The Spirit of Giving (Remix)

I figured I should tell you about Thanksgiving while it is still relevant.  Giving thanks for what we have should always be relevant, but you have to admit, now that Advent is upon us Thanksgiving seems like so long ago. Luckily for us we have plenty of photos to remind us.

We spent Thanksgiving with my folks down in Louisiana.  We left late Tuesday afternoon and arrived just past midnight.  We sure do enjoy nighttime drives.  The kids sleep and the adult talk.  And talk and talk and talk.  Sounds like a killer time, I know.

We spent Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday in Houma.  And it was a great time.  Here it goes!

The weather has been quite nice here (and by this I mean I Gulf Coast area between here and there).  The nights are cold, the days are cool(er), sunshine is plentiful, and the breeze keeps on blowing.  The fruit has been plentiful at my parents' house.  The above picture is of lemons.  The one below is satsumas.

And a heads up for Grandma Tammy and Grandpa Dan.  The grapefruit is getting ready and I hope you are too.  So far they are really juicy, but a little tart.  Hopefully in the next few weeks they will sweeten up a bit and be perfect for your consumption.  

We had a couple of fires and roasted marshmallows.  The kids really enjoyed this.  We also discovered there is a right way and a wrong way to roast marshmallows and it greatly depends on who will be eating it and how picky they are about singed parts.  

And we got to spend some time with Aunt Liz.  And boy, has she grown!  

Mom got some bad news.  Actually, I don't know if she did or if this is just a poorly timed photo.  

This last run of photos is out of order.  I don't know why blogger chose to do this, but if I try to fix it and fail I will likely abandon this entry and you won't get to see any of it.  So consider this the remix part of the blog.

And so, in the spirit of giving thanks, here's where I thank my parents.  Thank you for your hospitality this time and every time.  Thank you for all the delicious food.  You sure know our favorites and have them on hand for us.  Thank you for the clean laundry!  Thank you for the love and attention that you show the kiddos.  Thank you for having cable TV and for recording the shows that we like (Parenthood and Duck Dynasty).  Thanks for the beautiful kitchen table!  Thanks for the shopping trips and the movie nights.  And most of all, thanks for supporting us and our dreams.  We sure do love you guys!

And now we will happily march into December.  I am particularly excited about this coming month.  Not only is this the first time we will have a Christmas tree in 5 years, but we are also having Christmas at our place with the Becker grandparents (wahoo!!!) !  And as if that weren't enough, my brother and his brood will stop in with my parents and the house will be full!!  Oh joy of joys!

Discoveries

One thing that I love about big cities is that there is always something to discover.  There is some place that has been hidden from you for years and when you find out what it is, where it is, and how cool it is, it just blows you away that you never found out about it sooner.  Same thing can be said about smaller cities as well, I'm sure.  But with a city as big as Houston, it's a whole other level.

Last weekend we set out to find such a place.  The place we chose was Discovery Green.

Now, we've known about this place for a while.  We've even driven by and commented on how cool the place seemed and how we ought to check it out.  Tick, tick, tick went the clock.  We never made it out there.  Until last weekend.  And all it took was a young writers class.  Offered every Saturday.  For free.

Turns out there is a great little playground.  Here is where we waited while Troy and Orry went to the writing class.

It is actually an incredibly beautiful green space near the Convention Center and some tall buildings.

Here are the fountains.  One of the times I drove by here, I saw lots of children playing here.  It would be a pretty great place to come and cool off during the hot summer months.  

You could even forage around like squirrels around these colorful buildings, though I don't know what these buildings are...

Behind the kids is the library.  Here's where the class took place.  

And there are food and drink vendors that set up for Saturdays because it turns out there's free music too.  Draws quite the crowd.

Orry wrote about his feelings.  Things that make him mad and sad and glad.  He even wrote about things he is thankful for.  He was the youngest writer there, but participated equally (or pretty darn close to equally).  The children don't have to be supervised to attend the class.  You can sign them in and out if you so choose.  

We had a really great time.  We brought a picnic lunch and ate there.  It's a really great place to do some yoga, throw a frisbee, or just hang out.  If you live in or around Houston and haven't seen it, I think it's about time that you do!

Halloweeners

We had a great Halloween.  We spent less than 30 dollars on the kids' costumes, we came home with not too much candy, and managed not to lose any of our kids.  Win, win, win.

If you know me, then you know that half the fun of Halloween is making the costumes.  Not only does it pinch the few pennies that we've got, but it challenges us to be creative by using the things we have or procuring the things we need.  The kids have never minded.  Until this year.

One child in particular (I'll just tell you that it was Orry) was pretty set on buying the costume at Party City and being done with it.  No matter what reason you gave him for making it ourselves (cost, fun, creativity, quality), he was certain that he just wanted to buy the costume.  Finally he saw the light.  It took the choice between the purchased costume and no props, or the homemade costume and props.  And when you want to be a ninja for Halloween, a plastic sword, sai, and throwing star are so necessary.

Isaac wasn't nearly so worried about whether or not his costume was bought or made.  As long as he was the blue Power Ranger (and by the way, we have absolutely no clue what the blue Power Ranger does or who he is...), he was happy, happy, happy.

And Annie.  Oh, sweet, sweet, sweet Annie.  She went from wanting to be a butterfly, to wanting to be the pink Power Ranger (...), to wanting to be pink Batgirl.  She was pretty dead set on pink Batgirl until I finished the costume.  Then she decided that she didn't want a costume.  But when presented with "no costume = no candy", she changed her mind.  

Our night involved heading over to Miss Laura's house for some quick trick-or-treating.  The kids did remarkably well, walking up to people's houses, saying the magic words, and still remembering the manners (some of the times).  

Afterwards, we quickly headed over to the Richmond fire station to see what kind of fun was being had there.  Turns out every year the fire department puts on a Halloween celebration where kids get to come and see the inside of the fire station, explore the old and new fire trucks, see where the guys get suited up, and, best part of all, shoot the fire hose!  

It was pretty good night.  At the end of the night we talked about Halloween and our costumes and all the headache involved in deciding what we will be.  I explained that it would be much easier and way more fun if we coordinated our costumes each year, picking a different theme every year.  The kids loved the idea and have already decided that next year we will be The Avengers.  Now we have almost a whole year to decide who will be who.  You can join in on the fun.  Orry has pretty much claimed Thor.  Who should be the Hulk?