A Week of Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving for the Plummer Family 2009 was a whirlwind of family, fun and food!

We were blessed to have Grandma and Grandpa come in from Florida for the celebrations, as well as the boys' Aunt Patti from Virginia, cousins Dan and Lindsey from Boston, and many other friends and family from around the Atlanta area.

The week began with a wonderful Grandparents' Day celebration at St. Benedict's, where Brady proudly introduced Grandma, Grandpa, Nana and Grandy to all his teachers and friends. While I wanted to attend - so bad - I knew that my presence would alter the dynamics, so Parker and I sat happily at home while Brady took the lead role in showing his grandparents his beloved school and chapel.

Thanksgiving Day found us at Ginny and Al's for a Fabulous Feast! We were joined (as the Plummers have been since 1971!) by the Teem family - another 3 generations of friends! The children played merrily together - as was evidenced by the "destroyed" basement playroom! Toward the end of the evening, Ginny and the children headed to the basement storage area to find the many "creatures" that inhabit her house for the holidays! They include a variety of singing, dancing, rocking and often obnoxious Santas, Snowmen, Reindeer and randomly wacky creatures! These visitors are always a hit with every child who visits!

Friday night the family joined us at our house for more Thanksgiving cheer, and we were joined by some of my Mershon clan. Uncle Steve treated us all to some fantastic Little Green Egged pork tenderloin (yummy!) and then unveiled his true talent for the boys - funny voices! I grew up with Steve's hilarious voices, and I was thrilled when they discovered he could talk just like Daffy Duck! It took about 2 minutes for Brady to find all 4 of his Ethan Long "Duck" books - all of which are funny when even an amateur like me reads them. Add in Steve's awesome voices, his lovable demeanor and his great snuggles, and Brady literally couldn't control himself with laughter.

We had several days of fun, too much food, way too much wine and lots of laughs and love. We are truly thankful indeed.

My Silly Turkeys

I am thankful this season for so many wonderful blessings in my life... especially for my two silly, goofy, funny, happy, AWESOME turkeys!

Playing Hooky Together

I wanted to share a few pictures of a fun family day out we enjoyed earlier this month. Brady had a day off of school for a Teacher Work Day, so Bill took a vacation day and we pulled Parker from preschool for the day (we're pretty sure Parker will catch up the missing 'work'!)

The boys asked to go see the new Curious George exhibit at The Children's Museum. While we have been to this museum no less than twenty times in the past few years, it is always a unique experience. As the boys grow and learn, the exhibits which attract them change, and how they interact with the exhibits - and each other - is constantly evolving.

We enjoyed a wonderful day of play, laughter, and togetherness. It was the perfect day to play hooky!

Parker, Got Hot Chocolate?

The cooler fall weather means many things, not the least of which is that the drop in temperature provides a great reason to indulge in yummy hot chocolate. Parker takes his hot chocolate very seriously, and makes sure he thoroughly enjoys every last sip!

No philosophical or deeper meaning to this post... just a cute picture of my little man!

You're a WHAT?

As an admitted Halloween skeptic, I tend not to get very excited about the holiday. In fact, I sort of dread it. That said, for the sake of my children (this is the mom-guilt insert for when they read this blog years from now) I tried to put forth a valiant effort this year - complete with house decorations, homemade cut-out cookies for them to ice and eat each night after dinner for the week leading up to the Big Day, and immersion into their school festivities.

This year the boys chose their costumes early - knowing exactly what they wanted to be.

Parker chose the Transformer Bumblebee. Why? Who the hell knows. As with most action figure-type characters he has NEVER seen the movie or this cartoon (is Transformers a cartoon?), and he knows nothing about the character other than that he thinks he looks cool. That's enough for a three year old, I guess.

Leading up to Halloween, people would ask Parker what he was going to be, and he would happily report back "Bumblebee!" This declaration would get a smile and an "oh, that will be so cute!" answer, thinking about an ACTUAL little stinging insect (really not so sure what's cute about a bee anyway.) I had to train him to be more clear and say "Bumblebee the Transformer," to which most people just nodded and said, "oh."

Brady's choice was of the Bakugan Battle Brawler, Dan. This choice received an even bigger host of blank stares, for unless you are a total anime geek or have a boy between the ages of 5 and 10, you probably have no idea who this character is... don't worry, I don't think you're missing much.

The best part of Brady's costume was his hair. After fighting that crazy mop every morning before school, it was actually fun to get to fill it with sticky product and spike it high.... too bad we had his hair cut a few weeks earlier or he would have been a deadringer for Dan!

Their school parties were excitedly crazy, chaotic and exhausting - everything you'd expect from school Halloween functions. Our "scary" Halloween adventure involved the totaling of Bill's car the night before Halloween, and Trick-or-Treating was cold, wet and wonderful.

Nana came to man the house while we embarked out on the other side of the neighborhood to gather candy with friends. When we had managed to get a respectable stash, we headed home for warm jammies, hot chocolate and PB&J sandwiches.

The boys parked themselves in our front hall and excitedly watched for the next hour as the older kids came through. They found even more joy in giving the candy away than they did in receiving it - always a nice attribute to see brought out in your children.

Maybe Halloween isn't so bad after all...

Off to the Junkyard

Well, it's official. Bill's RDX has been classified as a "total loss" and will shortly be used for scrap metal.

A little sad to see it go, but we're glad we don't have to wait through a 6-week repair schedule only to have the car act like George on an episode of Seinfeld and be unable to "go to the left."

Guess it's time to step up the car shopping. Stay tuned.

Our very own 'Angel and Demon'

Yeah, Yeah, I'll download the Halloween Pictures and blog about that spooktacular evening in the next few days. In the meantime I had to share this image from Sunday morning.

After a year of renovation and millions of dollars, St. Benedict's Episcopal Church opened its Nave doors this past Sunday for its first worship service in our new church.

It was an exciting, celebratory day, and the sanctuary was packed with wall-to-wall people. As is customary, the children come down from Children's Chapel after the Offering and before Communion.

Well, the church doors opened (much like during a wedding) and the children stepped forward before the hundreds of church-goers.

And guess who was standing right up front, with a robe and a cross?

You got it! Mr. Holy Roller Himself! Beaming from ear to ear, Brady was our little priest-in-training!

Luckily we were sitting far enough back that Bill could capture the moment on his Blackberry.

Check out that smile, though... I'm not sure. Angel or Demon?