T-Day Traditions

Thanksgiving is just around the corner and I'm looking forward to our Thanksgiving Day traditions...well, one in particular:

• Jimbo and the manly men play tackle football. They act all studly and spit a lot. Then they go home and ice everything while they watch football for the rest of the day.
  
• I do my run for the hungry...which is just me running more than usual so I can eat more than usual later.
  
• We usually go to my sister's for dinner and I always make the homemade rolls.
• But when we don't go to my sister's, each of my kids is in charge of making one thing for dinner. Nelson is rolls. Jamie is mashed potatoes. Burke is jello. Dean is stuffing and turkey. I'm everything else.
• During dinner we go around the table and say what we are thankful for.
  
• And while Jim is doing the dishes after dinner I am the official judge of People Magazine's sexiest men. I take my job seriously. Sometimes they get them in the wrong order.

Can you guess which tradition I'm really looking forward to? I think it's gonna be a good year! Have a happy, safe Thanksgiving everyone!

Haunted gingerbread houses

One of my favorite Christmas traditions is making gingerbread houses with the kids, but I've always wanted to do Halloween houses. So this year we finally did it! Jamie made the gingerbread, Burke & Dean picked the candy, and I made the frosting! Tons of fun and I think they look pretty good! And my house finally doesn't smell like burnt garlic bread:)

red, WHITE, and blue TRASH

So I would never consider myself crafty, but when I saw these luminaries on the web I thought they would be fun to make for the 4th. I actually thought they would be great for the kids to make (not me!). No one agreed. At least until it was time to spray paint! Give a kid a can of spray paint and they suddenly think you are brilliant. I was the can holder, so I'll be picking red, white, and blue gunk from under my fingernails for a while, but it was worth it! They're a little white trash, but I like 'em (the cans and the kids)!

4th of July 10K

I'm not really sure why we look so happy in this picture. This was last year's race and this picture must have been taken at the beginning. By the end we weren't so happy! Well, it's that time again, but I'm just not feeling it. Last year I was so sure I would make it under 1 hour, but my time was 1:01:26. I know, it's only a minute and twenty-six seconds, but it was just such a total bummer. I'll get it one year! Probably not this year, though, because my training has basically been eating a lot of junk and not really running very much. Kind of like reverse psychology, but reverse training. Anyway, my toes are ready for flip-flops after the race!

Happy Memorial Day

I love Memorial Day! Every year the kids look forward to sticking the flags in the lawn of the community services building. The flags are free to anyone who wants to stop by and grab one and my kids usually come home with 5-6 each. One year when Burke was 2 I stayed home with him because he was still asleep. So I decided to use the hour to, what else?, paint my toes. When I was finished I went to check on Burke and he was no where to be found. I called neighbors and went searching, but I couldn't find him. Of course Jimbo drives up and I have to admit I lost our 2-year-old because I was painting my toes. And Burke jumps out of the car! When he woke up he went out the front door and started walking to go help with the flags. Luckily it was Jimbo and not a psycho killer that picked him up! I also want to pay tribute to the people in our family who have served and are serving in the military. I love these pics. This is my dad (middle) and two of my nephews.

And this is Jim's dad and both of Jim's grandfathers.

And here is this year's Memorial Day design. No children were lost during the painting of these toes.

Mother's Day

Loveking: I think you need one of these for Mother's Day.
Me: That guy is not even cute.
Loveking: No, the barbeque.
Me: Oh...ok...yeah, I was thinking I need a new barbeque.
Loveking: Really?
Me: No...I guess I was actually thinking of a new camera.
Loveking: Did I already buy the camera for you?
Me: Well yes you did and it should be here by Sunday!

Hooray for Mother's Day!