Goodbye November

I am the worst blogger.
Life flies by and I rarely catch up.
November is already gone-- and a lot has happened here in our world!

Ellie and Gunner had their final day in Paradise.
We cried.

Beckham and I spent that next week polishing up their house for sell, making necklaces for orders, dealing with a busted noggin', scoring Lance a rockin' new do from my pal Jennifer, and surprising Maddox with lunch at the school.
Plus I got flowers.   

Lance works his real job and then has a second side-job that he does too (and loves)-- but with the time change it feels like we see less of each other these days.

He and I finished the weekend off with a much needed over night date to Fort Worth, dinner, and a night about the town, sans kids-- with a couple of friends.
We left the Worthington for brunch at Esperanzas before picking up our boys from my dad and Julie.

Monday, Maddox had a Veteran's day program at school.  The weather was beautiful for about a day-- and then it dropped frigidly low. Like, in the 20s.
We even had snow one day, which Beckham proclaimed was "the best Christmas ever"!

A few things I wrote in my phone, worth documenting-- 

One night Beckham got in trouble multiple times and was finally sent to his bed, with the door closed behind him.  A few minutes later he came out and sweetly crawled into my lap.

I said, "did you come in here to apologize?" to which he replied, "no.  I came in here to ask what smells so delicious."

I was baking cookies...

and had forgot about them.

So they were burnt.

Serves him right.

He also refused to eat dinner one night and when I asked him why he wasn't hungry, he said, "I guess I just lost my appetite."

He also asked me, randomly, "do you ever think about how rabbits even eat carrots?" 

I don't.

Or hadn't.

He is his father's child.

He also called me fat.  Well, kind of.  He told me to "come here you big love chunk." And another day Maddox told me that my "muscles are so fat, I could take down a 90 year old man!", so whatever.

Maddox set a "deer trap" in our front yard by filling the tire swing up with acorns.  He was ecstatic one night when we pulled into the driveway to see a 6 point buck standing in the yard... not near the swing... but he couldn't be convinced it hadn't pulled him there.

B is still obsessed with babies.  Actually he has only mentioned two things that he wanted to ask Santa for, "A real Mickey Mouse with his own robot, and a baby in his belly."  So one night, when we had met Lance's dad for dinner, we shouldn't have been shocked when he asked his Papaw straight up, "when did you get a baby in your belly?!!" 

But he did.

Another Christmas-wish-funny came when I couldn't remember the name of one of the toys that Maddox wants.  I asked Beckham what they were called (since Maddox was at school), and he frankly said, "I don't know.  Just buy him a map.  He likes maps."

One night Maddox and I were perched up in the chair together and we were laughing together at B and then got a little mushy thinking about him getting bigger.  Maddox said, "well great, I just cried a tear into your hair thinking about him growing up."

We finished out the last week at school with a Thanksgiving feast with Mrs T's class and fun run.  Lance and I bought tickets to ICE but decided not to tell the boys, just pull him out of school early Friday and drive there.

When I spilled the beans that morning, that Lance and I would be pulling him out for a SURPRISE, he politely declined, telling me they had a lot of things to do before the 9 day break like move tables and stack chairs!

Mrs T also told me that Maddox told the class that I had said that I didn't understand why we teach our kids that Columbus discovered America when the vikings were clearly already here (I said Indians, in a conversation that wasn't to him) and Mrs T said, "I'm not sure Maddox?" To which he said, "its true!  They were here a long time before... even before Indiana Jones!"

 

The last few weeks, prior, B and I were able to complete a few Random acts of kindness while Maddox was at school. He has been pretty bummed but my friend Nicolle "challenged" us to not walk past a single bell ringer this season without dropping an offering-- big or small, So I have explained that each time we do that, he's getting to do a RAOK too.

Anywho, at dinner afterward Lance ordered 4 sopapillas and Maddox hopped in with a "make it 5!"

We thought he was extra hungry but he told us that he ordered it for the waiter as a RAOK!!

(who I am sure did not eat it, but it was his thought that counted!)

Just like every other year that we have gone to ICE, Maddox spent the following night up croupy coughing.
The next day it turned junky and he complained of a sore throat, but he was never consistent and seemed to be acting great.

Sunday he spiked a fever of 102, and Monday I took a look into his throat to see a messy-mess and made an appointment-- at 5:30 at night-- because flu season is officially upon us.

His flu was negative but his strep was positive.

Which is good news as far as treating it goes.

While I sat at the pharmacy, my pages kept rolling in and I had no choice but to drive back to the office and get caught up!  Thankfully mom went with me and kept the kids in the car-- but it was 8:00 before we started heading back to Paradise!

Thanksgiving was great.

The food was amazing.

We got to see all of our cousins, who have moved away over the last couple of years.

And a super-score-- I was able to slide over to WM to score a Black Friday deal!

I met my sister, her friend Karleigh and my mom for more shopping and we finished our night around 1:00am.

My sweet husband has worked almost every day this month, at two jobs-- and Thanksgiving and the day after were no exception.

I am so thankful for him providing for our family the way he does-- for the guys all pulling together to get each other finished early-- and for Facetime to chat!

We spent Friday with my brother's family, watching the boys play in the mud, and learning to play poker, all while I was on call!

I won $6...

And promptly lost it out of my shirt.

Saturday, Lance worked and then we went to the deer pens with him to help feed and look at the deer.

Today, we soaked up this awesome weather riding around our land with my parents!

Tomorrow is December and appropriately enough-- the weather is dramatically dropping over night!

Also appropriate for frigid temperatures, we are moving --starting tomorrow,

which is random, but exciting!

Goodbye November!  That went so fast!

Hello November

Remember a week ago when Maddox sat on the couch sobbing about being kissed by a girl-- well it may have been an act.  Only one week later, guess who got caught being the kisser in their game of tag at recess.
Yep.  Maddox.
And when I asked him about it, he was all smug like, "you said you weren't mad."
Well, I wasn't mad.
But I was really just trying to reassure that devastated child of mine, since it truly was such a tiny thing in the scheme of life-- and I had no idea I was giving him the okay to be the playground creep.
Sometimes I don't even know this kid!

We did talk about tag needs to omit the kissing part from now on, no matter how much for fun-- or screaming that it causes-- it isn't elementary appropriate.

This week was also Red Ribbon Week.
Most of our kindergarteners had never even heard the word drug before, and thankfully, mine didn't ask too many questions. 
He did tell a random man who asked what his Red Ribbon bracelet meant, "Proud to be Drug free... don't eat drugs or candy that has been opened."
So there you go.

Monday was "red day" and they were suppose to wear red.
Instead, Maddox looked like a Target employee.

Tuesday was pajama day.  The boys loved sleeping in their pajamas and rolling right into school from bed.  Beckham lost a shoe somewhere along the way.
I hung onto the idea myself and stayed the entire day in bed reading a book from start to finish.

Wednesday was hat day.  My boys are at home with that one.
It was also Mrs T's birthday and a few of the moms decided to surprise the class with a little party for her.
I spent my entire day making her a necklace while Beckham tormented my mom's cat, but I ran out of time and didn't get it to her by the party.
I actually ran out of so much time, actually, that I didn't bring my part of the party-- the drinks.
I was *that* mom.
Luckily the other moms were sweet about it.
(once again, I love our class!)

Thursday was tie day.  Maddox kept it business casual.

Friday was jersey day and Maddox chose to wear his old soccer jersey.
It was also his fun run day at school.
If they run 6 laps (1.5 miles), they earn a charm for their necklace.  If they run 10 laps (2.5 miles), they earn a special runner charm as well. 
He burned the rubber off of his shoes and earned both! 
He also earned a panther paw that day for being nice in the hall, so we were very proud of him.

That evening we met my parents and brother's family for dinner at Cotton Patch.
Who new such a joint could be so exciting?
B took a crash from the chair onto his noggin during dinner, which led to tears-- and the rest of his meal in my lap.
Four-beers-Weeder thought the man sitting at the table behind us was a professional hunter.
He wasn't.
Weeder was sure he was lying.
And I caused a scene at the end of the meal, wrapping up the full experience.

Here goes.
After dinner, the kids got ahead of us as we were leaving the restaurant.
The three big kids know better than to hop into the parking lot, but my little unexpected was with them-- ahead of me.
He wasn't running away, or into the parking lot yet-- but we never really know Beckham's next move so I wanted to get to him.
I tried wiggling my way down the steps but a family of the 3 slowest humans ever invented were in front of me and blocking my way.
Like any acrobatic, slightly crazy, mom-- I decided to jump the hand rails onto a boulder and off of the rock, down to Beckham.
In turn, I (rather rudely, I admit) cut off the family of 3.
First impression told me that mom in the pumpkin shirt and long skirt would have been understanding, as she looked like your average church lady... but her "EXCUSE YOU" in my face, let me know otherwise.
I started to apologize, but she shooed me off and headed out into the parking lot with her husband still hot and spewing.
My mom asked what happened and before I could tell her he story, she was shouting from the parking lot, with over-emphasis on the awkward cuss words with her own take on the events.
We are all heading the same direction and in the spirit of never letting anything go, I said, "I'm really sorry I upset you so much, I was just trying to keep my 3 year old out of danger."  She screams back, "AND WHAT ABOUT MY SON?" and I mockingly respond, "Your 10 year old?!", which hit a nerve apparently because momma in the pumpkin embellishments was coming at me yelling that he wasn't 10!!  (He might not have been 10, but he was every bit of 9 1/2, I guarantee it.  And even still, he was still safely planted next to ma and pop at the bottom of the stairs when I made my leap; with still a sidewalk and a sliver of grass between he and the parked cars.) 
Anyway, I had his moment when she was coming at me calling me "lady", where I honestly thought, "what if she tries to hit me?  ...Do I run?"  (I could have gotten a solid lead at least), "Do I kick at her?"  (I was still holding Beckham so my hands were useless), but before I could even come in with a 3rd option, Weeder was there, less the 10 years experience as a police officer and more the 4-beers-in Matthew McConaughey like, "alright, alright, alright." 

The craziest/ funniest/ strangest thing ever.
We laughed a solid hour over it.

Onto Trick-or-treating at Nana's.

Her street does it up big time, and dropping "Dee Perkins" here and there gets you fed like kings!
Ellie asked us why Beckham asked every house, "Do you like my soup?" (suit) Which made us laugh.
Relentless Gunner and Maddox rang the doorbells of houses out of candy, in case they were just taking a potty break.
Beckham told a house, "umm. My daddy wikes the nickas (snickers) and the kit kats." as he was choosing out of the bowl which made Lance feel like a real dirt-bag.  And at another house when a lady asked if he liked M&Ms or Skittles, he politely said, "both, thank you", which they kindly obliged.
My favorite part ever, however, was at a house where Maddox excitedly yelled, "I got a cupcake!!" holding up a packaged Little Debbie and then Ellie confusingly said, "I got a poptart?!" holding up her silver package of unknown filling.
I still get tickled typing that!

We finished back at Nana's where the kids handed out the last of her candy to other trick-or-treaters, and once we were out, we moved to the back porch to talk, laugh, and watch the kids' sugar high.

Saturday was mostly spent taking call, the backlash to a quiet Friday night call on Halloween is a loud Saturday afternoon sugar-hangover call.
It was busy.

I had to make a run to our bank in FTW, so a slide over to Joe T Garcia's only made sense.

My kids didn't get the memo about the "extra hour of sleep" so we have been moving and grooving since 6:30 today, asking for candy on a 15 minute auto-system.
There's blankets all over the floors, a sleeping husband watching the Cowboy's game, and me-- still in pajamas.

I can not believe we are already in November!

Tomorrow's Monday.