrassed to share that I haven't gotten around to fixing it. Hope it doesn't tip over before I do!

Little Piggy

The David's were having some serious laughs playing "Little Piggy" so I recorded a short piece of it. David insisted on doing both of Day Day's feet, both of my feet, both of Drew's feet and then would start over. Even with all of those turns, he still didn't have it right. Bless his heart.

Blog Catch Up

To play catch-up on the blog, I have a few pictures to share with news on what we've been up to the last couple of weeks...Drew was part of another research study. This one was an EEG (Electroencephalogram) study at Duke, studying brain wave activity in four and five year olds. It took close to an hour to prepare the cap. Then the study itself lasted 40 minutes, plus an additional 15 minutes spent trying to fix a problem with one of the electrodes. It was a long process but Drew was super cooperative and even a bit funny. The lady in charge commented that he was one of the best participants they've had! I was proud :) She said that with kids this age they have to double the amount of participants because so much of the data can't be used due to kids moving their heads, etc. Even a quick blink blurs the data so you can imagine what results they must get from most squirming preschoolers! I watched the whole thing from a viewing room next door. That's where I took the picture above. A student entertained Drew with cars, books and stickers while he remained still and looked straight forward during the capping process. Each of the 32 electrodes on his cap had to be filled with gel and hooked up to wires. Then the study began which consisted of Drew watching objects flash on a screen (two dogs, four chairs, one banana, etc) and a voice in his ear bud would call out what he was seeing. But sometimes the number of objects shown and the number said were different. They were trying to determine the connection with what kids see and what they hear. Pretty interesting. Come to find out, you don't need the brain waves to figure out whether Drew noticed the numbers were different. He let us know by rolling his eyes and shrugging his shoulders. It was pretty funny. The research folks keep the kids interested in the video by playing clips of Toy Story in between. It gets them focused so when the lame pictures start popping up again they will continue to focus on the screen. It was two minutes of Toy Story followed by two minutes of pictures and that continued for forty minutes. They took two breaks as well in which Drew was showered with compliments and bribed with Goldfish and M&M's. One of the students asked us before they began if Drew would like Goldfish or M&M's to enjoy on the breaks. He happily said both. Of course he did! When it was all finished, Drew got to pick a toy from the toy chest and then we headed home. During the drive home I asked Drew what he thought of the research study and his response cracked me up. "Well, it was a little bit boring because there were so many commercials in Toy Story and I really wanted to watch Toy Story. And the commercials were kind of annoying Mom because sometimes the guy couldn't even count. He said, 'Look it! Three chairs' and you know what Mom? There were only two chairs. Isn't that annoying? May I have more M&M's Mom?" They gave us the leftover snacks which we happily munched on the whole way home. We were glad to help with the study and hope it's a success!
Geaux Tigers! We had such a great day on November 5th when LSU played Alabama. George cranked up the Tiger tunes first thing in the morning and we got more and more excited as the day went on! The boys were dressed in their Tiger gear and looked pretty darn cute :) We made a couple of cajun snacks and settled in to watch the Tigers win! David watched the first quarter and Drew stayed up till halftime. That was pretty late here on the east coast!

Big news for our family!!! Day Day retired on November 4th and he and CC moved permanently to their house in Myrtle Beach. Whoop whoop!!! They came through on their way and we celebrated with a homecoming, retirement and birthday celebration (Day Day's 64th) at the Watson's. So fun! In this picture, the boys are excited about opening Day Day's gifts for him.
Welcome to the Carolinas Mom and Dad! We are SO HAPPY you are here!!!


CC and Whitley sing Happy Birthday.

Soccer is over for the fall and as much as Drew loved it, he may love this trophy even more! The ball spins (cool stuff!) and his name is on it - what's not to love?! The season ended kind of crappy though because the last two games were rained out. Due to tournaments and other scheduled games on the field, Drew's games weren't made up. What a bummer! Guess the U5's get the short end of the stick when it comes to game importance. Can't say I'm surprised! Looking forward to the spring season already!

Halloween

With Drew's costume craze, it's no wonder he was a big fan of halloween this year! He's been talking for months about what costume to wear. He has so many good options that he really had a hard time deciding. I thought Jack Sparrow was going to win (it was also my favorite) but he decided on "Spider Man with muscles," probably because it was new to the collection. A few minutes before heading out to trick or treat he tried to switch to the Green Lantern but I put a stop to the madness! David was a precious little pirate! The Watson's joined us again this year and the three kids had a great time trick or treating. I couldn't believe how quickly we moved through the neighborhood this year! We have an obscene amount of candy. When it was all over the boys asked when it would be halloween again?!? I responded that thankfully it would be a whole year.

Carving pumpkins with Daddy. I wish I would have gotten a picture of the finished products, they were quite good! We also caved and got some outdoor decorations this year. After taking the boys on a tour of the neighborhood one night, Drew sweetly asked why we didn't have anything spooky at our house like so many of our neighbors. We didn't get a five foot black cat with a moving head or a RIP tombstone with a skeleton in the bushes but did hang a big spider web from our porch and added a bat too. The boys seemed pleased :)
"Me help" turned into David going back and forth to the kitchen getting more tools. Here he is with two scoopers he thought George may need. He wasn't happy with how long it was taking to carve his pumpkin, hense the fake smile.

I got the boys pirate earrings and although they wore them around the house quite a bit, they weren't worn on actual Halloween. Spider Man doesn't wear an earring and David decided it hurt his ear.

Puss in Boots! Sweet Mae Mae took Drew and Whitley to see the movie and Drew was only home about two minutes before coming out in this get-up. I thought it was pretty darn good considering what he had to work with!

George and I went to a halloween party at Cristie and Tom's the weekend before halloween. We dressed as vampires so had lots of scary makeup on. Drew was very impressed and wanted to do the same. He made me promise to give him a scary face in the morning and as you can see, he didn't forget and I kept my promise. David wanted to get in on the action too of course and loved saying "me scuwey" as he checked himself out in the mirror.

Halloween! It was rainy and cold but it didn't put a damper on the excitement!

David's ready.

So is Spiderman. He was kind of glad it rained because then his spider rainboots became the perfect accessory!

Drew rocked the Spiderman poses all night long!