Monday, November 29, 2010

LOTS (of pictures!!) to Be Thankful For...

OKAY! So... we've got lots to talk about! It's been FOREVER AND some since I've blogged... apologies, apologies! Although, at least SO MANY of my faithful blog followers did get an up, close and personal look at our lives over the past week as we traveled all across Texas visiting family! But before we get to the travels we need to back up a bit and talk about our VERY first Thanksgiving Feast of 2010... My little Indian had a Thanksgiving Feast at school the week prior. The morning started with a Thanksgiving Family Chapel Service and ended with a HUGE feast in their classroom! :) AND when I say huge I mean HUGE to the kiddos who got an all you can eat meat and cheese tray, some apple slices and homemade peanut butter cookies... if that doesn't SCREAM Happy Thanksgiving then I don't know what does! Aren't they cute?! From left to right: Caden, Teagan, Kennedy and her Mommy, Will and Sean! What a fun class they are! :)

Alright now we can hit the road and head out West to the bustling metropolis of Abilene! I say bustling metropolis sarcastically of course, BUT I LOVE Abilene with all of my heart, I truly, truly do! It is and has always been my home away from home (wherever it may have been at the time) and I look forward to Thanksgiving there every year! In the old days we'd spend MUCH more time and usually get two holidays in each year with the ENTIRE family, but these days with spouses and now kids it is hard to make all of our families match up for Thanksgiving much less any other time of the year! SO we cherish it and look forward to it ALL year long!

When we arrived on Wednesday afternoon we did the norm... sit around and GAB, GAB, GAB and of course watch the two little toddlers run around the living room... they provided endless entertainment throughout our stay there and it is hard to remember what life was like before they both arrived on the scene! Caden and Cy are buddies for sure... and so are their mommies! (The picture above is of me and my cousin Boozy aka Cy's mommy!) I know I've gone over this before but let me go ahead and refresh your memory... Boozy is a twin to Michelle and we three are the same age and literally grew up together... I cherish their friendships more than they'll ever know! We are blessed to have such fun together!! And that's just the three of us... when you add in the rest of the gang it is just CRAZY kinds of fun... and I do mean CRAZY! :)
My Aunt Martha hosted Thanksgiving dinner at her house on Thursday evening. With our continuously growing number we are usually spread out between several rooms... including one with a TV for the boys to watch football! Caden and Cy were stuck around the kitchen island with their mommies though... I think they felt pretty slighted not getting to eat in front of the TV, but you win some, and you lose some... and if you're a Longhorn you LOST a lot... at least this year! Thankfully, we don't have any Longhorns in the clan... Just Red Raiders, Aggies and Bears... OH MY!

After Thanksgiving Dinner we all spread out and hung out in various places throughout the evening. Of course the EVER important UT/A&M game was on in literally EVERY room! Cy had the right idea though... portable DVD player... travels anywhere and allows you to choose something for your OWN viewing pleasure... he chose Toy Story 3! And he was LOVIN' it! Until...

Caden came along and got ALL up in his grill!!


And I mean ALL UP IN HIS GRILL! Caden LOVES Cy! In fact, since we've left he has asked about Cy several times and has even stuck his Red Raider gun up in the air and said "Tech!" just like Cy did. They are BUDDIES for life!!

Cy was REALLY patient with Caden, not really seeming to be all that bothered about the PDA, but if anyone put their hand in front of his TV screen (OVER!). He was not having it! :) And I can't blame him... they guy just wanted to watch some TS3... no shame in that! :)

It's really not that hard to see where these TWO ADORABLY CUTE little boys came from when you look at their gene pool... just sayin'! :) Group picture time...

Da boys...
Caden, Katie and KK... (I know I'm usually Mommy, but I was going with the alliteration thing there!)

THE BIG GROUP SHOT!! During half time... don't worry, not a snap was missed!

The OLD (er) girls...

The YOUNG (er) girls...

Sweet Chatty and Caden...

It was a FABULOUS Thanksgiving Day filled with LOTS of yummy food (I think we ate ALL day long!) and LOTS of family fun! I am so very thankful for each and every one of my Whitaker-Clan Family members! Y'all make my year!! :) (We missed you Josh and Emily... but SUPER excited we'll get you for Christmas this year!! Caden can't wait!)
Friday morning started out with a little detour to Dr. J's Express Care... Caden started running a fever on Thanksgiving afternoon and it kept rising as the night progressed. With no other symptoms we weren't sure what to think but when he woke up Friday morning with a high temp and LOTS of traveling, food and family still to come in Waco we decided to better be safe than sorry and go ahead and take him in and see what was up...

Once he saw the kitchen in the waiting room he really wasn't all that sad to be at the doctor... that is until the strep test, flu test and blood test came... poor little guy had a rough morning! BUT good news was that all came back normal! And by the time Saturday morning rolled around he was fever FREE and has been ever since... SO WEIRD! Just some strange virus I suppose!! Despite the fever, Caden really was acting pretty normal so we decided to take a few COUSIN pics before we left for Waco on Friday morning...

My Aunt Terry found the CUTEST shirts for the boys and had them monogrammed for that extra special touch... aren't they the sweetest little things around??!!

Cy and Caden are sitting on THE red bench that has been around since I was a toddler. My cousins and I used to sit on that bench and tell everyone we were going to San Antonio... and now look at it... still going strong...

Sweet boy...


Nothing can SHAKE the power of THE red bench... NOTHING...Except maybe a Paw-Paw... right after this picture was taken the bench went BOOM and so did Paw-Paw... and luckily for my Uncle Dee the bench is salvageable... or else he might have had LOTS of crying crazy women on his hands... it's THE bench!


Around noon on Friday we said our goodbyes and headed back East and a bit South to Waco!! The WHOLE gang was anxiously awaiting our arrival... they knew the FUN had just begun when Caden walked through the door! First up... COOKING!!

In between all of the "helping" he did in the kitchen, Caden was SURE to show everyone how much he had improved in the name game... he can successfully say: Ree Ree, Tag, Poppa, Gran (sort of), Nana, and Paps is actually Bop and we are thinking that Bop just might stick!
What do y'all think??!!

Aunt Ree Ree is a good picture taker and managed to snap a few pics of the guests around the table (actually she missed Nana and Bop but they were somewhere in the kitchen preparing our feast I'm sure!) You'll have to excuse the rough looking Cox Fam... we had had a rough morning at the doctor and no time to clean up much before we left that morning! :)

Aunt Ree Ree and Uncle Tag! Caden REALLY warmed up to his Uncle Tag this trip... he was ordering him around everywhere and wanted to know where Tag was at ALL times! And his Ree Ree... well they have a love, hate thing going on. Aunt Ree Ree gets Caden into trouble and he knows it... and kind of likes it! I just kept telling that Aunt Ree Ree ... "paybacks are a you know what!!" :)

Last year, the girls decided that each Thanksgiving we would do a Christmas Craft. Last year we made ornament wreaths and this year we opted for Christmas Countdown Blocks. Here we are at work... We still had some work to do by the time we left on Sunday, so I'll have to show you a finished picture later. We have YET to pick an easy craft! Maybe next year!! :)

So I haven't blogged about this yet, and I have a few videos I'll need to post at some point, but this next picture needs a bit of explaining! I don't really remember how it all started, BUT I think it was during the BU/A&M game when Justin and I taught Caden how to sing That Good Ol' Baylor Line and since then he wants to sing it ALL THE TIME! I bet we sing it at least 5 times a day and that is only because we have had to put a limit on it. Well, Nana, Paps, Ree Ree and Tag hadn't seen Caden in action and they of course thought it was the most HILARIOUS thing to see him stand there so solom and still, SO they sang it OVER and OVER and OVER again. Caden even talked his Nana into singing it solo on the way to lunch before we left on Sunday... pretty hilarious!

When we get to the end he shakes, shakes, shakes his paw and says "eeeeeeee" and we say "Sic 'Em Bears!" Oh and the best part is when he wants to sing it he'll walk up to you and put his paw up and just stand there with his paw in the air until you start to sing!! Silly, silly boy!!

Caden not only provided the entertainment for the weekend but also did a few chores while he was there too... watering the plants is one of his favorites!

And making cookies of course... especially since it was only 10am! :)

He made chocolate chip with Nana and sprinkle cookies with Aunt Ree Ree. He was a GREAT sprinkle roller! :)


Time to sample... YUM-YUM-YUM-YUM!!

While Caden napped on Saturday afternoon the girls went out shopping to pick up a few things we needed for our Christmas Craft and the boys stayed home and caught a few zzzzzz's themselves... while we were at Hobby Lobby, Nana insisted that Caden had a craft of his own, or maybe it was Ree Ree who insisted, but nonetheless a water-coloring he did go! :)

But truth be told crafts aren't really Caden's thing... he's more into balls, trains, football and the nan-o (piano!). He played that stinkin' nan-o ALL day long! And in between he learned a few new oven mit tricks from Uncle Tag...

And he watched some football with the boys... while putting on Mommy's deoderant!

Oh and I cannot believe I forgot to mention that my HOT, SEXY hubby brought home dinner for TWO years when he shot and killed a Spike on Saturday morning! And for all of your hunting amateurs out there (like me) a Spike IS a kind of deer... it's actually a small, toddler-like deer similar to our friend Bambi! While I don't necessarily enjoy the thought of killing Bambi NOR do I like the smell OR taste of deer meat, I STILL think it's pretty AWESOME that my hubby's fixin' dinner for the next two years! Nothing says PROVIDER like a freezer full of deer meat... :)


We had a GREAT, GRAND, WONDERFUL, time with Cox crew this weekend! We are excited to know that it is ONLY a few more weeks until we all get together again to celebrate Christmas!
We have so very much to be thankful for, most of all a God who blessed us richly with NOT ONE, BUT TWO loving families. Praise the Lord for family! :) We love you all!! Happy Thanksgiving!!
And let the Christmas wonderment begin... :)



4 comments:

KK said...

Lots of great pictures. Too bad we didn't get PawPaw on the ground! Priceless. And I kind of like Bop! :)

Cori said...

So much fun! I'm still laughing at all of Caden's tricks! Can't wait to see y'all for more fun at Christmas!!

Melissa said...

sounds like you guys had a busy, but fun filled thanksgiving! love that caden puts his paw up when you sing the song...too cute! i need to get busy teaching carter that trick!

CaseyWiegand said...

i miss yall! dallas trip soon?! love you!!!