O Christmas Tree

I can't even believe I'm admitting to buying a Christmas tree in November. Trey only agreed to go tonight because I told him I thought it would be a good idea to let the branches settle for a few days before we decorated it. It's already in the living room - rather than on the back deck as originally proposed - so I'm sure it will be covered in ornaments by tomorrow night. Reid thinks "Ho Ho" is coming tonight now that we have a tree. It could be a long 26 days until Christmas morning!

Arizona

We got home this afternoon from a great week in Arizona with Grammy, Papa Harry, Aunt Stacey, Uncle Shae, cousin Reilly, Uncle Chris, and Aunt Sarah. We went up to Williams, AZ to ride the Polar Express and then drove up to see the Grand Canyon. When we got back, it was warm enough (in the upper 80s!) at Grammy and Papa Harry's to go swimming at the club pool. Lil and Reilly got to spend the night with Aunt Sarah and Uncle Chris one night, and Reid even went out to play golf (ride the cart) a couple of times. Last - but certainly not least - we celebrated Uncle Shae's birthday with a Mexican feast and ice cream cake.

We were sad to leave this morning (Lil even cried when we pulled in our driveway) .... Thank you all for a wonderful Thanksgiving week!

In Williams to ride the Polar Express and see the Grand Canyon Railway ...






At the Grand Canyon ...


Riding the golf cart to the pool ...

Playing golf ...


Happy Birthday, Uncle Shae!

With Uncle Chris ("Uncle Deuce")

Thanksgiving dinner ...



Out for a ride in Grammy's car ...

All added up to one seriously tired cowboy!

Reid's Posse

Reid had his two best friends, Howard and Anderson, over for a spell today. Four hours later, everyone (including myself) was completely wiped out. This was the first time we had both of them over at the same time; fortunately the house (and the mother) survived just fine!

Indian Princess, Crazy Rooster, and Santa

There's been a lot of talk in Lil's class about pilgrims, Indians (her teacher is not going with the more politically correct "Native Americans," I guess), and Thanksgiving. On Saturday morning, Lil asked for white clothes she could color because she was going to be an Indian. I dug up some old stained pants and a shirt, and she went nuts. I guess we won't be washing our Indian costume since she used Elmer's glue to get all that ric-rac on the shirt.


Reid is all about his new jacket, primarily because it's his favorite color - blue. It's also about three sizes too big. Fortunately the fact that he looks like he robbed a 9-year-old of his winter apparel doesn't seem to bother him.

This afternoon we had to make a quick trip to the mall. I don't know how they dug Santa out of his seasonal retirement this early in November, but alas - there he was in all his Christmas glory, and there was actually a line! People were serious about getting their Santa time in, I guess. As soon as Lil spotted him, she just HAD to talk to him. Reid also wanted to see him, but once it was our turn, he wouldn't look at him - I thought maybe old Nick's breath might need a little freshening. Lil, on the other hand, was all up in his grill talking about Webkinz and cars from the Cars movie. Bad breath or not, Santa needed to be in the know and she wasn't missing her opportunity.

Rooster and Oren

This morning it was all about the boys at our house. Reid took it upon himself to read Oren some manly material - his favorite truck books.

The Last (Halloween) Hurrah

Halloween has been heartily celebrated this year.

Trey came home early from work so he and Lil could carve pumpkins before everyone came over.


Jay did a fine job of hooking the "party wagon" up!

Luke brought Mae over for pictures, but she didn't want a thing to do with her costume. She did, however, enjoy having her picture taken with "Koko" (more commonly known as Trey).

Bob the Builder and a NC State football player hit the streets in search of candy.

The neighborhood Halloween parade up and down Duplin Rd...

The cat and Jasmine taking a candy break...

Jack Sparrow, Bob the Builder, State football player, Jasmine, a cat, and the Corpse Bride




Lil and Rooster both had a ball trick-or-treating with their friends Grace and James last night. The Parrishes have come over every Halloween for the past 3 years, and between their company and our "party wagon" trailing behind the kids' wagon, it's always a good time. After they had collected enough treats, we went to the neighborhood Halloween party for chili and even more treats.

(As you can see, Reid decided at the last minute that he wanted to be Bob the Builder after all.)