Thanksgiving rewind.....

I have been working on a wordier post about thanksgiving, but I finally downloaded tons of pics, so I am going to do some "rewinds" and post them as I have time... so for now, here are some thanksgiving pics... maybe I will finish my "I am thankful for..." list by next thanksgiving!

We had a great Thanksgiving with Clint's family in Jacksboro! The boys had LOTS of playtime, cousin time, & tractor time... and mommy got LOTS of much needed rest! I had been sick for over a week and it was nice to take naps and catch up! Love those grandparents!! :o) I did talk my favorite husband into waking up at the crack of dawn on Black Friday with me to drive an hour to the nearest Target, Toys R Us, and WalMart! And we found some deals! Did you guys know that the sun comes up gradually??

We also celebrated Micah's brithday some while we were there....

Reading with GiGi

First "mixed-cousin bathing" experience... these 2 look like brothers here!

My boys with GiGi and G-dad

Jarrell was not thrilled with the idea of a photo-op without momma!

No photo session is complete without the token "silly pose" Sorry for posting this one, Tommy... I couldnt resist!

The boys and their GREAT-grandparents on Clint's side: GranGran, Papaw& Mamaw

The WHOLE Gang for Thanksgiving!

We are truly blessed!

Thankful....

Well, folks, Clint has taken a turn for the worse and he has spent the entire Saturday in bed. Literally hurting all over... I have never seen him this sick! Poor guy... so you may be reading right now and wondering why I have entitled this post, "Thankful..." Of corse I am not thankful that he is sick and I hope and pray that he is well soon... but in everything there is a bright side, so I guess it all hit me today. I had just finished a long saturday by myself. Prepared and fed all 3 meals for all the boys singlehandedly (ok, with a little help from Little Caesar tonite, but cut me some slack!), I had played more games of Cosmic Catch and Hi-Ho-Cherry-O that I could even count, worked 5 puzzles, read more than 20 books, jumped on the trampoline, pitched baseball, fetched a baseball, been pegged in the head with a baseball, played at the park, bathed all 4 little boys in a bubble bath, read 4 chapters in the magic tree house, listened to 4 of the sweetest prayers, and kissed 4 precious cheecks as I tucked them in bed tonite. It was a really fun Saturday and I did it all by myself. It wasnt the first time that I had done it all by myself by any means, but it was the first time in a long time that we had not been together as a family at all during the day. I have always known that I am "spoiled" with Clint as a husband and daddy to my boys. He wanted to be an involved dad from the start, so he has bathed the boys and got them ready for bed from the time that micah was a month old. He has always been super helpful with everything.... but sometimes I get in that habit, or the RUT if you will, and I forget to appreciate how blessed I really am... Since I was sick first, then Coby, then Clint, we have not gone anywhere as a family (not even the drive thru) in an entire week... and for the Best Family, who is always on the go, that is a really strange feeling. Clint and I have not really had much of a conversation since last weekend. I realized tonite as I was going thru deciding what movie I wanted to watch how lonely I feel. I miss the chaos.... the crazy, exciting, fun, busy lifestyle that we live... maybe because we do it all together... but I miss our family time! And so I shed a few tears as I type beside Clint as he snores away because I am ashamed that it took a week of all of us being sick as dogs for me to slow down enough to be THANKFUL for all that I have... for the choas that these 4 precious boys bring to me every day... and for the incredible man that God has given me to be my companion, my "chaos-partner," and my best friend....
Random thoughts, I know, but I never have been good at this "deep-thoughts blogging" :o)

WARNING: long update ahead!!!

I have started a post about 5 times, but it becomes too overwhelming, so I havent finished one in a long time... so I am overdue for a huge update. I want to begin with one of my favorite new pictures... I just love how it captures how much these boys love eachother.

Things are so crazy-busy in the best household these days with all the Christmas events, parites, pagaents, etc going on... I am volunteering in way too many ways and this is kinda how I feel at the end of the day:

This is actually how we found Coby one afternoon when he was supposed to be doing his homework at the kitchen table. This is the view from under the table!

Here is Cason Pajama Day at school!

The big boys had "Favorite Book Character Day" and Coby was Arthur and Micah was a spider in Charlotte's Web... although he refused to be called "Charlotte" :o)

We got to see both sides of the family for Thanksgiving, so there was lots of family time! We headed to Jacksboro first and the came back here to celebrate with the Fowlers. We definately have so much to be thankful for!

Micah got to help Gigi make cupcakes for his birthday celebration!

Coby decided he needed to "help out" too!!

Oh, my cuteness!!! Thanksgiving led to lots of snuggle-time with the Best nephew
Cason was so sweet with little Jarrell...

Coby LOVES baby Jarrell!!

Micah told me that Dustin was his "best cousin" They had a blast in the new treehouse that PawPaw built for them... but I never got a picture of them in it! We will take one when they are here for Christmas. Micah is already counting the days!

Here are nine out of the ten grandkids with MiMi... was Dylan under the table?
Micah loved decorating everything. Every time I pulled something else out of the box, his face lit up with excitement!!

Coby wanted to hear the story behind each ornament... he is so thoughtful!

Cason loved decorating the tree.

The cutest little Santa of all!

Here is how Bry really felt about the fuzzy, hot hat!

Mr and Mrs Claus

Clint had lots of helpers while hanging the lights on the house!!

Here is the finished product... it looks awesome, babe!

Last Saturday was Breakfast with Santa. The boys each got to go see Santa and tell him what they wanted for Christmas. Cason actually kinda hollered across the way to him. He wanted nothing to do with the man and he actually sent a message to him via Coby. "Could you just tell him that I want a gameboy, too?" Here is how Bryson felt about him:

We did, however manage to coax everyone into posing for one quick family picture...
Here's the Fam with the Claus