We had TWO very delicious Thanksgiving feasts in ONE day!
What could be better than that?
Leftovers the next day!

...until this happened:

This is my sister armed and ready for the FIRST dirty job she faces this night

It was all fun and games until it happened to me, too!
5 people in ONE house hit at BOTH ends with something NASTY.

The bright side:

NO EXTRA LBS. FOR ME THIS THANKSGIVING!

(Too often, I get the flu at Thanksgiving. But each year, I remain optimistic.
I begged family not to curse me this year by reminding me of it--no such luck.)

In other news:
From this
to THIS
(the Stainless set from Costco)
THANK YOU
Dad and Sandy,
we're enjoying them already!
We'll bring a lid to wrap and put under the tree.

Birthday Highlights

Birthday Eve:
Micah's decorating job

side note:
Beckam sleeps in his own big-boy bed...
unless he falls off onto Jaden's bed down below
(surprisingly the transition has been perfect--even naps!)

In the morning, we heard the boys awake just as Jaden was making his way into our room with his NEW playmobil submarine from Papa John and Ma-Maw that he and his little accomplice had already opened. Then it was to the bathtub...
It dives under the water and has a motor so it can cruise along the bottom

We got Jaden a volcano eruption kit,
though it appears it doubles as a hat, also.
Beckam came up with this all on his own and drove around in his little car wearing it for at least half an hour.

I know I was busy with birthday preparations, too
but here is the baker busy at work:
Oh, how I'll miss his student schedule!!
Any guesses on what it is?
The finished product!
a non-hydrogenated nuclear submarine
with fish and other sea creatures swimming around below.
How I love THIS man, who baked his son's birthday cake
ALL from scratch.

THE FESTIVITIES
A bowling party at the MU complete with pizza, cake, ice cream
and chocolate milk or root beer.
There was even a special guest appearance from Papa John, which made Jaden's day!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY little Honey Bear
(he told me he likes it when I call him that)
I LOVE YOU because you're:

• a GREAT Big brother
• clever and smart
• tough as nails
• my little monkey--coordinated and energetic
  
• so thoughtful and kind
• a good problem-solver and communicator
• protective
  
• a GREAT friend
  

"Hi, Mimi!"

I wanted to see if this outfit would fit Beckam. After he was dressed he said, "mirror."
He only took his eyes off himself to look at the camera when I told him to say, "Hi Mimi."


I can see a resemblance of me as a toddler here.

Macaroni and Tomato

MOM and AUNTIE, you'll be proud:

This was the meal requested by MICAH yesterday--there's no doubt, he's part of our family!
This meal was a staple in my family growing up:
elbow macaroni and tomato juice with cottage cheese on top
It's Jaden's favorite.
While he usually sits down for dinner and begins listing off everything he doesn't want to eat (though he's getting better after being excused from the table for it) , tonight I think he thanked me for dinner at least three times and before he even finished half his bowl was asking if he could have more, which he did and more after that.

It IS good stuff!

To Stick or Not to Stick

That is the question.

I'm in desperate need of new pots and pans. A friend of mine is so good about keeping us abreast of great deals on Amazon and she posted this one again. I haven't made the purchase because I can't decide if I should go for the non-stick or stainless steel (yes, of course they're more expensive--story of my life, which is why I haven't just ordered them by now). I know the non-stick are so convenient but I have a bit of a concern about the health issues related to the Teflon. Any of you have any input or opinions on the matter? PLEASE. I've done some research and it seems that if you replace the non-stick before it starts to wear off, you're okay but I'm not so good about doing that. I HAVE to decide and get rid of my current hodge podge of worn non-stick cookware that's probably poisoning our family daily.

Beckam picking up a small red flame-shaped leaf:
"Fire, hot, leaf burn me."

Vehicular Saga

When it happened a month ago, I didn't think it was really blog worthy but now it IS!! Read on and on and on....

Over a month ago actually, we went over to the Dyer's for Sunday dinner. They live about 20 min. away. After a very lovely dinner (which I made myself tonight--Thanks Carrie), we headed for home.

We drove out of their neighborhood and down the road about a mile, putting us on a road between a new uninhabited housing development and a wall surrounding their neighborhood. Just as we approached the stop sign, the Daewoo died. Our kids were tired. It was dark. I wanted to get home. So I picked up the cell phone and called our trusty Roadside Assistance (which is the best investment we've ever made. I keep thinking they're going to tell us we've used it all up but they just keep coming to our rescue for a meesley $5/month or something ridiculous. USAA is the best auto insurance on the planet I'm sure. They write us a check at the end of every year to reimburse us if the company made more than they expected and our rates are cheaper than any I've ever seen!). We also called Jeromy to come pick up me and the kids to take us home while Micah waited for the tow truck. True to form, things got more complicated for us from there.

I'd left Micah with our house key so we had to go through the process of having an RA retrieve our key from the office and let us in. I got the boys ready for bed and thought it was so sweet of Jaden to remember to pray that the tow truck driver got our car and that daddy would come home safely. Later, I found out how timely that prayer was and how helpful it might have been.

Shortly after the kids and I left, Micah got out of the car to go for a little walk to check out the new developments. He was about 30 yards behind the car, up a little dirt hill along the road, when a black SUV passed him, pulled up directly behind the Daewoo and turned it's lights off. He started back towards the car, when he got a sinking feeling in his stomach as he noticed that the car had no license plates and nobody was getting out. Instead he stopped and waited. He waited for what ended up being 45 min. There was no where for him to run safely and why he didn't just call the police, I don't know but he did call and talk to his family who were visiting his brother Dan in Florida. When the tow truck finally arrived, the SUV flipped on its lights and sped away!?! What was it doing?!!!!

The Daewoo still remains in the shop. The timing belt broke and bent the pistons or something so the engine had to be taken out and fixed (or something MAJOR like that) but we figured having it repaired was cheaper than buying a new car or at least we could sell it and get "something" out of it.

So, last weekend we made a trip to Bakersfield for Darron's 3oth Suprise Birthday Party. The quad he received from his awesome wife had nothing to do with us going either. But we had to rent a car get there. I'm thinking now that we should have known renting a car from a place called "Dollar" wasn't the best idea. Five miles down the road, we realize the tank is empty when they marked "Full" on the contract. They agreed to reimburse us for that. However, when we called them again on Sun. to tell them our tire was flat, they told us we didn't purchase that coverage so we'd have to take care of it (we'd put air in it already on Fri). This ended up being an all day affair. We finally resorted to fix-a-flat, borrowing Scott's air compressor for the drive home "just in case," taking the 99 "just in case," and not exceeding 65 mph. We made it home...at 3 O'Clock in the morning!! No complications just lots of little stops to check on it. (It really doesn't seem like "Dollar" inspects or maintains their cars very well. My bro-in-law rented one from them the previous week in which the tires had not been well-maintained either).

The rental had to be returned by 8pm on Mon. We pick up Jaden from school with hopes of returning by 5:30 in time for Micah's class and head to the Dyer's house where we'd parked our working car (a 1990 Toyota Corolla) after we picked up the rental. I'm driving the rental and Micah's following in the Corolla. We drive out of the Dyer's neighborhood and drive down that same road I mentioned previously, approaching that same stop sign I also mentioned previously. I stop and then notice Micah waving at me from behind. At this point you could just cut and paste the previous story from "as we were approaching the stop sign..." including the part where "the car speeds off."

Yes folks, at the same intersection, at the same stop sign, the Corolla, too...died. Luckily, this time we had another car with us because we did not have the cell phone. We return to the Dyer's and call...dun dun dundun...Roadside Assistance!! Micah goes back to wait for the tow truck. No sooner had he pulled up behind the Corolla, than a red truck this time, pulls up directly behind him and sits. No one gets out. Micah was the speeding car in this story. He came back to the Dyer's and returned just as the tow truck was pulling up. The truck was gone!

OK--WHAT'S UP WITH THAT?!!

We kept the rental to get us home. The Corolla was fixed today. We are now rental car free!!

I threatened not to leave the Dyer's house until Micah bought us a new car but alas ONE is fixed once again and according to him is "driving better than it's driven in years." After this, I honestly don't know what it will take for us to get something newer (not NEW, that will probably never happen).