Thanksgiving.... and the rest

We have a lot of ground to cover, so grab a cup of coffee and I'll give you the cliff notes.

Tuesday must have been uneventful, because I can't remember a single thing about it.
Wait, after consulting with the photos section of my phone, I realize that we played at the park on Tuesday because the weather was just perfect.
We also had Nicolle's BBQ chicken sandwiches which were easy and great!

Wednesday was the day I had been anticipating and dreading, all in one, for a month.  You all recall the blog where I poured my heart out to you, cried and then gave my worries to God, right?
Wednesday was the World Series for all of those emotions.

Beckham walked into the room in a blaze of glory.
He swatted at Dr Hayward, yelled at her, squawked over a cup, and acted like a complete toot.
Dr H was happy to see that, however, because it nailed in the idea that he is just stubborn.

She wasn't worried about his in-toed gait, because he wasn't throwing his hips in step.

And she said he would most likely tear the top frenulum from trauma before it is an issue of clipping it, as most children do.

She commented on how quick we all were to try and make him happy, which was in fact a reward to his behavior.  She felt Maddox was his biggest accomplice as he catered to his every request, quite quickly.

She told me that she could tell that he was very bright and was right on point in other aspects but thought the language light switch just had not flipped, but wasn't far away.

I did weep a little, but when I tell you that I forfeited those tears to the big guy, I meant it.

Dr Hayward complemented my growth over the past four years... but she hadn't read the blog, so she was kind of getting a facade of emotion over the topic!

I left that appointment feeling okay and reassured.
He's my sweet Beak, and though I do believe that he is capable of moving mountains one day-- I think he will order a team to do it, at a particular time, and paint them a color that he chooses, changing it twice!

I am, however, going to try and write more positive things about him and speak less of his quirks.
I feel like because I judge his quick temperament so openly, others feel that they are safe to joke about it too.
And frankly...
they're not.

***
After the appointment, we ran to the mall to adopt our angel and buy him a few gifts.
I had to get Maddox a couple of shirts too, since he looked a little raddy the week prior at school in his tummy-top long sleeve shirts!

My sister made it in from college, and we met at On The Border for dinner to celebrate her 21st birthday!
The weather was great, so we sat on the patio and shared sampler platters and drinks.

Thursday was Thanksgiving.
My brother in law was hosting a 5K fun run at 7:00 and breakfast at 8:00.
Lance's granny was serving lunch at noon.
My Nana's feast started at 1:00.
And Mom scheduled her's for 3:00.

I would be lying if I didn't admit that I woke up mad about it all.
We skipped the run, of course, because we don't believe in exercise.
We pretended 8:00 was the same thing as 9:00, and we started our day out behind.
Beckham screamed the entire drive to Boyd, and by the time we pulled into their house, I was ready to drink my Thanksgiving breakfast.
But I opted for coffee and bagels with some amazing pumpkin cream cheese.

We ended up enjoying our time with everyone, and my mood started to adjust.

We swung over to Granny's about 11:00 and chatted with her while she made her finishing touches to the feast, and rolled out of there around 12:30 when they started eating.

Both boys napped on the 30 minute route to Nana's and then we pulled into her house a few minutes past 1:00 and ate lunch there.
The food was excellent and my Aunt Penny sent me some of her rocking heels!
We swung out of Nana's a little after 3:00 and pulled into mom's, right at 4:00.

Mamaw came this year (the first time in the last 3 years) but she is not doing well at all.
She was very agitated and didn't know a single person's name.
My cousin Amber is hilarious and she said, "just watch.  Holly will walk in and every bit of her sense will come back..."  What do you know... she knew me!
They were leaving as I was getting there, so we only got to visit in passing.

We visited family and ate dinner at mom's...
And then my sister and her room mate, Brandi headed to WalMart to fight the crazies!

Lance and I always go Black Friday shopping.
He swings me by for coffee, we bundle up... and then we go shopping.
We never really have anything in mind (except the year I bought my DSLR)... We just enjoy the experience!
We have never gone the WalMart, Target, Toys R Us route... because we weren't serious shoppers, so this year was quite an experience for me!
Santa had a big gift in mind for the boys to share... and I had to track down the deal for him

It was a bit dramatic, but we got what we went for and I was back in bed by 11:00.

I worked Friday  (trying to make up the cash I lost not being on call on Thursday), and we went to the Fort Worth Parade of Lights that evening as a family.

We had never been before, and I read online that if you couldn't make it before 4:00, it was pretty useless to try.
We had to pick up our friend Luke, and my sister was going to try and drive herself in and meet up with us and I got a bit anxious.
But we rolled in right at 6:00, parked a few blocks away and had a great view for the entire parade.  
One of my mom's BFF even had seats so the boys got the sit right up front to the entire show.

Afterward, we went to El Rancho Grande for some great eating and lots of laughs.

Saturday I had to work again.
I came home to a clean house from my husband and had just dozed off on the couch when there was a knock at the door.
Allison tried to bail when Lance told her would wake me, but he convinced her to stay.

We loved on little Jobie and then ate pizza and loved on him some more.

You forget how quickly they spin out of that mushy skin and wobbly stance.  It seems like it only takes a few nights rest before they can hold their heads by themselves and start coo.  Then laugh, then crawl, then walk, and then start school.

I hate it.

Allison is such a champ.  This is her first baby and she has mastered breastfeeding and tackling this new life.  Her husband works out of town so I am sure she loves it when he rolls into town, but for the most part, she conquers it all by herself. 
Like a boss.

Lance and I both appreciated her loaning her little love bucket, and hanging out until dark chatting.

Sunday Lance had to work.
I listened to church online and cleaned again and played with the kids.

What I didn't do was take the opportunity to read my chapters and prepare for my 2 tests that were due last night.
I made a 60 on the first one an an 80 on the next.
....Yeah.... read that number again in disbelief... that's what I said too.

Luckily, we get to drop our 2 lowest quiz grades-- so these 2 shouldn't affect me too much... but still.
A sixty?
Come on Holly.

Today we were back to the grindstone.
When the boys got out of the shower this morning, Beckham kept pointing to his boy part and squeaking and complaining.  I couldn't see anything worth the fuss and finally Maddox said, "maybe he needs to go tee tee."

Sat him on the big boy potty... and BAM.  He tinkled!

We made a huge commotion of clapping and praise... and even a couple of phone calls too.
Beckham acted like it was no big deal though, and went on about his chocolate milk.

Maddox was excited to get back to school and see his teachers and friends...
And Beckham enjoyed his mommy time as we ran errands.

The cold front just rolled in and we are eating some homemade chicken noodle soup.

Lance just reminded me that our anniversary is this weekend, so I guess I'll start looking up ideas and entering calls.