The adventures of Ted and The Office

This is what I was sent this morning. It is Ted, Chris personal office assistant. Ted apparently is taking care of the turkey this year along with his ax-swinging girlfriend. Not sure about the big orange boulder looking thing in the picture.

Bye Bye Bump

Remember "the bump"?  Well today it went bye bye.  We decided to have the bump removed.  It was a "simple" day surgery procedure.  I say "simple", but whenever your child will be having surgery, of any kind, I don't think "simple" is a great word to use. 

Last night we went over everything he would see and do today.   The surgical group had a virtual tour that we used to tell him all about the procedure.  He was in and out fast.  He had a small defect in his abdomen wall and little fat cells had pushed through causing the bump.  The Dr. removed the cells and fixed the defect.

Here we are waiting to be called.


Getting our vitals checked


In our gown


Post surgery and having a grape popsicle.  Not a very happy boy at this moment, but Mommy and Daddy were thrilled!


Happier to have IV out and PJ's back on.



Ready to head to the car and go home.


Here is his dressing.  He can't take it off for 5 days and has to take it easy of the rough housing with Dad for a while.

Pumpkin pie

Christian and I made our family's famous Pankey Pumpkin pie. It a special recipe from my great grandmother Nettye Pankey. My grandmother still makes them for the holidays. They always make me think of Thanksgiving and Christmas. Now this isn't your traditional pumpkin pie. This is a custard pumpkin pie. It is more creamy, with a little less spice. I don't know that I have ever eaten any other kind of pumpkin pie...it just wouldn't be right.

There is a funny story about Chris' introduction to Grama and Pankey Pumpkin Pie. Once, before we had the boys, we were eating Sunday after church lunch with Grama at her apartment. It came time for desert and she gave Chris the largest piece of pumpkin pie. As the newest member to the family, it was a kind of an honor, really. Well Chris didn't eat all his pie (sacrilege in our family). When asked why he didn't eat it all, he said he just wasn't hungry enough for the whole piece. Grama's reply was "Well next time you don't get a whole piece." Now in Chris' defense, he usually doesn't finish everything on this plate. He will NEVER make that mistake again. When he accepts a pie of Pankey Pumpkin pie, he finishes it.

To this day when Grama is around she will make the comment that he doesn't get a whole piece of pie, he can only have half a piece.

Thanksgiving sing along

Well this year's Thanksgiving sing along was a huge success.  Christian did great.   No crying this year, unlike last year.  He looked at me more than the teacher that was guiding them in their songs.  We had one slight little issue.  We had perfect seats, just behind Rocky's family, right in front of where the kids were supposed to stand.  Well Christian got a little distracted while walking in the Chapel.  He wandered to the front and center of the stage, not near our seats to the side of the stage.  So there was some last minute moving around on our parts to get a better view of our little singer. 

From Thanksgiving sing along 2009

From Thanksgiving sing along 2009

From Thanksgiving sing along 2009

From Thanksgiving sing along 2009

  saying bye to Daddy.

Afterwards we went to lunch with Gran, Pa and Uncle JJ. Archer got to come to lunch too, but Daddy had to get back to work.  Christian likes to give what he calls "Squishy hugs" they are BIG, TIGHT HUGS.  He is giving Uncle JJ and Pa squishy hugs.

Guess who is 15 months old

I know it isn't your typical age to celebrate, 15 months, but when you look this cute in silly play glasses, why not!

Resting on the Rock

I just came across this in some other blog reading. 

"I know what I am doing. I have it all planned out - plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for." Jeremiah 29:11 The Msg

I really needed this.  I have been dealing with a plate full of things...work things, health things, personal things..well, lots of things.  The kind of things that roll around in your head, that you just can't let go of, but you really don't want rolling around up there.  I have taken then to the Lord on many an occasion in the last month and he never fails me.  Today him gave me that little gem up there.  I need to let the things go... He knows what he is doing and he has it all planned out.     

 

It is that time of year again

It is school program time again. I LOVE IT! The kids are so cute you can't stand it. The first one coming up is the Thanksgiving program. Anyone out there remember this last year?? I think this year will be different. He is a big boy now and loves to play to the crowd. He will sing for stranges now. He has been practicing his songs for me...and we have talked about what should happen if he sees Gran and Pa. Gran and Pa have also been asked to try and hide from the kiddo this time.

Here is a little blast from the past to get ready for program season. It cracks me up because there was no hiding from him....he knew exqctly where we were.

First Haircut

At 15 months, Archer finally had his first haircut. He had the cutest curls for a long time and we (Sassy and I) just didn't have the hear to cute them. Sassy is the boys official personal hair stylist. Finally the long locks were causing some issues. Mainly more hair for Archer to mush his food into. Here is the before picture.

Here is the after picture. I think he likes it. I know he likes his thumb.

The red spot on his forehead is a mosquito. I think he had one in his room over night this week...poor little guy.

Sayings of a 3 year old

I was inspired by Jenn at Mayhem Mania to document a few of my favorite Christian sayings.

"That not go right" - roughly translated to "that not how that goes"...like when some silly is said or you tell a story wrong.

Bonk - As in "Bonk your head off"

"I have a great idea" - this is one of Gran's favorites. Christian knows something is a great idea. like "Mom I have a great idea, you take Archer to the car and Iwill stay here and watch OSO and you come back and get me"

Spiny hair - Christian likes when I put product in his hair to make it stick up. He doesn't call it spiked, but rather spiny. He has a dinosaur book that says "Dinosaurs smooth, dinosaurs spiny" so I think he likes that term better.

Super Suit - His batman halloween costume.

Oak milk - you eat it and it sticks to your tummy....aka oat meal. Miss Marilyn eats it and told them it sticks to her tummy so she doesn't get hungry.

Dark Mater - my new personal favorite...this what he calls Darth Vader from Star Wars. Chris has an old Darth costume for 4 Halloweens ago and he has been playing with the mask.


Not to be left out Mr. Archer is very talkative.

Some of his favorites sayings are
Hi!
NO!
Uh oh
Bye bye
ba (ball)
vroom, vroom (when he plays with cars)
trash (when asked at school which car he wanted to play with, he said trash and then grabbed the garbage truck)
Ma ma ma
Da da da
magnet (I haven't heard this one, but a few others have)
apple (again I haven't hear this one, but other verify he has said it)

And he sings...you can really tell that he is singing and just not chattering. His favorites songs are itsy bitsy spider (along with hand motions), old MacDonald, Twinkle, twinkle little star (along with hand motions). His favorite time to sing - while getting his diaper changed or in his high chair.

He know how to HI 5 and he also know where his head is, just ask him.

Halloween 2009

Christian asked to get in his "super suit" early in the day. We had a busy morning and both Mom and Dad were super tired. I wasn't going to be the tough mom and say no...it was Halloween and kids live for this stuff. Archer was also in his super suit early at the special request of his brother.


Archer wasn't feeling well. At first we thought it might be the flu, but there hasn't been much fever so we are now thinking more like a cold or just runny nose. Archer and Mom stayed home from trick or treating.


Christian however was escorted on his outing by Bacon, Egg and Darth Vader (aka Dark Mater).


I made Christian say the full phrase he learned..."Trick or treat, smell my feet, give me something good to eat." I always remember my Dad telling us to say that.


Here is the Dynamic Duo for the one outside photo op since Robin was sick.



So to back up just a little bit. It was a rough morning. I had met Mom early to get the boys because Archer was up all night coughing and running a slight fever at her house. She will admit her worry factor goes up ten times as a gran so I picked them up early.
I was so focused on Archer and even thinking he might have the flu that well, I kind of forgot about the clock and let Christian miss his afternoon nap. Well at one point while I was out of the room and he was watching TV, he just took his own little nap.



It was a great Halloween that lasted about 10 days for us. Everyone is a little exhausted today and we are little off schedule with the time change.

Festivals and Carnivals

We went to 2 Festivals and 1 Carnival this Halloween season.

Festival #1
The First one was the Good Shepherd Fall Festival in Kingwood.

(NOTE: you can click directly on the photo to make it larger)

They had lots of fun stuff for the kids and a great pumpkin patch. Our friend Jeff came up and took some great family pictures for us at the pumpkin patch.

My newest favorite family photo.





Christian and Abby really enjoyed the "hamster roll". It was this big blow up hamster ball.


But I think Christian' s favorite part was this. It was hammering golf tees into a pumpkin.

Aunt Debbie and I went for a FULL SCARE walk in the haunted hallway, both of our eldest children backed out at the last minute. It was pretty scary.

Uncle Jack stayed at home with a sick cousin Emilie. We missed them both : (

Festival #2
Friday before Halloween, Christian's class and the class above his hosted a little fall festival at the school. I volunteered with the kids and I think I might have had more fun watching them, than they actually had fun. It was a blast.

Christian and I started off the day with a little breakfast.



Carnival #1
After some trick or treating with Daddy, Sassy and Jonathan, Christian and I made our final Halloween related visit was to the Carnival at his school's church.

Christian met up with some of his school buddies at the carnival. The boys had a great time playing the games and bouncing in the bouncy house.