Honor

My family has a long military tradition.  My mom's dad was a Marine in WWII and my dad's dad was in the Navy in WWII.  My dad and his brother both served in the Navy (my dad retired in 1996 after 36 years of service).  My brother Nathan was in the Marine Corps and my brother Nick was in the Navy.  My cousin Drew was in the Marine Corps, my cousin Austin is a pilot in the Air Force and my cousin Caitlin is in the Navy.  Michael's family also has a long military history, but I will totally forget someone if I try to list them, so I won't.  I will say his brother is active duty in the Army though. 

 

Spencer's school had a big assembly this morning in honor of Veterans Day.  About 5 weeks ago I filled out a piece of paper with our family's military members (we decided to limit it to my dad and our 3 brothers) and sent it in to be included in a visual display of names. 

 

My dad was able to come up from Tucson and participate so he was able to sit with the other Veterans during the assembly.

Side note: I bought my shirt from The Gap in 1995 when I was a sophomore in high school.  I try to wear it once a year so I don't have to get rid of it.

 

Can you see Spencer's little face poking out in the back row?

 

Miss Arizona 2013 was there.  She sang the National Anthem and gave a little speech.

Elliott ran around like a wild man.  Thank goodness there was plenty of space behind where all the kids were sitting so he didn't interrupt or bother anyone.

 

He applauded and cheered when appropriate.

 

After 45 minutes of running and clapping he needed a snack.

 

Our brothers and my dad had their names on the honor poster.

People were quite impressed by my dad's uniform and we even had strangers ask if they could take a picture with him.  Maybe next year he can sing the National Anthem and give a speech. 

We have a busy, busy weekend planned.  Nothing specific to Veterans Day, but I'm taking a (free!) continuing education class, going to a baby shower and getting some holiday shopping done.  And by "holiday shopping" I mean new holiday/family picture clothes for all of us!

Blueberries and more

I gave Elliott frozen blueberries (that had been thawed) for lunch today.

 

He found them quite enjoyable.

He started lunch using a spoon but quickly realized that the finger shoveling method was faster.

 

I think his fingernails will return to their normal color in about 6 months.

Spencer is 6 years-2 months old today.  That's 74 months for those of you who were curious.  I wanted to take his monthly picture in his pumpkin sweater since this is the last month where it will be seasonably appropriate.....well, until next year, because I am sure it will still fit.  It's a 5T from Gymboree so he'll probably outgrow it when he's 11.

 

Elliott didn't need to be photographed, so of course he wanted to participate.

Can I interrupt myself for just a minute?  Every time we take pictures in the front yard, which seems to be pretty often lately, I have to crop out or edit out our address on the big door wreath.  I've googled our address with our city and our house is right there in the results, so I'm trying to be safe.

The front yard photography also keeps reminding me that I still want to paint the front door red.

 

This is the exact color I want.  Benjamin Moore- Pomegranate.

I used google maps to look at our house last week because we couldn't remember the name of the street to the north of us.  The image of our house was taken in April, 2011.  Sometime between then and when we first saw it in September, 2012 they painted the front door.  It used to be the same nice wood color as the inside of the door.  I wish they had just refinished it instead of slapping a coat of ugly beige on it.

 

The old door. 

 

OK.  Interruption over.  Back to the kid.

 

This is the winner!



Gobble 'Til You Wobble!

It's a Thanksgiving Tour!

 

I didn't decorate for Thanksgiving last year because we spent the whole month of November moving and unpacking.  It would have been ridiculous to have added turkeys and pilgrims to all of that chaos.

 

This year we have already decided that we are going to break protocol and decorate for Christmas the weekend before Thanksgiving.  This is due to a variety of factors, but mostly just because Thanksgiving is so late this year.  So, I wanted to get Thanksgiving up asap since it's coming down in a few weeks.

 

Thanksgiving is my tiniest sterilite container full of decorations.  I don't have much compared to other holidays, but probably have more than the average gal.

 

The entry way table.

The canvas print is new this year thanks to a birthday gift card to Hobby Lobby from Lauren (thanks Lauren).

My mom gave this turkey to my grandma in 1995.  I took it from her house over the summer when we were clearing stuff out.  I know she got it in 1995 because she used a black sharpie to write "1995 from Carol" (as well as her last name and address) on the bottom.  She also used the same black sharpie to color in the eyes leaving a scary, psychotic looking turkey.  I used a magic eraser to remove as much as possible and then painted over the rest.  He looks better, I think.

 

The bottom of the entry way table.

 

Inside of the front door. 

 

The little window by the front door.  I have the same clings in the bathroom.

 

Dining room 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Living room 

 

I think he's cute.

 

Countdown and turkeys that I colored last year. 

 More coloring.

 

I color a lot during speech therapy sessions.

 

Window in the kitchen.

 

Card on kitchen cabinets.

 

Glittery turkey on kitchen cabinets.

 

Turkey napkin holder.  I have turkey napkins waiting for later in the month.

 

Family room

And that's it.  

 

Three more weeks until Santa and poinsettias and snowmen.