The Pilgrams Are Back

Grant didn't let his distaste for kindergarten dress up days ruin his attitude when it came to the Thanksgiving Feast between the Pilgrims and Indians. After he made it clear to me that he really wanted to be an indian, he decided to accept his plight and just rock it out as the best pilgrim ever. 

Since he came home from school with this costume I've seen him wear it at least 4 times. I wonder if Pilgrims really had sword and gun fights with the likes of Boba Fett and the red Power Ranger? My studies suggest not. 

Looks like we may be turning a corner regarding school dress up! HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

A Little Front Yard Football

We've lucked out with such great November weather lately that I feel bad for the brothers that have to spend their days at school. Bobby had the day off for Veteran's Day so he took to the yard with Rhett for a little football. The ultimate preparation for physical activity is the full open mouth drinkability of some vitamin water (for future reference, note this as exhibit A of why I do not, under any circumstances, share drinks with Little Buddy).

He also warmed up by throwing the ball into the air and then running from it so it didn't hit him on top of the head. We have yet to master the catching process.

Finally, the running started. All was well until the unthinkable happened.......

I think the pictures pretty much do the talking.....

After some apologizing and chin tickling Rhett decided he would be friends with his dad again. Even though, as the pixels have captured, Bobby took competition to another level and clearly pushed the child down.

Even some stiff competition can't keep this Little Buddy from lovin' on his daddy!

We Set the Bar High Here

Ahhh, my sweet second-born. Loves himself some dress up in the confines of his own home or in the company of good friends.......even had no qualms whatsoever carousing through the neighborhood in a snake-eyes costume all in the name of candy collecting. However, when it comes to school dress up of ANY kind it's a no-go. I pushed him to dress as a scarecrow and you saw the enthusiasm in those photos. I guess he didn't get the memo that kindergarten has at the very least fifteen days of random dressing up days. The most recent: What I'm Going to be When I Grow Up Day. He's already decided he's not dressing like anything tomorrow. It's our conversation about it that has me tickled........or concerned.

Me: Grant, I need to know what you're going to dress up like on Friday. What do you want to be when you grow up?

G: I don't even know.....uugghhh.

Me: Well, since forever you've wanted to be an army jet pilot. Why don't we dress up like that?

G: You can get killed doing that job. So now I don't want to be it anymore. Do firemen get killed?

Me: Yeah. Sometimes.

G: Policemen?

Me: Sometimes.

G: Well, really I just want to be a dad........

I'm thinking, "Well, that is just the sweetest thing". Then he adds:

G:....I mean just a dad. I don't want to have to get a job.

With that in mind, I'll be sending him to school tomorrow wearing a child sized wife beater with jogging pants and he'll be carrying a can covered in a koozie. I also taught him to scream "kid bring me my cigarettes!". I can almost guarantee he'll be the only kindergartener dressed up like a dead-beat dad. That's my boy! 

Tacky Wacky Wigorama

This year we sent the boys to my mom's and hosted a Halloween spooktacular with some adult conversation. I loved the dry ice effect on the punch last year so I brought it back this year topped by my new favorite halloween decoration- this big spider:

The prerequisite this year to be a party attendee was fake hair....hence the name "Wigorama". 
Here are our wigged out guests- starting with a couple rednecks,
This guy took the prize in my opinion. I could hardly look at him without being judgemental :) There were definitely extra points given for the spray painted t-shirt. 
A'lyce and her girlfriend Helga. I was just thankful they showed up wearing more than just their wigs!
Yikes!
Bret Michaels and his new gal Pamela Sue :)
Earl and his wife Joy Hickey/Turner
Ummmm, colorful Foxy Cleopatra and Howard Stern/Weird Al Yankovich?
Looks like we've got another redneck with his gal Louise Mandrell
Guy Fieri and some cute little blonde that just gave birth 10 days ago!! I know....go ahead and be jealous.

All dolled up were Snow White and her jailbird man (with really horrible dentals).

Bobby and I were, well, who knows what but our wigs were matchy matchy and that's what we were going for. I felt a little rockerish so I decided that it was necessary to slash up a perfectly fine tank top.
I snapped this pic of the gals in the dining room and at the last minute Kelly decided to turn and look at me. I personally like the way it turned out!
After filling up on a smorgasboard of food (no deer meat this year) we headed downstairs to have a little men vs. women game of Guesstures.
It was a riot watching everyone act out their words.

The final count had it at a win for the men....barely.  I'm pretty sure, given the company, that there was cheating involved. I'm just sayin'.  

Thanks friends for coming and making it a great time!

The Birthday Crown Surfaces

Today marked Rhett's official entry into his FOURTH year!! I can't believe how quickly each year passes. It seems like yesterday that I was crafting his three year old birthday crown in the wee hours of the morning. Now, suddenly, I found myself sleepy eyed in the kitchen yet again cutting and stapling to keep in line with tradition.

Last year it was Chicky Bear that got to come to the table for the birthday breakfast. This year a new little friend was invited as well: meet Jiggy Fluffy Morgan....his newest favorite animal given as a gift from one of Rhett's bffs. I don't know what's up with the names that he gives his pets. All I know is that they come from the heart :)
One brother was awake for the early morning song and candle blowing. This years birthday breakfast: coffee cake.

I woke Cade so I could have at least one pic with him.....excuse his hair and sleepy eyes. At the time of this picture he hadn't even made the obligatory trip to the bathroom.......

Since today was the actual birthday day, Rhett was able to choose where we ate for dinner. Much to my disappointment, we ended up here:

If he could, he would eat pizza every night of the week. He was in hog heaven.
Did you know they have "prizes pizzas" at the Snappy? I would be almost a millionaire if I had a couple bucks for every time he reminded me of that. His favorite: shocolate with shocolate ships.
The good thing about being four is that you don't quite realize that you need quarters to play the car driving game. Please don't let him in on this if you see him. I'll just let him act like a loony bin for free.
It was a great day to celebrate one of my favorite little boys. Stay tuned for official party pics!

Birthday Bash!

Little Buddy has his fourth birthday bash last Saturday with a few of his best buds (and some brothers that managed to sneak in on the fun). He said that he wanted a spiderman party and he wanted to paint little spidermans. So, with that in mind, I bought monster plates from the Tarjay and we painted pumpkins. Seriously, it was way cuter than spiderman ever dreamed of being.

He didn't seem to mind that I had only listened to parts of his request. The pumpkin painting was a hit. Everyone enjoyed it.

Rhett was all business while painting his. I'm so glad the weather warmed up just enough that we were able to get outside. I was dreading the thought of having a bunch of four year olds painting inside. Not to mention the mess the haybales were prone to making.

Aunt Tracie and Cade teamed up on a pumpkin.

They were super proud of the results, too!

I thought this one was particularly cute.
Here is the sea of finished pumpkins. Some of those probably took at least 3 days to dry. Apparently you can never have too much blue paint.
I had some fun little games planned but quickly realized that all anyone wanted to do was hang off the bridge in the back yard and throw clods of dirt into the creek. I'm fine with that. Sometimes you just have to go with the flow.
Rhett and Silas outside.
I did manage to get everyone inside for the Stick the Eyeball on the Monster game. We had a quick run through but the fun was cut short by two older Morgan boys that went all ape and started fighting over the last eyeball. 
The perfect thing to calm crazy coyotes is to let them eat chocolate topped of by and entire canister of icing. Just for your information, when I ordered these treats I specifically asked for the lady to put LESS icing....this is LESS icing. Wowsers.
Rhett later let me in on the fact that this was his favorite part of the whole party-- when he blew out the candles and everyone sang for him.

I think everyone cherished eating all the sweet goodness of the cupcakes!

Rhett was SO happy to get some new things to play with. There were a couple "I've ALWAYS wanted this!!" and "I've been waiting FOREVER for this!" and "This is just what I wanted!!" Some friends were stoaked just watching their's get opened!
Friends.
I got one picture with the birthday boy. He was running full tilt all day. We took in a great dinner with the grandparents and then spent the rest of the evening playing with our new things.
We had tons of fun at the party. Unfortunately, even now, after the party has ended, Rhett is inviting (and uninviting) friends and strangers alike to his party at the GlowGalaxy...."where EBREETHING glows." Wishful thinking has somehow convinced him that his "real" party is still on the horizon. I'm trying to let him down gently. Hopefully Halloween will be distraction enough to help him forget! Next birthday in the Morgan crew: Bobby. I'll be inviting all his little buddies to Let It Shine gymnastics. Ever since I saw that foam pit I've been dying to have a party there. I'm sure he'll love it too!