handsful

What do you do when you should be packing for a trip to China? Make funnel cake, what else?! I was browsing around the blog “life in a shoe” (on my sidebar) and found that they regularly make funnel cake at home. We all love funnel cake, so I just had to give it a try. Big hit! Payton said it best…”Mom, yours are way better than at the fair!”. I love that boy. I’ll go back to stressing over my to-do list tomorrow. Today, we’re makin’ memories!

Randy loved making them as much (well…) as eating them

Abbey’s turn to dust with powdered sugar, with Marley anxious for her turn. The boys were in there helping too, just didn’t manage to get a good pic of them!

Notice the chairs/seats here? If you look closely, you can see a clip-on highchair in the back, all the way to the left. We decided that we didn’t want a big highchair for Lainey, we’d go with the clip on that worked so well for the triplets when they were toddlers. But, there isn’t enough room on that side for 2 chairs plus the clip on. So….

Randy is busy building a bench to use on one side of the table! Marley, Payton, and Ethan will sit on the bench and Abbey will sit on the other side with Lainey. I’ve always wanted to use a bench on one side and this was the perfect time. We couldn’t find exactly what we wanted, so Randy designed this one himself, to match our table (which, we bought at a “scratch and dent” sale years ago and LOVE). Stay tuned for the final product!

His two apprentices :)

This is the back…Abbey designed it to show the true meaning of Christmas. Do you see the nativity scene? :)

The cookies that the boys made. I’m the one with the “N” (Univ. of NC) and Randy is the one with the “S” (NC State Univ.) Lainey is beside me. Not sure about the identities of the other folks.

More pics from today…

I had a wonderful birthday today. The kids wished me Happy Birthday about a zillion times during the day. Once Randy got home, it was present time :) Randy surprised me with a great new 2-pc. exercise outfit and the kids added to my Heartwood Creek nativity scene. I love it! Last, we all went out to dinner at The Melting Pot. It’s been years since I’ve been there and we’ve been wanting to take the kids…we called tonight on a whim and they had an opening. It was SO good…nothing beats a smores fondue dessert with pieces of pound cake, brownies, strawberries, cheesecake, rice krispie treats….oh my!!

Friends from NC visited us on Tuesday and Wednesday, stopping here on their way to visit Family for Thanksgiving. We’re glad they did, we had a nice, relaxing time catching up. Here is a pic of our 4 kids and their 4 kids. Quite a crowd! This was taken on our neighborhood pier, that sits on the river. And, here is why we were there…

…playing with the potato gun! Look closely…it looks like a mashed potato gun to me!

Thanksgiving today was quiet, just the 6 of us. So, I bought a turkey breast and made a few traditional T-giving day dishes. It was great!! See Marley licking her lips while Randy carves?

Before we dug in!

While eating, we went around the table and talked about what we were thankful for this year. Lainey was high on everyone’s list. I’m imagining a highchair just to the left of me in this picture…or, maybe we need a bigger table? Or a bench seat on one side? Hmmm.

EJ, fighting the bright sun

The boys Braves team is now in the play-offs! They finished the season in 2nd place. Today, they played the Cardinals and won 11-5!! Next game is Wednesday night…if they win that one, they’ll be in the Championship game. Given our last few seasons of baseball have been…uh..less than successful, this year has been a blast!

Randy’s Dad and Memaw are here visiting us this weekend…scroll down to see the pictures!

Payton, at the plate (he got 2 hits today!)

EJ earned a walk to 1st base…because the ball clunked him on the helmet. He thought that was funny!

Payton, on his way to 3rd!

Memaw and the kids (Payton is holding the game ball he earned for 2 RBIs)

Randy, Paw Paw (R’s dad), and the boys

1 Ipod (Dad’s); 1 set of headphones ; no problem between brothers.