GRATEFUL

This Thanksgiving I am full of blessings. I am thankful for more things than I can count. I hope I never take any of these for granted:

I am thankful for a God who shows me abundant grace, protection and strength every single day.

I am thankful for an amazing husband who gives me constant support and unconditional love.

I am thankful for a healthy, smart child who makes every day more meaningful.

I am thankful for my precious family who surrounds us with encouragement and love.

I am thankful for the women in my life who are my lifeline: my play group mommies, my Bible study/prayer warrior girls and the incredible women at BSF.

Life is good!

Here are some fun memories from our Thanksgiving this year. We spent Thanksgiving Day with the Carrolls and then drove to Gilmer for more fun. We ate plenty of great food, played outside, went on a hayride and just enjoyed being together.

Autumn

"I cannot endure to waste anything as precious as autumn sunshine by staying in the house. So I spend almost all the daylight hours in the open air."

--Nathaniel Hawthorne

(thanks for the quote, Pop Pop!)

say it with ART

Recently, we have discovered that Porter has a new love for drawing and coloring. For the longest time, he didn't have any interest, but now he requests to "color" several times a day!

A few weeks ago, I had torn off a big piece of butcher paper and laid it out on the floor to let him make a creation while I cleaned his playroom and I heard him saying "rocket ship" and I looked down to discover this:

Not bad! :) We had been to the rocket park earlier that day, so I guess it was on his mind!!

Then, Porter was recently impressed when he went outside to our driveway to discover a few sweet messages from his favorite neighbor (girl) friends, Caroline, Grace and Avery. I had to record these because they made me smile (and Porter too!):

Flashlight Walk

What do you do when the time changes and it gets dark at 5:00 and your active toddler needs some more "outside time"?

You go on a FLASHLIGHT WALK!

We shined the flashlight on trees, light posts, fences, the sidewalk, a waterfall, Mommy, etc. We EVEN got to see our first Christmas lights!

You do whatever it takes, right? :)

the *ultimate* "Daddy Time"

Every Saturday, Billy takes Porter for some special time, just the two of them. It has been named "Daddy Time" and Porter looks forward to it all week long! He starts jumping around the house on Saturday mornings, anxious to see what Daddy has planned. Well, this Saturday did not disappoint! First, Daddy took Porter to the John Deere store. Oh my. Porter thought he had died and gone to heaven!! *note the new John Deere hat Daddy got him as well! He has worn it all weekend! He also got a new John Deere tractor toy and a John Deere t-shirt!

And then, for the afternoon "Daddy Time", the boys let Mommy join them for an ultimately extreme event! The Monster Truck Show at the new Allen Event Center! It was over the top! Here are a few pictures I snapped with my phone and a few videos so you can see how extreme it really was! There were huge monster trucks and cars as well as motorcycles!

We knew Porter loved monster trucks because he has a few books with pictures of them. So we *thought* he would enjoy them in real life! And surprisingly, he did! It was super loud and he had special ear plugs for the show. He did not move one muscle and has talked about it non-stop since we left! He fell asleep last night saying "Big Monster Truck jump and crush, smashed the red car!"

Wow, the fun things you get to do as a boy mom!!! :)

Check out the craziness:

(and don't forget to watch the videos at the bottom!)

CANDY CORN CRAZY

Halloween 2009 was spectacular! The season started early at the Carroll house because we just couldn't wait! In September, I started reading several different Halloween books to Porter so he could start getting excited. There was one book with pictures of children dressed up as various characters. After reading it one day, I asked him what he wanted to be. He said, with certainty, "Tigger!" (Why wouldn't it be Tigger....his favorite show is "Tigger and Pooh!") So, once that was decided we went Halloween crazy!

We decorated every room (especially Porter's playroom) with Halloween decor and made every kind of Halloween craft possible. We bought pumpkins and decorated pumpkin cookies. We made every food we ate into the shape of pumpkins. We went to the pumpkin patch and picked out pumpkins. We carved a jack-o-lantern and toasted pumpkin seeds. We got "Boo"ed.

And then, the week of Halloween craziness finally began!

It was crazy fun

It was crazy hectic

It was crazy hysterical

It was crazy busy

It was crazy chaos

It was crazy delicious

It was crazy dangerous

It was just plain crazy

But, we loved every. single. minute.

I think Billy and I enjoyed it as much, if not more, than Porter this year!

These are all the crazy/fun things we did the week of Halloween:

This actually happened in the middle of the week, but HAS to be mentioned first because it was definitely ~crazy~

We went to Owens Farm to visit the pumpkin patch and got stuck in the mud from all the crazy rain! And, to Porter's happy surprise, a real John Deere Tractor came to pull us out! It was his lucky day!!!

Rewind to the weekend before Halloween.....we had a precious Halloween party at the Barbours' house. The kids were ADORABLE.

(Fairy, Tigger, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle, Strawberry, Ladybug, Rodeo Clown)

I can't help but laugh when I see this!!! They weren't sure what was going on!

After the party, we all went trick-or-treating at Tucker Hill and it was lovely! Every homeowner dressed up and got a kick out of the kiddos! The weather was great and the kids had a ball.

Then, our next event was our Halloween playgroup at Cara and Landon's house. The boys were in rare form, bouncing off the walls in their "get-ups" and once again, we somehow managed to snap a group shot! Priceless.

(Joe Jonas, Tigger, Train Conductor, Pirate, Cowboy, Football player, Risky Business, Golfer)

And our most exciting event of the week.....Porter's cousins from Indiana came into town for a quick visit. I am sick I didn't get more pictures, but I was too busy trying to catch up with Monica and Tom and chase my crazy Tigger around! Ha! We loved seeing you guys!

Thanks for the Halloween party, Nanny!

Ashley, Porter had a blast with you!

The grandkids:

Tommy (Transformer), Ashley (Wonder Woman) Alli (Clown) Porter (Tigger)

And then, what Porter had been patiently waiting for....

HALLOWEEN

It was finally here!

We had a neighborhood "pre trick or treat" party and the kids played in the street and the adults ate yummy appetizers and watched!

Here are Porter and Reid dancing in the street! Nice.

Come on! Let's (finally) go trick-or-treating for real!!!!

I will go by myself if I have to

What do I have to do to get your attention!?

I bet someone has suckers around here

Finally....what they had been waiting for....

Porter seriously could not have been more excited!

Does this look like mischief or what?

Porter was in awe of the kids in costumes. I thought he would be afraid, but he loved it!

After asking (okay, crying) we finally left the party and started going through the neighborhood in the wagon. It was a beautiful evening with a full moon.

When Porter would leave each house with candy he would come show me and then want to eat it immediately!

To say he was on a sugar high is a huge understatement!

He would walk anxiously if the wagon ride was too slow. He knew what was waiting behind those doors!!!

Daddy taught him how to say "trick or treat" and "thank you"

It's amazing how that candy disappeared so quickly!

Porter was very brave and didn't shy away from anything!

He loved going up to this penguin and saying "trick or treat"

And of course, we had to go to Niko's house (the dog) We visit him often!

This house was a MUST because of Mickey Mouse. Porter was beside himself!

And then finally, we had to call it an evening and go home to hand out candy to OUR trick or treaters!

Porter was completely wiped out and it took us several days to recover but overall, our Halloween was a huge, huge success!

Until next year......