Grateful Thankfulness

I have SO much to be thankful for, including the latest release of the movie, Twilight. Why, yes, it is a teen-marketed movie, and, yes, I loved it and wish to see it again and again. I FORGOT my camera to this much anticipated movie opening, much to the sadness of Seth, but trust me, I was there (and did you notice how subtly I already implicated my husband), along with throngs of non-screaming girls. I really, really was hoping for more silliness at this event, but the only squealing came from April, Stephanie & myself. We were trying to stir up this mature, youthful crowd, but I guess if they have to read this HIGH literature before viewing the movie, they can't be bothered with such sophomoric behavior. But they didn't disappoint during the kissing scene, with an all out, "Ahhhhhhh". Much love to you Twilighters.

I'm also incredibly grateful for leaf-jumping boys who make an all-afternoon event out of piling up leaves...


Our adorable neighbor, Colton, joined in for the fall festivities...

And I am, as always, proud as punch over my husband and his talents. Take a look-see for yourself (thank God that his singing ability surpasses my staying-still-while-capturing-video ability)...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UW12OnMhnkk

Late Birth Announcements, Non-Abandoning Friends & Christmas

I have this thing about always wanting pictures to go with what I write about (Seth LOVES this aspect of my personality). And even though my GORGEOUS niece, Jesstine, was born in August, I haven't posted any pictures, because I kept thinking I would be able to take more pictures of her, because the pictures I have don't show her off well enough (and they show TOO much of me). But, alas, I need to share the good news of her August arrival, in November. And if you want to see many more lovely pictures of her, click on "Steve & Lacie" (Jesstine just refers to them as Master Diaper Changer and Mrs. Milk Provider) and you, too, can marvel at her beauty.

In other beauty news, one of my very best friends, April, is not abandoning me forever as previously planned (they moved from here to Beaumont where they lived the last two years and then made plans to move to Houston indefinitely, but plans changed and now they have moved back here--convoluted, I know). If you live in the area, you NEED to get to know her and her amazing family. April will never cease to entertain you, and her devotion and loyalty to family and friends (I consider her in the former category) is beyond description. Just a little anecdote to explain April's character. When Noah was a baby and before she had children (she's giving birth to #3 in December), we asked her and Mark to be our children's Godparents, if anything, God forbid, should happen to us. She started crying from happiness, and then through tears, she said, "I hope you die". I knew then that we had selected the perfect guardians. I'll leave Mark's amazing character and kindness and gentle spirit for another post.

This is Mitzi and I, with April in the middle:

Only April can blow out a candle like this:

Our good friend, Tim, kindly, patiently, graciously and talentedly took our family pictures this year. I haven't chosen THE family Christmas card picture, yet (oh how we are all waiting as we did last Tuesday for this exciting outcome), but I wanted you to see some of my favorite pictures and a few outtakes that will never been seen on a Christmas photo.:

This is my favorite picture EVER taken of the boys:

My mom joined in for the fun and here is one of my favs of her and the boys:

And some non-mantle worthy pics, but I enjoy them nevertheless:

Fun Size Opinions

No one has EVER accused me of overwithholding my opinions, so here go a few more. What in the heck is up with "fun size"? This, my friend, is NOT fun size:

This, my friend, is:

My friend Emily sent me this MOST wonderful post from a parenting blog. This lady is pregnant with her first child and posted about what she plans to do with her maternity leave:

"Despite what my sisters have told me about having a child and the implications that it will have on my personal time, I envisage my four months of maternity leave as just that - a time to turn over a new leaf.
.....as much as I am looking forward to nurturing my newborn baby, I am also looking forward to the downtime "in between her naps" where I plan to do the following:
- Complete my degree
- Master the keyboard (I have purchased a self-teach book in preparation)
- Learn how to play guitar
- Start a herb Garden
- Take up art lessons and do some painting
- Tan and start a home gymming program to restore my body to it's former shape
- Paint my toenails and wax biweekly
- Writing ( I will excite my blog fanbase of 2 people, with an exciting new blog daily)
- Start a photography portfolio "

Although I do not have the heart to respond to this mom-to-be regarding her post (for fear of sharing my guarded opinions), I wanted to relay my thoughts on her sweet post to you. Prior to becoming a mom, I too, secretly found most moms to be, oh, how I shall I say, WHINY. Okay, kids are some work, but if you are not working, you can still keep a mostly immaculate home, cook amazing dinners, take photography classes, plant some extra gardens, work out extra hard, paint your nails a different shade every couple of hours. I mean those little things are just so tiny and I am just so organized (unlike those whiny moms). And if one more person said to me, "Enjoy your sleep now, there's not much with the little one comes" I was planning on replacing their shampoo with Neet.

These are secret thoughts that I did not have the courage (THANK GOD) to say out loud or post on a public forum. Because when my 6 lbs, 12 oz. bundle helped me realize that I was lucky to have time to run a comb through my hair or swig down some Instant Breakfast before he finished his 15 minute nap, after three hours of trying to get him to sleep, I came to honor the mothers who came before me. Now, I truly am not one to spoil a blossoming mommy-to-bes plans (because I am serious about those Neet thoughts) and I am an optimist (thus the belief that I wouldn't be "one of THOSE moms"), but sheesh, being a mom, especially of a newborn is really, really hard (right Lacie? right Lindsay? right Christy?). The difference is that when they arrive, even though it can make you sad that you smell like urine and you have Instant Breakfast on your shirt, you are really too in love with that little guy to mind as much as you might have planned you would under those conditions.

In my much cherished book, I Was a Really Good Mom Before I Had Kids, it contains a quiz that includes a few items I checked, that are my very most treasured:

• You secretly wish you had your own apartment.


• You consider a trip to the dentist you special "alone time".


• You reflexively refer to the bathroom as "the potty"
  
• You find that slowly browsing the aisles at Target, by yourself, is better than therapy.

In other opinions, these are the MOST adorable Tranformer Optimus Prime and Yoda of ALL times (and even though it is sometimes really tiring, I adore and cherish being their mommy and would choose NO other path):

When going through my pumpkin pictures, I was really frustrated that this person's bottom got in the way of my beautiful boys picture, until I realized it was actually the back of a scarecrow. I forgive you scarecrow.

Because what's a good pumpkin patch, without a hearty camel ride: