Thanksgiving 2016

On Wednesday, we went to see Moana where Delaney successfully ate two bags of smuggled in Goldfish and Capri Suns before the movie ever started!


Then we were off to order her flower girl dress.  She spotted this one when we walked in (not the dress we ordered). The lady told me her dress takes 14-16 weeks to get in! I felt like I should go ahead and order her wedding dress now if the flower girl dresses take that long....(oh I kid)


Next Up, Thanksgiving with these little turkeys.....herding cat I tell you, herding cat!

Here is the only picture I took and of course it is blurry! Delaney must have had too much tryptophan!

Her one year younger and one head taller cousin Logan!! I love that they still want to support The Colts.......They may be the only two!

And now we move onto Christmas season in our house. I don't know what's come over me, my shopping is almost done (thank you Cyber Monday), our Christmas cards have been ordered (you are going to LOVE them) and we are putting up our tree this weekend (but more on that later) and this weekend kicks off the first of lots of Christmas parties!!!! BRING.IT.ON.

And just as soon as I can find Sneaky, he will "hopefully" be arriving tomorrow. I have such a love hate relationship with that little elf.....

Oh "Dear"

Someone is getting excited for Christmas. She asked me the other day when we would be going to the "Christmas Tree Patch". It was so stinkin cute I didn't bother correcting her! This is a perfect example of how Delaney is just like her daddy! I was getting frustrated with her because I had told her multiple times to go put on her leotard for gymnastics. What does she do....comes out looking like this......mad at her one moment, and laughing at her the next!

Speaking of Christmas, I just said yesterday "all I want for Christmas is one day where I can walk up and down every single aisle at Hobby Lobby (where I saw this)!

A Thankful Weekend and X's and O's...............

And now it's Monday....(although Delaney IS at school this Monday). She is the busiest 6 year old I have ever met! Friday was play rehearsal and Saturday was gymnastics and Sunday Delaney went to a play!

We had the best time at our first Friendsgiving. I sat around the table thinking how in the world did I get so lucky. They sure don't have to keep us around but they do!

I didn't get a group picture but I did get one of the turkey.....

And these turkeys......

And then what little time was left in between our busy weekend Delaney spent drooling over this....

She called her grandma to tell her she got an oversized AG catalog (and to tell her AG is on Facebook)! Delaney decided to circle the things she wants and put an "x" on the things she already has! It's hard to tell but she put an "x" on these girls' faces. Glad they weren't circles....(although she did tell me she will again be asking for Santa to put a baby in my belly this year)! I mean the fact that she thinks that Santa does that just cracks me up!!!  She has two days of school this week and then we are off for Thanksgiving break!!

Life Lately....

Why does it feel like there is one week between Halloween and Christmas???

For the two people in the world who don't already know this story.........

I was sitting in a meeting downtown last week and rubbed my ear and realized my earring was missing (the same earring that has been in my right ear for 12 years). So I did what any normal person would do and stood up, left the meeting, and drove home at a very high rate of speed safely. My stomach was in knots as I was playing this conversation in my head with my insurance company....

"no, I don't know when I lost it"
"no, I don't know where I lost it"
"can you send someone (or 100 people) over to help me look for it"

I made it home, ran in the house, went straight to the bathroom and once my 6 year old showed me how to turn on the flashlight on my phone (I can never get it to work), I found the back of the earring and then there it was....on the bathroom floor. It could have been ANYWHERE but there it was!

I think I caught it when I was brushing my hair earlier that day (score one for me for washing my hair).

It was certainly replaceable, but it would never be the same earring, the one that was hiding in the grey and pink tennis shoes I asked for for Christmas back in 2004!

Oh, and while I was on my knees on the bathroom floor looking for it, I realized it needs mopped, so now there's that......

We (and by we I mean "I") had The Purge of 2016 in Delaney's playroom last week. Three boxes and an entirely full trash can later, it looks great and that will likely last all of 3 days. After I filled our trash can, I had no room for the normal trash that accumulated after The Purge. So, I "may" have been out at 11:00 Tuesday night looking for space in my neighbors' trash cans only theirs were all full too. I feel like Delaney never plays in her playroom so it is a mystery how it gets so messy. I did however find a prop I was looking for for our Christmas card.

Delaney came home from school last Friday not feeling well and her head cold is affecting every facet of our lives. She stayed home sick on Monday. Last night when I gave her her medicine she told me it was nasty and she just wasn't brave enough to take it. I told her she's the bravest person I know and that the nasty medicines are the ones that work (and I may have thrown in something like you WILL take this medicine and stop being so whiny!).

We are gearing up for our first of three Thanksgiving get togethers this weekend. It is our inaugural "Friendsgiving" and we can't wait. 

Despite the fact that someone (we have no idea who) raked the leaves in our front yard, we still have approximately 1,454,987 leaves left in our trees. We are literally the only house on our street with leaves still in the trees. So this just means they will all fall when it's freezing outside! As in this weekend when it's going to be in the 40's despite hitting 70 today...how does that happen??? I sure hope I don't end up whiny like Delaney with a cold!

She has a field trip today at school but wasn't excited when she learned they are walking to it because in the words of Delaney Newsom everyone knows field trips are about riding the bus!

I learned yesterday that today is Children's Grief Awareness Day (and who else knew this was a real thing?). Do kids really need a day to remind them they have lost a parent??? I took this picture yesterday before I learned about this and I just had to laugh. I know she looks pitiful and sad but she is mad that she wasn't catching the ball. She would have stayed outside all day after school if I would have let her. And then I thought how her dad would have! Heck, he would have made friends with the guy down the street who has a baseball diamond in his backyard! (I made her come in and help make dinner and do her homework). Then she got the "practice makes perfect speech".

(I have no idea why there are leaves in our yard, our trees are FULL)

We have been coming home from school and soaking up these crazy warm weather afternoons!

(No time to change clothes)

(The bags are from the girl next door who made her teenage daughter rake leaves......I may have told Delaney to look out the window to take a look into her future :-)

And yes, I realize her knees are hitting the steering wheel in her Jeep! But I swear, grandma just bought this for her last summer and she couldn't reach the pedal :-(

"The Gift of Gab".............

What a week! To say we are still celebrating the Cubs is an understatement! I mean I can't think of anything else worth celebrating in our country right now :-)

We have been soaking up these warm, sunny days after school. I love the days when the tv stays off! Delaney came out of the garage and said "don't even ask". And, I didn't, I have learned it's best sometimes not to. I did however, have to laugh at this kid's ingenuity! She got the mommy hook off the stroller and hooked it to her Jeep so she could pull her bear in the sled! And that same night when neither one of us knew how to do her homework (I wish I was lying), she grabbed my phone and asked Siri (who, by the way, also didn't know)! I love the way her mind works.

I volunteered at the school's book fair today and met a dad who recently had lunch with his daughter and Delaney was sitting next to him at the table. He told me that Delaney was talking to him (complete and total stranger) and she said "I'm sorry if I'm talking too much, my mom says I have the gift of gab". He could not even tell me the story without laughing!!!

Man I miss ordering those personalized onesies from Etsy.....maybe they have t-shirts that say "born with the gift of gab".........

Go Cubs Go!

"Blogging".......

Is a lot like the laundry, it piles up and then I don't want to do it! But, the Newsom girls have been up to so much, it's time to share (so the laundry can wait, again). Does anyone know where October went? I can't believe it's November (and that we actually grilled out with friends last night or how I am sitting here wearing flip flops).

Delaney's gymnastics stuff arrived last week so she can practice at home. Oh, and she now wants the bars. What's with this kid #moneydoesntgrowontreesdelaney

Have to laugh when your Kindergartener brings this home from school!!! I threw it away because do we really care to read about either candidate?? Delaney pulled it out of the trash so apparently one of us does!

We support the Cubbies while doing our homework! One of my favorite moments from last week was when I was finishing watching something in the living room and Delaney wanted to watch the game (she makes her daddy proud) so I told her to go in my room (she does not have a tv in her room :-) So I am in the living room and she is in my room and she yells "the Cubs are winning 4 to 1...... I think". I made her turn off the tv and she said "wake me up if they win". She slept in her daddy's visor and they won so I had to tell her that she had to keep sleeping in it!

 An eye appointment that again this year, left Delaney upset she didn't need glasses. She did fail her depth perception test so we are now off to a specialist who can't see us for a month! "Eye" have my doubts if it's needed or someone did it on purpose :-) We shall "see"....ok, I'm done :-)

 We had so many Halloween celebrations I lost count! Here is my 80's girl who said "do you think people will know what I am"...I said "like, totally Delaney"!

I had to buy very little for our theme this year which is actually quite disturbing! I told Delaney I miss the 80's and she couldn't believe that's when I grew up. From the bags under my eyes, it's quite clear, I am old, and grew up in the 80's!

 Now here comes the best Halloween party ever. Our family started getting ready for this over the summer! I told them I was going to call HGTV because they needed to see this. It was unbelievable. Delaney later told my mom it was so creative and should be on the news! #theyheareverything

 This is walking into their barn.....

 Baby Elise as a Flamingo...could you die!

 Delaney and Summer. After the party, she said "I don't know what I'd do if Summer wasn't my cousin"....#shehasherdaddysheart

Silly girls......

Who doesn't love a good photo booth!

It would have been easier to herd cats.....

 Eventually I gave up!

 Summer and Braxon (a/k/a Scooby)

This made me think of E.T. 

 Braxon checking out "E.T."

 Who needs a fire when it's so warm outside!

 I loved Summer's make-up

Patiently (or not) waiting for the "little" kids hayride....(note the LARGE opening of her sweatshirt, more on that later). 

 Still waiting...

 And waiting........

 Their patience was running thin....

 And finally...

 They were off!
But not before cousin Kip asked the kids if they thought his tractor was sexy!

Each family brings a bag of candy and when they go out in the field, there are witches (nice ones) who pass out candy to the kids. I wasn't sure if Delaney would be scared but then I remembered it's for candy. And per Delaney Newsom "everyone knows Halloween is all about the candy".

It was a great party! I want them to leave the barn like that so I can have a Halloween party there next year!

I love Halloween parties. I went to one after this one and I didn't take any pictures but there were lots of celebrities there like Amy Winehouse (back from the dead of course), Joan Jett and Bret Michaels :-)

We also celebrated aunt Catherine's birthday over the weekend. I don't know how this happened (in addition to not taking any pictures) but Dave's friend's birthday was at the same place at the same time so we were able to enjoy two pieces of cake parties!

When your six year old starts texting you......

And when you're a stickler on grammar/spelling you reply like this.....

 Remember the large "hole" I cut in Delaney's sweatshirt? It was going to be impossible for her to wear that to school on Halloween so we had to come up with a last minute 2nd costume. She said "hey y'all it's a homemade costume"...When I dropped her off at school, they had Halloween music and a fog machine going as they walked into the building.

The pink bandana is for her hair that aunt Catherine made.

Y'all, I was so proud of myself for repurposing it!

2011 and 2016 (sniff, sniff)

I could just kiss the person who thought to paint pumpkins!

Sitting out front on Halloween with "London" that her grandma and grandpa brought back for her.

"Delaney, you blow my mind with your reading this year. I hope you always have a book in your hand (or Kindle)". Her vocabulary kills me. The other day I had a piece of paper sitting out and she asked me what it was for. It didn't pertain to her so I gave her the "short version" and she told me I needed to be "more descript".

This isn't my proudest moment of Halloween 2016 but here goes......Delaney had gymnastics on Halloween this year so she didn't get to go trick or treating (I know, judge away). She did get to go to trunk or treat at school, a school Halloween party, and an HGTV worthy Halloween party so there was no shortage of candy (by the way, I got her dental bill ON HALLOWEEN so my guilt level drastically decreased when I opened it #sealantsaintcheap). We live in an older neighborhood that I dubbed the "geriatric neighborhood" years ago. We do not get trick or treaters! As in, I do not buy any candy..... none, nada, zilch! Delaney got a lot of candy from trunk or treat so that is what I took to the "HGTV" party (better there than say...on my thighs!). So when I got to the gym on Tuesday morning they were asking what Delaney was for Halloween, etc. Then they brought to my attention she didn't get to go trick or treating AND I gave away her Halloween candy! ooooops! I guess I hadn't thought of it that way!

In my defense, missing gymnastics is a pain because it's hard to make up the class on Saturday because she has play rehearsals. I have no defense for giving away her candy............

Speaking of play rehearsal, when I took her on Saturday morning she said "mom, get back in the car, I can walk in by myself". I said "I didn't get dressed for nothing, I am taking you inside"!

Well, I better get back to the laundry now.....I could say it's piled up because the dryer was broken or I could just be honest and say it's more because of this...............