Happy Thanksgiving!

We had a really nice Thanksgiving with family and hope that you all did too! I'm overwhelmed and so thankful for all the blessings that God has given us this year (and every year). It was so relaxing just to have everyone together for one of our typical family holidays and for all of us to get fat and happy in unison. My aunt introduced me to her corn pudding which was luscious enough for me to want to post the recipe.



Aunt Yvette's Corn Pudding
1 14 oz. can creamed corn
1 12 oz. can evaporated milk
1 small can whole kernel corn
3 eggs
1 cup sugar
3 tbsp. cornstarch
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Mix all the crap together. Bake at 350 for 1 hour. Don't forget to butter the casserole dish or it will (quote) "stick to high heaven." :)


Brent and I even attempted to battle the Black Friday crowds together at midnight (huge mistake) and again in the early morning. It was pointless and sketchy. The line for Toys R Us was wrapped around the building 5 people deep so there was no way any amount of money we would save was worth standing in that line. Instead, we pulled into the parking lot of a nearby hotel to access wifi and ordered crap online.

After a few hours of sleep, we were still hoping we would have better luck and headed out again only to return pretty empty handed. Since we were out anyway, we picked up a few things that weren't even on sale. I don't think we'll attempt it at all next year. Regardless, it was kinda nice spending a little bit of time together without the kids... like a pathetic date or something. :)

Yesterday, we took it easy and tried to catch up on some sleep and today, we are enjoying an awesome day of college football and gearing up for vacation! So excited!

Dear Santa,

A couple weeks ago, I started asking the kids what they wanted Santa to bring them for Christmas. Callie caught on right away and erupted out of the gate with, "A puppy!" (Sorry kid, but hell no.) She went on to list all the characters in the Toy Story movie, added that she wanted a crown and a giraffe which eventually morphed into "lots of giraffes!" The giraffe request was the cutest one because months ago, Callie told me that her favorite little giraffe needed a family.

Wyatt didn't get it though. I would ask him at least once a day what he wanted from Santa and every time, the kid just changed the subject no matter how hard I pushed it. Twenty attempts later, he still wasn't giving me anything and I wasn't sure whether he just didn't understand the concept, or whether he simply didn't know what he wanted for Christmas.

Finally, I tried a different route and asked him if Santa was going to bring him a present - to which he exclaimed, "OH YES!" So I asked him what kind of present Santa was bringing him and he said, "A blue present! With a big bow!" Cautiously, as to not veer him off his mental track, I asked him what was inside his blue present and he happily exclaimed, "A blue race car!" Victory.

After overhearing our conversation, Callie couldn't contain herself anymore and started excitedly telling us how she wanted a purple present with a purple bow with purple sparkly princess shoes. (Which is now the first thing she rattles off when you ask her what's on her list.) Santa's got it pretty easy at our house this year. I do know, however, that these days are numbered.

Callie's List
A puppy
All the Toy Story characters
Lots of giraffes
A crown
Purple present with purple sparkly princess shoes

Wyatt's List
Blue present with blue race car

Nuggets in November

Brent is feeling better and the three of us successfully avoided getting it! I told Brent to kinda keep his distance from me and the kids this past week but Wyatt has been chasing him around the house for a few days very worried and asking, "Daddy? All done boogah nose?" (Brent never had a cold, but it's the only thing Wyatt correlates to being sick. Precious, huh!?)

It had been weeks since I uploaded any pictures to my computer which is completely out of character for me. These last few weeks have been about finding balance again and it takes a lot out of you to stand upright when you've been toppled over for such a long time. I'm so excited the holidays are coming up knowing that our family gets a chance to regroup. We have so much to be thankful for.

I snuck into Callie's room late last night to see if she wanted to watch Shrek 3 with me since it was on TV. (First, I tried waking up Wyatt - he was having none of it.) Of course, she was passed out too because it was so late, but I saw this scene at the foot of her bed and thought I might literally melt right there.

She had asked me earlier in the night if she could take some plastic food up to bed with her. I didn't care so I let her. But, when I saw why she had done it, and also saw that she made sure to give each critter their own piece of food, I was completely overwhelmed and fell in love with that curly angel in her crib all over again.

These kids... Light. Up. My. Life.

Trick-or-Treat!

Back together (kinda)...

I am truly a procrastinator since Halloween was over two weeks ago and I still haven't posted any pictures of trick-or-treating. The thing is, I officially hit my emotional wall of doneness from this dude being gone for months on end. Seriously, all this going-out-of-town crap started in the spring and has been constant (with the exception of a couple weeks around my cruise) up until now; the freaking middle of November. It was so beyond hard that I could never explain it in words. At times, I found strength in myself I never knew I had. I mean, I definitely don't want to sound ungrateful because he does have a job and we all have our health - but dayum. It's been hard.

Anyway, the last two weeks just seemed impossible to get through. I knew we were near the finish line, but I was digging deep to try and keep it together. I just missed our family being together and missed having someone to help me out with the kids. (Wow... That's the understatement of the century.) Finally, Brent came home for good last Tuesday and all four of us have been fluttering around here in blissful and excited glee. The kids are always pumped when Brent comes home, but almost every day since he's been home, the first thing they come running in to tell me is, "Mommy! Daddy woke me up! Coggie and Wywy so happy!" Wyatt usually follows that sentence up with, "Daddy is my friend!" Little dude.

We took the kids to get H1N1 shots on Friday since we're headed to Disney in a couple weeks. And on Saturday, Brent got sick as hell. I found him laying on the bathroom floor in the middle of the night, and the events that took place from there were only fitting to be on an episode of 'Dirty Jobs' or a straight up Horror Movie. I thought this dude was gonna die. Both of us thought he some how caught the swine flu from the kids vaccination so we quarantined him to our bedroom downstairs and I moved upstairs with the kids and the cats. (CDC says you can pass swine flu to your cats - weird, huh?)

So, I frantically called the ER to make sure he didn't have major swineage and they assured me it was probably just a virus. It's ridiculous too because all four of us have already had flu shots this year. Anyway, I have spent every second of the last three days disinfecting the ever living crap out of this house in hopes of keeping that nastiness at bay. So far, so good.

Cross your fingers for us.

Brent's Pumpkin

I get such a kick out of Brent’s pumpkins every year. It’s like looking at a window into this dude’s core and it makes me laugh and laugh because he has such a happy-go-lucky type of personality. I tried not to peek because I was so looking forward to the surprise, but unfortunately… his artistic skillz had semi improved this year and didn’t provide the doubled over fit of giggles it usually does. I appreciated the "Brentness" in the fact that he did the face upside down (maxing out the depth of his creativity on that one) but the face was a little too talented for me.

The nose though... was signature Brent! I know it looks like a heart, but when I asked him about it, the resemblance hadn't even dawned on him at all! Gotta love him.

Also, it has to be mentioned that Sesame Street turned 40 today! Happy day! Honestly, I thought it had been around a lot longer than that. Kinda felt like a foot up the bootay when I realized I had watched it for the majority of it's existence. Being 30 makes me feel like an antique car. Anyway, here is one of the clips from the good old days in honor of it's burfday!

Halloweeve Pumpkins

I love carving pumpkins! I look forward to it so much and this year was great because Lauren and her kids came down from Richmond to spend Halloween with us. We threw all the kids outside and let them carve our biggest pumpkin together. Each nugget got to draw a piece of the face and their conglomerated masterpiece couldn't have turned out any cuter. Ellie named it Mix n' Match which was perfectly appropriate.

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