Thanksgiving in Connecticut

Well, after months of waiting, we were finally able to make our trip to Connecticut to spend Thanksgiving with my family. It was a terrific trip. We have so many fun memories and pictures, I believe I'll share a few. I hope you find it. . . entertaining.

Every time I've flown with the kids before, I've insisted on non-stop because I just thought that would be easier (and I've been alone for much of it and I had the most horrible thoughts about getting separated in the airport. . . *chills* . . . I can't even get into it. . . ) Anyway. This time, we planned a stopover and the flights went much better. Of course, Ryan was with me and Annie is old enough to behave herself, and I know that helped. I was a little concerned, however, when as we were waiting for the first flight, Rhett was a little squirmy and fussy and I was holding off the nursing until takeoff. Well, the man in front of me turned around, glared at me, and grumbled something offensive. I've never been good at quick witty responses, so none were made. I seriously can't believe how rude some people can be. Have they honestly forgotten what it's like to have little kids? Rhett was 5 months old, for Pete's sake! But I guess I can't be too judgmental about rude people, since I ran over some poor lady's injured foot in the airport and she's probably blogging as we speak about how rude young harried mothers are with their big fat sport-utility strollers.

So, we left Salt Lake at 6 AM and flew to Dallas. We had three hours at that airport and before you gasp and wonder how we handled that, I'll tell you: It was a cinch! Possibly the best part of the trip. Here's what we did: We rode the super tall escalators a few times, spent a good half hour and an undisclosed amount of money in the Dallas Cowboys store, ate some yummy barbecue, and rode the airport train for an hour. The kids stood up in front and enjoyed every second of it. We circled the airport more than once and entertained many a passenger with our "ooooooooohs" and "ahhhhhhhs" and "MOMMY!! THIS IS SO MUCH FUNs."

Here they are on the Dallas Airport Train.
Carson never turned around once. He LOVED it.

Anyway. On the second flight, we had a row of three seats together and the seat directly across the aisle. We decided (since Annie did so well on the first flight and this one was shorter) that we'd try her in that aisle seat and we'd move her if we needed to or if we thought she'd be uncomfortable with whoever ended up being her seat-mates. As you can see, she was just fine. She kept cracking us up. She was talking to this poor lady the whole time, drawing pictures, asking the lady to draw with her, etcetera.

Annie and her very patient, very kind seat-mates.
Thank you wherever and whomever you are!

My daughter. Hilarious. During take-off, we heard "this is the part that makes my tummy tickle" from across the aisle. At one point during the flight, we apologized to the lady and told her she didn't have to be so polite. Annie could leave her alone. Nope, she said. Just fine. She had taught school for 25 years and was just fine, thank you very much. At this point, I relaxed and enjoyed watching out the window as my home state came into view. . . nostalgia. . .

Little did we know that the fun was JUST beginning. Unbeknownst to us, my younger brother Tim (who just passed the Massachussetts Bar exam, by the way--YAY!) had decorated the inside of his car. And I mean DECORATED. Christmas tree lights, my mom's vintage ornaments (she wasn't too happy about that). The kids were thrilled, and even I couldn't believe my eyes. Annie told me later that people passing them on the highway were taking pictures of their car. And Tim told us later that he blew a 15 amp fuse.

Uncle Tim's festival of lights. An instant hit!

We stopped at Vinny's (a massive garden center with hundreds of lit trees, ornaments, decorations, and RUDOLPH!!!! the talking reindeer to whom Carson and Annie spoke for a moment) on the way to my parents' house. Carson was so funny. He was rocking back and forth from foot to foot because he was nervous.

Here Carson is with Grandma and Aunt Gretchen.

Well, our caravan of three cars finally arrived at the house and we got all settled in. It felt so good to be home. My mom had put up her Christmas tree already and the hot tub was waiting for us. My parents decided to put a hot tub on their roof. It was soooooooo nice to sit there and relax (well, as much as you can relax in a hot tub with a 2 and 5 year old in it) and listen to the waves at night. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh

The kids in the hot tub. Very relaxing and fun!

On Sunday, my mom brought out a belated birthday ice cream cake she had bought for Ryan. But, having forgot the candles, we did the best we could. We figured with the 6, the 4, and the other 17 candles, we got about as close to 35 as we could get (27, I think). Happy belated, Ryan!! And yes, we put that huge ice cream cake away! It was yummy!

SO yummy! Love ya, Ry!

On Monday morning, everyone went back to work except my sister Sam and my Dad. So the 7 of us headed off to the Norwalk Maritime Center. We had so much fun. We took the kids to the IMAX production of the Deep Sea. As you may recall, Annie has a very deep and sincere love for jellyfish and she was soooo excited to see this film. We had to laugh, though, because when the lights went out, movie began, and the theater quieted for just a moment, a small Carson voice could be heard: "I scaowed." No matter, Papa Foof was there and they watched it together. At one point, one jellyfish was being devoured by another, and at a pause in the sound, we heard a little Annie voice exclaim, "That's so rude!" Yes, eating a fellow member of your species (or genus--which is it?) is quite rude, I guess. Anyway, we saw a lot of cool stuff: turtles, sharks, sting rays, penguins, and an area where they had live shellfish native to the CT shores for the kids to touch. Fun time.

Aunt Sam, Annie, Carson, and Ryan.
Such a shocker that Annie chose the jellyfish!

Probably not very nice to do to Annie, but was a little funny!

Annie, Carson, and Papa Foof checking out Nemo, Dori, and a few others.

This is how Rhett spent the day: in his stroller staring at Papa Foof.

Apparently, it was also an exhausting time, because the kids just crashed that night, as you can see, in the middle of what they were doing. So cute!

Carson face down and smashed in the cars.
Probably no place he'd rather be!

No explanation needed.

On Wednesday, we helped Grandma Foof make pies and I made 96 (yes, you are reading that correctly) rolls. We were so exhausted and decided to order pizza. Now, you may have heard me talk about east coast pizza before. Suffice it to say I was in heaven. We had it a few times while we were back there and I have to say, my personal favorite was the sausage (crumbled, not the little stuff), red & green peppers, and onion pizza we ordered on our last night there. It was SOOOOO good. This is a picture of my dad's slice of cheese (a la Foof--meaning, covered in jalapeno slices). He actually ate it. Gross! The man loves his hot peppers!

Pizza a la Papa Foof!

Thanksgiving was fun. Yummy, of course, but fun too. We played games and ate till our sides threatened to burst. Rhett was kind enough to nap through dinner, so I actually had a warm meal!

First thing Abe and Kate's dog Harry did was take off with my mom's porch decor.
It was so funny but I don't think my mom shared in the laughs.
Harry is always a big hit with the kids and you can see why.
He has a GREAT sense of humor!

The day after Thanksgiving, we loaded up into three cars to venture off to acquire a Christmas tree. As I mentioned, my mom put up her artificial tree that she bought last year. I know it was a difficult decision for her as we have traditionally cut down our tree every year that I can remember. It's always been a day-after-Thanksgiving tradition. My sister Sam and her boyfriend Andrew wanted to cut one this year and my parents decided they'd also cut one for the kids to decorate with homemade ornaments. So that's what we did.

Uncle Jeremy, Annie, and Aunt Gretchen
buckled in and all ready to go!

Ryan, Andrew (Sam's boyfriend), and Uncle Jeremy's bum.

The fam
(minus the infant who would've fit perfectly into that last hole)
at Jones Tree Farm.

Can you see how wet we all were
(and this was having been under an umbrella most of the time).
But his spirits don't appear dampened!

The only downside was that we got SOAKED--and I mean SOAKED--at the tree farm, as you can see from Carson's picture above. But, we dried off and enjoyed a nice warm enclosed porch with the beach view for our creative afternoon! And we had Thanksgiving leftovers and made homemade ornaments for the rest of the day. The kids really enjoyed this and I do believe the tree came out nice. And thank you to Aunt Beth for watching Rhett while we went to the christmas tree farm.

Here is Annie "helping" Uncle Tim with the lights.

Carson with the finished product. Very creative.

Several games and Christmas movies later (including home videos of Christmases past--awesome), it was the day to leave. We were so sad (probably no one more than me) to leave because we'd had so much fun. I dressed the kids in their Christmas outfits and we all took some pictures. Here are some of them:

And a lovely "outtake" photo for you to all enjoy:

On the flight home, Annie helped cheer me up by continuing her in-flight shenanigans. For the first flight, we were on a jet that had one seat on the left side of the aisle and two seats on the right. So Carson and Rhett and I sat in the two seats (can't have a lap-riding infant in the one seat), and Ryan and Annie each had their own single seat on the left. At one point in the flight (we were getting close to Chicago for our stopover), I could see Annie looking out the window and chattering to herself. It was total random speech but really loud--each sentence connected to the next by one common thread. I figured, however, she had been sooooo good, I would just let her enjoy herself. The speech went something like this: Ooooh, look down there! It's a town. I wonder if there's dogs there. We have a dog named Jack. But Maisey is in the back with the horses. We have a garden. My mom put tomatoes in jars and grapes too. I like green AND purple grapes. And my mom eats TONS of grapes and tomatoes. And that's my mom with Rhett and Carson over there. My brother Carson is silly. And we play with toys. I love Barbies. I want a Barbie computer for Christmas. I like Christmas lights. And on and on and on and on. I started to realize that perhaps she wasn't talking to herself (but she was staring out the window!) Well, I paid closer attention and heard little responses like "oh! That's interesting," and so forth and then I realized that she'd been talking the ear off of the person sitting BEHIND her through the crack between the seat and the window. I had let her prattle on for a good half hour--maybe longer. I was really embarrassed but once again reassured by my fellow passenger that it was really okay. Thank goodness for cheerful travellers, that's all I can say. What a contrast to that grinchy ole grouch from the first flight!

Well, we only had an hour in Chicago. I much preferred the three hours in Dallas. Fortunately we had time to grab some dinner, go potty, and feed the baby and still pre-board. Phew! This pilot was not only hilarious, but actually let Annie check out the cockpit and paid attention to her for a few minutes. I'm sure she liked that. When we arrived, we were tired but happy. Grandpa Droubay was waiting for us and we headed home! What a FUN trip!

Papa Foof with his Cowboy Boys!

Funny Five-Year-Old

I don't know what's funnier: the things she says and does, or the fact that I sat down at the computer with the specific purpose of writing this post, and now I can't remember half of what I was going to write. In fear of losing the rest of it, I will write what I CAN remember and then add the rest later. Sheesh!

So, we were unloading groceries and she was bringing the milk into the kitchen and said (while hunched over like it was a two-ton rock): "UGHHHH!!! I am getting too old for this!" That just really cracked me up.

And then we were in line at Wal-Mart when (in a normal not-so-quiet Annie voice), she exclaims, "Eeeeeeeeew! MOM! Look at that man! His teeth are so yellow!" Okay, so that one wasn't funny, it was horrifying. I don't remember my response (still in shock perhaps), but I'm pretty sure it was something about how we all look different and if she wants to point something out to me, she can do it in a quiet voice and not preceding it with "eeeeeeeew!"

Oh, and speaking of saying things that are a little uncomfortable for Mom, we were meeting with our Bishop (church leader) and Annie said, "Bishop, you look like an elf!" We tried to distract her because he hadn't quite heard her. But she was not to be deterred. "BISHOP! You look like an elf 'cause you have pointy ears!" (They really don't look pointy to me, but whatever). It was embarassing either way. He didn't seem too offended. I sincerely hope he wasn't.

Overheard While Decorating Christmas Tree

Annie: Mom, Carson is touching the hookers (ornament hangers, mind you).
Mom: Carson, we don't touch hookers. (before realizing what I'd said, yet sound advice, me thinks!)


Annie: Mom, you're turning into a dad (pointing to the dark hair on my forearms)! Thanks, Dad, for the dark arm hair genes. . .

A Special Annie Holiday Tune

I just had to record this. . . it was SO cute. What I didn't record was that she rewound the song THREE times and sang it over and over. Is it possible to freeze time?

A Very Spook-tacular Halloween!

What a FUN day Halloween was! My sister Sam came out from Connecticut to spend a week with us. She arrived VERY late the night before Halloween, so we saved all the fun for one day: pumpkin carving, etcetera. It was a crazy day, but we got plenty of laughs.

Here is my little "ghostie." Rhett is 5 months old now and wearing the same onesie (which is nearly too small for him, btw) that Carson wore for Halloween when he was 7 months old. Cute though, no?



Here is my silly and cute little Goose and her jack-o-lantern. We cut the top off for her and then she cleaned out the insides. We were working on our pumpkins and looked over to see if she was ready to have us cut the face and, well, she'd already done it! With the little saw. I was thinking, "oh, great, mother of the year award for me" and then I remembered that she's been picking door locks with a paring knife (WITHOUT PERMISSION AND PRIOR KNOWLEDGE ON MY PART) since she was 3. She knows her way around a knife. (I'm TOTALLY being sarcastic and joking--I'm sure she is lucky she didn't cut her finger off). But, I thought her jack-o-lantern face was cute, albeit slightly small for the size of pumpkin. It's tough to tell by the lighting, but the eyes and nose were literally just slits!



Like I said, the day was full of humor. After we got the pumpkin mess cleaned up, Annie came in with the above two items. She wanted to "bob for apples." I laughed out loud. Not only for the obvious reason that the apple wouldn't even fit in the water container, but because she was throwing herself her own little Halloween party. It was like she was personally going to see to it that we did every possible Halloween activity in one afternoon. So funny.



At long last, it was time to don costumes and head out to trunk-or-treat, followed by trick-or-treating at grandparents and the neighbors. Here is my little horsie Rhett with his Aunt Sam.



My poor little Carsie had a cold that day, so he wasn't really thrilled to have his picture taken or perfectly posed in ANY pictures. Here is the best we could do of him as Pirate Carson. Mid-cough.



And here is my beautiful Princess Annie. It was a LOT harder than it looks to get her looking this beautiful: convincing her to hold still for the makeup, not losing it as she screamed bloody murder while I pulled back her hair, trying to convince her to wear accessories that matched rather than clashed with her dress, helping her to understand that the plastic high heeled slippers from Wal-mart would not assist her in remaining upright as she walked through the damp leaves over an uneven sidewalk in the dark. But alas, we arrived at the finished product, and I must say, I was pretty dang proud of how great she looked.



Here she is again with the cutest little Minnie Mouse ever--SO CUTE!



Imagine my joy when we arrived at the Trunk-or-Treat and my son walked up to this cute couple and said, "whatcha got?" How do you explain to a perfect stranger that your 2 year-old really DOES have manners, that you've spent a whole week teaching him "trick or treat," followed by "thank you?" After getting over my initial embarrassment, I thought it was pretty funny. Thank goodness the nice couple pretended to be overwhelmed by my kids' cuteness, so I didn't have to feel too badly.



What a FUN night for all of us. The best part, of course, was raiding their candy after we put them to bed. Mwaaaaaaaaah. . . wonder how many more years I have until they notice that all of the Reese's Peanut Butter Cups that were there on Halloween night are suddenly gone the next morning. . . .

HaPpy BirThdAy RyAn!

I thought as a nice gift to the mustached marauder known as my husband, if those of you who know him could share as a comment on this post, a memory or funny story about Ryan! Not too embarrassing, but something fun for him to read later!

Funny Annie-ism

Annie: Mom, I did something bad.
Me: (thinking, uh - oh, now what!) What did you do?
Annie: I choosed the left!
Me: What does that mean?
Annie: I should have choosed the right, but I choosed the left!

Turns out she got magic marker on the table. But, that's okay. I told her mom makes mistakes all the time. Funny kid.

Charlotte and her web

Here she is--Charlotte (so named by Annie), our garden spider. And just in time for Halloween. Well, actually, she's been with us all summer (or since our tomato plants got too big to pass the tiller between them, anyway). The pictures don't do her justice. She is HUGE. Her body is easily the size of my thumb. Seriously. The size. . . of. . . my thumb. Can you hear me emphasizing this? I cannot emphasize it enough. The first few times I saw her (and she was much smaller then, by the way), I was very very very frightened and not so sure I was going to follow my spider policy, which states the following: "If spider is found outside, that's his or her home and leave it be. If spider is found in MY home, it's 'adios' for the spider." But, in the end, adhering to the policy was to be the decision. It helped that I didn't want bugs to infest and destroy my tomato crop, spiders are good for that apparently. Her web is really big and beautiful. I tried and tried, but I can't get it to show up more in the picture.




Oh, and it gets even better--I LOVE tomatoes, but I couldn't bring myself to pick the ones on either plant that her monstrous web was attached to. After a while, I realized she wouldn't chase me and try to kill me, so we made peace. I kept my distance still, but we shared the occasional conversation, and Ryan tossed her grasshoppers every now and again. He said he watched her wrap them up and even eat one. . . . pass. . . No thanks, I'd rather not see that.




Anyway. Sometimes I'd come out to the garden and she wouldn't be in her web. I couldn't bring myself to pick tomatoes on those days. Who knew where she'd be? Gives me chills.




Ryan told me one day that she let him pet her belly. Now THAT is strange. Why? I ask? Why would you WANT to pet the belly of a spider? But alas, he does love animals, so. . .

Anyway, I don't know how long she'll be around. She has survived the few frosts we've had and moved her web twice. I think I might even be sad when we part ways.

An Early Morning Carsonism

7:15 AM, in our bed

Dad: Are you my friend?
Carson: No, I just you boy.


classic.

My FIVE year old!

My "baby" is five. When did this happen? It's like I blinked and she was five. FIVE! She's headed for kindergarten TOMORROW! She's starting to read. She (much to my horror yet amazement) unbuckled her brother from his swing and transferred him to his bouncy chair all by herself today. She said "mom, come sit by me and I'll give you a love" last week when I was sad that my family had left. She is SUCH a grown up little girl I can hardly believe it.


I thought I'd share a few pictures of her through the years and what I love about her:


This is one of the first digital pictures I have of her. Her earliest pictures are film and I haven't scanned yet. This was on Easter morning in 2005 and she was 8 months old. Annie is such a sweetheart. You can tell by looking at that sweet little face. She is always full of love for her parents and her brothers, friends and her new little cousin, Kate. She loves to snuggle and express her love through hugs and kisses. Makes my day every time she gives me a good squeeze.



She's just so dang cute! This is probably from the summer she turned two. She had this Elmo obsession. Aunt Kelli and Uncle Mike bought her this Elmo for her 2nd Christmas (I think it was about her size, too) and she took it everywhere. Here she is in our backyard enjoying the day. That's another thing I love about her. She loves to explore and try new things. She is really independent and can find a good activity or project just about anywhere.

This can sometimes be a problem:
Here she is at about 18 months. Every parent's dream (I'm sure) is to find their child standing on a desk they didn't know she could climb onto, in front of a cabinet they didn't know she could open, holding a PERMANENT marker they didn't know she could uncap, drawing pictures of Sid the Sloth on their wooden cabinet doors. awesome.



This is my little daredevil doing her "big jumps" when she was three--in fact, it very well might have been on her third bday. I love that she is adventurous and just a little fearless!



I love this picture. She is the BEST big sister in the world. They fight and steal toys from each other, don't get me wrong. But from the very moment we walked through the door with Baby Carson (and also Rhett), she has been so tender and never jealous. I overhear her saying sweet and kind things to him all the time. She teaches him how to do things, gives him hugs and kisses. Last night, in fact, she had a sleepover at grandma's and phoned to tell us goodnight. Well, to tell CARSON goodnight. "May I speak to Carson, please?" was the greeting her dad got when he picked up the phone. I could hear what she was saying, and she said, "Carson, do you miss me? Say 'yes'" To which he replied "yes." Then she said, "I miss you too. I love you Carson!" I wanted to cry until I heard his little voice say "dih-doo" (thanks) and then I decided to laugh instead. What a funny pair they are!



I won't gab on and on about the hair. . . heaven knows we've covered THAT one, but I love(d) her beautiful curly hair. This is Annie at my parents' house in CT. I love that she loves my family. And they love her. She loves to talk about her aunts and uncles and Papa and Grandma Foof all the time. When we visited last summer, she warmed up to everyone and had so much fun.

I love this little girl!

. . .and here she goes off to Kindergarten. . .

Love ya, Goose!