Harry you're alive...and you're a horrible shot!

While at the country over Thanksgiving Uncle Teddy let gave us a few lessons on firearms and let us test our skills with some target practice.

Intruders beware.
Turns out, and this will probably shock most of you, but I'm a terrible shot. ;) Stacey and Sarah were pretty skilled with their weapons and I did OK with the 22, but the Glock and I didn't see eye to eye. This may be due in part to the fact that I am right eyed (just trust me) but I am unable to close my left eye alone without assistance. I know it is amazing that I was ever able to land my man without the ability to wink, but this missing skill from my repertoire of gifts is rarely a problem. However, it turns out when it comes to shooting guns I might be a better shot with a eye patch on.

So if you come over in the middle of the night don't be alarmed when you find me sleeping with an eye patch on, because you can never be too prepared. Actually, on second thought you had better call first because if you com over in the middle of the night and I happen to have an eye patch handy lets face it you're a goner.
Thanks Teddy for an unconventional Thanksgiving memory!

Cute as a Cupcake

The Friday after Thanksgiving we headed to Waco to celebrate Lila's (my precious niece's) first birthday!! Kacey decided to make it a family affair, but with 7 cousins in attendance it was a full house.

The party was cupcake themed and Kacey had every little cupcake detail looking absolutely DARLING!!

The kids all had personalized muffin tin munchies for lunch! And the grownups had mini burgers in cupcake liners and cheesy potatoes baked in - you guessed it - cup cake tins.

How is she already a year old?!?

If You Give a Cat a Cupcake was the birthday book.

This little precious was he star of the show and her perfectly coordinated and personalized cupcake outfit was perhaps the cutest thing ever!

I love this little family,

And this big one too!

Time for cake

The adoring fans.

The boys loved decorating their own cupcakes,
And the mini cupcakes on a stick.
Happy Birthday Miss Priss!! We love you SOOOO much!

So much so much so much

To be thankful for!!

We are so blessed and while I do not understand why the Lord has lavished upon us such undeserved blessings I am incredibly grateful.

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving at "the country" in Jacksboro with Stacey's family. The country is very peaceful and a perfect getaway for the holiday. Thanks Cassie and Teddy for hosting us all!

Cassie and Debbie spoiled us as usual by cooked and incredible feast and taking care of the kids overnight while the big kids went to a hotel.

The rugrats.

I got to get some good lovin' from T-bird

All the boys by the fire pit.

Stacey and Wyatt got a precious teepee from Big and Nannie - perfect for this Pilgrims and Indians holiday.
We made s'mores.
III declared he would like to make them every night when it gets dark.

Our star treatment continued with a gift basket at the hotel. Notice the special "Caryn - no nuts" cookies just for me. I know, we are spoiled - there is just no other word for it!

On Thursday afternoon while we were recovering from a huge lunch and watching football I forced a Christmas craft on the girls. :) I think it stressed everyone out more than anything, but I thought it was fun.

Here is my finished product on top of the armoire at home.

It was a perfect Thanksgiving and leaves me overwhelmed by all I have to be Joyful about.

Tailgate Wrap Up

We wrapped up the season in style last night at a hometown tailgate outside of the Deathstar (cowboy stadium) for the Tech/Baylor game. These boys threw a great party, and we've decided that tailgating to Stacey (and a few other kindred spirits) is just like throwing a birthday party for me. He plots and plans and obsesses and loves every minute of it.

I thought due to the rather windy day and some 12 hours spent outside that I'd wear a hat, and based on these pictures that is not a look that I will try to pull off again soon! But I'll put vanity smurf to bed and post some pictures anyway.
We had tons of family (included my brother-in-law Geoff who is an A&M fan that we recruited for the day and even got to wear red and black) and friends stop by making it one of my favorite tailgates to date!

There were cheeseburger tacos, ribs, bacon wrapped shrimp, DP can chicken, queso and more, but someohow these cake-balls that Chris' Mom made are the only food picture I got. You can see where my hearts desire is when it come to the eats.

We ended the night with a WT ride in the bed of Stacey's truck transporting Kacey and Josh and the Warren's back to their hotel. Sadly no pictures to document the adventure, but thankfully no arrests or broken bones either.

Until next season :)

Rollerland

Last night we stepped back into time at Rollerland for the boys first ever skating experience.
I am not kidding when I say that the roller skating party has not changed one bit since we were attending them some 25 years ago. They are still serving the same cardboard pizza and the kids are wearing the exact same brown and orange skates.

I guess if it ain't broke why fix it.

The boys both enjoyed it, but don't let the pictures fool you they tightened up the skates so they barley rolled allowing them to "skate" or perhaps more accurately, walk with skates on, without too many tumbles.

One roller rink veteran decided he had better show the boys how it was done. I am confident the memory of the wind in his hair during speed skating and the lull of Red Red Wine were at the forefront of his memory as he skillfully rounded every corner.

On the way home III suggested that perhaps he could have a skating party - a sure sign of a good time. But, for now it is back to 2009. Happy Birthday Brooklyn!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

What? But Chicken Day isn't even here yet!!

When I put out a few turkeys right after Halloween Stacey woke up and said, "Mom, is it chicken day!?!" So, as if he wasn't confused enough, this weekend (before chicken day - gasp!) I got out our Christmas decorations.

This is very out of character as I am a rule follower by nature (Sarah, I feel you!!) and usually stick to a strict no Christmas decorating until the day after Thanksgiving policy. But, we had a rather uneventful weekend with soccer rained out so I had the time. And we all know self imposed rules were made to be broken. Right?

III was so excited and insisted that I didn't get out any more Christmas stuff while he was napping so that he wouldn't miss anything! He went trough every ornament and he loved hearing it's "story." And I loved having someone who cared that, I got that bell when I was two, and this was from the year Daddy and I got married, and Oh look at that tiny baby! etc.

When we headed over to Nannie and Big's last night he excitedly asked, "Are we going over there for Christmas!!?!!" It may be a long month. :)

So, just to make sure that my kids think there were pilgrims at the nativity we decided to make some Thanksgiving treats for lunch.

This is a classic, but always a hit...as is pretty much anything that involves eating extra marshmallows and fruit loops.

Pants are so overrated!!

Happy Chicken Day to you and yours!! :)

Thankful

A cold front finally rolled in making it feel like November and keeping us from enjoying the outdoors today so I thought it would be a perfect day to make our Thanksgiving Tree. Each leaf has something on it that Stacey and Wyatt are thankful for. Our family, home and friends were at the top of their lists as well as school, toys, boxes?, and thankfully, each other!

I sure am thankful for these two!!

I couldn't resist a flashback to this same Thanksgiving activity last year.

What a difference a year makes!

Wyatt must be working on perfecting his "Blue Steel" :)

"Give thanks in all circumstances,

for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus."

1 Thessalonians 5:18

GOOOOOOAAAAAAL!!!

We had some VERY special guests at Stacey's soccer game this weekend! Stacey was thrilled that Ryan,

Ally (someone else was thrilled too),
G.P.
and Honey were all there to cheer him on!! Mark and Angie were there too, but I neglected to get their pictures. :(
And of course, this local was representing as usual.
What a blessing to be loved so much by so many people. I think our star player was feeling the love from the sidelines because he scored his first goal!!! And the crowd went crazy, of course.

Stacey you just get better every week and we all love watching you play. Thanks to everyone for making III's and my day by driving in for the game.

No words

And then there were six

I made my second trip to Presby this week for another precious little blessing! Brad and Laura welcomed their first baby, Braysen. He is DARLING!! The Grundy's are one of five couples in our community group and this is the sixth baby for our group.

We are so blessed by this group of families and a new baby is like a new member of our team. I know that's sounds nerdy but its true! And I've never claimed to be above a cheesy anecdote :) We can't wait to get to be a part of this little guys life.

Dylan David Self

My precious friend Karla welcomed baby #3 last week and he is pretty perfect!!

You know all those thoughtful gestures that you think about doing but rarely ever actually do? Well, Karla thinks of them and then does them. She is one of the most loving, generous friends I've ever had and she is a fantastic Mommy. I am looking forward to watching her blaze the trail with three and learning how its done. Stacey and Wyatt adore Noah and Haley (her other two) and I am sure they are going to love this little brother too!

Race Day

This week Stacey's preschool had its annual Grand Prix Races!! The race comes with the daunting task of creating a car out of a card board box - with your preschooler. Since I have never created a car out of thin air, and my 4 year old often has the attention span of a raccoon, I was a little stumped as to where to begin. However, after roaming the isles of Target, Michael's and Staples (fairly aimlessly) I thought surely I had the necessary supplies to create a masterpiece, or at the very least a red box that could be run in Fred Flintstone style.

When we got our first notice of the upcoming race Stacey decided that he wanted to be Mack from Cars. I was thrilled with this idea simply because Mack is squarish and although, as previously mentioned, I have never crafted a car out of a box, I was pretty sure that square was the shape we had to work with.

Thankfully Dad was VERY helpful with figuring out how all the pieces were going to go together. All that annoying time spent watching Pimp My Ride paid off and he was able to suggest we "design the car" then take it apart and spray-paint the individual pieces. I could have kissed him for his body shop know how!! And for taking my previous panicked stricken response to his suggestion that, I would probably be able to take care of this without him because I was creative and yadda yadda yadda, VERY seriously.

III was thrilled with the finished product and if you ask me he made a very cute Mack!!

Can't forget Lightning McQueen along for the ride.
Gentlemen start your engines!! Not to brag, but the boys got speed :)

Making the crucial turn

Wouldn't you know it he won a blue ribbon (as well as all the other participants). It was a really fun day and Stacey loved every minute of it!

After watching the races Wyatt finally got his turn. I was telling him about Mrs. Jerry (the director of the school) and how she was a Honey like our Honey and he looked and me with his most serious face and said, "NO, dats MY Jerry!" So I had to snap of pick of him with his Jerry

At a shower this morning a Mom was talking about the castle her 3rd grade son has to create out of only recycled materials. I guess my spray painting, glue gunning, paper towel role saving days have just begun. Bring it on.

Trick or Treat

Let's go surfin' now, everybody's learnin' how....

but watch out for me!!

DA-da, DA-da, DA-da, DA-da

OH NO HE GOT ME!!!

Thank goodness he's a friendly shark and just took a little nibble. :)

We had a really fun night just trick or treating up and down our street. Stacey's side of the family all came over so Big and Nannie held down the fort and passed out candy while we went strolling for, well, more candy. The boys loved having their precious little fairy cousin (Brylie) join them for the festivities.

Stacey's face paint turned out a little scarier than I intended! I was trying to copy a picture I found online but I don't think my face paint value pack from party city is exactly what the pros use. :) For the record, he was VERY patient as I amateurly transformed him into a shark.

I couldn't get of enough of the hand holding cuteness.
Thankfully when the little legs got tired Sarah was there give them just the boost they needed.
Such a fun day! I loved trick or treating with my surfer and my shark.

Now if I could just convince myself that "fun size" candy does not make a "fun size" Caryn. :)

Mummies, Monsters & Gary

Last night we had a little pre-halloween dinner with mummy dogs and marshmallow monster apples. Our crazy dinner was super easy but such a crowd pleaser!

Then we moved onto pumpkin carving. Luckily I have three strong boys who were up to the challenge.

Stacey even helped with the gooey guts but Wyatt was not interested.

(no children were harmed in the taking of this photo)

Ta-Da!! Meet Gary. Uh oh looks like Gary isn't feeling well. The boys thought this old trick was hilarious!!

But the real finished product (as previously requested by III) had a sweet stash.

Nice.
Happy Halloweeeeeeeeen!!! :)

I'm obsessed with...

I've been tagged by Katy because "I'm fabulous" but I'm fairly confident that these five items will immediately water-down any delusions of fabulousness that I or you might have suspected about me. :) So here goes, I'm obsessed with...

1. Google Reader. I check it obsessively, yep, that really is the word for it.

2. Playing with my food. I think I may have found my true spiritual gift and it is making seasonal goodies that require little or no baking but are just so dern cute I can't stand it. I just can't resist the urge to turn a perfectly normal dinner or dessert into something Halloweeny, or cover things in colored chocolate. Usually by copying something I have seen on another blog (see #1). Here are a few examples:

Moon pie owls (BTW I had to buy the moon pies at the gas station)

Marshmallow pops (minus the pop, you can put them on a stick and they are even cuter)

Muffin-Tin Monday gone Halloween.

What, you don't like your turkey ghosts with M&M's on them, or your chicken nuggets with Jr. Mints?? Luckily I'm entertaining less refined diners around here, and I scrapped this together on a we really need to go to the grocery store kind of day. That thing in the corner was my attempt at a spider and the peas were "eyeballs."

Sorry I derailed a little, I am also obsessed with...

3. Glee. Any show with impromptu song and dance is a winner with me, but this one is also funny and the music is awesome. Stacey has small group on Wednesday nights so I curl up with this little treasure and enjoy every minute of it. He usually comes home during the end of it and I get the same eye rolling, "seriously you like this" face every week. I've tried to convince him that the satire is right up his ally, but he is having trouble getting past all the choreography.

4. Dr. Pepper - I have no willpower over the doctor. I try not to keep them in the house, but if I'm at Quick Trip or in line at the store or really anywhere they serve it, I'm powerless.

5. Snuggling with my boys. This morning it was dark and rainy so we were all snuggled up under a blanket on the couch together watching a movie and I thought I might explode from the sheer joy of it. I just look at them knowing that in about 5 minutes they will be men and I have to soak up every precious second I can before they are all grown up. And more immediately before they start hitting each other and I yell out a reminder of the ridiculous but serious rule in our house, "No wrestling on Mommy!"

So there you have it. No pressure, but due to their fabulousness I'm tagging...

Wendi

Shannon M.

Shannon B.

Kristin

Karla