We are Thankful for...

This year I found it much more important for us to really consider and reflect on what we're thankful for. We've been talking to Jacob about it for days (to the point now he's asking everyone else what they are thankful for). Even if what you are thankful for is trains and Wall-e, we need to stop and truly be thankful.

Really, we ought to do this more than once a year.

In the past, I've been guilty of spending more time focusing on the perfect meal at the perfect place setting. Maybe it's having little ones, but I just find myself in a completely different mind set. We did Chinet plates, plastic silverware, forgot to get the Tea to drink and some people had to eat sitting on the floor - but you know what? It was PERFECT because it was one of those times we get to spend with our family without the distractions that loom around us (other than Cowboys football!).

Jacob and I made this Turkey and had all of our guests (19 people total) write what they are thankful for on the turkey. That makes it an official "Thanksgiving Turkey"! It is neat to see what everyone wrote and I think it really helps us see how much we have to be thankful for.

We hope you and yours had a great Thanksgiving. We certainly did.

The official Thanksgiving Turkey.
All 19 of us added a feather full of things we're thankful for. Aside from many of the traditional ones (family, jobs, etc), here are some of the other things we're thankful for: sleep, paci, bug spray, Plavix and hair straighteners!

This is Carol's Family. Mark, Debbie and Mackenzie are in town from Jacksonville, FL and we were thrilled to have them join us. Boo-Boo and Mr. Ed had to leave a little early, but we certainly appreciated them making the trip in from Jasper.

Here is Momma Liz with her crew :) Obviously Jacob was pretty concerned that he look good in the picture. Mom was a huge help for me in getting ready for tonight!

Here is Dustin's family. It's his Mom and Dad, and his sister Amanda and her husband Allen. Amanda and Betty contributed some yummy food to the table - thank goodness we have some cooks in the family! (I wonder if that's written on a turkey feather?!)

The Christmas Season is here!

We have put up the Strickland Christmas Tree of 2008! We have a good bit going on for the next couple of weekends, so we went ahead and put up the tree this weekend. Up until we got the actually decorate, Jacob was about to come out of his skin with excitement. He did indeed help decorate the tree with ornaments, of which I took the picture below. He created several "ornament clusters" that we'll leave exactly as they are.

Dylan's interest when we were decorating was to take the ornaments off as we put the on! None broken so far and his interest in touching (aside from the light saber that went into the tree) has been minimal. Our fingers are crossed as my mom reminded me of Matt pulling our tree over when he was Dylan's age. They had to wire it to the wall!

Later Jacob sat on the couch with me and said "Momma, I just love our tree. Let's look at it forever"...Ok sweet boy, deal!

Trying New Things

Today Gi-Gi took Jacob iceskating. He's never tried it before, but he loved watching the Disney on Ice (declaring he wants to be an ice-skating Buzz Lightyear) so we thought it would be a great idea. Dylan and I had to go to the dr. to get him the Flu Shot Booster, but we met up with them later and got a few pictures. Jacob could walk on the ground great in skates and tried soooooo hard to iceskate. He made it around the rink by holding the side or holding Gi-GI's hands. He stopped at one point and when my mom asked him what was wrong he said "I'm just trying to think about how to get my bones to do this". I love him so much for trying as hard as he did at something so new and hard.

And on an unrelated note - Super Funny, but shouldn't be. Yesterday Jacob started calling out to Dylan to get his attention "Hey Dylan....Dylan....Hey Fartface!" I burst out laughing - he didn't even say Fart right .... really it sounded more like "Furtface". I said "Who says that?" And he said Louis does on Meet the Robinsons. Thanks Louis for teaching my 4 year old about Furtface! (and yes, I did tell him not to say that word anymore!)

The Past 24 Hours...

We had such a good Halloween this year. Jacob really got the "trick-or-treating" part and Dylan loved wearing his costume (which I never expected!). Walking through the streets with friends and family last night, I realized how blessed I am. It's like the joy of being a kid on a holiday is even better when you are a parent realizing that joy with your child. Thanksgiving and Christmas...here we come!

Jacob and I got to go to Aldridge Gardens for a field trip Friday Morning.
What a neat little retreat in the middle of the city!

These are the pumpkins we carved and decorated on Thursday night.

Dustin gets the credit for the best pumpkin....Thomas the Train!

Getting ready to head to the parade and trick-or-treating.

Jacob and his Gi-Gi, dressed as a fairy princess at Jacob's request.

Our crew for the parade and trick-or-treating.
Jacob and Emily were so cute!

We all had so much fun. Here is Jacob and his princesses.

Here is the costume(s) I was most impressed with.
The Flintstones - and Fred would yell "Yabba Dabba Dooo!"
each time they took off running to the next house.

In Publix - Dylan and his buddy Daniel steered the way!
Publix always has games and prizes for the kids on Halloween - easy and fun excursion of the kids.

Seriously - Jacob walked so much Friday night he was limping with sore feet the next morning! We had to give him Advil and a Foot Spa to try to get him ready for the 9:30 soccer game! You know you've done well trick-or-treating when you need a Foot Spa the next day because you can hardly walk!!!!

The parents worried the kids wouldn't be into the game after the night out for Halloween. But it seems the sugar highs gave them a lot of energy! Although not playing soccer here, they were being a train and collapsing on each other and it was pretty funny. They just all look so happy here :)