Eli's letter

Eli the Elf is my best friend this time of year. He really helps me keep the kids in line and just the pure mention of him telling Santa about them not eating their vegetables, not listening, or stalling on getting dressed will send them running to shape up! Here's the letter "Eli" wrote the boys when he arrived. He got in to our candy canes last night and will be leaving a Lego advent calendar tonight :) The boys love their new pjs that Eli brought as well.

Raking up the fun

To say we have a ton of leaves in our backyard is an understatement. Jack had a romanticized notion of raking and jumping into the pile of leaves and was begging to do this. I ended up doing most of the raking given my height advantage but we all had a great time! Jack reveled in throwing the leaves up in the air and Theo made his pile in to a bird nest and sat in it :) Now the piles I raked remain...... as piles. Somehow bagging them up just isn't as fun as jumping in them!

Den meeting

Dave is shaping up to be an awesome Den leader! He he is teaching the kids about the food pyramid and having them cut out food items to place on the poster.

Christmas Lite

Dave and I hauled out just a few Christmas decorations tonight since we'll be out of town for almost 2 weeks during Christmas break. The stockings are hung and our Santa yard sign will go out tomorrow. No lights, no fun knick knacks, no big tree, only a few ornaments (sniff sniff)...... But one thing that always comes out when the tree is up is Eli our elf! Here he is hiding in the safety of our petite tree. He always brings new Christmas pajamas for the boys when he arrives at our house! The boys are going to flip in the morning when they wake up to see the (few) decorations out and that Eli is back!! I can't wait :)

Cousin time

I missed cousin Anne's baby shower earlier this week so I made the drive across the lake to pay her a visit before she returned to New Mexico. Her sister Katie is due any day now with a baby girl and Anne is due in about 6 weeks with a baby girl as well! Those little cousins will be the best of friends growing up. I snapped these pictures of Theo with his cousin Elise (Katie's daughter), the pregnant sisters (they made me not show their faces!), and the crafting table painting letters for the nursery. I was in charge of the letter "L" :)

Battle of the Boot

We attended the LSU/Arkansas game on Friday and watched the Tigers demolish the Hogs. It was a sweet victory! They call this game the Battle of the Boot because the winner of the game is presented a huge trophy that is shaped with Louisiana and Arkansas, resembling a boot. Miller and Sarah came to the game with us and really enjoyed the game since they hadn't been in years. We can't wait for the SEC championship game next weekend! Geaux Tigers!

Thanksgiving in Baton Rouge

We descended upon Baton Rouge for Thanksgiving. Uncle Miller, Aunt Sarah and baby Rowan made the drive down from Memphis, Uncle Dane and Aunt Debbie came from down the street, Ms. Kay and her son, Joseph, his wife, Amanda, and their girls, Juliet and Charlotte, came from Dallas. We all feasted and took turns holding baby Rowan! He's a delight :) Just content and happy and smiling all the time!!

We had a nice, low-key Thanksgiving and have so much to be thankful for!!

Exciting times

I've been keeping the boys busy the past couple of days by having them do packets of Thanksgiving-related worksheets from school. Jack had a word search that took us both working on to complete!

I pulled Jack's super loose front tooth this morning. It was gory and I almost chickened out a few times, but we got through it and now Tabitha the Tooth Fairy gets to come back tonight!! Jack was so brave :)

Cooking class

My Mom's club got together a group today at Young Chef's and I was thrilled to take the boys! We don't get to many activities with them both being in school now. They made turkey quesadillas and pumpkin white chocolate chip muffins. Jack devoured both and Theo only liked the muffin. Welcome to my world :)

Here they are mixing and dicing the ingredients. Tons of friends were there and it was just really fun! A great way to start the Thanksgiving break :)

Viva Las Vegas

Dave had a work meeting in Las Vegas all last week and I got to fly out to join him on Thursday. A HUGE thanks to Gigi and Dada for keeping the boys for me so I could make my first ever trip to Vegas! I had a blast and got to play with Christy and Aunt Kittie, who were attending with their husbands as well.

Christy and I did some shopping on the strip and got our makeup done at Nordstroms. Awesome!! All the wives got massages at the spa (heaven!!!) on Friday and were treated to a private comedy show after dinner. Some of us stayed around and went to see an 80's cover band at the resort. They were so good. I danced and danced :) And Dave got in trouble for asking all of his relatives how old they were when the particular song came out (they were high school aged and Dave and I were usually in elementary school). Ha ha.

We wrapped up the trip by having dinner inside The Mirage and seeing Jay Leno perform. Dinner was amazing, especially sharing it with family and new friends I met this week! Jay Leno had us laughing late into the night. I never did end up playing any slots or anything. Just took a picture with one :) Maybe next time!