Thanksgiving

Aunt Kristie with (l-r) Marleigh (4), Ericka (5), Elise (5), Ian (3), and Kyleigh (6)
We went to Cory’s folks for Thanksgiving. On Wednesday afternoon, we met his parents and sister’s family at the movies and watched “Happy Feet”. Actually, Ian did less watching and more running up and down the stadium seating aisles. Afterwards, we went back to the Barnett’s and enjoyed hanging out with two of his brothers and two of his sisters and their families. It was quite the crowd, but it was fun.
Ian and Marleigh are best friends. They are so sweet together and love playing together. Marleigh calls Ian her boyfriend or her husband because they got married and kissed in the “cabbage”. She actually means the cabins at camp singletary where we went on vacation. Some of the older cousins pretended to marry them and then they kissed. They are so cute!
Ericka, Elise, & Kyleigh
The girls found plenty of time for silliness. They played with these mardi gras beads that Grandma had brought back from a trip to see Aunt Lynetta in Louisiana. Ericka is wearing hers, but they also served them on a plate, let people pick ones to wear, and got all fancy in them, too.

After a not so restful night’s sleep on Wednesday night, we all got up bright and early on Thursday. After some cooking and cleaning we went to Cory’s grandma’s (his dad’s mom) for lunch. Then that night we ate again with Cory’s mom’s side of the family. I think the final total of guest for that get-together was 51. It was crazy and crowded, but a fun night of visiting!
We left that evening and headed up to my parents house where we got even less sleep and then got up very early to do our Christmas shopping. Mama & Daddy were great to baby-sit the kids so we could get so much shopping done. Cory and I had so much fun. We think of it as a date and look forward to it every year. As soon as we got home, we at dinner with both my grandmas and had more yummy food. Saturday we spent most of the day decorating for Christmas, before we left to come back home. It was hectic and hurried, but it was also really nice to see almost everyone we wanted for Thanksgiving. We really felt like we had much to be thankful for.

an interesting thought on "work"

our lesson in relief society was on work and i heard the most interesting comment from one of the sisters. we had been talking about how the temple can be a pattern for how our homes and lives should be. often we think that doing laundry and dishes and changing diapers are sort of menial tasks. but imagine how it would be to go to the temple and realize that no one had cleaned the toilets. if no one ever did, how would that influence your experience while there? the cleanliness & orderliness of the temples create an atmosphere that allow us to be receptive to the spirit and do the Lord's work. so if our homes are like that, we will be more able to have the spirit in our homes. that really made me think about the emphasis i place on those menial tasks. how would it change my attitude toward those tasks if i thought of them as a way to help keep the spirit in my home? and then a sister explained that it was the work we do in our homes, even the daily chores, that makes our homes like the temple. in the temple, we are all equal & the social or financial status we have (or don't have) is gone. she said that it is our work within the home that makes us equals. you have a mother and a daughter doing dishes together or a father and son mowing the yard. through work, some of the barriers of age & family position are broken down as we work side by side. and we are equals.

i guess i had never thought of work in exactly those terms and in that context. i felt like i had an "ah ha" moment as i saw the principle of "work" in a whole new light. i was really grateful for the ideas that the sisters expressed today.

My Family Rocks!

This week has been pretty chaotic. It started with Elise getting sick Friday night, at the start of what was supposed to be a really busy weekend. Things continued Monday morning with Cory leaving on a business trip and a hundred and one errands I needed to run. Elise seemed to be feeling better, and we even went to her dance class that afternoon. Afterwards we went with some friends to Bojangles for dinner. I noticed Ian wasn’t eating very much and was doing a LOT of this gross spitting thing he does when he smells something yucky. I just got a feeling something wasn’t right. Sure enough, as soon as he was buckled in, he began saying he needed to throw up. He made it home, but was up sick several times that night. Tuesday morning dawned with elise sicker than the day before, Ian still recovering and me trying to do a mountain of laundry. It quickly became apparent that this was not my lucky day. The washer (yes, the less than three month old washer) broke. It filled up, agitated, but wouldn’t drain out or spin. After a call to GE to see what could be done, they informed me it sounded like a pump problem and that they would be happy to repair it. They would be out first thing Monday morning. “MONDAY MORNING!!!!!”, I exclaimed in disbelief. I was sure they must have missed the part where I explained that I had a washer full of clothes and water. Unfortunately, they sympathized, but that was all they could do. That is where the “my family rocks” comes in. My Daddy came down yesterday afternoon with a new washer pump and became the Maytag man extraordinaire. He siphoned the water out of the washer, took it apart and solved my washer woes. He spent the night and even kept the laundry moving so that by mid-afternoon today all the laundry was done. He even got up this morning and cooked breakfast for all of us—bacon and omelets. Of course mama and Logan were great, too. Because I know how much Mama hates it when Daddy leaves and she had a menagerie of animals to care for and there was a bad storm last night. But she was so sweet to share. And I heard Logan was a big help at home. So a big “Thank you very much!”, to everyone who helped make my week a little bit easier and smoother. I sure love you guys!

our house...

The kids have had a virus of some sorts. Elise began running a fever on friday night. after a rough day saturday, she seemed some better sunday and yesterday. today, she seems worse again. poor girl.
here were the sick kids this morning. they've been resting and watching cartoons. being sick isn't all bad sometimes.
ian hasn't had much of an apetite, but he hasn't slowed down on his juice drinking.
elise didn't sleep well last night, so on top of being sick, she was exhausted.
merry grace is (knock on wood) fine so far. she felt well enough to dump out all the baby wipes and look quite proud of herself. ;)

ian's issues

ian has started becoming very offended by smells. this is a fairly recent occurance. i first noticed it about a week or so ago when he smelled a candle i have. i think it was a vanilla scent, so it smelled good, but was pretty strong. anyway, he put the candle right up to his nose & when he smelled it, he began gagging. i figured he was coming down with a bug or something, but he kept saying the candle had made him do it. a few days later, we were in the store and there was something that smelled like potpourri--a cinnamon, spicey, clove sort of smell. he started to gag in the shopping cart. today, he was in the garage with cory and when cory opened the big garbage can, he started to gag again. it happened a couple more times while he was out there with cory. its so disgusting. cory thinks he's just trying to figure out what to do with smells and stuff. i'm not sure. i can't imagine what would bring it on. whatever the case may be, its gross. most of you probably know of my revulsion to the stomach bug and things like that, so this is sooooooo not my cup of tea. i've tried to have him cover his nose so he can't smell things, and it seems to help if he has something to drink. i hate that things smell that badly to him. i'm just not sure if there is anything i can do to help him. any ideas?

gratitude

i am so grateful for cory.

earlier this year he bought season tickets to the UNC football games. today was the homecoming game. it was also a day where we have two birthday parties, a baby shower and a food storage canning day at the church. i know how important the tarheels are to cory and how much he wanted to go to the game.

instead, he decided to stay home with us and miss not only the football game, but a basketball game that started after the football game that he would've LOVED to attend. elise got sick with a fever/headache last night and continued into today. she's still not feeling well. cory tended to her during the night when she felt sick to her stomach, because he knows how much i hate the stomach bug. this morning he left early to go can the food storage we had ordered. he's such a great man.

i know he could have made a good case for going to the game and that would have been fine too. but that he chose to be with us and help us out today, makes me more grateful than i have words to express. i'm so glad he's going to be here with us just because i enjoy being around him, but today would have been diffucult on my on.

what a great guy! that's just the kind of man i married.

and the emmy goes to...

we had a couple of guys from the ward come and put some pinestraw around our house today. they were out working in the yard and the kids were completely fascinated by it. they opened the window and sat on the edge of my bed, looking out. one man had on a white shirt and the other an orange one. as i was doing some housework, i heard ian and elise yelling, "orange man! hey! orange man!" as i came from where i had been working i heard them say, "you're strong, orange man!" the other guy was dubbed, "white man" by the kids and they would yell, "white man, where'd you go? i can't see you white man..." i didn't want elise and ian to aggravate them while they were working, but it was so funny to hear them yelling out the window. and they sat there, completely enthralled for nearly an hour and a half. i'm sure brother deaver & lynn didn't realize they would have an adoring fan base when they came to work. the kids were entertained by the yard work and i was pretty entertained by their reaction to it, so it made for a pretty fun morning all the way around!

Celebrity Look Alikes

i thought this was pretty funny.

I love a bargain!!!

I went to Old Navy this morning and got tons of great deals for the kids. i just have to tell you how great it was. I spent $136.00 (rounded up to the nearest dollar). i know it sounds like a lot. but i figured up how much it would have cost me if i had paid regular price for everything. $726.50--before tax!!!!!!! wow. i only paid more than $5.00 for one item, and it was still less than $10.00. i just LOVE a bargain!

funnies

i was just thinking about something funny elise said in the car the other day. we were having a normal conversation when it took a humorous turn.

me: elise, when we get home you're going to have to clean up all your barbies.
elise: you're not the boss of me.
me: (trying to hide my giggles) um...actually i am the boss of you and you will have to pick up your barbies.
elise: not you're not. (pause) you and daddy are the bosses of me.
me: silence

what made this funny is that she didn't understand the rudeness of the "you're not the boss of me" phrase. i suspect one of her friends has said this to her or someone else, so she knew how to use it, but not didn't "get" that saying it to your mom was not a good idea. and after having a good chuckle over it, we did have a discussion about appropriate ways to talk to your mom.

i told my friend susan about this on her blog. one day last week i had to make cupcakes for elise's class, but only needed to send 12, so i had 12 leftover. as i was getting hers ready to take to school, ian kept coming over and asking for a cupcake. i kept reiterating that cupcakes were not for breakfast. at some point i left the room for a few minutes only to come back in and find ian sitting at the table eating a cupcake. in a little sing-song voice he goes, "daddy gave me a cupcake."

sometimes you just get no respect ;)

Sunday situations

Elise is taking tap and ballet this year at a really nice dance studio. She absolutely loves it. And her teacher is really nice and thinks Elise is pretty great. The only problem is that their recital is on a Sunday. Obviously, its not until springtime, but costume payments are already due. Elise is in a class with her cousins Emmy and Kyleigh, and we all had decided not to participate in the recital since it was on Sunday. We were bummed, but knew it was the right decision. Then last week after class I saw her teacher and she came up to me and mentioned how sad she was that Elise was not in the recital. She said she, along with her cousins, were the best ones in the class and that she had planned the whole routine and costumes around the girls. Now she would have to change everything because the other girls wouldn’t be able to do the things she had planned for our girls. My first reaction was sadness or disappointment that Elise wouldn’t be able to have this experience. But quickly I thought about how well Elise had responded to the situation. I reflected back on when I had told her about the timing of the recital. She was bitterly disappointed, as she had been wanting to get flowers at her recital like her friend Halle. But she was not upset that she couldn’t participate. She was upset that the teacher would schedule it on Sunday. She said, "Why did my teachers do that? Why would they put my recital on Sunday. Jesus needs to teach them about that." I was so proud of her. So even though I was sad that my little girl wouldn’t be a part of her first recital, I was even happier that she was learning an important lesson about the Sabbath. And she was doing it because she knew it was right and not just because her parents made her. And that is infinitely more important than the flowers she was hoping to receive.

Happy Halloween

Here are the pumpkins we carved. The top one is Elise's and is a cat. The middle one is Ian's and is Scooby Do. (it was really hard.) The bottom one is Merry Grace's. They all thought it was cool to have their own jack o'lantern.
This year we simplified the Trick or Treating a little bit. We put down the seats in the back of Cory's truck and all the kids and a few grown ups piled in. We only went around the neighborhood, so we felt like it was pretty safe. And it was much easier.
Elise and Emmy both dressed up as Ariel this year. Here they are at our ward Halloween party.
Merry Grace was an angel at the church party. Here she & I are.

halloween at its best

Elise went as Ariel this year. And boy, did she think she was fancy.
Ian went as (are you ready for this one?)...Spiderman. Spiderman slippers completed the outfit.
Ian, Marleigh, and Elise were on the porch, waiting for Trick-or-Treaters to show up. Elise is totally striking a pose.
Elise, Merry Grace, Emmy, Ian, Kyleigh, and Charles Allen were all dressed and ready before we went out for Trick or Treating. (Marleigh came too, but was still getting ready when we took this picture.)