Thanksgiving

We have so much to be thankful for this year, especially as we anticipate the arrival of the newest little French!  We're also thankful I was not too big to travel down to see family in Houston over the break.  (But the car trip did take longer because I require tinkle breaks at least once an hour!)  Before we left, we tried to see what Reid had celebrated and eaten at his Thanksgiving feast at school.  We are grateful for the little paper updates each day, because Reid doesn't tell us much on his own.  The report said that he loved all the Thanksgiving foods at their feast and even asked for seconds on the turkey. 

I was excited to see the Frenches' new house, which was just beautiful and in such a nice neighborhood.  Jason had dropped by to see it when he went down to see some friends a couple of months earlier.  Reid was more excited to see Papa, Mamere, and Aunt Kristen, whom he'd been talking about all week since we'd told him of our trip.   After he'd introduced Papa to each and every Cars car (I'd told Reid to pick what toys he wanted to take, and he very carefully selected every single Cars car he owns) and informed him that Santa is bringing him Snotrod (the only hot rod he doesn't yet have from Cars...and don't you love the name?  He announces everywhere that, "Santa's bringing Snotrod!!"  Nice.) he convinced Papa to read him the books he'd brought. 

Reid loved Papa and Mamere's new bath tub.  Daddy had to bathe him because I couldn't lean over into the tub with my big belly in the way, lol.   Reid also loved the "nap mat" we created out of a camping mat, sleeping bag, and blanket.  I thought there was no way he'd sleep on it, but he conked out each time and it was perfect for him!

Everyone filled up on Mamere's yummy plucky cake the next morning.  I think I might've been the most excited...it's like the monkey bread my mom used to make when we were kids and I haven't eaten it in forever.  Reid ate an entire breakfast first, then basically had a portion and a half of the plucky cake.  But I can't say anything.  Pretty sure I ate more than anyone else!  Baby boy needed some, right?  We enjoyed the traditional Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade, and Reid enjoyed "hiding" in the pillows with Daddy and Aunt Kristen.  He reminds me of my childhood cat, Callie, who thought that if her head was hidden, so was the rest of her. 

He also loved tackling Aunt Kristen and steamrolling her.  She didn't seem to mind the "massage" ;)

This time, Mamere was requested to read books to him.  I did manage to snap a cute picture before carefully being instructed to leave by a little certain someone.  Mamere patiently read his books over and over, then dug out some of her own Christmas books.  Reid ate it right up!

We headed over to the Shepherds' on Thanksgiving Day...but Reid had a terrible coughing fit along the way.  I had Jason pull over because Reid had spit up a tiny bit with all the phlegm.  I asked him if he was going to throw up (which happens when he gets these coughing fits) and he said no...then promptly barfed all over his cute turkey shirt and the carseat.  Let's just say I regretted the recent change to chunky peanut butter.  So we scrambled to clean up Reid, the carseat, and me before making it to my folks' house, where I still had to finish making the stuffing and green bean casserole.  Thankfully, my mom had chopped and prepared all the ingredients beforehand (thanks, Mom!!) because I was still a little gaggy from the car incident.  She and Jason sweetly finished cleaning up the car/carseat while I cooked.  We enjoyed our Thanksgiving dinner with Francis, one of their very sweet neighbors who was even so thoughtful that she brought Reid some gourmet cookies.  Two of the three cookies made it home...one someone ended up in my tummy, and boy was it good!!

Reid was quite enamored with the toys Grammy and Grumpy had set out, especially this little remote controlled digger.  It was almost as much fun as The Cat's Meow, Abby's new cat toy that Reid may have enjoyed as much as she did!  He insisted on wearing Daddy's socks that morning, for some reason. 

Grammy made breakfast squares for a yummy breakfast treat.  Not sure if Jason or Reid was more excited...and I definitely ate my share, too.  Grammy sent some home with us and Reid has asked for them every day.  We got Grammy and Grumpy to help us out with a photo shoot (or an attempt at one...best you can do with a three year old who just wants to play!) at the park, then I got to head down to The Woodlands to see a sweet student from my first year of teaching, Carly.  We've kept in touch for 15 years and it was wonderful to see her and catch up.  Grumpy and Jason watched the LSU game, then took Reid outside for a trike ride at halftime.  He also collected an entire bucket of acorns.

Reid was so odd and "ignored" both Aunt Kristen and Grammy at each respective house when they requested a hug/kiss.  He is so funny about that...and it's only people he loves that he does it to, so I guess in an odd sort of way, it's a compliment.  Grammy was requested to read stories to him on Friday night.

 "Pete the Cat stepped in WHAT?"

 Then Abby had to join in for the second reading of Reid's current fave, Pete the Cat I Love My White Shoes.

Saturday morning dawned warmer and humid, and it was time for our voyage home.  Reid got some pretty acorns from Grumpy, which entertained him for the first hour of the trip. 

It was so fun to see family...just wish we could've seen everyone.  Aunt Lala and family went to Alabama, their Thanksgiving tradition, Uncle Steve and family were in New Orleans, and Grandma Penny is far away in San Diego.  But we were thankful for the fun times we had, and for a safe trip there and back.  Now, if we could just get Reid to join in on the Bucc-ee's game Jason and I love to play...  And yes, I'm thankful for their pristine bathrooms, too ;)

Decorating

I swore I wouldn't be one of "those" people who decorated before Thanksgiving.  It really bugs me how the holiday season starts the day after Halloween (or sooner!) and pretty much skips Thanksgiving.  As one of my little flip devotional calendars says, "I have a love affair going with Thanksgiving.  It seems to blend together all we Americans hold precious and dear--without the sham and plastic mask of commercialism." (Chuck Swindoll)  But a certain little three year old someone asked if we could get a Christmas tree, "Pleeeease, please, please, please!" so I just had to get him to convince Daddy to drag all the boxes down from the attic.  Jason hates having things decorated too early, and usually it really bugs me, too.  But this year we decided that since our very conservative church had semi decorated early, and since Thanksgiving fell a week later than normal, it would be okay.  Reid was elated to "help" Daddy get out the tree.  This was his idea of how our tree should look.

But when he learned that it was just the top portion, he was even more excited!  I emptied all the boxes except for the ornaments and decorated the house.  By then, I was just too tired to fluff and decorate the tree.  Putting on the ornaments and reminiscing about all the photo ornaments and sentimental things (while listening to Christmas music, of course!) is my favorite part and I didn't want to rush it, so I saved it for the next morning. Of course, I also love setting up the little Precious Moments nativity scene and was elated that Reid knew who Baby Jesus was!  We are really trying to instill the real reason for CHRISTmas...but with a three year old and all the commercial stuff, it's not as easy as it sounds.  But I digress...my little helper noticed I was putting on ribbon, so he found a roll of his own ribbon and decided to "help."  Notice his help required the step stool, which he finds any reason to use.

He took his job very seriously, carefully and meticulously arranging his own ribbon.

 Tada!!  Beautiful, huh?  ;)  I wasn't allowed to help him or rearrange his masterpiece.  He also insisted upon helping me with the ornaments, which made me a tad bit nervous since most of them are glass.  But he was very careful and so far, not a single one is broken.  He didn't quite get the part about spacing them out on the tree at first:

 And then when he did, they were pretty much all on the very bottom most branches.  Most of these are my unbreakable ornaments, so I didn't mind.

"Mommy, our tree looks pretty!"

 The day of the A&M-v-LSU game, we had been invited to pretty much downtown Dallas for a game watching party.  I was just plain too tired plus it was in the middle of Reid's nap time, so we convinced Jason to go have fun.  Jason dressed him in a cute football hoodie, but after nap time I couldn't resist changing him into some Aggie gear.  It took a million pictures (my phone's camera is s-l-o-w!) to get a cute one where he was looking at me and had his gig 'em up, but I finally got one ready for the next time the Aggies scored and texted it to Jason.  Some friendly family rivalry, hee hee!  Reid and I had fun eating popcorn and watching the game together, even though A&M didn't score enough points to win.  Luckily for me, Jason and I hadn't made a wager on this game...traditionally, whoever's team loses has to make the winner breakfast in bed or something along those lines.

 Our not-so-little guy has developed quite the imagination and has a creative side.  He's made up his own words for a few things, created nicknames (Jill, who walks him into his preschool class at school, has become "Jilly Willy"...all his idea), and has found unusual uses for everyday objects to be imaginative tools for things other than what they were designed for.  It cracks us up on a daily basis.  I think on my last post I commented on how he decided Mommy needed "friends" to sleep with so he makes sure these cute little critters lined up on my bed each night.  He's been obsessed with the little rubber band bracelets all the kids love right now, so once he decided one was going to be a necklace for friend #4, the rest of my friends needed one, too.  He had six bracelets, so all six friends got a necklace.  Then, he decided he wanted to sleep with Mommy's friend #4 (for some reason, #4 is his favorite, so he always does everything before the other friends), then all six of them.  So lucky me...I now get his friends all lined up on my bed, and he gets these little guys.  Crazy boy.

6 months

Well, I've made it past six months!  I never have gotten my energy back, my veins are getting worse, and I had a nasty sinus infection (thank goodness for augmentin!), but I'm thankful nonetheless.  So far, I'm still doing aerobics, but I've now cut it down to two times a week instead of three.  People look at you really funny when you walk into the gym with a big ol' belly, so that's been entertaining.  And then I kind of gave up on prenatal yoga because there's never a 45 minute window of time that's Reid free when I'm not asleep.  Hopefully, I can continue to stay semi active.  If not, at least I've been healthy this far!  Working out has helped curb some cravings, but the chocolate one just doesn't go away.  I've also realized that with this pregnancy, I crave textures even more than tastes.  This week, I've needed crunchy stuff (think Kroger brand frosted mini wheats) and chewy stuff (think sour gummy worms).  Thankfully I just want good food most of the time...penne with arrabiata and basil was my "must" meal this week.

Reid has really been into sidewalk chalk lately.  It's about the only fine motor thing he enjoys doing that would eventually help his writing skills (which are very poor--eek!) since he doesn't like to color and refuses to hold his crayons/markers with the pincer grip.

Someone enjoying my newest Canton buy, a bronze fleur-de-lis bucket.  Laura, Stephanie (a close college friend), and I had a girls' weekend a few weeks ago and stayed in Dallas, the closest place to the infamous Canton--world's biggest flea market.  We had so much fun and it was really nice to have some adult time since I'm around 5 year olds and a 3 year old all day every day.  Not complaining, but you crave adult interaction after awhile, lol.

He was so cute before bed one night.  Jason attempted to get a cute picture after he was in bed, but Reid would have none of that and kept covering his face and giggling.

 He sleeps with several "friends" every night (as you can see) and suddenly decided that Mommy needed some friends to sleep with, too.  So these cute little plush bowling pin animals somehow became "Mommy's friends."  He insists on lining them up (usually in backwards number order, but this time time I convinced him to do it in the right order) each night right around bath time.  Friend #1 has had the privilege of sleeping with Reid for the past two nights, so I am curious to see if any other friends will migrate to his room, or if he'll switch one out for another.

 

Reid's obsession with pumpkins has continued this year.  He had several little pumpkins by the front door.  Two began to rot, so I convinced him that we did indeed need to throw them away (ick!).  This one was left and he checks on it each day.  The tiny pumpkin in the background is now "planted" in the grass in the back yard and he insists it's growing each day.  :) 

He has been bringing home the cutest things from preschool and I'm having a hard time deciding which things to save.  He loves his school and has had so much fun!  They make the cutest crafts, learn Bible stories, and his verbal skills have improved dramatically since school started.  We just love it!!  They recently had a fundraiser where you could purchase hand prints made into a few different shapes.  We chose a turkey and it turned out so darling that we were sad we didn't get one for each of the grandparents, too.  Adorable!

Speaking of Thanksgiving, we are so thankful for an entire week off as a family!!  Jason was able to take some of his personal days in conjunction with the holiday, so we are looking forward to some fun family time before heading down to Houston to see family.  It's freezing outside (Reid has already asked if it's going to snow...all his own idea!), but we have a nice, warm fire going, had popcorn, and are watching Reid's new movie Puss in Boots during the A&M/LSU halftime.  Looking forward to making some memories this week!

Halloween

You all probably know what a gut-wrenching daily struggle it is for me to work.  Jason's commute is so long that he leaves before Reid gets up and returns home after Reid and I get home, so he can't really help with much in that department.  So it's up to me to get him up, dressed, packed, dropped off, picked up, played with, etc. etc.  Couple that with a very demanding minute-by-minute job of being a kindergarten teacher, and I feel like a bad wife, bad parent, and bad teacher many days.  I am just plain exhausted!  But on Halloween, I was feeling especially down about missing all the cuteness going on at Sunshine Kids.  I'm down to a mere 15 days of "paid" maternity leave (contrary to popular belief, teachers get ZERO paid maternity leave days...we can just legally take 12 weeks of leave to care for new babies, so you have to save up your sick leave days) after my stomach bug/food poisoning day, a half day for Reid's first day of preschool, and two and a half days when he had bronchitis and then pneumonia.  So, I can't afford to take off any more time to see his cute activities going on.  And on this particular morning, he asked me (twice!), "Mommy, can you come to my school today?"  It absolutely broke my heart into a million pieces.  I bawled three times before I even made it to school, and then teared up a few more times throughout the day when people asked if I was okay.  I know the pregnancy hormones probably didn't help, but it just kills me to think of all the things I miss (such as just seeing his teachers in the mornings...I never get to hear the cute things about them unless they write it on his daily report).  I've always wanted to be a stay at home mom, but it looks like that will never happen.  God has His reasons.  I just pray the desire will go away if that's not what I'm supposed to do.  My adorable little football player didn't wear the helmet long...just long enough for me to take a picture of him with old T, his favorite "friend" (lovey).

Thank goodness his sweet teacher Ms. LaLinda (the head teacher of the Monkeys class) included two precious pics in their weekly emailed newsletter!  And yes, that is my child...the only one with his foot up in the air, lol.  So I missed the costume parade, the carnival, and everything else that day, but at least I got to see how cute they all were.

   

Reid once again surprised me that morning and wanted to be the football player.  I figured he'd want to be Buzz Lightyear that evening to trick-or-treat, but he insisted upon staying in his football player gear.

I had tons of school paperwork to catch up on, and Daddy was able to get off a few minutes early, so that allowed me to run to the gym before the evening's festivities.  Reid came home with some adorable projects and treats from the day, including a sparkly paper plate Christian jack-o-lantern, complete with Ichthus mouth and cross nose. It had been a full day, but this kid was willing to eat dinner way early (dinners lately have lasted anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour long, but this one was pretty quick) for Daddy so they could begin trick-or-treating to get "candies," as Reid calls them.  Helping Daddy bring in all the pumpkins so everyone would know we weren't passing out candy this year...

"Cheese!"

 

"Enough with the pictures, Daddy...let's go!"

It was only 5:45 when I got home from the gym and changed...but Jason and Reid were long gone.  I had to walk all the way down Rancho De La Osa to catch up!  Daddy had dressed up for work that day, too, so here's my handsome duo, Reid going "noodle" on us...

"Mommy, I want to go to MORE houses!"

Reid really got into it and understood much more this year.  He didn't pay attention to too many other kids' costumes, except for the "Mad Birds" (Angry Birds) we passed.  He's never played the game, but desperately wanted Angry Birds Cheez-Its at the store a few weeks ago for his snack.  It cracks me up that he insists they are "Mad Birds" each and every time.  One house we visited must've been out trick-or-treating themselves, but left a nice spread outside with everything from decorative pencils to candy to pumpkin bubbles.  So cute!

Reid very carefully chose one piece of candy at any place that would allow him to pick.  It was interesting to watch him decide.  Rule of thumb...if there are M&M's, that's what you should get.

Starting to get tired...the tell tale circles under the eyes always give him away.

We finally made it back to our street just as it was getting really dark.  We made one last stop to see our Mr. Adam (our neighbor) was doing, and to count all the pumpkins at his house.

"What?!  No more trick-or-treating?"

"Pleeeease?  Just one more house?"

 

"Oh, I can actually eat some candy at home??  Let's go!"

We had so much fun as a family!  I am very anti-Halloween, seeing as how it represents all sorts of dark, evil things.  And I was amazed at the bizarre, weird, creepy outfits some people allow their kids to dress up in (or dress as, themselves!).  But when you look at it from the kid side...innocent dressing up and eating delicious treats, it's really pretty fun.  It makes me look forward to creating family traditions for all the upcoming holidays since Reid "gets it" this year.  I love seeing this kid grow up, and it makes Jason and me feel a bit like kids again, too.  We are blessed!

Papa & Mamere's Visit

The week after Grandma Penny was here, Papa and Mamere came to visit.  I worked really hard both work weeks to make sure my report cards were completed and proofread (think college finals!), then to insure that my parent conference documents were all in order before conference day.  Normally, I would work on these things over the weekends before they were due.  So it was nice to have family time and a break before I met with all 20 families that next Monday!  The night the Frenches came in happened to be Stonebriar Community Church's Fall Festival.  We'd been looking forward to when Reid was old enough to enjoy it, and we had hoped this would be the year.  He surprised us by picking the football player costume over Buzz Lightyear (from "Toy Story," one of his favorite movies).  Reid was very talkative and opinionated about where he wanted to go and what he wanted to do at the festival.  He loved fishing for a prize, which made me chuckle because that is the only activity I very distinctly remember from Fall Festivals at our church when I was a kid. 

He surprisingly didn't want to eat the candy right away, but Mommy was starving (I'd had a stomach bug or food poisoning that Wednesday, so I think my body was making up for a day without eating!) so I got a bag of popcorn.  From previous experiences, I know how much this kid loves his popcorn, so I got him his own bag, too.  Jackpot!

He loooved the huge bouncy slides that were set up outside, so we actually started off there.  He didn't want to leave, but as the sun went down and it got chillier and chillier, we finally convinced him to go inside.

His favorite activity of the night?  The giant orange balloon sword.  The line had been quite long, and we were thankful for our patient boy (the popcorn probably helped, too).  I was surprised at his choices...he picked orange over green, his favorite color, and he picked a sword over all the cute animals they had listed.  Who knows what goes through this kid's mind.

We played a couple more games and gathered some more candy before heading back to the car.  Reid was very happy with his sword and he and Papa played with it all the way home.

 

He was even happier when Mamere helped him walk on all the curbs.  He loves to balance, but we love that he insists on holding hands when he does this...because it's about the only time you can ever get him to hold hands. 

 

The next day, we met up with Uncle Steve, Taunt, and H3 at Henry's football game.  Our family took a time out for nap time while Papa and Mamere watched Hayden's game and babysat the boys so Steven and Aimee could meet with their builder.  Then we all met up at Cantina Laredo for a yummy Mexican food dinner.  As usual, I forgot to take pics, but Aimee snapped this cute one of the youngest two.  Happy boys!  All the other adults were happy with their yummy margaritas, and I was happy with my yummy mango tres leches cake.  Even though Reid had "chippies" and hot sauce, all of his corn dog, and all of his French fries, I think he would've eaten all of the cake if I'd have let him ;)

 

Grandma Penny's Visit

Reid's school had an Open House a few weeks ago.   I was absolutely blown away by the amazing artwork and creative projects they did!!  We have been so happy with him there, and I am so thankful for their Kids Klub extended day program, and for the friend who drops him off in the mornings...otherwise, he wouldn't be able to go with my school hours. We're already praying for God to provide someone to bring him next year.  At Open House, we got to see his classroom, meet a few of the kiddos in his class, and say hi to his wonderful teachers, Ms. LaLinda and Ms. Shannon.  Reid acted shy and goofy (as you can see in the picture), but I think he had fun being at school "after hours."

Jason had gotten Reid a Cars pinata for his birthday at the Mexican meat market that we like.  Unfortunately, we could not figure out how to open it up to fill it with trinkets and treats.  But he and Jason had fun one day smacking it with a baseball bat.  It was hilarious...and oddly enough, Reid knew exactly what to do!  It won't let me upload the cute video, of course, but at least we got a picture.

Grandma Penny (or "Grandma Jellybean," as the grandkids have dubbed her, since she always comes with jellybeans) came to visit, so we had lots of get togethers with Uncle Steve, Taunt, and H3 (Hayden, Henry, and Harrison, the French cousins).  Reid wasn't feeling his best, so I made sure he and I were home for nap times, but you wouldn't be able to tell from the pics!  We had everyone over one night to grill fajitas.  It was fun and laid back.  Reid and Harrison really became buddies, which was cute because they are the closest in age.

Henry didn't want to smile, so out came the funny face.  But Reid was actually smiling, and Harrison is nearly always smiling.  They enjoyed the "kids' table" outside.  No one ate very much because playing was way more fun.

We never remember to have someone take our family picture, so we took advantage of an extra set of hands.

Reid took a little while to warm up to Grandma (as he does with everyone!), but he loved her and instantly began asking, "Where's Grandma Penny??" as SOON as she left.  We loved our time to catch up with her and are so thankful she is willing to use precious vacation time each year to come see us in Texas.  We miss you already, Grandma Jellybean!