Thanksgiving Preparations

Ian's class puts on a concert for "Feast Day" at his preschool.  He's been singing songs to himself like "You don't want to be a turkey on Thanksgiving Day."

He also informed me that his class will be dressing up like Pildrums.  I said, "Oh, do you mean pilgrims?"  He looked at me like I was a 2 year old, and said, "No, Mom.  It's pill-drum.  I will be a pill-drum."

I asked him what a pildrum was (you know, since he was such an expert and all) and he replied, "Um, I don't exactly know."

Can't wait for Feast Day :)  I'm pretty sure Chase will be dressing up as a turkey at school, too.  Should be some cute photos.

The Chick or the Egg?

Aunt Debi and Uncle Tom are the proud parents of 10 baby chicks that hatched on Tuesday.  We went to visit them this evening and Ian totally fell in love with them.

On the way home he was telling me about how much he liked them and how good he was with them ("I held one and I didn't even break his bones!!")  and trying to convince me that he should be able to have a baby chick at our house.  He came up with many arguments for the chick (I could keep them inside in my closet!  I could put them in a cage!) and I countered them mostly with the fact that the HOA would frown upon it.  

Finally, he made one last ditch attempt:  Well, Mom, having a chick is much more fun than eating an egg.  

Easiest Baby Ever. Not.

Remember when I said that Gavin was the most laid back, easiest going baby ever?  Yeah.  Sooo.  Not so much.

He decided that he wasn't a bottle baby a while ago...actually, he decided that he wouldn't take a bottle on the day that I was out for 8 hours on a girls-day-out wine tasting event.  He grudgingly took a couple ounces the entire time.  Since then he has taken NO bottles.

To top that off, Bryan's magic Daddy Power doesn't work on him.  Both other boys could be magically lulled to sleep in his arms.  Not Gavin.  Oh no.  Tonight I left for 2 hours to go see Angelle's new baby boy (welcome to the world, Adam!), and when I came home, Bryan was ready for a shot of Tequila and Gavin was screaming in his crib. 

Now, there is a teensy bit of total elation knowing that I am the only one in the whole world that can make this baby boy happy (he will magically quiet down as soon as I hold him- literally.  It is kind of funny)...but at the same time, um, hello?  I have to leave him behind sometimes!  Not to mention, Bryan feels totally inadequate watching him.

I liken it to when I had to leave my 4th grade class when I went on maternity leave for Ian.  They were my best class ever.  But they almost *ALMOST* ran the sub off.  I actually had to come in, on my leave, to yell at them.  I feel like that.  He's a good kid, really.  He is just a holy terror, whiny mama's boy when I am not around.

Halloween

The boys were super cute as my skeleton crew on Halloween.  We were still in NY and the plan was to go out trick-or-treating, then load the car and the kids and head for NC.

Ian was WAY excited to go out.  I think this is the first year that he was more excited than I was to beg for candy.  Chase didn't care that much, except I think he liked the skeleton costume.  He was especially interested in wearing the gloves, for intervals of 3 seconds.

The best part of trick-or-treating (except reveling in the knowledge that my skeletons were the cutest in the whole upstate NY area) was that we went to my old house.  After we told the owner that we built her house, she invited us in for a tour.  It was really really neat to see the house (I lived there from 2-12 years old) and to see how it has changed.  Her little girl has my old room :)  We also stopped in at all the old neighbors' houses (no one we knew is left).  You know, even though I haven't lived there in 17 years *holy crap* it still feels like home.  

On a related note, I think it should be socially appropriate to knock on people's doors and ask for a tour.  Even if you haven't lived there before.  Because seeing other people's houses is fun.

The funniest event of the evening was when I pointed a skeleton sitting in a van out to Ian.  As soon as Ian looked over, the guy (probably a dad waiting on his kids) wearing the skeleton mask turned abruptly and stared at him...and then Ian shrieked and jumped about 5 steps ahead of us.  Total high-pitched-screamed-like-a-little-girl shriek.  SO funny.

Ianism

I call you Mommy.  But my friends call you Laurie.  And Daddy is the one who calls you Babe.

Aw Shucks!

Our annual trip to Aw Shucks!

Say, "Hi Mom!"

I love Ian's face here.  And the fact that he is hugging Chase and not tackling him...

Chase loved jumping into Bryan's arms off the giant haystack.  Well, not quite jumping- still working on that milestone, but he loved stepping off the hay bales.

Awww :)  The happy brothers in the pumpkin pile...

It was pretty chilly out.  Gavin stayed tucked in the sling, tucked in my sweatshirt...and I made him wear that ridiculous hat.

Back!

Ok, we survived the trip to NY and back.  The drive really wasn't all that bad, you know, if you like The Incredibles enough to watch it 8 times in a row, or if you enjoy driving bleary-eyed through the mountains at 3am.  

Really, though, it wasn't all that bad.  The kids were mostly quiet for the ride, and the company once we got there was very, very good.  The weather was beautiful for the first 3 days, then slightly rainy after that.  We got in some good park time, a trip to Lollypop Farm, some good cider and fresh fry cakes, and visited with family that we only got to see a handful of times throughout the last 3 years.

We visited with my grandparents (that's Big GG and Little GG to the boys), Aunt Sue and her husband Dahni, my cousin Chris (who has been in Japan teaching for 3 years- I think- ) and his girlfriend Sakiko, my other cousin Mike and his wife Jessica, and my other cousin, Jonathan.  We also paid a visit to my great aunt Babs and great uncle Bob, who were completely charmed by Chase.  Big GG, unfortunately, ended up in the hospital for the last few days of our trip.  We didn't put him there...it was a nasty bout of pneumonia.  He is being well taken care of now, though, and is on the mend.  So, yeah, ups and downs, but I always love going back there...and it is always fun sharing my guys with all the northerners.

Bonus:  there is a new Goodwill store close to my grandparents' house.  It was so clean and well organized.  I went there like 3 times.  Ian got a new pair of Lands End boots for $2, 2 pairs of pretty good fake fuzzy Crocs for $3,  and Connect Four for $.99, I got new jeans and a sweatshirt, and Chase got a new book.  Gaga got a pumpkin carving set with neat light-brite like lights and a puzzle to do with Ian.  We scored big.  The only way we made it back home in the van was due to my dad's amazing packing power, otherwise someone would have been strapped to the roof.

And now, too many pictures:

Cousin Chris hanging out with Chasey at the good BBQ place.

Little GG was an excellent baby sitter.

Ian digs into his Abbott's frozen custard.  I am kind of glad that there isn't an Abbott's in NC, because I would be 300 pounds.

Ian and Gaga at the park.

Gaga, Ian, Sakiko, Chasey, and Chris at the GG's house.

Chase is such a big boy now, navigating the entire playground on his own.  I only occassionally get freaked out at how close he hangs over the sides.

Who's job was it to rake up the baby?

Gaga and Ian on the slide- young at heart, that woman is.  And young on the outside, too, of course.  (Hi Mom!)