I'm baaaaaaaaaaack

Well - after a long (unintentional) break from blogging, I'm back. And what better reason to start blogging again than the baptism of your baby. This past weekend we drove to Abilene to have Conley baptized.

Why Abilene you ask? Well my good friend Danny Anderson, who baptized the older boys, is a pastor in a church in Midland now. And the proud papa of three month old Ava. I thought it would be too much to ask him to come down here SO we drove to Abilene where Nana & Papa and Sissy & Ruppert live.  Abilene is only 2 hours from Midland, so not a far drive for the Andersons.  And my aunt has the most beautiful backyard that made for a gorgeous back drop to the baptism.  Its truly an oasis in the desert. 

Normally Abilene is crazy windy, but God gave us a gift of calm winds and weather in the 50s.  Yep - in the 50s in late April!  After the baptism Sissy and Ruppert hosted a brunch with yummy food and mimosas. Everyone sat outside visiting all afternoon - seriously until 5:00 that evening when we started dinner and ate IT outside too! 

Conley in the same gown that Carter and Cole wore.  The slip underneath has their names and baptism dates embroidered on it. 

Here is Carter at 6.5 months in the baptism gown.

And here is Cole at 10.5 months in the gown.

Attempt at a family photo.  Cole is now at the stage were he won't look at the camera and if he does, he squints and says cheese.  Hey, at least we are all well groomed, dressed and in the frame.

Danny baptizing Conley.  The big boys were so intrigued as to what was going on. 

When Danny was praying, Cole was repeating ever word Danny was saying (like he does at school during prayer time at chapel).  He was whispering it though, it was so sweet.  Ruppert got a video and I'll see if you can hear Cole on it when he mails a copy.  I'm thankful his video camera was working, I unpacked mine only to realize the battery was dead and I brought the wrong charger.

The boys were hanging on every word Danny was saying. 

Conley was a good guest of honor.  As usual - all smiles. 

Mommy and Conley.  Yes I have clothes on, it's just strapless :) 

Danny and his daughter Ava.  She is a sweet little girl.  Just as chill as Conley was. 

Sarah asked me to get one of her and Ava together.  But Carter insisted he needed to be in the picture too.  Everytime I'd get a good shot of Ava AND Sarah smiling, Carter would butt in.  Turkey.

But I did get one of Ava smiling withOUT Carter in it, even if it wasn't at the camera.

Cole and Daddy messing around.  It was a lovely day.  Couldn't have asked for better weather. 

The goodies inside

Nana, Papa and Conley.

I finally got a picture of Grandma and Conley together.  She's normally behind the camera like me!

Attempt number two at a family picture.  See what I mean about Cole. 

Ruppert got out his tripod and got a group photo.  I thought I'd hold Cole so I could force him to look at the camera.  So I gave Conley to Danny.  Then Carter decided he too needed to be held. 

Playing ball in the soft grass.

Just chillin' with his Batman shades.

It was a fast but wonderful weekend.  We missed the rest of the family that couldn't join us in Abilene.  But thanks for your thoughts and prayers.  We were able to FaceTime with Matthew and Allison during the ceremony so they could "attend" as godparents.  Gotta love technology!

Okay, so that wasn't so bad.  It took me a couple days to get this one post done, AND update the design.  I still had Christmas ornaments on it. I do stay a little busy with three kids you know.  But I will be much better about blogging again. I might even go back and catch you up on the last 6 months.  Well, maybe ...

Happy Thanksgiving

As we drive around town Carter keeps asking why all the stores and shopping centers have Christmas decorations up but no Thanksgiving decorations.  It makes me think of my friend Joy who feels sort of the same way - Thanksgiving seems to be overlooked.  Thanksgiving is her favorite holiday of the year and I can understand why.  It's all about good food, great family and no pressure on finding the perfect gift.  You get to cook; I say "get" because I do like to cook.  You get to watch football all day and just spend a few days off with family.  Yes it can be exhausting standing in the kitchen all day and then spending an hour or two cleaning it all up.  But its worth it.  We all sit around the table talking about what we are thankful for.   I make everyone tell me what their favorite part of the meal is, and it doesn't have to be what I made.  We all slow down and enjoy the meal and each other.

We might not have a bunch of commercial decorations but we did have some crafts that the boys helped make. Well, mainly Carter, but Cole was on the sidelines joining in with some glue here or there.

These are the finger print turkey place cards Carter made.  His letters are so big we couldnt fit "Grandma" or "Grandpa" or "Grandmama".  We settled for Char, Terry and G-Ma.

 If you look close you'll see the tree branches are the kids hands.  Carter traced his and Cole's hands and cut them out himself.  I traced Conley's fist.  Again, the leaves aren't big enough for full names.  So we have GP GM for Grandma and Grandpa on the top left green leaf.  And Nan and PeePa on the top right.  The bottom says "We are thankful for our Family Tree".  I'll probably laminate this and bring it out as one of Thanksgiving decorations.

The boys celebrated Thanksgiving at school.  Cole had a Sharing Lunch where every child brought something to share.  He had gotten up so early that day (and almost every day since the darn time change) that he actually fell asleep eating his lunch.  His teachers told him to go lay down on the circle carpet where he fell into a dead sleep.  They moved him into the office.  So when I went to pick him up that afternoon they told me he was in the office.  I was concerned he might have been in trouble, which he's never been at school.  But nope - apparently the tryptophan in the turkey got him!

All the four year olds, Kindergarten and Transition classes have a "Thankgiving Experience" where they turn the Fellowship Hall into the first Thanksgiving.  They have corn grinding, butter churning, clay bowl making, dough rolling and more.  I mentioned in a previous post that I volunteered to help and they stuck me at Face Painting.  I was quite nervous considering my last experience with four year olds and face painting.  But when I arrived I was pleasantly surprised to see paint crayons and child height floor mirrors.  They had several poster boards with Indian Symbols and the kids were supposed to draw their own symbols on their face.  I just had to supervise. Yipee! My lack of artistic skills would not be highlighted this time.  As it turns out the four year olds had a hard time writing on their face, so I did end up doing it for them.  But drawing mountains and rivers is ALOT easier than the Circus Days templates of lions and elephants. 

Carter holding the big stick for the pretend fire making lesson.

That's the sign for river on his forehead.  That paint crayon stayed on for 3 days, even after showers.

Carter and Cole both made some Thanksgiving themed artwork.  I'm not going to show it all, but here are their laminated handprints. 

 Our Thanksgiving Day started out like this ... Click on it to enlarge it and really see it's beauty.

It was the most beautiful foggy sunrise in the Hill Country.  We went back up to Austin to Broken Creek (that's the name of Mom and Dad's place) to celebrate with Jerry and Lois and Grandmama.

Mom and I did most of the cooking while Brian and Dad took the big boys on lots of hikes.  Lois and Grandmama got lots of time with Conley.  Here he is "talking" with Grandmama on the porch.

 In his Thanksgiving outfit for his first Thanksgiving. 

When Carter wasn't hiking, he did help out in the kitchen.  He stirred up things, helped measure and here he is cutting the ends off the green beans.

All of the activity and constant entertaining really wore them out.  Cole missed dinner (it was at 3:30) and slept through it.

Climbing in the cedar tree.  Really resembles the "Cheese Tree" we have in our neighborhood.

Jerry brought the turkey and Dad fried it.  It was delicious. Carter went back at least 3-4 times the rest of the day asking for more turkey.  He didn't even try the Honeybaked Ham until the next day because he was convinced it couldn't be better than that turkey. 

 Our desserts.  We made homemade (from scratch, minus the crust) pumpkin pie - Cole's favorite, we tried a new recipe this year - Caramel Apple Cheesecake Bars, they were fantastic, and we picked up a Goode Co. pecan pie.  So yummy.

One of our tables, with the carved turkey on it.

 The bar, full of food and a couple place settings.  That's one big HoneyBaked ham ...

 Watching football and eating a second round of dessert.

 The next day we watched more football.  Carter is addicted to football.   He knows how the game works, what interceptions are, touchdowns, extra points, field goals, and first downs even.  He cracks me up when he cheers "Get that guy, Get that guy!" Or "Nice block", but the thing he says the most "Look at this!"  He wants to make sure you see every play.  He makes me pause the game so he can go to the bathroom or get a drink.  He just loves football.

Grandmama's sister (my great aunt) Vicki came over to see the house and the baby for the first time. 

 Before we left Dad took the boys on one last hike down to the pond.  Carter found a deer skull.

 And Cole wants to show off its teeth.

We had a great Thanksgiving.  And hope you all did too.  We ate too much but I'm still looking forward to the left over desserts. 

Now onto the Christmas season ...