Happy TURKEY Day!

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday…I love to cook but I don’t have to buy and wrap gifts! I love that part about Christmas, but I love just being with family and friends and enjoying good food. 

Because we’ve had such a crazy past 6 weeks, we opted not to go to Dan & Celeste’s house.  Major SAD face! We REALLY wanted to go but it was just too much. We missed our cousins a lot and can’t wait to see them at Christmas!!!

We invited our great friends the Milligans over and one of Lydia’s favorite friends from church, Delene.  She was her substitute teacher a few times and she LOVES her…Lydia calls her “my happy teacher”.  It was a nice dinner with special friends!

This is my pieced together pie crust.  Since Chuck is eating Gluten and Dairy free, I tried really hard to make dinner that he could eat and enjoy but that everyone else could enjoy too!  That said, gluten free pie crust is SO hard to work with that it takes FOREVER to roll out.  3 hours to make 2 pies! Sheesh!  By then it was so late that I was exhausted and ready for bed, but they also take much longer to cook so I was up REALLY late cooking them.  But………………I fell asleep and one of them cooked for 4 hours! Toasty yumminess!!!  Blaaa! So, instead of attempting more gluten free crust, I figured Chuck would be ok with just one pie so I sent him to the store to get pie crust (I was NOT even going to try making regular crust!) and they were out of the rolled out ones so he brought some that were already in the pie tin.  And hence here is my pieced together crust.  We put the smiley face mouth on so that it would kind of cover up the seams.  So….it’s been a pieced together Thanksgiving but we all still have a smile on our face!!! 

p.s. it was a YUMMY PIE!

2011 Thankful Lists

When I was growing up we made Thankful lists every year in November.  As I’ve gotten older my list gets longer and longer and I really need several pages! We live such a blessed life!!!   One of our kids….who will remain un-named, did a little “eye roll” when I pulled out the Thankful Lists tonight.  The comment was, “I can never think of anything to put down.”  I tried really hard not to take it personally and I was literally biting the inside of my cheek so I wouldn’t cry.  It made me sad because  we truly are so blessed and have we not taught our kids to be grateful?  Then it all clicked for me as I watched ALL 4 kids write and write and write and realized-----oooooohhhhhh…..THAT’S why my Mom did it every year!!!  Thanks Mom & Dad for teaching me gratitude and giving me SO much to be grateful for!  Here they are…

Chuck’s presentation…incredible!

Chuck gave a presentation at the Oklahoma Autism Conference---Chuck’s mom came into town and my mom was there too…it was so neat! He did a great job and at the end he had Sadie sing “There’s a Hero”. He ended with saying that those who have autism, their parents and teachers are all heroes. I sat there thinking, “Wow, that’s my husband!” It was really neat. What an amazing man, husband, dad and advocate for the heroes of autism!

		Chuck’s presentation…incredible! VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Funny photos

Lydia fell asleep in the office while watching a movie…poor girl, she was tired!!!

Sadie was cleaning her room so Grandma Kathie could sleep there and these are all the water bottles and cups she had in there…good grief!  Funny picture though!

3 weeks of crazy, busy INSANITY!!! But it was worth it.....

Ok, the insanity is almost over! Why is it that insanity is SO FUN? I’m completely exhausted but happy….here’s why……………..

(UM….this would be Lydia’s contribution to the blog tonight….ha, ha!!!) twgftwftcfxcwdrcqdxafqgfvqgfvfgffft`yrftfgtgfg1htfy1tfggtgtgfgftgttghfftx5 sxtdtrdswrtq6tw6t2wq77yqw qgyaeyswyuqwyuiqyuqqyquyquyqyeytqy7qubhbhvbh fhbhbfhbhbhbgfRGT46TTERETRVETR43ET43676376T366676746363EY GRCXGYRT6 6TETRETTRFEDRRWR CR FRD TRFDFDTFDGDFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFSHGHFGFGSHFSHGH HSHSGHGSFHGSHJSHWSFFGTSXV5C6RDCEXFRR545F 5RVC4RECV43C G C5RX 5R 5 X CE55WR5S5EDRW5ERE5W5EE45Q6Q56Q56E5WQ6W 5Q6 5675W56Q6CWCWQCXCR5R4 W WEQ45Q2W266666666666666666666666666666666666666666222222224444444444444444444WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW R (THANKS LYDIA!)

Ok….once again….here’s why…….

In the last 32 days, I’ve been gone for 18 of them! MK Fall Camp in Utah (with 2 extra days to see family), attending Aunt Leslie’s funeral (which we wouldn’t have misses for anything), 2 Birthday parties---Liam’s and Briggs’, Halloween, Annual Sisters weekend with my mom and sisters (in Virginia this year----SOOOOOO MUCH FUN! Love, love, love my sisters!), an overnight conference in Dallas with my awesome NSD, Tammy Crayk that turned into a guest event here in Edmond making it a 3 day wonderful but busy time….and…..my MK Annual Christmas Open House on Monday and Tuesday night….whew! Needless to say, I’m EXHAUSTED but so happy with all of it. And that’s just MY schedule….Chuck’s typically INSANELY BUSY schedule was even more crazy with a move of his office into a bigger space, adding a new neuropsychologist, Young Men’s Youth activities, dances, meetings etc… and he has a HUGE presentation tomorrow to possibly 600 people AND he has a State Conference Friday and Saturday that he presents at twice! STOP THE MERRY-GO-ROUND…WE WANT TO GET OFF! Our kids have been AMAZING through it all—Sadie has been extremely helpful with babysitting (which she is SO happy about….not!) and the house wasn’t in too much of a shambles either! One perk? Our kiddos seem to LOVE us MUCH more since we’ve been so incredibly busy. They give us big hugs and kisses and are SO happy to see us when we get home…hope that lasts.

I think we are working overtime this month to prove our family motto that we have at the top of our blog----

WELCOME TO OUR CHAOS! WE DO LOUD REALLY WELL AND MAKE CRAZY LOOK GOOD!!!

Really, really, really glad it’s over. And the prize? Grandma Kathie is coming to visit Thursday…can’t wait to relax and enjoy time with Grandma. We always have so much fun with her!!!

JACQUI, MARIA, KAREN, TAMMY, JOANN & KELLEY---loved those desserts!!!

This picture is of my unit members and I at lunch with Tammy---we went to the most AMAZING place…Jim’s Italian in historic downtown Edmond. Doesn’t sound very Italian but the food was fantastic, well priced and they also have a glass blowing shop that you can watch them blow the glass! They have all the glass pieces displayed….just gorgeous! It was a Saturday so they weren’t blowing glass but we are definitely going back so we can see it. What an awesome place…would recommend it to everyone. Aside from food, the time with Tammy and the consultants was GREAT!!! Tammy is amazing and these women are some of my FAVORITE people ever...love, love, love them! So blessed to have you ALL in my life!

BWWWWHHHAAAAHHHHAAAAAAHHHAAAA! I AGREE!

Happy Halloween!!!

Here are our cuties at Halloween…what a fun time of year!!!

		Trick or Treat 2011! VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Sadie’s blankets for Spencer

		Spencer Blankets VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

For Sadie’s Young Women’s Personal Progress Project (it’s a little like the Scout Eagle program)  this year she made blankets for the Primary Children’s Hospital in honor of our sweet cousin Spencer.  You can read the details in the pictures but it was really sweet….love you Spencer and you too, Sadie!

Liam is 11!

Can I just tell you how cool Liam is? Not only is he kind, has amazing hair, a beautiful smile, loves to laugh, is super smart, etc. etc. etc…… but he also agreed to let me go to Virginia ON HIS BIRTHDAY to be with my sisters. What an awesome man!!! He had his buddies over for pizza, games and movies and the 2 things he asked for were a CTR ring and this awesome RC plane thing with a video camera! He was happy!

For his cake, I wanted to do something fun but what do you do for an 11 year old? He doesn’t really want a cutsie character cake but I love doing something creative and fun for them so…..

We baked money into the cake! Sadie and I wrapped them up in wax paper and the boys were SO excited when they cut into the cake to find money! Seriously, who gets paid for coming to a bday party? :)

Briggs Birthday---BIG 7!

Happy  Birthday sweet boy!  (and I couldn’t figure out how to get Liam’s bday photo off so Happy Birthday to Mr. Man too! )

Briggs had a party at the school playground…his favorite place to play….complete with a pinata, power rangers cupcakes and lots of friends and gifts. The best part of all was a surprise visit from Grandpa Sessions!  Loved having you there, Grandpa!!!

		Briggs! VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL