Thanksgiving Road Trip

The day before thanksgiving, Rebecca & I headed out to Wilmington, carpooling with all the kids to stop by & visit with Grandaddy before the hubby's got off & headed down together. In the car, Eli HATES the sun in his face- so thankfully, Emma & Leah had a spare Dora pair. They did the trick!
We met Nanny on her lunch break where I got stung by a bee for the first time ever. It was not a fun time & it swelled up for 6 days! But we moved on & enjoyed our lunch at PTs Grille where i had not been in years! We dropped Nanny back off at work & headed back to Currie to see Grandaddy & Grandma Tee. Grandad had a birthday a few days before so we made sure we got in some birthday love (see below!). He is officially a senior citizen... 55! (Shhhhhh!!! I didn't tell!) Thanksgiving morning we finished up our cooking & headed to our annual lunch at the community center at the river. The boys always have a such a great time & get FILTHY by the end of the day to prove it.

ANd of course there was lots of eating to be done! Jackson's appetite is really decreasing as he is getting older & he is getting pickier! It is a bummer for me since he used to eat anything!He basically ate a roll, a little ham, & some green beans.

Eli on the other hand, cleared about 75% of this plate! He was still eating when Randy & I were finished even!Mmmmm.... Mmmmmmmm......Mmmmmmmm!

After lunch, we broke out the annual crafts & Eli was less than thrilled with his part in all of this, but he tolerated it with Daddy's help! And the cute little hand prints turned out great! I did crafts with ms. jenny when i was a kid too!

It was a great day & when we left Wilmington, we headed back to Raleigh to eat dinner at Mema & Grandad's. She is always so considerate & prepares something "less traditional." This year it was roast beef, mashed potatoes & gravy, green beans, & corn. And let me tell you... It was D.E.L.I.C.I.O.U.S! I had more than my fair share! It was so good in fact, that i have since made my very own roast beef for the first time & i was thrilled that it turned out! (Can you tell i am proud?) We hope you all had as great of a thanksgiving as we did!

Randy, Jr.

Okay, so this post is mainly for the Moss side of the family. I am sure that everyone will enjoy it, but the Moss' especially. If these pictures are not a spitten image of Randy Moss as a kid, then i don't know what is. It must be the "lucky" hat! I bought this hat for Jackson about 2 years ago & he refused to wear it, but now that i added (the GAP hat!) to the dress up clothes, he has taken interest. For those of you who don't know, Randy had what he called a "lucky hat" (a hat just like the one Jackson is wearing) that he ALWAYS wore when he was a kid. He literally even wore it into open heart surgery... he insisted. That hat has incredible sentimental meaning & it is in my "hope chest" as i type. Randy even says for me to not be surprised if he wears it into his next open heart surgery! Ummm.... i am thinking it isn't going to fit! Enjoy the pics! If i can find an old picture of Randy in his hat, i will try to scan & upload, although i don't think i have one (hint hint dwight!!)

Look Who's Talking, Part 2

Here is a new video of Eli talking some more! He is crazy about animals & now he can finally talk about them (more than just a horse & woof woof this time!) He makes the cutest stinking rooster sound you have ever heard......



ps.... excuse my messy house.... it is only picked up from bedtime to morning it seems!

poor things...

Well, once again.... the boys (& adults this time) are sick! I just had to take this picture of Eli yesterday morning. He climbed into bed with me after waking up just before Randy left for work. The child can't breathe! He is so stopped up, but he wasn't ready to get up so he drifted right back to sleep in the bed with me.... and i got to hear him breathing through his mouth! This pretty much sums up how we all feel.....

This same afternoon, both boys went to the pediatrician & Jackson has an ear infection & Eli has a sinus infection. So they are both now on Amoxicillin- twice a day! Honestly, it wouldn't be a holiday week if we didn't have to travel with refridgerated antibiotics, now would it? This is classic! If only the doctor would prescribe something to clear my sinus', then we would be better all around. So for now, the Advil Cold & Sinus is doing the trick..... I must say though, that i am truly thankful that Eli's ears were clear (but a little taken aback that Jackson's weren't- he has only ever had one other ear infection, but Eli gets them chronically!) The doctor also suggested we put Eli on Children's Claritin because they are starting to think he has allergies.... bummer....

Happy Thanksgiving!

Since we will be busy (& not at home!) on Thanksgiving, we wanted to go ahead & wish everyone a wonderful Thanksgiving! We hope that you get to eat lots of yummy homemade foods & spend time with family & loved ones. We are so blessed over here at the Moss house & we have so much to be thankful for. We are healthy (regardless what you may read in a next post!), we have 2 beautiful children, we have each other, we have a home to live in, cars to get us around, & we never have to worry about where our next meal will come from. The Lord takes care of us & we are ever so thankful for that. I have a little video of Jackson singing some Thanksgiving songs that he performed at school (where mama forgot her camera- honestly, can you believe that!?) So he graciously re-enacted once we got home! (Excuse Eli, because he wasn't thankful for the singing!!)

Gobble til you Wobble (or maybe don't- do we really need all those calories!?) Have a wonderful Turkey Day!

Dear Santa,

Last week, Jackson wrote his very first letter to Santa. See below.....

Pull out your reading glasses (or a magnifier) because you are going to want to read this. Look closely & you might find something funny.

It reads: Dear Santa, I have been good. I want the plane to my train set*. Love, Jackson

He was writing at an angle (during church no less!) & his "t" ended up slanting just enough to look like an "x." So.... if you look REAL close, you might find that "set" looks just like "sex!" I didn't have the heart to make him change it (plus it would be a great joke later in his scrapbook!)

She's coming around....

Well, we have had Lola for several weeks now & she is starting to come out of her shell a bit. She loves to sit at my feet while i am sitting at the computer...

She let's Jackson read stories to her when she is scared & hiding....

She let's me hide her in my jacket... (really, i am not this ginormous- it's a bad angle!I look like a giant!)
And she has even begun getting frisky every night (actually, it is pretty hyper- she acts like someone gave her catnip or something!) She chases her tail despite the fact that we remind her she is a cat, not a dog!

I have to give a big thanks to Randy for letting us get a cat. He isn't a cat fan (& has allergies in fact), but he knew i loved them & the boys have been crazy over her. They feed her every morning (each gets to give her one scoop) & talk to her all day (for Eli, that means laying beside the bed & talking to her while she hides- she still darts into hiding when he comes around!) I have truly enjoyed having a furry friend around to purr in my lap while i read or work at the computer. She is such a "sweet girl" as Jackson calls her! Here are a few more pics.... the last two, i took the flash off because her eyes kept reflecting the light, but they are hard to see. She is so pretty though!

Floam Fun

Saturday, Grandad came by for a few minutes & the boys didn't want him to leave. We tried to entice them by telling them that we were going to go to the store, but they didn't care. They really just wanted to go with Grandad. I think he felt bad, because he gave them each a buck to spend at the store.

Of course, at the store, we could not decide on what to buy so we ended up taking them over to the dollar tree where they had enough money to buy whatever they picked out. Again, they couldn't decide on anything here, until i spotted the FLOAM. Now, i had to do some encouraging (even by telling Jackson he could have pink, his favorite color), but i finally convinced them that they would have a blast with this stuff. (Not to mention, i was SHOCKED it was there because it is $6.99 at the craft store - the exact same package) This stuff is so cool. It is sticky & slimy, yet it doesn't stick to you or make your hands sticky. It molds, it squishes, it pulls apart, etc, but doesn't make a mess - even with the foam beads. Even in the car on the way home, Randy & I were squishing it all up.

Jackson quickly made his favorite letter- a P

Eli took a few minutes to warm up, but then got pretty involved himself!

Here, Jackson is concentrating on making more letters....
A, P, L, M, C, I (he is really loving all the letters these days!)
So everyone head out to the Dollar Tree & get some FLOAM- it is so much fun!! But you may not want to try the Clayton one- i wiped it out this afternoon. I bought 15 of them - one for each kid in Jackson's class for christmas!

My cutie patooties

Last night we headed over to mema & grandad's (basement) to have the boys pictures taken. I am a TERRIBLE mother in this realm because i have not had the boys formal picture taken since Eli was 7 months old (GASP!). I take so many day to day shots & scrapbook them, that formal shots escape my mind. But i know that our family would like new pictures to display (& my own walls need an update!). Since i am working on christmas cards next weekend, we had to get a picture ASAP! If you are a family or friend that normally gets pics from me (or even if you aren't but think you would like one, i will try to accomodate!), take a peek at these & let me know which pose(s) you would like & what size. You can email me or leave me info in the comments section of this post (just fill in "open id" section if you don't have a google /blogger account). A BIG thank you to grandad for taking these for me- they turned out GREAT (even if Eli was grumpy). Sorry if this seems impersonal, but i figured it would be easier than trying to figure out who would want what in what size. (Daddy, order what you think grandaddy would want too). I will put an order in once i think i have everyones response. (Oh, & keep in mind that you will be getting a christmas card with a 4x6 on it of the two of them together- so if one 4x6 of them together is all you need, then just let me know that a xmas card will suffice)

****CHANGE to original post: After making a xmas card template, i have realized that the 4x6 will need to be cut down some on all sides, so if you need even just a 4x6, let me know!

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{JEpose3}*xmas card pose

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Trick or Treat!!

For Halloween, Jackson decided last minute to wear his dragon costume. He had been practicing the cowboy all week & then after getting ready to go, he changed his mind! Eli wore a candy corn costume that Jackson wore when he was about 18 months old. And he was just as cute as Jackson was back in those days! I decided to put that costume on him because it was handmade (by Nanny), next year it would be too small, & because Randy said it was his favorite costume to date.

We were invited over to a friends house from church for a weinie roast & then for trick or treating in their neighborhood. Here is Eli imitiating Randy warming his hands over the fire pit.

Emma & Leah were invited to the roast as well... they came as Hannah Montana & a surgeon. (Ellie... maybe in a couple of years you could wear this! Daddy would love that!)

Here is Eli kissing Hannah Montana (he checked her out pretty well before going in for the kiss!!)
THis is the kids going up to a house. Jackson is waiting patiently while Eli stops to check out his loot!

That was a few houses before Jackson squatted on a lady's front porch & stated "I have to pee!!!" so the lady kindly offered her facilites. Randy was mortified, but he took him anyway! It was that or a bush!

After trick or treating, we loaded up the car & headed over to a few last stops before going home. We went to Grandma & Papa Evans house (where Kaleb was dressed as spiderman....)

And then our last stop was to Mema & Grandad's where cousin Becca was handing out the candy.. yumm!
All in all, i think the boys did great. Eli really got into the door to door thing & was so excited each time to get something for his bucket. ANd combined the boys got enough candy to feed an army! I combined it all (to hide in the pantry to save from a CONSTANT asking for it!) and it filled a BUSHEL basket! That is absurd!!