and so it begins...

Kris is at Lowe's right now picking up more gear for the outside Christmas decorations. He and the neighbors across the street have waged a little challenge with each other. As Michael and Scott pulled out of their driveway earlier after spending the morning hanging wreaths and garland on the front of their house, they paused in front of our house to tell Kris, who was outside hanging our snowflakes, "It's on." I'm slightly afraid...we'll see if we win for tastefulness or if the outside of the house ends up looking like this:

I'm in LOVE!

I was just catching up on Design*Sponge from the past week when I came across the most beautiful lighting website featuring stuff like this:
For the post on Design*Sponge, click here.

For the website full of all sorts of lighting treasures, click here.

Sleeping Beauty (and her daddy)

I had to take the opportunity to take a pic of this when it happened a few weeks ago...
...because the last time she let herself do that, it was roughly two years ago...

aaaaaannnnd...we're done.

Time for me to catch up on my fall posts, since the kids have Christmas programs coming up!

Nov. 7 marked Sam's last game of his very first soccer season (and my dad's b-day...Happy Birthday, again, Dad!). He ended the season on a high note, scoring one goal (which he celebrated with everyone on the field and the sidelines for a good three minutes) and paying close attention and cheering on his fellow teammates during game time when he wasn't playing. Our neighbors even came for a little while to watch him play, which thrilled him. We were also treated to BEAUTIFUL weather at this game, as well.

Overall, we were happy that he started to learn the game a little and learned how to be part of a team (and also that he learned to lay off the pushing!).

And he was happy that he GOT A TROPHY!!!

I can't say for sure, though, whether he'll want to play again in the spring...we'll let him decide. At this age, he is just thrilled to play and wants to be involved in any sport. So, the possibilities are endless...baseball, soccer, football in the fall...we shall see!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Every two to three years we do Thanksgiving as just our little family, depending on travel schedules for the year (both ours and those of extended family) and vacation time. Even though we don't get to share our table with our extended families those years, we still make the best of it, enjoy each other's company, reflect on the things we are most thankful for and eat a really, REALLY yummy meal :)

This was one of those years. This morning, we watched the Macy's parade together, then a little of the dog show, which prompted a discussion to explain to Sam why we couldn't enter Molly in the show based on both breeding as well as atrocious behavior. (A little later, Molly proved our point by chewing a nice rough spot into the wood along the bottom of the living room couch...ugh.) After we convinced Grace that it was really Thanksgiving (she was a little confused because they had a Thanksgiving feast at school yesterday), we prepared our meal, set the table with the good china (no need to scrimp just because no one else was coming!), and enjoyed our Thanksgiving dinner. And we ended the evening with a family viewing of A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving on tv.

We have much to be thankful for!

recent conversations with Grace

This one cracked me up:

Grace: "My toe hurts! I put my princess shoes on the wrong feet and didn't switch them and then played too hard and now I have an owie! My toe hurts!"

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And this one made me realize that I am totally screwed with this kid, because she pretty much refuses to make anything easy:

Grace: "For Halloween next year, I want to be Cinderella."

Me: "Okay. What color dress does Cinderella have?"

Grace: "Pink."

Me: "Are you sure? I thought her dress was blue..."

Grace: "That's the one she wears to the ball. I want the pink one that the birds and mice make for her...the one that her stepsisters rip up."

Me: "Holy crap, kid...are you kidding me?" (Okay, I didn't really say that...but I've been thinking it ever since!)

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And this one made me feel like Mother of the Year (note my sarcasm):

Kris (during dinner): "Mommy had to go to a meeting."

Grace: "Sam, a meeting is where you go when you don't want to eat dinner with your family."

My redemption here is that I was at a volunteer youth soccer marketing meeting, but I don't think Grace really cares about that!

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And, another one to add to the Mother of the Year category:

A frustrated me after bedtime was dragging on and on: "Pick out your frickin' books and let's go!"

Grace: "I already got my frickin' book."

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And that's day to day life with Little Lu!

hit the nail on the head

Christina over at A Mommy Story apparently is channeling me this week, because this post right here basically sums up exactly where I want to get to. Only I'm not there, yet. So, I'll probably continue to stuff my kids' artwork from school and home into the overstuffed cabinet where I keep their treasured creations...but, I'll be keeping Christina's post in mind as a goal...because I'd like to be able to shut the door to the cabinet again someday.