Thanksgiving Dinner

I know Halloween isn't even over, but it doesn't keep me from thinking about Thanksgiving and the yummy food associated with the day. This year we're hosting Thanksgiving dinner at our house. I'm looking forward to it. I'm also interested in what you serve/eat for Thanksgiving.

I'm gathering ideas and/or recipes if you'd like to post them on your blog. Call it a recipe swap if you'd like. If you don't have a blog you can leave the recipe name.

Happy early Thanksgiving and let's prepare to get our eat on.

I Go Walking

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

It's been a while since I posted pics of the boys. Here you go.

Grass tastes yummy. Blughhh.

Seriously, Mom. I'm trying to watch Andrew play soccer.

Kicking a goal!

Go BOBCATS!

Blurry pic. Coach and his kid.

Yesterday marked Zachary's 1 year adjusted age. Right now doctors would expect him to do things a 1 year old would do. If you're a faithful reader of What to Expect in the First Year (I think that's the correct name) you'll see a section that says "May be able to..." under each month. One of the bullets in this section under the 12 months/1 year section is take steps/walk. Wanna know who took 3 unassisted steps yesterday on his 1 year adjusted birthday? OFZ!!! Robbie says he's seen him take a couple of steps, but they don't count. I have to witness with my very eyes and yesterday I did. Zachary is getting better and better at standing alone and if there is something he wants he'll take a few steps toward said object. If it's a long distance he doesn't hesitate to plop down and speed crawl. We are rockin' and rollin' toward bigger and better things.



So, in honor of your 1 year adjusted birthday (He has 3 birthdays - his actual BIRTH day, his due date birthday and his coming home from the hospital day. Spoiled. I know. I love it. Sue me.), Zachary, here are things you can do and things I love about you.

• You are incredibly cute and your dimples make me smile.


• You love food. Any kind of food too. There isn't anything you won't try and usually you like it.


• You've mastered the sippy cup. You don't guzzle your milk anymore. Instead, you sip it. Hence sippy cup.


• You crawl at warp speed. Your legs look like windshield wipers going when you crawl.


• You have a temper! Boy, do you explode when things don't go your way.


• You don't like for me to be out of your sight.


• You think flushing the toilet is a fun game.


• You think opening doors is a fun game too. You're really ticked now that I've blocked the attic doors.


• You have officially moved into 12 month clothes. You still wear some 9 month clothes, but are more comfortable in 12 month. You're comfortable in size 3 diapers.


• You can say Ma Ma, Da Da, hey, Andrew (pronounced Ah-goo) and sometimes it sounds like you say Maggie


• You love to point to the baby on your Yo Baby yogurt.


• You like your car seat more and more.


• You've caught on to watching DVDs in the car. You're really hooked on Bolt.


• You still sleep wonderfully. Two good naps and at least 11 hours at night.


• You're still my running partner and you still fall asleep before our run is over.


• I hope you'll be a runner like me. We can run events together.


• Everyone says you look like me, but I see more of your daddy's side in you.


• You love your big brother and in return he loves you just as much. I hope it stays that way.


• I'm amazed daily at how well you're doing and think about the odds you were given last year. You are a super baby!


• Bath time may still be your favorite activity of the day.

Zachary, you and your big brother bring so much joy to my life. The level of cuteness in this house cannot even be calculated. I look forward to watching you both grow.

D.A.R.E

If you were born in the late 70's early 80's you probably were subjected to the D.A.R.E program. It didn't take much for me to know that I didn't need or want to do drugs. 1) There was a policeman telling me it was bad. 2) He said they were illegal and I could get arrested. 3) They kill and/or leave you really messed up. 4) I feared doing anything that would result in punishment from my parents. Thus I decided to steer clear of drugs and live the clean life. So far, so good.

I have what one would call an addiction to the shows Intervention and now Police Women of Broward County. You can find me glued to the TV on Monday nights at 9:00pm and Thursday nights at 9:00pm to catch the latest episode of each of these shows. My heart hurts for the families of the folks on Intervention. Truly it does. I'm thankful that it's not my family. I always love a good outcome when the subject of the show goes clean. For the schmucks on PWOBC. I'm so glad your dumb tail got caught. Good riddance. Cleaning up the streets of ol' Ft. Lauderdale. Drugs are bad, ok?

Why do I ramble about such? Well, I decided 4 wasn't too early to start my own D.A.R.E program. It's never too early. Scare 'em young is my motto. I decided to tell Andrew one night while I was watching a DVRd episode of Intervention that drugs are awful, they kill, etc. I listed all the reasons why he shouldn't and what would happen if he did. I really believe he gets it. He knows that the ladies of Broward county are cleaning up the streets and getting the bad guys and putting them in jail. Yet another destination he does not want to visit and/or reside. He reminds me that drugs are bad and bad people sells drugs.

Convo with Andrew and Mommy
Scene: Mommy watching PWOBC on Sunday afternoon

Andrew: Drugs are really bad, Mommy.
Mommy: Yes, Andrew they are bad. Bad people sell them and drugs can kill you.
Andrew: Nonnie didn't bring me any drugs last night when she came over.
Mommy: (shocked) Andrew, Nonnie wouldn't bring you drugs. Drugs are bad and Nonnie only brings you good things. In my mind I'm thinking that maybe I hadn't gotten the point across and I know for a fact (as sure as I live and breath) that Nonnie wouldn't have the first inkling on where to score drugs. If she does then I assure each of you the rapture is shortly going to take place. Nonnie = saint
Andrew: Yeah, Nonnie loves me. She wouldn't bring me any drugs.

I guess I need to continue the D.A.R.E program a little longer.

It's 2:00am and I cannot sleep. Robbie and I got a chance to go out to eat sans tots, which is always nice. We decided to go to Outback, which was really yummy, but the bloomin' onion isn't sitting so well on the ol' tummy. It also doesn't help that I fell asleep while putting Andrew to bed. Now I'm wide awake. Ughh!

It's been a while since I've bragged about my boys. Andrew completed his first soccer season. I'm not sure soccer is going to be his choice of sport in the future. We made him see the season through and he had fun, but I don't think he liked it. He told Robbie he wants to play hockey and tennis. 1) He's never seen hockey played to my knowledge. 2) The only tennis he's witnessed is Wii tennis. We shall see. Andrew is very athletically inclined. He can hit a golf ball like he's been playing for years, he can swing a baseball bat like Barry Bonds minus drug enhancers and whatnots and runs and runs and runs with finesse. We're looking forward to seeing what sport we pick up next. He's a little on the small side, so I'm not sure basketball will be in our future, but obviously we won't rule it out. Stay tuned.

Andrew is doing really well in preschool. He seems to love it as much as his old school. It's hard for me to believe that he'll be in Kindergarten in less than a year from now. I remember the day he was born like it was yesterday. His preschool class is really drilling down on things he'll need to know when he enters Kindergarten. The obvious things like writing his name (first and last). Right now we're drilling first, but we'll tackle the last one soon. He can spell both, so now we need to put that to paper. He makes a beautiful A and W, but the NDRE appear to be less important to him. I guess I should have chosen a 3 or 4 letter name. He knows his full address in case of an emergency. This week was the letter F and the firemen of Apex came to school. Stop, Drop and Roll was talked about quite frequently at home. According to Andrew you should do that regardless if your clothes or body are on fire. That one is new to me. He knows to dial 911 in case of an emergency. I do hope he doesn't choose to test out 911 because Mommy and Daddy won't give him a cookie, which to him does constitute a dire emergency. I love what each new day brings when he gets out of school. We also started Cubbies at church. He fought the first night with full on tears and hollering, but once he got there he LOVED it. He really does well memorizing the Bible verses and is so proud after reciting them to us. I remember doing Awanas as a child and I loved it. I hope he continues to feel that way. We're still tackling the whining that comes along with being 4. Some days are better then others. When the whining is at an all time high it all but brings us to our knees. I'm open to suggestions on how to defeat the whining. So far Mom and Dad are 0 for 1,000. Regardless of the whining Andrew is such a loving and wonderful little man. He charms my heart so.

Ol' Fat Zach is LARGE and in charge around here. His temper has set in like something fierce! It's humorous. He has grown so much it's scary. He eats well, sleeps well, is active (READ: into everything and does not stop moving unless he is asleep) and is a hoot to be around. He's so close to walking. He will let go of whatever he is holding on to, but quickly goes into "surfer squat" before hitting his knees to crawl. He knows how to open doors and can be found in our attic (we have attic space off our bonus room. The doors are mini doors. No, we don't put our kids in the attic for kicks) any time we turn our backs. Even blocking the doors won't stop him. He has a huge fascination for anything plugged into electrical outlets. Did I mention he doesn't stop moving? Right now he's very much a Mama's boy. If he hears my voice or sees me it is over. I'll take it. One day I know I won't be cool and so I better take advantage while I can. He still loves to go running with me. He's started "talking" while we run. It's rather cute. He says Ma Ma and Da Da pretty clearly. We think he's trying to say either Andrew or Thank You or both as well as Nonnie. We're working on identifying body parts. He can pat cakes and is trying so hard to roll them over. He knows when to cheer at football games. He was super excited tonight with Duke's win. Might I add he's handsome oh so handsome in Duke blue?!?! He does really well at the games too. We plop him down in his portable seat, throw some puffs, goldfish, snacks on the tray and we're set. Most fans around us are impressed by him and how well he does. My favorite Zachary time is at night when I go to check on him before going to bed. He's curled up in the top right corner sucking his thumb with his tush up in the air. I fall in love all over again.

I'm actually getting sleepy now. I'll post pictures once I download them.

A little trivia for you. Did you know tomorrow marks ONE year ago we brought our littlest sweetie pie home from the hospital? Can you believe it? ONE WHOLE YEAR has passed since we became a family of 4 under one roof. Time has flown. The day we brought him home he weighed 5 lbs 4 oz. Today I bet he's close to 21/22 lbs maybe more. We'll find out in a few weeks when we visit the doctor for his 15 month appt.

PS. This has not been proofread. Forgive any errors.

W is for Win

Duke 49 - NCSU 28

Today was a good day at the Perry house. The Mr. of the house is on a cloud 9.1 and I'm not sure he'll come down from that cloud any time soon. Way to go Blue Devils! Thank you for winning and even more kudos for making my house a happy house tonight!