Turkey Day

Turkey Day 2011

 In preparation for Thanksgiving Day this year, the kids and I made some desserts.  Our first one was a pumpkin pecan cheesecake and oh my, was it good! Chippy helped make the second one, a bananas foster upside down cake...

 and the kids even let him lick the batter off the beaters.  Guess they were really in the giving spirit!

 After we finished all of our desserts, we packed up the car and drove over to Gigi and Boom's for Thanksgiving lunch. This scene makes me smile.  The love that these kids have for their grandparents if just precious.

 Maddie inspecting the turkey--she said, "Boom, that's a big bird you got there!"  Think she's got a little country in her?

 After we had a delicious lunch, complete with Meme's sweet potato casserole (my fave!), the girls sang and played the piano for us.

 Jackson challenged Aunt Colleen to a game of Checkers...

and then the big kids did the "Turkey Tango," along with two other songs.

 They were too cute.

 After their performance, it was time to play Wii with Daddo.  Jackson was the pitcher, while Daddy tried to hit the ball.  J was trying so hard to strike him out that he started sweating!

 Then they called dear old mom upstairs and much to my surprise it was because my husband, yes, you read that right, was challenging me to a dance off!  Thank goodness I won, but not my much!

 After our dance off, it was time to go to Fort Worth to see all of the Hays Fam.  When we got there the girls immediately went to see Jerry Lewis, Aunt Carolyn's pet bird.

 Jackson set up another game of Checkers, with Pa Hays as his opponent this time.  Daddo said that Pa Hays used to beat him at Checkers when he was little.  Guess he's softened in his old age because Jackson won all three games.  Either that, or J is a genius child:)

 The kids loved hanging out with Memaw and Poppi...

 and also loved playing football outside with Uncle Scott and Daddo.

 Daddy was on double-duty--he would toss the ball to Jackson and then have to toss Lila Lou in the air.  Whew!  Guess he worked off a few more calories before we ate dinner.

 Cousin Amy came in her police officer uniform because she had to go straight to work after dinner.  The kids thought her uniform was super cool--the big kids (aka Jared, Andrew and Scott thought her taser gun was especially intriguing!).

 Before she left, she played Twister with Jackson.  After that, he got Daddy and Aunt Lyndsie to play with him, too.  It was a bit of a challenge because little sister would decide to forward roll sometimes in the middle of the game...

 but he was all smiles most of the time...

 that is, until he ended up like this!  The kids is mighty flexible, but he could only hold out so long! 

We had a wonderful day with all of our family.  We are thankful for all of them and especially for these three little turkeys.

Thankful Turkeys

They say that imitation is the highest form of flattery.  That being said, I totally stole two craft ideas from my mommy friends, Hayley and Monica.  I hope that you girls don't mind, I just thought these turkey crafts were too cute to pass up!

First we made the Thankful Turkey.  Jackson's class mascot, Chippy, is getting to spend the week with us, so he got in on the fun, too.  We cute out all the feathers first, and then the kids came up with things that they are thankful for.  I love this idea.  Having a grateful heart is so important and this really drives home that point.  It's also a fabulous reminder of how lucky we all are--just look at how many feathers there are and we could have gone on for much longer!



After doing our turkey, we went outside and J chose a pumpkin to make our next craft with (Thanks, Monica!).  This is now our kitchen table centerpiece and we love it! 

Poppi's Birthday Celebration

This year Poppi's birthday falls exactly on Thanksgiving Day.  So in order for him to feel like it was his own special day, we went out to celebrate at Scalini's. 

Our whole crew was there--all 11 of us--and we enjoyed good food and good company even more.  On a side note, for all my mommy friends, I would not recommened Scalini's on a Sunday evening.  Apparantly they only have one cook or that one cook only has one arm, not sure, but something made it take FOREVER to get our food.  As in, two hours!! Which really feels more like five when you are trying to corral and entertain a 19 month old busy body, 3 year old tired girl and 4 year old boy!!  Thank goodness for iphone games (that phone is worth it's weight in gold some times!) and a partly empty restaurant that Lila Lou could explore a bit.

In all fairness, they did great!  The girls played so well together--they really are starting to become friends, I think,  and love being together, which makes my heart smile.  And makes a two hour wait much more bearable.  Happy early Birthday, Poppi!  We will see you tomorrow and celebrate some more:)

Gig 'em Owls!

The Owls were in the second round of the playoffs last night and the game was at Cowboys Stadium.  Since we had so much fun last Friday night, we decided to go again last night to try and cheer on GHS to another victory.  

We got there just in time to see the Owls run out onto the field.

Gigi and Boom had never been to Cowboys Stadium, so they were in awe of it.  It is really nice!

We were so excited that they had the jumbo big screen on for the game, complete with instant replay and everything!  It really made it feel like we were at a college or pro game.

The game was so close--we scored a touchdown with 2 seconds left and that tied it up at 21.  But it was not the Owls night, and even though we hollered as loud as we could, they lost in OT.  Oh well, it was still a great way to spend a Friday night and now when we watch the Cowboys play tomorrow, Jackson will know exactly what it's like in person.  The kid has had a big year!

Turkey Time

Oh so thankful are we for the wonderful school that the kids go to.  Yesterday we went to a Thanksgiving Feast with Jackson's class.

Here's our little indian with his blue feather on his head.  He's holding the placemat that he made all by  himself.

We are also thankful that Daddo got to come home early from work in time to make the feast. 
What a treat!

We are a little less thankful that there were no tables on which to eat lunch--floor sitting is not Daddo's forte!  The teachers thought it was important to show the kids how the first Thanksgiving meal was eaten, so we all took one for the team and ate on the floor:)

After lunch was over, we got a real treat and watched the kids perform all of their Thanksgiving songs. 
I love this little Indian so very much.

I especially loved watching him do the "Turkey Tango."  It was too cute!

When the show was over, it was time to head over to Maddie's class for her party.  When we got there she was just finishing off not one, but two cupcakes, and had a huge grin on her face. 
Maddie is very thankful for cupcakes!

It won't be long before this little turkey goes to school.  And that's hard to believe!

For now she is content to help the big kids with their projects and sit at the table just like them.  And that's just fine with me.  I'm so not ready to even think about her going to school!

Three precious little turkeys--what I am most thankful for!

Friday Night Lights

This past Friday night, we went to cheer on our Alma Mater at Williams Stadium.  It was the Owls first playoff game this season and was the perfect night for some football.

We began the night with a little tailgaiting.  Jackson played lots of bean bag toss and even beat his Uncle Scott, I do believe!

Lila Lou ran around for a bit before Memaw took her home.  She did good at the tailgate, but she's not quite football watching material just yet!  All in good time...

The rest of us enjoyed some good BBQ and then headed on into the game.

Thank goodness Poppi and Boom went in ahead of time and saved us some seats.  It was packed! 

Our group had three former GHS football players,  two former cheerleaders and one very enthusiastic little boy.  How could the Owls lose with that kind of support?  We cheered them on to victory, sang the Alma Mater while pointing at Ollie the Owl and then headed home.  The Owls play this next Friday night at Cowboys Stadium, and you can bet that we will all be there again.  Gig 'em Owls!!

Dallas Zoo

This past Saturday we were finally baseball free, so we decided to take a trip to the Dallas Zoo.  We went with our good friends, the Rachavongs, and everyone had a really good time.  When we first walked in, the kids found these cute little kangaroo statues and ran over to them.

They were so excited to be there and ready to go see some crazy animals.

Lila was stylin' in her shades--too bad it never got warm enough for her to take off her jean jacket.  She still rocked her pink ruffles, though:)

The first animal we saw was this monkey.  He put on a show for us by swinging all around his little house-



Which got lots of laughs and big smiles from our whole crew.  Little girl just kept hollering, "Monk! Monk!"



After watching the monkeys, we walked over to see the cute little sea otters.  We could see them swim under water, too, which was cool, although they did look like rats from that angle. Eeek!!

Our crew--not fans of being still for a picture.  Just look at their discomfort!

They were much happier when we let them just run!

Probably the most exciting thing the kids got to do was ride a camel for the first time.  For that matter, it was Daddo's first time, too.  He said the whole time that they were riding, Madison just kept telling him how he didn't need to be on there with her and Jackson.  She is so brave.  Notice Jackson hanging on for dear life!

After the camel ride, we went to see the rhino.  Jackson rightly pointed out, "It's a boy!" and said it loud enough for about 50 other people to hear.  Oh, dear. Yes, Jackson, it is.

Then we went to see the reptiles and encountered this enormous, very scary snake. 
Seriously, it could eat Lila for lunch. 

And we got to see this albino aligator.  Such weird creatures, I think.  I look at them and can't help but think that there is no doubt that their cousins are the dinosaurs.

After lunch, we got these four to somehow sit still for two seconds! 

And even got a whole shot of both our families, too!

On our way out we got to ride the merry-go-round.  Lila and I were on the tricertops, J was on the elephant and Maddie was on the pony.  It was the perfect way to end the afternoon.

$21 for zoo admission, $3 for a dr. pepper, 3 kids who slept the whole way home - Priceless!