Too blessed to be depressed

I saw the phrase "too blessed to be depressed" on a church marquee years ago and I just love it. When I get down about work or whatever else might get me down, I just say that phrase and it really is so true.

This Thanksgiving, I have so much to be grateful for.

1. I'm thankful to have a job that makes a difference.
2. I'm thankful to have a beautiful home even if it's a mess a lot of the time.
3. I'm thankful to have a church family that truly is a family.
4. I'm thankful have a husband who tells me everyday that he loves me and puts up with my neurotic ways.
5. I'm thankful to have a mother who raised us as a single mom and then my wonderfully amazing dad who adopted me.
6. I'm thankful for girlfriends that made me laugh so hard this past weekend that my stomach and cheeks hurt!
7. I'm thankful for my nerdy old minivan because it means that I have a family that I prayed for.
8. I'm thankful that God constantly reminds me of all His grace and love everyday with the people he's put in my life.
9. I'm thankful for my health.
10. I'm thankful that God has entrusted me to raise these two absolutely beautiful, hysterical, blond haired, blued eyed boys. What a gift!

Church Thanksgiving dinner

Every year our church does a Thanksgiving dinner and we go. It's potluck style but let me tell you, I wear my elastic pants to this dinner. It is such good grub and it's so wonderful to spend the dinner with our church family. They are truly one of the things that we are most grateful for. We go to a small church but where we're small, we make up with heart. We just got a new minister at our church, Rob Morris, who was my brother-in-law's roommate at TCU and my youth group sponsor during church camps for years. He's been so amazing for our church and we're so excited that we're growing and so many young families are coming.

This year, Campbell got a little festive with his turkey hat he made at school. Once we were at the dinner, he definitely preferred the green bean casserole. All the ladies at church sneak him in some desserts when we're not looking and he just loves them for that. After dinner, he started playing with another little girl named Evelyn. One or both of them has a crush. It was short of a make out session during the middle of the church dinner. Once again, those McDonald boys...

Those McDonald boys

I just got back from another scrapbooking retreat with my girlfriends. It only takes a few days for me to miss them insanely and realize how crazy I am about my boys. So today we celebrated my first day of being off by going to have lunch with Daddy. It's so crazy that something so little gets Nolan so excited. Everything went well minus Nolan shutting the door of one of the big boss's office when she was meeting with someone. Oops! Then at lunch he belched while he was eating and Justin said, "What do you say?" meaning to say excuse me. Nolan's response? "THAT WAS A GOOD BURP!" really loudly.

There's always something that he manages to fit in to embarrass us. Last time when we were in the cafeteria and I was talking to a friend of mine, Nolan manages to sneak off and eat the onion rings on display! What am I going to do with this boy? I bet when everyone at Alcon sees us coming to have lunch they are thinking, "Those McDonald boys..."

One of Justin's coworkers gave him this gummy eyeball. I couldn't believe that he ate it!

Looking at the koi pond

Don't fall in!

AMEN!

Campbell says "amen" now and it's so adorable. It makes up for all those times he tells us "no." Nolan reminds us every night at dinner to say our prayers and it's the cutest thing to hear Campbell chime in with an "amen" at the end. I think he actually learned it from "If you're happy and you know it." I'm realizing all sorts of songs that he knows and I didn't even realize it. One of his teddy bears plays "Head, shoulders, knees and toes" and he starts pointing to his hair and his toes. I feel like our school is doing a great job of teaching him things but then I get a little heartbroken when I realize all the things that he's learning without me. Then again, that's how Nolan got so smart!

Jumping jelly beans

My nieces' birthdays are about a week apart so usually my sister celebrates them with one party. This year the girls wanted a gymnastics party at a gym where they get to jump around with six trampolines everywhere in the ground. Nolan was timid at first and then at the end we couldn't get him to leave. He loved it. His hair was drenched with sweat and they both crashed on the way home. Campbell RAN everywhere (and let me say, this chubby boy doesn't run too much unless it's something he's really into). Justin and I even took part in the fun. I wish I would have snapped some pictures of Justin doing a cannonball into the noodle pool. Oh, I think he misses being a kid a lot. Kids shouldn't have all the fun, right?

Avery turned 9 on Oct. 25th

Madison doing a toe touch...awww I remember those days in cheerleading.

Ok, so here's my attempt 12 years out of high school and out of a cheerleading uniform. Hey, it's not perfect, but I'm 30 people!

jumping jelly bean

Campbell even loved jumping too!

Adalyn turned 11 on Nov. 4th

Nolan in the noodle pool having a blast.

Top 6 cutest things Nolan's said recently

#1
Me: How did you learn to color so pretty?
Nolan: Because I'm a rock star.

#2
"Mommy, why are you eating so much candy?" (after catching me in the act of eating his Halloween candy)

#3
Me: What do you want to be when you grow up?
Nolan: a vampire

#4
Nolan: My tummy hurts (while he's eating dinner)
Me: Well I guess you can't have any of your Halloween candy.
Nolan: I'm just kidding, mommy.

#5
Nolan: I love you mommy
Me: Oh but I love you more.
Nolan: No, I love YOU more
Me: No, I love YOU more
Nolan: Ok, I'm not going to talk to you anymore

#6
Word mix-ups:

• "blisterd" instead of blister

• "slurbert" instead of zerbert (for clarification on zerbert see video below of Campbell giving his daddy one)

• "any-Ms" instead of M&Ms

• "brektfast" instead of breakfast

Carving time

Friday night was carving night. We've been talking about it for over a week with Nolan. He was so ready to get into that pumpkin! I had to convince him that we already have enough pumpkins at home every time we went to the grocery store for the past month. Usually I'm just a bystander in the midst of this artistry but with Justin's hand in a splint thingamajig for the past month, he needed backup this year. Nolan drew the face of the pumpkin and we went with it.

Campbell had no interest in the pumpkin (as you can see in the pictures) until he saw the guts and then was interested for a whopping 5 minutes. I don't remember pumpkin carving taking so long but with one of us handicapped (Justin physically and me artistically) and the other one chasing Campbell it was a pretty long ordeal. Campbell didn't get to see our finished product until the next morning.

Nolan was really into it until we put the candle in it and turned off the lights. That made him think twice about his friendly little pumpkin.