Thanksgiving!!!!

Thanksgiving......where to start? How about the day before.....with Jack.

Jack is the turkey, named by Emerson after the turkey Tad Lincoln (Abraham's son) saved and turned out to be the first turkey "pardoned".

Unfortunately for OUR Jack, he didn't get pardoned......he was thrown in the bath the day before.

The kid couldn't keep their eyes off him.

Then it was like Jack was CALLING their names and regardless of the temperature of the water and the fact that he was mostly frozen and cold, they STILL begged to take a bath with Jack.

One last hoorah with Jack, I guess.

(By then end of the night every child had bathed with Jack except Bronson. I think the whole thing was weird but whatever, it entertained them)

My kids LOVE to cook and I don't ALWAYS let them (except on Sundays) so I decided that Thanksgiving can be a time that they feel like the "cook" the whole meal. I had kids coming in ALL the time Wednesday and Thursday asking if they can cook something so I just divided up everything to each child. The only thing I did was the stuffing and yams/apples by myself.

Camden was in charge of the Jack/turkey and I was SO grateful he wanted to. I HATE digging inside holes to find things I don't want to find in the first place.

I think this was the heart he found.

Aleeya thought the girls needed their hair to look nice for the "feast" so she took them in the bathroom and put all their hair in ponytails. If THAT doesn't say formal dinner, I don't know what does!

Camden's turkey came out AWESOME. We even sat together and watched a movie on the best way to carve a turkey together too since Brooks wasn't home and we weren't sure if he WAS going to make it for dinner since he kept getting admissions at the hospital.

We just prolonged dinner a hour and thankfully Dad could make it then. YAY!

I honestly wasn't too bothered about the thought of Brooks not being there though. Sure, it's easier, but my mind was on all the things I was grateful for. There I was cooking MORE food then we've ever had for Thanksgiving, with kids who LOVED to help with food provided for by his employment. You just can't sit and curse his job after that! Plus, I've been so grateful he HAS a job that provides for our family this size and with him finishing next June, I'm grateful for all the opportunities he is finding for employment after this. Truly, we have so much to be grateful for and I felt peaceful all day.

But after dinner, there was enough of feeling peaceful because it was game time. Bronson wanted to start a family Turkey Bowl tradition and even painted one of his old footballs gold so we can make a trophy out of it. I thought it was a GREAT idea since they play football almost everyday but never for a trophy with the WHOLE family.

Iris, Royce and Kellyn were entertained by this stray puppy on the sidelines, so it worked out great.

It was fierce and intense but Brooks, Aleeya and I pulled out the win! Here are the losers congratulating the winners.

Emerson, forever and always is the worst loser so that's why his face is like that, but Aleeya's face cracked me up. She is pouting because she didn't score the winning touchdown. Aleeya scored 3 out of the 5 but apparently the winning one is what matters to her. I had to hold Everly for the last play so I was QB and threw the ball to Brooks while holding Everly for the win. It was one of those shocking plays that goes in slow motion before your eyes with the other team yelling "Noooooooo" and the receiver just as surprised that the ball made it to his hands as the QB (me) was. I was shocked it actually worked so it made the win all the more fun. 

And to be CLEAR, the teams AREN'T stacked. My three boys are good. And I know in my mind I'm still the high school track-sprinter but now Camden can out-run me and if I DO finally catch him I end up with the sore legs that I have now as I type this. Brooks had the two worst players on his team hands down.

Here the boys are presenting us with the trophy

Our names look pretty good on there. As soon as I find a base to glue it to, you will see this on our mantle. Oh yea.....

Then we came home for dessert. Each child picked a pie to make and then made it by themselves. They made them all the day before and just cooked them or pulled them out of the fridge the night of.

Aleeya made pumpkin, which only ended up getting 1/4 eaten of. But she was pretty proud of herself at the time.

Papi made an apple pie all by himself with EXTRA large slits in it. haha. Sometimes letting them do things by themselves kills me! This actually turned out being my favorite.....and Kellyn's too.

Camden made a key lime and it was all the kids' favorite (THANKS Linsey for the recipe)

Emerson made a chocolate pie which the filling was INCREDIBLE!!! It's a homemade pudding from Pioneer Woman that I probably ate two extra bowls of just the pudding beforehand. (as in licking the bowl too!) I will never make boxed pudding again. I think I will do it in a regular pie shell next time though. The graham cracker crust was too messy.

Then of course Brooks has to have his cobbler since he's not a "pie person" and Bronson made that. It ended up being the overall most eaten dessert but I think that's because Brooks was downing it after a tough game of carrying Aleeya and my weight in the football game.

As Bronson says, this was the first of the best three "food-holidays". Bring on Christmas. :)

TIO BUG!!!!!

"Tio Bug" came to our house to visit for a little bit while he was in Atlanta for work 2 Sundays ago.

And when I say "little bit", I mean a few hours.....but my kids couldn't have been happier. They LOVE Tio Bug and they would take only one minute with him if they could.

Kellyn really doesn't like men so I was curious how she would react to him since last she saw him she was an infant. But he just snatched her up (right after a nap too.....I know during the MOST ornery time!) and she let him.

I don't know if it's because he reminded her so much of her dad, or because he has a little girl her same age so knew the tricks or.......

because he kept letting her play on his phone. (Kellyn's favorite thing in the whole world. I'm thinking I may tell Santa to stuff her stocking with old broken cell phones from people) But either way, she loved him.

First time meeting Tio Bug for Everly and she liked it. But then again, she hasn't ever NOT liked anyone that holds her but don't tell him that. (sorry for the double negative Mom)

We had to jam in as much as we could with Bug while he was here. So the boys got to throw the baseball with him, eat, Play "Up Smith" and have a brother one-on-one basketball show-down.

Bug was a newbie when it came to "Up Smith" but he caught on fast.....except that one time when I tricked him. Beginners mistake.... ;)

 It was me and the boys vs. this fearsome team. See how intense? Now which hand is the penny under.....

The sad thing about this is my super long winning streak (Brooks and I are never on the same team) was broken that night. Bug/Brooks and girls beat us by one. I couldn't believe it.

Then Brooks and Bug had a one-on-one dunking contest in our living room. Yes, our basketball net is  in the living room hanging on our front door.......classy huh.

Brooks ended up winning in his cute church clothes, but just in case no one believes those results I video-taped it all.

Bug's 2 attempts:

(this picture rocks). 

Brooks' for the win:

It's so cute seeing brothers still enjoy being around each other as adults. You can see how much Brooks loves it (the winning AND being with his brother) by his giggle and smile afterward. 

Come back soon Bug. I'm demanding an "Up Smith" rematch and the boys wanna go golfing!

Gratitude Rundown

Welp, it's that time of year again when we put up our Thanksgiving or "Gratitude Tree". I put it up the Monday after Halloween and that night for Family Home Evening the message was the story of the 10 Lepers (and always is for the Gratitude Tree activity). 

Then after the kids each got 8 leaves to write things they are especially thankful for this year.

We made a new rule this year though that you can't write down something that someone has already written down. To make it easier on the younger kids I let them go first.

I took a picture of 1-2 things that each child had written down of the 8 they were given because I like to remember ...well, and it's awfully entertaining.

KELLYN

I'm glad she went first because I was worried someone was going to take her's.....

whatever she wrote.

ROYCE

Royce didn't understand "What are you grateful for?" So I asked him the question, "What are you favorite things?" and he told me things like his blankey, the corner on his blankey, pizza, baseball, ice-cream, McDonald's......you know, the essentials. But my FAVORITE he told me to write down was this:

"What is QT?" you ask? Only the thing he thanks Heavenly Father for in EVERY one of his prayers! (without FAIL!!)  Only the place he begs to go everyday! Only the coolest ...

GAS STATION IN TOWN!!!!

We didn't know such a classy and AWESOME gas station existed until we moved here. (Did I just say "classy" and "awesome" and "gas station" in the same sentence?!?!? Oh yea, I did.)

Let's just say if you have NEVER been in one, you are missing out on the cheapest, most variety and better-then-slurpees slushies around.

IRIS

She continued on with some of the essentials like "tag", chips, chocolate milk with the surprising addition of "school" since it's hard enough to peel her off the sheets in the morning. 

Oh, and this:

"Cake". Duh. How could she have forgotten that?!?!?

With most of the "good" ones taken it's going to be harder and harder for the older ones to think of the "un-takens" for SURE!!!

Aleeya

She came through for me in writing down Church though

I decided NOT to bring up that the VERY day before she was bawling because she didn't want to go to church that Sunday. Benefits of short-term memory I guess.

Aleeya DID stick to the crucial things though: Thanksgiving, food, water, earth, mangoes, kiwis.

Her last one was my favorite though.....it just describes Aleeya in ways I just can't.

She wrote down...

That girl's confidence never lacks.

Emerson

Since our high-class-ness has already been shown in the gas station-fettish and McDonalds being listed, I will NOT be embarrassed that Emerson put this on the tree.

Because it's true. I too am SUPER grateful for Kmart.

Camden

My favorite of Camden's is pretty typical of him and the first one he quickly wrote down:

Climbing Trees.

Bronson

The one that warmed my heart from his leaves was this one:

His siblings. How nice to know he isn't tired of them because I rely on him a ton. They all look up to him and Kellyn prefers him (or Camden) to put her to bed at night. She will jump out of my arms to have her older brothers put her to bed instead. Bronson is so good at watching them and can calm the crying Everly down easy when he takes her out at church.

And because Brooks and I are such saps I put our two side-by-side:

So sweet huh. Or is it? The fact that 7 of my children filled out their leaves before and no one wrote down our names?....hmmmm.....if I'm going to be after something I'm okay with it being after QT.

Brooks and I both wrote down things like washer and dryer, dishwasher, car and things that just make our lives so convienent nowadays. We are so spoiled living at this time...and it's NOT just because I'm reading books based in the 1800s and what they had to do daily....okay, okay, it kinda is. But I'm STILL so thankful to be living now.

On top of those conveniences it was a no-brainer for me to put down books and....

for obvious reasons!

Oh yea, I also wrote down something I'm BEYOND thankful for and truly am grateful for MULTIPLE times during the day. Because without this, I would have to confront the 2 (or 3!!!) of my least favorite things of my kids' many many times.

You have no idea how grateful I am for those.

Why not....

Brooks had to do some work at Myrtle Beach and in Sumter, SC and since it coincided with the kids' Fall Break last month we decided to tag along.....why not, right?

Because what could be more relaxing then taking 8 kids to hotels by yourself while your husband works.......Ahhhhhh, this is the life.

Oh wait, the reading-by-the-beach thing only lasted for a 1/2 a hour, but it was nice. The hotel had two pools and a huge hot tub. And surprisingly, KELLYN was in the water most of the time!!! She's become quite the fish lately and was SO happy there.

I tended to stay reeeeeeally close to the huge hot tub because hot tubs are what make up my dreams at night....in a craving and addiction type of way. Isn't the hot tug big?

We really had fun the first day until we had to be out of our room by 11.....and we couldn't go get Brooks until 4. 

I asked the front desk when we cleared out of our suite if we can still play in the pool and they said yes. 

Commence operation entertain-the-kids-for-5-hours-without-a-"home base".

We grabbed some big time McDonalds and I found an open field in the middle of town for us to eat in (it looked like softer grass from the road....apparently, it was infested with little thorns but hey, it was still fun). The plus side is, with thorns, no one else was THERE, so I could feed the baby and change diapers without anyone around.

We went back to the hotel and swam and played on the beach.....but to be honest, October/windy/beachwater is kinda cold, so the beach part didn't last too long.

We went to go pick up Brooks at 4 and it turns out he wasn't done until FIVE. Okaaaaaayyyyyy. 

The trick was that Bronson did NOT bring shoes (he was CONVINCED he threw them in the Yeti) and Iris lost hers at the beach or someplace, so it's not like we could go IN anywhere......which isn't my style with 8 kids anyway. 

Thank GOODNESS for Cookout.

If you have NOT eaten at "Cookout" before, I feel really sorry for you. Their milkshakes rock (and I don't even like milkshakes!)

They had tables outside to eat tucked way back by some trees.

Okay okay, so besides the whole SHOE thing, I realize I couldn't have taken them inside anywhere ANYWAY dressed like the above. But heck, we're on vacation.....no rules.

Meaning.....it's ALSO okay to sword fight on tables.

After all, we had a hour to kill......

We picked up Brooks and then went BACK to the swimming pools and beach with him to give one more farewell to Myrtle Beach. When it got dark we headed for Sumter, SC....2 hours away.

I was in luck because I have a friend who's HUSBAND is from there and so I called and asked what is fun to do in Sumter with the kids while Brooks works the next day.

*silence*

The silence was actually kinda awkward.

It wasn't until I arrived in Sumter that I realized WHY the silence........because it's not really......how should I say this?.......a "destination" kind of place.........bless it's heart.

But hey, Grandma will be proud to know we stayed at a Springhill Suites (her favorite) while we were there, and the hotel was nice. So that's something, right?

After taking Brooks to work there in Sumter the next morning we were planning on swimming at the hotel. Aaaaaaaaaaand, the pool was out of order. 

WHAAAAAAAAT?!?!?! 

NOW WHAT?!?!?!

I asked the front desk if it would be fixed soon and they said it wouldn't but we could go to one of their other properties in town and use their pool. (after we checked out of that hotel and packed the Yeti again) The pool wasn't as nice, but clearly I'm not one for classy.

We were the ONLY ones there, which worked out perfectly because apparently the pool maximum is "10"......and with me and the kids that means only one other person could've come in.

We needed to go eat lunch and the kids suggested McDonald's (again!) because after all, they reeeeeally thought they had a chance at collecting Monopoly pieces for a million bucks.

The McDonald's had a play land and the kids BEGGED to go in. The problem was..... two of my children didn't have shoes to even WALK into McDonald's. I told them it was a no-go. Then Camden came up with what he said was a "genius idea".....I would call it closer to "sneaky" but regardless, it was an idea.

The Idea: Bronson and Iris could stay in the car. Everyone else would walk in, order and go to the play land to play/eat. Then I would bring out Camden and Aleeya's shoes so Bronson and Iris could put them on and walk in with shoes to the play land.

I have to say.....he totally gets an "A" for problem-solving and I didn't want to burst his bubble so we followed his plan. I had to keep a REALLY close eye on Emerson though because I kept seeing him trying to ask people for their monopoly stickers on their food and even reach down into the trash to look for more playing pieces. If he didn't LOOK like all my other kids I could've claimed I didn't know the trash-scavengering child!!!! Like I said, I had my hawk eyes on him....and once my eyes got tired of playing hawk I told the kids we would go to Swan Lake.

Swan Lake is the ONE destination place my friend finally came up with, and golly, I wish we would've spent all day there!!!! We could've easily done so.

Royce took off his shirt.....no one has shoes......whatever.

In fact the statue THERE was supportive of my parenting skills with the little boy running on TOP of the wall with his shoes off!  If only the statue was shirt-less as well.....

So "Swan Lake" is a cared-for (by rangers) location for swans, ducks, geese, turtles, etc. There are trails everywhere. The loop around the main lake for us took about a hour and a half so it was perfect. The swans are used to people so they could come really close!

And the kids even got to pet them.

I was SO fascinated by these little nubby trees that were everywhere poking out of the ground! (Excuse the child w/o a smile in the picture....in his defense though I could NEVER have done those two days without him and Camden. Talk about SOOO helpful)

The lake itself was so pretty!!!! I loved the trees IN it with their triangular-root-base sticking out of the water (that's where the turtles would "lay out" in the sun)

Lucky for us we DID end up catching one turtle. They could've caught more but the rangers driving around in their jeep-thingies kept coming RIGHT as the kid were about to pounce, so they couldn't. This one catch happened between ranger-passings. :)

It really was the neatest place and the kids were having the best time......oh wait, let me re-phrase that......everyone but KELLYN was having a great time. That poor child didn't get EITHER of her naps that day (she still takes two) and so we all paid for it. Thankfully we were in nature and outside and away from people that she could just complain and cry to her heart's content. There was nothing I could do though since we didn't have a hotel or anything to go to, plus we're all pretty good at tuning her out.

When we drove in Camden spotted a Magnolia Tree (he calls them "Mongolia Trees") and said it looked like the best climbing tree ever. So we hunted it down and he was right. Probably THE best climbing tree I have ever seen.....FOR ALL AGES.

The six older kids just climbed and climbed on it....

while I nursed Everly and delighted in the company of the screaming two year old.

Brooks' work was a block away from Swan Lake and on our drive (ONE BLOCK!) to pick him up Kellyn had already fallen asleep. She was pooped with all the swimming, late nights and no naps......UNDERSTATEMENT!

I kept my cool with the kids the whole time and made sure they were having fun but while driving home I whispered to Brooks in the front seat that my ears were about to pop from all the noise!!! Not to mention pure exhaustion from the corralling, carrying, feeding and smiling from the two days to make sure they were enjoying themselves too.

Just then Camden piped up from the back seat, "Hey Mom, I think this was one of my favorite vacations ever!!!!"

hahaha. So funny. The things we parents do...... Makes me wonder how many vacations mom could've done without but that I loved as a kid.
Honestly though, I would do it again in a heart beat. 

We got home late Saturday night and the rule always is that whoever has left the most stuff in the Yeti gets to clean it out. Turns out Iris and Camden tied so I divided the van in two for them to clean. Camden used my phone for the flashlight to see everything. When I got my phone back there was this video of he and Iris cleaning it......our floor was SO nasty from basically living in the Yeti for those two days with treats, food, sand and boiled peanuts!

 I'm thankful we got home Saturday night... just in time for the throw-up bug to hit a few of us all night. (At least we weren't sick on the trip!)

The the "Worst-Aiming" award goes to.........

IRIS!!!!