::thanksgiving::

We had a nice quiet Thanksgiving day with our good friends the Hansens. After the rush and bustle of our UT visit and all the cousins and kiddos it was definitely mellow!

My boys had been sick the day before, so both of them were a little off their game. Sandy was especially confused. He thought he was hungry until we gave him food. Then he was immediately done. So classic.

Here he is begging for all the food he really didn't want to eat
Caryn and I split up the dishes, so we both only had to bring a few things. And Kris and I ordered a smoked turkey from a local restaurant. We only had to reheat it which was so nice. The food was yummy.

And then there's Max and Emily. That's a whole other thing right there. Kind of scary when they get together. Luckily there's that whole girl-boy element, so they can't team up against us too much yet.

Oy.

Sandy suddenly decided that his new favorite picture face is squeezed shut eyes.


The grown up and the semi grown up table. Sandy calls Nick (at the end of the table) Ning. Love it.

Yes, Kris deserves to have everybody that still reads this blog see this silly picture. And a picture with me in it?

And then Sandy was done (so so quickly) and headed osside (outside) to play with balls. His favorite thing ever.

The rest of us went and sat around watching football and eating pie for the rest of the afternoon. It was great. It was a yummy nice and mellow day. So there's the report!

::early thanksgiving::

Last week we got to go to UT for an early Thanksgiving visit to both sides of our family. We took family pictures with both sides of the fam too, which is always fun in a chaotic and intense sort of way. I'm not allowed to post the Randle family picture, or at least I think I'm not, so here are a couple of outtakes, just for fun.





Cute! Weird for sure, but cute. It was fun that we all got to be in the picture even though we had to do it inside in the night time. This was just before we had a delicious roast dinner that my parents prepared for us. Max got to sit at the kid table and he looked so huge he said he was Wreck it Ralph. It was true, he really looked like it. We also got to spend some time with Kris's family, and luckily we had a moment right before church to grab a few photos in the park by Kathy's new house. Luckily it was cloudy and the light was great!

Complete with grandparents and mountains!


Grandma and 8 (!) grandsons.

A much truer portrait of the chaos of eight boys eight and under.


Oy. It was a fun trip, I may have more to post later, we'll see if I can do it. But if I don't get around to it, my trip report is WE LOVE OUR FAMILIES!!

::sandy is two::

I can hardly believe he's already two. It's crazy how fast time passes--I know everybody always says that but it's true! We celebrated Sandy's birthday on Sunday evening since work/school days are pretty chaotic around here right now. He doesn't care if it's his true and real birthday or not. All he cares about is GAKE! Bifday GAKE.

Clapping for GAKE.

He used to cry when people sang happy birthday--back when he was only a couple of months old. It was always really funny--he was so distressed. But he was all happy this time. He knew the fuss was all about him.

He was especially excited about the cake I made because of the "Num Nums" on it. I knew he'd love the num nums.
And his reaction to the cake snarfing?



As always he was a neat and tidy small person, using his fork and never smearing the cake all over himself. His most favorite present was the football that I bought for Kris to give him. His next favorite was the little truck I bought for Max to give him. Sensing a pattern here? Yeah. He liked my stuff too, but assigned out the best stuff. When he opened the football he was yelling with glee. "FOOTBALL MY!!!" He loves footballs. So funny since Max never could've cared a shred about balls. Today, which was his real birthday he got all fussed over at work. One of the staff members made him a chocolate cake and he was so happy to eat it that I think it made her week.

Um yeah, he's cute. Who can say no to this little face when it says, "GAKE!! GAKE MY!" So glad he's been our little guy for two years. He's such a blessing in our lives and such a cheerful little darling boy. LOVE YOU SAND! HAPPY TWO!

::::

To keep the posting rolling along, here's a gem from July when my parents were here visiting. We had just finished getting the courtyard all fixed up and were seriously enjoying it.

::cookie monster::

I wish I could explain to you how much our Sandy loves cookies. But I can't. It's just too deep and all abiding a love for me to really describe it. He calls them "Gee-Go" Well, actually I think he's actually started calling them cookies now, sadly. But gee-go was the word for the last while.

If we go someplace for lunch and he even sees a cookie for sale, it's bad news. If he's someplace he remembers us buying him a cookie before it's bad news. If you give in and buy him a cookie for after lunch, he refuses to eat anything until you give him the cookie. He's obsessed.

Sometimes he wakes up talking about gee-gos. One of my favorite games to play with him is the one where he pretends that one of us is a gee-go and needs to be eaten. You want to make fast friends with Sandy? Next time you come over, bring him a big gee-go. It'll work, I promise.

::halloween 2012::

Our family was on a trip until tuesday night, so Halloween was somewhat scrapped together. Poor Max was very bummed when I broke it to him that there would be no pumpkin carving. We did however do a lot of other important traditional things. It was no small feat, but I made sure we got some of the good stuff done.
Cookies, of course, were one of our priorities. Not only are they stinking delicious, but Max and I have made cookies every year since he was about three.

We've been collecting fun cookie cutters each year and perfecting our recipes.

Finished products?

Professor Doofensmirtz made sure that no cookie was undersprinkled.


This one has an m&m mustache and beard.

I love this one's eyebrows.
Sandy was a great appreciator of the cookies, naturally, since they're his favorite food. I have a couple of cute photos of him eating them that I'll post later.
Next we made sure that everyone was costumed. Well, except me this time because we missed the ward Halloween party. I like to dress us all up for that. But since we missed it I gave myself the year off.
Kris and Max were both "evil" professor Doofensmirtz from The Phineas & Ferb cartoon. Max had his stuffed Perry in a trap to round out his costume. I have a photo of the two doctors, but it's stuck in my phone. Later.

Sandy was Mickey Mouse.

Max had no official school, but he did have a Halloween party, and we made it to some of that. Here is Max and his teacher the wolf.


Yipes! They played and ate and read some scary stories.



Max's art teacher--double yikes!
After the party we dropped by work to see how fancy everybody looked. The two ladies at the front desk coordinated as "pink ladies".

These two are some of Sandy's favorite people, but he was totally freaked out by the wigs. He didn't want to look at or talk to either of them. NO WAY.

That's the face he kept making.
More Halloweeny looking folks.

Dad could hold him but not Judy or Jessie!

Kris mostly just looks like a crazy insane dentist. He wouldn't be working on my teeth looking like that!!
At the end of the day Max's friend Emily and family came over and we went to trick or treat the one street in our neighborhood where everybody goes. Here are the pre trick or treating poses for you.





Since it was a school night we didn't go out for too long, but just enough to get a good amount of treats. And Sandy had a blast! Every time he would get some candy he'd say "MO" (More). He wouldn't really say trick or treat, but he would say thank you. ("Nay Noo"). When we were done and heading to the car he cried.
It was a fun day. Thanks for tuning in!