Welcome Hannah!

Rachel had her baby yesterday which meant i had to get on some sewing projects that i had been procrastinating starting. they're fairly simple so i finished both in about 3 hours. i only took a picture of one though. the other was a nursing cover in the same fabric. rachel had a ton left over from her wedding in march. thats right, i said MARCH! they're fast huh?

until i get a picture of hannah cate herself, behold hannah's hut!

thank goodness for thanksgiving

wow. it's been so good. my family had thanksgiving dinner, christmas morning and a wedding all within 24 hours of each other! Garrett and Rhada got married the Saturday before thanksgiving and it was quite possibly the best sibling wedding ever. figures by the last one we'd get it down but it wasn't thanks to us it was what they wanted. they're having their open house in a few weeks and so the day of we just hung out together with the fam. after the sealing we all ate dreamland barbecue which brent claims defines his barbecue experience for his life. its that good.this is my imitation of my mom's stockings. i've always loved hers and the fact that they were homemade made them very sentimental. after 6 years of marriage i finally decided to do them. i think because at so many points of the process they made me want to swear i still look at them with spite but hopefully time will heal our wounds. for brent and i i went with our favorite christmas gifts ever so we have a gameboy and pink jambox for us.

the only part of thanksgiving dinner i didn't ruin...sams sweet potato and turkey. (i had to throw a doubled recipe of rolls in the trash. i balled. like totally lost it crazy crying.)

on saturday we took the boys to gatlinburg with the barnes's that are in town. it was so fun! this picture with santa makes me so happy. luckily santa was at the festival of trees there--for free. that saves us $20 and at least an hour of our time which we would have to stand in line to see him.

it really was a fabulous thanksgiving for us. we also went to the chimnies in the mountains but i don't have those pictures. i'm just eager to post what happened yesterday which you probably just read anyway.

Rebecca

I recently read Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier. A long time ago we had an enrichment group where we brought our favorite books. A friend (I think it was julie stoner) brought it. That was probably 2 years ago but I've always remembered it. It took me forever to get around to it but i'm so glad i finally did. It was really good. When I first started it I was imagining a jane austen love story. I love that stuff and thats why I started it but after the first chapter i knew it would be different. The main character was a really insecure, young girl who was obsessed with the fear of what others were thinking of her. Not sure about y'all but I can totally relate to that. Anyway, it was really good. I recommend it.

Then I read the Christmas Box. I know a lot of people read that a long time ago but i never did. I was expecting something deeply spiritual that I would ponder for the next few weeks leading up to christmas. I didn't find that at the end. It was a bit of a let down to me.

I love reading. I really do.

guilty

jackson has told me for several weeks he wanted to drink tea. i told him we didn't drink tea. i gave him all the reasons but he told me he just wanted to taste it.

friday night when we were getting ready for bed he said, "mommy i drank tea today and i liked it."

he totally asked for it at our neighbors house.

sneaky boy

good hearty laughs

i love fall. i love having two boys. have i mentioned this before?

Your son watches too much pbs if....

-he runs inside with a dandelion claiming he's found a between the lion.

-he tells you to turn on p-b-s dot org slash read

-whenever you get upset with him he says "be calm and think things through that is what you need to do."

-he bounces down to breakfast saying "its breakfast tiiiiiime."

-when he "works" in the ditch at the park he hums bob the builder.

-after you tell him he can't have ice cream he responds with "i have to mom. It's in my story see[and while pointing to an imaginary sentence below his face says ] Jackson eats ice cream!"

-if he sees a bridge approaching on the road will scream "time bridge approaching!"

yea-he definitely watches too much pbs. maybe i do too.

he's on the move

i LOVED a happy stationary baby but its also fun to see him crawling.

halloween was awesome

kid size spider web for preschool
the elephant-jackson only called him "the elephant" if sam was in costume. "mom, the elephant is crying." "the elephant wants my candy."

oranges carved like jack-o-lanterns filled with jello jigglers. thanks brent for doing it and bonnie for the idea.
& the loot. our neighborhood is awesome for trick or treating. so many cute kids. so much candy.

rest in peace

or pieces. white kiki was lost shortly after this post. i'm telling you that was the saddest night of my sons life. say what you will about how disgusting it was. i know. but it was jacksons best and dearest friend and comfort. seeing him cry, not out of anger, but genuine deep heart sadness made me cry. a few days later he picked up duckie. duckie has had several names since he joined our family but jackson insists it is a she duckie. i'm not sure how i feel about that.