My Little Cashier

A clear sign that you might be taking too many shopping trips? Your child dresses in red and asks you to play "Target"! Ha!

Christmas and Fireworks Day

We started our Christmas decorating yesterday. Q wanted to do his part and draw a Christmas scene.

Santa is my favorite part. Yes, "this is Santa Claus" . . . "right there"! ;-)

***We decided that decorating the chalkboard wall for the seasons/holidays will be his job. He's already planning a fireworks picture for "fireworks day" (um . . . the Fourth of July!). Ha!

If You've Seen Fletch Lately,

he was probably wearing a hooded sweatshirt (either dinosaur, Elmo, or Thomas) and an NC State hat! He can be quite particular and opinionated, especially about his clothes!

Thankfully, I can still talk him into "fancy" clothes for church. ;)

Phone Pics - Thanksgiving Weekend

Thanksgiving morning at the park:

Friday night at the NC State basketball game (where they barely beat UNC Asheville - what in the world!?!):

Saturday night at the NC State football game (where they beat Boston College 27 to 10 - we learned this afternoon that it was also Tom O'Brien's last game as head coach!):

Snapshots from Thanksgiving 2012

We went kid-friendly with the table this year; I found this tablecloth at Target. The big boys had lots of fun decorating it the night before and the morning of Thanksgiving. AND, it kept them at the table longer during our family lunch. There were word searches with Mama Carol and tic-tac-toe matches with Mama Quinn. It was a BIG hit and well worth the $3! ;-)

Quinn decorated our kitchen's chalkboard:

Family picture time:

We started a fun, new Thanksgiving tradition this year (in addition to our usual traditions - donuts for breakfast, park fun/hike for Brant and the boys during the morning, & lunch with the grandparents at our house) . . . an outdoor Christmas movie! Using Brant's projector from the office and our laptop, we bundled up, drank hot chocolate, and watched The Polar Express. So fun!

A Turkey & Elmo

Q's "How To Cook A Turkey" from school (I especially love that we have to "cut its legs off" - ha!):

Look who was packed away with the Thomas tent? Fletcher's new best friend . . . Elmo! Can you feel the love? ;-)

Q's Math

Q decided to write our names and ages. I love that he thinks that my first name is "mommy" (and Brant's is "daddy"). But, I especially love our ages. I just had a birthday and turned 34, but I think that I like Q's math much better! Ha!

*He also made me a card. Look how skinny I look and how much hair Brant has! Love that silly boy! ;-)

COLD Park Fun

Just some photos from our VERY chilly (but VERY fun) Saturday morning at the park:

Long Lost Thomas

It was a big day! Look what I found:

I had stored it away, and Fletcher was THRILLED when I pulled it back out. Even his big brothers wanted to take a turn! ;-)

Thanksgiving Breakfast

This adorable Indian of mine,

along with the other 4's at his preschool, put on a sweet little show with a few songs about Thanksgiving. They were all so cute!

Here's Holden with his buddies, Sammy and Wiley:

*Thanks Kristy for the pics!

Shoes

Someone found Daddy's shoes this morning,

AND someone was NOT happy when it was time to take Daddy's shoes off this morning!

We Beat Those Deacs!

NC State - 37
Wake Forest - 6

Quinn was happy to catch a winning Wolfpack game last Saturday! :-)

Mr. Incredible

The other day while Q and Holden were in school, this is how and where I found Fletch:

He was in Holden's room playing with his Legos & wearing Q's old costume! He was having a BIG time! ;-)

Our ST Graduate

Our Holden is DONE; he's completely finished with speech therapy!!! After 2 years (with breaks for holidays and summers), our sweet boy is now consistently testing within "normal range" for language.

He had been receiving services through the public school system. At the beginning of the school year, the speech therapist was amazed by his progress and recommended that we discontinue therapy. Being a mommy, I wanted to be absolutely certain. So, I had a private evaluation completed; it yielded the same results. What a blessing and a HUGE relief!!!

*He's showing the "feather" that he made for preschool!

Sweet Q

Because this blog is our family's scrapbook, I want to record a few recent things about my Quinn . . . a few sweet things that I don't want to forget.

1. He is an AWESOME big brother!!! Just one little example? He has long out-grown trains and Thomas, but he still plays them with Fletcher. It's completely adorable!

2. A "thank you" note from the mom of one of Q's friends (complimenting his manners - thank you Jesus!):

3. AND, sweet words (and a picture) from another mom of one of Q's friends:
"This birthday card brought me to tears! I pray my boy and this boy will be life long friends! I will have to bring this card out at graduation! What makes me smile is this sweet boy tied Tyler's shoes for the first part of the year (the pic shows tied laces :))...what a sweet child of God!"