A Common Sight

We used to have a neat and tidy basket for collecting our paper recycling, which goes to a receptacle at our church to help fund the playground. 

Not so much anymore.

Let's just also say that we no longer keep toilet paper where it's supposed to go, either.  If you're ever here and use the facilities-- look up!

Chicken Day Chuckles

Back to Thanksgiving Day for a few laughs...

While Fake Uncle Eric was minding the chicken-frying, a very generous FAC treated B to the highlight of his day:  unwrapping (and sniffing!) a giant box of candles!!!

Later, when C awoke from her nap, she was in  need of a wardrobe change.  Unfortunately, my diaper bag contained only a (slightly wee) top and no bottoms.  Oops.

 I want Grammie to know, however, that the little miss CAN hold her own bottle....gorilla-style:

Christy finally couldn't stand it and went to get some, um, leggings!

 And where was B during all this?  Oh, just hiding in the pantry eating marshmallows!

These crazy kids....!!!

Fun Day = Photo Bonanza!

Since we weren't entertaining family over Thanksgiving (but do expect lots of visitors over the Christmas holidays), we decided to experience the Gaylord Christmas extravaganza at the start of the festive season rather than at the tail end like last year.  Not only was it a month earlier but it was also unseasonably warm this weekend, meaning we didn't have to fight blustering snow and we were able to spend a lot of time outdoors at the Harbor Lights Festival taking place in the surrounding retail development!

Since it was such a beautiful day, we decided to head down earlier than check-in time and check out the sites outside the hotel.   Someone demanded that we at least walk through the hotel, however:

 These boys had all kinds of adventures outside, including lots of river-rock-throwing and even a late-night fireworks celebration.  There was lots of "piggy-shoulders," too.  (Isn't that the most fun--and apt--name?! One of my fave Brooks-isms.):

 As you can see, we were not the only ones enjoying the day.  We never felt crowded or cramped, however, and B loved having a "beach" to explore:

Oh, yes, the ladies were there, too:

 In our exploration, we visited an extension of a children's museum.  It featured an exhibit about the culture of Nablus.  Would you BELIEVE they actually had a spice-sniffing station?!!!!

 Once it was time to check in, B did some...hanging out:

I had decided to splurge this year on an "atrium-view" room and it was awesome.  The levels you can see across from him in the picture above are actually on the short end; directly to the left of this frame, the hotel opens up all the way to 18 floors.   The balcony provided all kinds of entertainment, as well as a fab escape location for the adults to allow children to drift off to sleep.

Something about this pic just makes me smile.  I think it's because I can pretend we're outside of some European villa and she's ready to go dancing in her ruffles!

Turns out there are sets of rooms that overlook the atrium but don't actually have balconies, just French doors that open.  The lady at the registration desk looked long and hard to find us a balcony room, which--obviously--she did.  The trade-off, however, was that the beds were handicapped-accessible.

The motel in Corning where we stayed last month had beds so high that B had to climb first onto the nightstand and then onto the bed.    That was not a problem here:

Thankfully, they were totally comfy!   And the little miss even had her own "room":

Saturday morning, I slipped out early to go to the nearby coffee shop for hot bevvies and baked goods.  The view wasn't too shabby:

We took a family trip to the swimming pool after breakfast but it was a titch cold for the wee lass.  So she napped while I got dressed and the boys swam...and swam...and swam.    Then we all got ready, loaded up the car, and wandered around a bit more, mostly so I could go have some fun at one of my favorite retail locations, Charming Charlie!  (Seriously-- it's inexpensive AND arranged by color!  Accessories Overload!)

I'm pretty sure someone enjoyed her first family adventure:

We're all looking forward to the 3rd annual one next year!!   I'm thinking we should really splurge and reserve the Presidential Suite that is 2500 square feet!!!   (ha ha ha ha ha ha)

Turkey (er, Chicken) Talk

mmmmmmmm............Thanksgiving.........fooooood......

We certainly missed all the Moores this year but loved still being able to feast and fellowship with FAC and FUE.  Since there were only 4 of us eating, we determined to skip any kind of turkey action and instead Eric cooked up some deeelish fried chicken:

I can't even remember how long it's been since I've had fried chicken (we're talking years) and this stuff was WELL worth waiting for!!

Of course, there were some other good eats, too--squash casserole, mashed potatoes, cranberry pear sauce, and roasted brussels sprouts:

And some new recipes for dessert:  pecan pumpkin pie and browned-pear pecan cake:

 There were lots of hugs and smiles, too!  (The little miss napped for a few hours hence her lack of appearance in these photos--not sure the BG's excuse! ;-):

 Happy Day-After-Thanksgiving from these turkeys!!

Thanks!

On this Thanksgiving day (and every day), I am so thankful for all of you who make this blogging adventure so much fun!   Thanks for all the comments, emails, and general support of my blathering!   Hopefully the wee Kentobeans will give us subject material for awhile to come!!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

Reality

Don't you wish it were possible to avoid dumbfounded looks, get genuine smiles every time, and also have no mirror-like forehead quality?!

Me, too!

But we take what we can get and should be thankful for it.   This pic was snapped at the Thankful Tea in B's class yesterday.  We munched on a special "American Blessings" mix and wrote down what we're thankful for.  (You might remember last year's thankful tree experience...??)  Let's just say that I decided to transform all the game-related things he listed into a happy-sounding "playing with Daddy!"

Speaking of which, we're looking forward to having the BG home for a few days starting this afternoon.   I imagine there will be plenty of playtime!

What a Mess!

You know, I'd heard tell of babies being messy.  Of food all over the place...and face.  But you know what?  This is a totally new experience after our first, non-eating child.   Do you think he's ever eaten beef/corn/beans?

(The answer to this question was NO until the night pictured during which he finally ate 1 kernel of corn, 1 bean, and 1 piece of ground beef....after probably 30 minutes of cajoling/whining AND two previous nights of him opting to go straight to bed 1.5 hours earlier than normal rather than eating a bite of chicken.

Did I mention that I am finding gray hairs daily?!)

Thank goodness for this little mess:

Even if I'm sweeping the kitchen floor more than I ever have before....I'll take it!

Positive PS:  We actually had a happy eating experience last night with B!!  He willingly ate an entire portion of mashed sweet potatoes AND ate 2 green beans.  This coming after him telling me that his bites of pizza the previous night were "GOOD!" and him eating 8 or so (with sauce, people!)....can it be too much to hope that turning 4 will be a turning point??!

Spirit!

Pretty sure this spirited guy is the reason Baylor pulled out that INSANELY AMAZING victory over Oklahoma on Saturday night!   Check out his shirt!!

I actually found it secondhand several years ago.  I'm not even sure he was 2 yet and the shirt is a 5T but I couldn't pass up the perfect color and animal combo.  GO BEARS!

To celebrate the victory, the little miss caught the spirit yesterday.  Too bad we can't say the same for her pappy.   (Kidding.  He's a big fan.)

After I took her with me to pick up lunch and listened to 2 different employees talk on and on about the baby boy I was holding, I realized I had totally...fumbled.

Whew-- is this better?

Commence leaf-eating.  Time to go back inside!

I gotta say-- there's something very special about sharing an alma mater with one's spouse....as well as siblings, parents, aunts, uncles, and cousins!!    I think we might need to look into buying a BU flag to fly outside next football season.  Hmmm-- guess we need to look into buying a flag holder-thingy, too.  ;-)

PS:  For those of you who are not FB friends with my brother, he had the best post-game status update last night.  After stating on Friday that, if Baylor beat OU, he'd buy a ticket and sit through the entire Breaking Dawn movie, he wrote after the game: "Hey Robert Griffin, wanna go see Twilight?!"

PPS:  Speaking of mon frere, he also wins for closest guess on my soft-soled shoes quiz from Friday.   My favorites definitely were the brown ones with pink flowers (Lindsey C-- you get points for being awfully close!)  BUT my thought process was that she didn't need both her shoe options at this point to be brown so I held my nose a little bit and ordered these pink ones!  I figure they'll be good for wearing around the house this winter.

Sock-Keeper-Onners

The wee one will not keep socks on her feet.  I know such behavior is completely to be expected, but it's not ideal as the winter months approach and our house starts to be quite nippy.  I figured I'd try to combat this problem by buying her some soft-soled booties.

As I mentioned in Wednesday's love note to Target, I bought some soft-soled slipper shoes for her as well during the BOGO 1/2 off sale because they have a nice selection.  I'm a believer in the "no real shoes for babies until they're walking" thing and we really liked the soft-soled ones we got for B three years ago before he was up and around.  You better believe I'm a Ministar-prices kind of girl rather than a Robeez-prices girl, so I would've gotten the boots from Target, too, but their version wasn't available in the correct size.

It was back to the drawing board.  Then I found out during my search last week that Piperlime was having a one-day-only 20% off sale with its usual free shipping and free returns (woot woot!). I decided it was worth it to go ahead and "splurge" on (discounted!) Robeez since they had what I wanted.   I could even buy 2 different sizes and send the ill-fitting pair back for free! 

The package arrived quite quickly and was all cute with brown tissue paper and lime stickers.  (I am easily impressed.  But did I mention it has FREE RETURNS?!)  I was a bit surprised by two tidbits on the box, however:

When did Stride Rite buy Robeez?!  (I can look it up-- my point is just that I didn't know!)  And, even more interestingly, why do they have these labeled as BOYS shoes?!  Nowhere on the website did it say that!

I am so far from caring about their intended gender recipient, however!  Check out this cute girl....who kept socks and shoes on all afternoon!  Yay for warm tootsies!

Happy Friday!

PS:  A challenge for those who are so inclined:   go back up and click on the Ministar link.  Can you guess which pair I chose for C's other footwear option? Do you know me at ALL?! ;-)

Morning Poses

Well, someone got the memo about smiling big for the camera during an impromptu morning photoshoot. The littler one just seems to be stunned!

But don't worry-- she can turn on the smiles when she wants to! 

Rock the Red...Card

 Okay, remember way back when (pretend I inserted a link here as if I knew when it was), I exhorted all of you to get the Target Red Card because it always adds a 5% discount each time you shop?   You may remember, at the time, I expressed my consternation that Target didn't seem to advertise this fabulous deal to its, um, target audience.  I will now say, however, that I've seen more and more signs and ads about the Red Card savings since then, so yay for them realizing there are bargain hounds like me who would love to know about such deals.

BUT....it wasn't until last week that I learned from Em2 that Red Card-holders also get free shipping all the time.  As in, any order of anything will have free shipping.  Y'all-- I'm on the internet more than just a wee little bit and I've never heard this.  Why aren't they proclaiming it with a giant bugle?  I can tell you I'd have been ordering lotsa things from target.com if I'd known that.  (Thanks, EN!)

Then yesterday, I found out that there's an online BOGO 1/2 off sale going on right now with most apparel, including baby/kids which is pretty much what I buy at Target.  So I (in typical Moore style) re-bought a sweater I bought in store last week (which I'll now return) so I could get 50% off, along with some soft-soled shoes I'd been wanting to get anyway that don't seem to be carried in store anymore.   Remember, it's BOGO 1/2 off + 5% off for Red Card + free shipping.

After I placed that order, I happened upon an announcement that there's a promo code (TGTARJUJ) valid for yesterday and today only that takes $5 off an apparel order even on top of the BOGO deal.   Oops!  Sure wish I'd found that 10 minutes earlier.  But never fear-- bargain shopper addict here will just place another order.  After lots of "window" shopping, I decided to get one pair of $5 baby leggings which would then be free, but it had trouble allowing me to make a purchase of $0.00.  So I decided to add in a jumbo pack of the next size up in diapers just to have ready to go.   Once I added the diapers to the cart, a little thing popped up telling me I get an extra 10% off because I bought one article of childrens clothing plus 1 pack of Target diapers.  So 10% off + $5 off + 5% red card discount + free shipping = SCORE

Now, while I was perusing the pages trying to maximize my discounts, I found all kinds of summer tops and shorts for $2 and $3 on clearance.  I had read the $5 off promo code wasn't eligible for clearance items so, you guessed it, I placed a 3rd order (plus 5% off plus free shipping) to get 4 cheapie items for the little miss next summer that became even cheaper with 2 of them coming up at 50% off.

Oh, and I made all 3 purchases through ebates so I'll get 3% cash back from each purchase sent to me by check next quarter.

I might have a problem.

...but darn it, my kids have fabulously full (and frugally-found) wardrobes!  ;-)

Made Me Cringe; Made Me Giggle

I peeked in on C napping the other day and got really concerned that my alone time would be short-lived.  I mean, that's just asking for a very unhappy wake-up:

Amazingly, she took a nice, long nap and was cheery enough (albeit runny-nosed) upon waking to model a piece of clothing I just had to buy when I saw it on the cheap in a thrift store.  Seriously, did YOU know they make maternity wear for infants?!

Really, I think I had this same shirt when I was preggers.  Ties in the back and everything!

ha ha ha ha ha!!

Out On The Town

Even though we just saw Anne, I decided I could probably squeeze another visit with her into my social calendar upon hearing she was coming to the area for a conference this week.  Wanting to create a mini-Corning, I asked Carrie if she wanted to hang out with us, too.   Done and done!

It's funny:  Anne and Carrie never went to school together and only know each other through me.  See, there are 2 middle schools and 2 high schools in Corning but instead of there being a unified MS/HS match-up, they split up each middle school and send half the kids to one high school and half to the other.  So Carrie and I went to middle school together, and Anne and I went to high school together.

Clearly, my much longer friendship with Carrie wins out because here we are getting ready to enjoy a tasty after-dinner treat:

Where was Anne?  Oh, she was in charge of toting around our leftovers on her Alaskan wood cutting board:

Don't worry-- we let her have a bite.

PS: Check out the coordinating faux engagement rings found while shopping around town! Too funny!

Snortin' Snout

I gotta try to get the accompanying sound effects on video:

Happy Veterans Day Friday!

It Turns Out...

...that when he's not "concentrating" he's rather...

an old soul:

perhaps a little cheesy:

and maybe even part T-rex:

But we'll keep him.

I mean, who else can rock a faux sweater-and-tie combo like this??!

Tongue In Cheek

I only wish I were kidding.

 Like I needed something else to worry about with my kid who doesn't try new foods.  I hope this "concentration cheek-tongue" is just a phase.  I mean, it's hard to be a state champion athlete with a cheek-embedded tongue.

HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA.

Sorry, I lost my mind there for a minute and forgot I was talking about my kid.  Well, I guess it's still possible to ace the SAT with a hanging tongue!   ;-)

Or, I dunno, maybe he's got some athlete in him after all:

(Doesn't that picture make it look like it's in 3D?)


Thanks to Chris for the action shots!

Sitting Around

Last year, Halloween weekend:  boy sits in twirly black chair at Comfort Inn in Corning.

Um, he seems to have been usurped from his late-October, Western NY motel perch:

But don't worry-- he is still a champion sitter (like his mama)!

Phoning It In

(The pictures, that is.)

Here's a look at what we've been up to in the last few days, according to my phone's camera roll...

If you've spent any time with the young sir in the last few weeks, you know of his obsession with heroes from his favorite game.   I imagine his teachers thought his answer to his desired grown-up occupation referred to the "super" variety, but we, of course, know that is NOT true:

 First pancake! 

And, seriously, I want to cry big fat tears of happiness over the fact this child has continued to eat every single morsel of food we've fed her.  Yesterday's new entry was pulled pork (smoked for hours and hours by our favorite neighbor).  Yeah, her brother has never had a bite of pork in his life!

Early morning by the lake.  B and I joined in a community service event and did some raking (that's a little red rake he's holding) at a local park:

Thank goodness there's this new addition to the Oregon Chai repertoire to warm us up!  So far, it's only been spotted at (two different) Wegmans stores:

Little sister checking out the Stumpster, who just got brought in from the cold:

Stumpy will spend the winter atop B's dresser.  I'm kinda hoping the turtle companionship will lead B to stay in his bed all night, which he does when someone is sharing his room like Grammie did last week but not generally when he is all alone downstairs.   At least he goes straight to the red couch, however, and doesn't bother us a peep!

When he's not sleeping either in his bed or on the red couch, he can be a bit of a scamp.  Stickers are his new fave accessory: