Bryan's week

Bryan's birthday this year happened to coincide with his promotion to Lt. Colonel, which made for a very eventful couple of days!  We first celebrated Bryan's birthday, starting off with a dinner of pork loin with cranberry relish.  It was pretty tasty!  He opted for Texas Sheetcake for his cake this year, since we had to go fairly low-key (due to the fact that we were smoking 6 pork roasts and baking 100 cookies for his promotion the following day!).  The kids each gifted their dad with various homemade cards and random toys and candy, and Tyler spent $8 of his own money to buy him a flashlight (since the boys have officially lost at least 3 of Bryan's flashlights).  It was very sweet of Ty.  Now on to Bryan's promotion!  We've been waiting months for this to go through!  There was a paperwork error which delayed things by several months, which made me (and my bank account) very grumpy.  But it finally happened!  The ceremony was very nice, and timing worked out so that Scott and Catherine happened to be in town and could attend.  So that was cool.  As I mentioned, we decided to cook the food ourselves, rather than cater the little reception afterward, and it turned out really nice.  We did pulled pork sandwiches, homemade coleslaw, chips, pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, and bottled root beer.  We took the kids out of school a little early and headed down!  Woo hoo, Bry!!! 

Thanksgiving vacation

Having a week off of school in the Fall is so glorious.  Sports are over, the hot weather has ended, and we always enjoy our week off.  The kids were anxiously awaiting the arrival of Grandma and Grandpa Thompson, and Masen, this year, and the girls kept us relaxed by inviting us to their Spa/Restaurant that they called "Lounge Time."  Plastic food and a massage on the couch - doesn't get much better than that!  Ella also pulled her last front baby tooth in her own little "tooth pulling station," complete with a mirror and box of tissues.  Finally our guests arrived!!  We had a fun week planned, complete with a birthday lunch and shopping day, trip to SeaWorld, and of course all the cooking and eating.  It was a good thing we went to SeaWorld on Tuesday, because as the boys were out on a bike ride with Masen and Grandpa on Wednesday, poor Grandpa Thompson took a mighty tumble over the handlebars, into the road, and straight to the Emergency Room via a kind passerby.  After several hours of X-rays and waiting, he was discharged with a broken collar bone and four broken ribs.  OUCH!!  He was quite a trooper and happy to be able to rest in the Laz-E-Boy while we cooked and got ready for Thanksgiving dinner.  And it was quite a feast!  Bryan smoked the turkey, and it was absolutely delicious.  We had gourmet mashed potatoes, homemade stuffing, the vegetable medley, homemade cranberry sauce, and my grandma's rolls.  Mmmmmmm!!!  After dinner we dined on 7 different homemade pies - coconut cream, banana cream, chocolate cream, praline pumpkin, chocolate pecan, raspberry, and dutch apple pie.  I know that is an insane amount of pie for only 9 people, but there just wasn't a pie that we were willing to do without! 

A busy Fall

It was another busy Fall!  Three kids in sports, one in the school play, and oh yes...SCHOOL!  So it has been busy few months.  The two girls were both little soccer studlies, playing tough and looking darling.  This was Ruby's first season of soccer, and she did such a great job.  She was really fast and aggressive, going toe to toe against much larger boys.  I would never have guessed that!  I was her coach, and just like Ella she was so excited to be with me out there.  The one game I wasn't able to make it to, she refused to play because she got embarrassed!  Oh these shy girls...  Ella played her first season on the "big" field this Fall, and it was so much fun!!  For both of us.  She has an excellent kick, and loved doing her big power kicks.  She played goalie in every game, and she loved playing center fullback as well (my old position!).  I marveled every day at how aggressive she was out there, never backing down when challenged.  I think it makes both the girls feel really proud and strong to be able to show a fierce side on the soccer field.  I was also so proud of them!  Tyler played his third season of tackle football this Fall, and he finally got a chance to shine!  It became evident early on that the coach had big plans for him, which I've always worried would never happen because he's not the "coach's kid" or longtime teammate.  But he was the team's kicker, one of the running backs, and played safety on defense.  And if there was ever an absent player, he'd fill in for them too.  I was so proud of him, and it was so much fun to watch.  I gladly got up at 6:30am on several Saturday mornings to watch him play an early morning game!  (OK, I grumbled a little bit, but I would never have missed it.)  I was happy to have a good camera this year, too, so that I could take some sweet action shots!  (Tyler is #1 by the way - it's hard to recognize him in his helmet.)  Spencer has had to leave the world of team sports behind him as he focuses on the individual sports that he loves (biking, swimming, and running) as well as his school extra-curricular activities.  He auditioned for the Fall middle school play this year, which was Peter Pan.  He got the part of Mr. Darling, and he did an awesome job!  His British accent was "spot on" and he thoroughly enjoyed having a cute girl play the part of his wife!  Having four active and involved kids can be exhausting, but it is so so rewarding to watch them work hard and perform well.  It makes it all worthwhile!