thanksgiving

the older i get, the more i love thanksgiving.  what a special holiday, just a time to be together with those you are thankful for, wow, what a concept!  haha.  we got to have several thanksgiving meals with special people in our lives.  the first was at our church on sunday, the whole crew of us have a thanksgiving service and meal.  we sat with our sunday school class and shared a fun evening.

next was our friends-giving, which we hosted here at our house with our newly formed supper club.  OH-SO-FUN.  who knew i had so many friends that are such great cooks?!?!  it was amazing and all of our kids had a blast, too.  

the next morning we headed northbound for tulsa to spend the next few days with my family.  i LOVE, LOVE, LOVE getting the whole crew of us together.  even when we do nothing, i just love getting to really spend time with each and every one of them.  we had our traditional link family turkey bowl, my favorite tradition, thursday morning.  you see there is a reason i am a football fanatic.  i was raised by football fanatics!  we had so much fun and quite the workout to prepare us for our big meal.  if you have never experienced a lavon link turkey dinner, you are missing out, because OH MY GOSH, can that woman cook!  my sisters-in-law and i help a lot, but if we are honest, we know my mom does it all!  amazing.  

okay, i'll let my pics do the rest of the "talking"...

the two youngest links - best pals :)

our little rock climber.  i'm amazed at the physical skills of my two year old!

my two favorite monkeys

link playing with our jackets during the turkey bowl

my brothers transporting hot food in the bob stroller.  this is seriously hilarious to me.

can anyone guess when this was taken?  approximately three hours after turkey bowl and approximately ten minutes after turkey consumption.  cowboy game relax time!

at the tree lighting at utica square, one of my favorite tulsa spots!

fine-tuning josh's xmas lights

tulsa v houston game

saturday, dancing to the OU fight song on the way to norman!

day 14-16, more thankful for thoughts...

day 14 - my nephews and nieces.  i'm not sure they will ever know what they mean to me.  i feel so selfish in my love for them - they have brought me so much joy, and what the heck did i do!?!?  and they still do.  carter, kyle, audrey, nathan, asher, carson, caroline and jack...i love each of you with all my heart!!  God blessed me to be your aunt, and not a day passes that i don't pray for and love you.

day 15 - on a lighter note - drinkable yogurt, toddler squeeze pouches filled with nutritious fruits and veggies, chicken salad, cheese, granola bars, elmo whole wheat mac and cheese, edamame...all of the foods that make my little boy happy and healthy.  that and mi cocina.  just 'cause ooooh, is it yummy!  :)

day 16 - this is a BIG one.  a part-time job (with a solid, family business!) that can be done from home.  this is what so many moms hope for and not many can find, and it's perfect for us (which is all that matters - not judging anyone else's choices!).  i am so blessed.  as far as link knows, i never "work" because i can do most everything while he is napping or down for the night.  it takes a lot of discipline (and sleep!) to keep up with both, but it is all worth it in the end.  FOR SURE!

because of said job, i don't have to miss any of these moments from the last couple of days...SO THANKFUL!  and so very blessed.

i'm smiling here b/c he didn't stop smiling, laughing, and repeating CHOO-CHOO at the top of his lungs yesterday riding the dart train home from his first wee volunteer project :)

pajama-knight-face-off.  he was seriously looking tough and talking smack.  hilarious.

at approximately 10:30 this morning, link pretended to be a space commander for the first time  :)

our little climber

watching the thankful posts...

and have been keeping my own private file.  the only way i will keep up with this is to post it here.  i don't want to do this on Facebook, but those of you that are the few and proud will have to live with it on the blog.  :)

day 1 - a daddy that works with the force of a thousand suns to make sure his wife can be an at-home momma to his little boy.

day 2 - the workers at our gym and their effortless devotion to my son, who they call "slim" - he loves them, going to the gym, and being the life of the party

day 3 - football season - and all it implies.  glorious.  college football is a haven for me.

day 4 - my mom.  her complete devotion to her family.  her love of all things beautiful.  her patience with all of us, because she is - and i mean this, completely perfect.

day 5 - my brothers.  how they have earned my complete devotion since the day i was born.  i still worship them and know they can do no wrong.  

day 6 - my church - wilshire is our church home, i'm so thankful that God led us there and showed us where we belong.  

day 7 - our home.  i love our neighborhood and our home.  part of me wishes we could stay right here forever.

day 8 - this time in my life.  i know that someday, as hard as it is a lot of the time,  i will wish for all of this back.  I KNOW THIS.


day 9 - thankful for legs and a body that can run, for the bob stroller, and that link enjoys the ride!

day 10 - my dogs.  i have kids, and i still love my precious pups.  they put up with us and still love us unconditionally.  bless their hearts.  they are the best.

day 11 - compassion.  the holidays are upon us, and watching people show some kindness to their fellow man makes my heart melt.

day 12 - toddler love.  watching link play with his little friends.  hugging, wrestling, sharing.  it's all just amazing.

day 13 - my daddy.  I'm a daddy's girl, and for good reason.  he exemplifies all that i want to be in this life.  love him so!

halloween

super link, the boy wonder!  we are lucky to have a great neighborhood - with many old friends and a lot of new friends, too.  link had so much fun tonight, and so did we!  halloween is seriously one of the best holidays - candy, costumes, and so much fun!!!

a little bedlam commentary with some neighbor boys.  (tra-tra's if you are link...all big boys are tra-tra's.)

hudson, link's across the street buddy. they are three weeks apart!

playing w/ hudson and his sister

link, mom, meg, and charles @ our neighborhood parade.

one of at least three suckers this evening

sweet boy

time for a bath, you think?

giving dad an "O-U!"

picking one last treat for the evening

and the M&M's were a hit!

a lot can happen in a week

happy almost halloween!

jay turned a year older.  nice birthday cake, huh?  this is what he gets when his wife is on a diet.  for realzzzzz.  happy birthday, jay!  enjoy your bite.  haha.  oh, and the sooners lost on said birthday, sending jay into a tailspin for at least 24 hours (let's face it, both of us). :)

the rangers have made it to game seven of the world series (who would have ever thought?  two years in a row!?)...and play tonight.  we could wake up champions tomorrow!!!

i lost six pounds on the above mentioned diet.  YIPEE!!!! (ok, in fairness, that was a week and a half)

i learned a lot about moses thanks to my friend, cameron, for doing a series in sunday school on exodus.  i started studying it more on my own and have learned so much.  thank you, cam!  i highly recommend re-reading this book if you haven't in a while.  so profound.

we had our first halloween party and were running late, so my kid was the only one not in costume.  i let him have extra cookies since i had already sucked at being a mom.  who forgets their kids costume?!?

out-takes.

cutie pies

some of my favorite kiddos

my six year old (you heard that right) macbook died, and i got a new macbook air.  and it is worth noting that it is the tiniest computer i've ever seen.  i swear when it's closed it is skinnier than my iPhone!

i literally ran to greet the fed ex guy on our front walk.  dork-out.

OH, AND, i had to rush link to the pediatrician before his office even opened to get FOUR STAPLES IN HIS HEAD.  ohmygoodness, it was the scariest morning of my life!!!!!!  mothers, get anchors for your furniture.  these kids are stronger than you think.

it hurts right here, mama.

first traumatic injury.  4 staples.  it was hard on me, but geez, look at that sweet face!  bless him.  this could have been so much worse - thank you God, for protecting our little boy!  and thank you dr moore, for being a wonderful pediatrician!  we are blessed and healing nicely.

there you have it, a week of our lives, in pictures (something i'm sure you've been dying to see, haha), all of which i hope will be capped off tonight with the TEXAS RANGERS WINNING THE PENNANT!!!!!!  i've waited my whole life for this!

the beginnings of october....

we love fall around here.  football, cooler temps, football, holidays, football....and these last few years, some very exciting baseball post-season games!!  :)   it is such a fun time of year to be in these parts of the country.  our weather is hovering between 80-55 degrees, with a nice breeze most of the time.  we've been spending our time watching rangers baseball, lots of football, and enjoying our time outside in the yard and the pumpkin patch at the arboretum.  

link flirting with the cheerleaders  :)

with his cousin kyle after scoring the game-winning TD for his JV team!  he is one of only two 9th graders on the JV squad and he is awesome!  so proud of "tra-tra" as link calls him.

boomer sooner!!!  OU/tx gameday, early morning before our jog.

WOW!  OU BEATS tx 55-17!!  BOOMER!!!!!!!!  we had so much fun, thanks to my parents for keeping link again so we could go!

the game day crew

trips to the arboretum

already making the ladies cry....haha

ellie, let me see if i can fix my car for ya...

finley has a secret :)

they look like they are in a thanksgiving play or something!