Thanksgiving turned out Great!

I had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday. My Dad came in town from Louisiana on Tuesday evening and stayed till Saturday. My Grandpa, Johnny Blaze, came over to "help" get all my food pre-prepared for baking on Thanksgiving. It turned out that he did most of it (with glee too) while I watched and hung out with my fam. My Dad's brother, M.B. came in town from South Bend and along with my Dad's sister, M.S. came over on Friday to see each other. It has been about 6 years since all 3 of my Grandparents kids were together. And at my house! We all took a picture together too.

We put up our Christmas Tree and decorations on Friday and Saturday. Over the weekend we had some rainy and cold weekend. So therefore, my Hubby decided to put out the outdoor lights - it was 38* and raining. Of course, he could not do it himself either. I still am not finished with putting up the finishing touches.

My younger brother's birthday is on Friday - he will be 26! I am about 6 1/2 years older than him and I was married with 2 kids at 26. He is currently working on his Masters in Psych. and will be done at the end of the summer semester.

The picture is of my brother. He decided to shave his head and emailed me a pic of himself. He actually looks good with no head hair. It suits his personality too. My brother loves George Carlin so...

Thought of the day: "Have you ever noticed that anybody driving slower than you is an idiot, and anyone going faster than you is a maniac?"- George Carlin

O-o-o-Oklahoma where the wind come sweeping down the plains!

We returned Sunday night from our early Thanksgiving holiday in Oklahoma. We went to visit the in-laws. And of course A.J. turned into a Hellion which has always been allowed by in MIL since she is "in charge". I think that this trip she finally saw that he acts really bratty and spoiled around her (her fault) and put her foot down on occasion. I do not know if she did so because my hubby and I were there or if she really thought his behavior was ridiculous since he is almost 9. A.J. would be perfectly happy to move in with them and have Grandma spoil him rotten, thank goodness his dad and I could not tolerate that.

I did manage to get most of my "Santa" shopping done while I was there since we are returning for Christmas. I thought it smart to shop while I was there so I would not have to buy stuff here and secretly trek it up to Oklahoma. I spent about $300 on toys/movies for the boys! I am not done shopping by any means, actually besides that I have done ZERO shopping. How could I when I am sooooooo busy building A.J.'s school projects. We had to construct a "simple machine game" (See picture). We created "Spongebob Pop the Bubbles" using a lever, fulcrum and pulley. I hope he did well because mom worked very hard on it.

Thoughts of the day: (1) "Being a princess isn't all it's cracked up to be."- Princess Diana (2) "Family is the most important thing in the world." - Princess Diana (3) "I live for my sons. I would be lost without them."- Princess Diana

She was such an amazing lady. It is so unfortunate she was killed so young. I have always admired her (and I secretly wanted to be a princess although I would not have married Prince Chuck) especially since now I too have 2 sons just like her.

EEk. One week till Thanksgiving. I have to say that I am no Chef. My Grandpa, Johnny Blaze, is a retired Chef and my Dad also graduated from Culinary school but somewhere along the DNA line I did not inherit any cooking ability. I cannot "just whip something up" and I am not creative with food. So, Thanksgiving is a virtual nightmare for me. Thank goodness my Dad will be here to help out. Whoo. He is coming on Tuesday. However, we are going to Tulsa for the weekend. The boys get out of school early on Friday and we are taking off for an early Thanksgiving with my In-Laws. But since we are also going there for Christmas we will be doing our shopping while we are there (leaving the Santa gifts) so we won't have to bring them home and take them back. Smart right? But between now and then I have a ton of stuff to do and pack us all up (including the dog).

This picture (c. 1885-90) is of my Great Grandmother's eldest sister: Sarah Celia "Allie" Beckwith (b:1870). She was the eldest of 7 sisters (an probably the prettiest besides my Gr. Grand. Emma) It was very unfortunate that she had 3 brothers (2 died as children) and her eldest brother, Edmund, did not marry until late in life and sired no children. So, long story short, there are no Beckwith's left of this line.

I have been reading a lot lately. I finished Allie MacKay's "Highlander in Her Dreams" (a sequel to "Highlander in Her Bed") and loved it. I will read anything romantic with Highlander in the name. Last night I started "Chasing Midnight" by Susan Krinard which is set in 1920's NYC. She writes Wolf and Vampire books as well as books about the Fae. "Forest Lord" is my favorite of hers.

Thought of the day: "Faeries, come take me out of this dull world,For I would ride with you upon the wind,Run on the top of the dishevelled tide,And dance upon the mountains like a flame." ~William Butler Yeats, "The Land of Heart's Desire," 1894

Since when did 3rd grade turn into 8th grade??? A.J. has to create a "simple machine" for a 3rd grade Fair. Easy right? Well, being that each student has to create a game with their simple machine for this fair, I (as in probably all parents) will have to do all the grunt work. Since the key word is "Create" which also means "make". So, first on my to-do list this morning is to go to Lowe's and purchase the necessary pieces-parts: a pulley, rope, weights, magnets, two-by-four and things to screw/nail them all together. A.J. designed a game that has to do with a small dart board and magnet propelling. Sounds fun, right? And all this done by Thursday b/c we are going out of town this weekend.

We went and saw Bee Movie this weekend - it was alright. Definitely a kid movie. Oh...Shrek the 3rd comes out today also! Now, I have to put Target on the to-do list. I must remember ziplock bags too. Anyway... I just got done reading the first two books in Karen Marie Moning's Fever series: "Darkfever" & "Bloodfever" - and they are AWESOME! And what I hate more than anything is having to wait for the next one in a series to come out "sometime in '08". I think next I will read "Highlander In Her Dreams" by Allie MacKay (aka Sue-Ellen Welfonder) I bought yesterday.

Thought of the day: "He is a man of courage who does not run away, but remains at his post and fights against the enemy." - Socrates

So, my kids have not figured out that we had a time change. They are getting up too early, eating at the wrong times and get upset when they have to come inside at like a quarter of six! Do kids not come pre-programed to automatically adjust for the time change??? What is even more ridiculous is that my dad got me an atomic clock for Christmas 2 years ago--right before Bush decided to change the dates and make the "summer time" hours longer--and now it doesn't keep the right time either. Go figure.

Anyway... We are having our family portrait done today. We have not done one in about 4 years and it is also going to be our Christmas gifts to everyone. I have prepped the kids on what I expect = nice smiling, no silliness, and 100% cooperation. Do you think it will work? They are kids right?

This is the one we did when the boys were 3 and almost 5. Is this just not the cutest picture!

Thought of the day: "Love may not make the world go round, but I must admit that it makes the ride worthwhile.: - Sean Connery

I think Mr. Scotland is so wise - and not to mention pleasing on the eyes and ears. I could listen to him for hours. *sigh* Him and Patrick Stewart.

NYC Here We Come!

I am soooooo excited!!! We booked our airfare this morning for our 10 year anniversary. We have the hotel reserved and now all we have to do is wait till March. On our honeymoon we went to Montego Bay, Jamaica - which was lovely. However, our fabulous resort sat at the end of the runway and every time a plane lifted off it about scared the wwwhhhooooo out of me. When my hubby and I were discussing where we wanted to go, we had always said we would go back to Jamaica for our 10 year but the though of being on the end of the runway just did not sound appealing anymore. Besides, I am not sure we would have gotten our passports back from being renewed. We threw around Seattle, San Francisco and the Florida Keys. And then we talked about Palm Beach, New York City and Colorado. I was all for skiing but something about NYC just sounded so fun. We finally decided to pick somewhere that neither of us had been, always wanted to go and could not/ should not take the kids......so.... NYC here we come!

Chuck was good last night - I think it is my new favorite show. I also am hooked on Heroes which comes on right after. We did not watch CSI Miami becuase dear hubby was watching an old Arnold Schwarzenegger movie "True Lies" and football.

This is a picture of my Great-Great Grandmother "Emily". She was born in 1848 in Georgia. She and my Great-Great Grandfather moved to Texas around 1880. They had 10 children: 3 boys and 7 girls. Sadly, 2 of the sons died as children in Marshall, TX and the remaining son, Edmund, never had children so the Beckwith line died with him.

Thought of the day: "Freedom is a right ultimately defended by the sacrifice of America's servicemen and women." -Arnold Schwarzenegger

Lizards galore!

Over the weekend my 3rd grader and I had to work on a presentation for school. It was to be about domesticated animals and their uses to humans. AJ elected to LIZARD. Yes, lizards - Gila monster, Komodo dragon, house gecko, iguana, etc... you get the picture. He did most of the research at school and brought home what he had on Friday with the knowledge this was due Tuesday. We (and I emphasize WE, as in me) had to create a presentation board with various topics: Habitat, Life-Cycle, Traits, Interesting Facts and how the animal Solves Problems for humans. We created an awesome tri-folding board with pictures and a oral presentation. It took us about 30 mins on Sat. and 3+ hours on Sunday. But it turned out great.

AJ also played his last basketball game last night, which they lost. The team was playing again in the winter season but he had no real desire to play, he wanted a break. It is totally fine with me too.

ZM has to go back to the Drs today for a check up on his ears. I am sure his is fine. I have seen the Dr 3x in the last 2 weeks com paired to the last 2 years.... I have gone four times, maybe.

Anyway... I just finished reading all but the first one of Liz Carlyle's published books. Great! I especially enjoyed the last trilogy. I highly recommend her as an author.

Thought of the day:
Chinese proverb:
"One moment of patience may ward off great disaster. One moment of impatience may ruin a whole life."

We finally made it to November. The boys had a blast on Halloween. We went to the neighborhood by the kids elementary school, which usually goes all out. We went door-to-door for about an hour and 15 mins and scored a ton of candy. We did not go with any friends like we always have done before so this is actually the first time going it just us, and it was fun. Here is A.J. with an enormous ghostly skeletal thing (A.J. finally decided it was OK to be The Thing from Fantastic Four). The weather was so pleasant and warm compared to last year we froze our butts off. I much prefer a mild Halloween and a cold Christmas.

Next Friday we are having our family portrait done. The last time we had ours done was about 4 years ago when they boys were 4 & 3. We went to Target and they turned our really well, so we are giving Target another go. So therefore I have to come up with something for all of us to wear. Last time we did black and white, and it looks good, so we may do that again.

Thought of the day: "Observe good faith and justice toward all nations. Cultivate peace and harmony with all." - George Washington

Have a blessed Friday!