A Family Affair

Each of us has a special Christmas event or tradition that we aniticpate each year. Well, for my brother Chad, the most exciting event of Christmas (well, actually of the whole year!) is riding his golf cart in the Christmas parade. We scheduled Saturday, November 29th as golf cart decorating day this year, and we made an afternoon of it. We listened to Christmas music and drank hot chocolate as Chad bossed us around as to how to put the lights on the cart. When it was done we went for a long ride on the golf course!

A Thanksgiving Hunt

You always hear that good ole saying "marriage is about compromise".....Rob and I celebrated 8 years of marriage on Tuesday, so he took me shopping and to dinner last night and I took him squirrel hunting this morning! Actually, we had a great hunt, and I loved enjoying a beautiful Thanksgiving morning, amongst a beautiful sunrise in the woods. We killed 5, but I will spare the dead squirrel pictures. This is his dog "BB" in action....

Hey Ema!

Lane woke up today and said "When do Mr. Kirk and Miss Emily get their baby?" And I answered her, "Today!" We are so excited that our friends have met their baby girl, and I want them to know that we are thinking of them. We talked about it this morning at breakfast and made a sign to show Ema that her new friends, Lane and Bo, send their love from far away! Hurry home, Ema Li Richardson!!

Blackmail!

Not much to add to this picture...boy in cute blue boxer briefs with girl in pink panties! Priceless.

Are they shaped like Rob Dawson or what!!

Best Friend "Betty"

I never want to forget Lane's "Betty." Everyone who knows our family knows Betty. She is a dollar store quality bear that Lane got when she was in the hospital the first time 3 years ago. (Actually Jan Jan had another bear just like Betty for some crazy reason, so we actually ended up with 2 of these look a like Betty bears), but I assure you, Lane know which one is which...one of them (the "real Betty") was left in the yard one day and one of Rob's dogs chewed a hole in her ear & the other one's bow in the neck is missing, so he it is now a "boy" and is usually shunned. Betty has often changed roles in our house, she used to be Lane's daughter and my granddaughter; most recently she is Lane's "cousin" and she has a bunny at home that his her mother. Lane plans birthday parties for her all the time, and we have one about everyother week! (And one day, we actually are going to have a real party for her!) She slept with Lane for about 2 or 3 years, but now sometimes sleeps in the area that Rob and I call the "Daycare" in Lane's room. This area has several doll beds, doll pillows and blankets, and multiple stuffed animals and babies. She reads to them and puts them to bed at night. In case you haven't figured it out, Betty is very "real" to us. When it is cold outside, Lane is sure that she has her blanket or jacket, when she rides in the car, Lane goes into hysterics if I start backing up without "buckling Betty!" Even Bo goes along with this craziness, he will say "Lane, don't forget Betty!" I hope I never see the day that we lose Betty; it will be a sad day at the Dawson house! (Yes, they have on matching dresses in this picture!)

My Sweet Bo

Well, Bo "lost" his "cars blankie" this week. He spent the night with Ellie and Boo on Monday, and we "just haven't been able to find it" since. He has also had a spiderman bandaid on his left thumb since Tuesday. To interpret, we have taken away the blanket to stop the thumb sucking. The little callouses on his thumb helped me to decide it was time. It has absolutely broken my heart, but I keep telling myself it's because I love him! I had to take Lane's pacifier away, but it was much less painless, becuase we could just say we lost it.....but to tape his thumb and watch him try to put it in his mouth, well, it is just brutal! I really did not want to take the blanket away, but he just couldn't separate the two. I never want to forget getting him out of his bed holding that blanket, laying his head on my shoulder, and sticking that thumb straight in his mouth......

Here is a cute story on him:

We were on the way home, pulling up our driveway, a couple of weeks ago, it was night time, and Bo looked out the window and said "I see Jesus!"

Of course, Lane comes back with, " You don't see Jesus, he lives in heaven with God!"

Bo thought silently for a minute, then said, "Does Jesus take a bath with God up there?"

To further explain, he had taking a bath on his mind, because we had been at Walmart and got a new bathtub toy, and he kept talking about wanting to take a bath when we got home)

Bottomheavy....

Rob had a meeting at school Thursday night, so the kids and I were a little bored, so after I had loads of fun cleaning out their closets....we decided to put up our "kid" tree! I let them do all the work, without saying a word (except for the four ornaments seen near the top of the tree), nonetheless, guess where all the ornaments were.....about 50 ornaments all on the front bottom 2 feet of the tree! It was so cute. I waited until they went to bed to fix it!!

Tiger Fanatics!

We decided at the last minute to be one of those crazy 18,000 fans that could say they were there when the Tigers played in the game that lasted from Monday till Tuesday! We got home at 2:00 (yes, a.m,) and got about 4 hours of sleep before having to be at work at 7:00 on Tuesday...I will have to say it was worth it to see a crowd like that wild at 1:00 a.m.! It was also pretty cool to know that Cal's wife was in a half Memphis and 1/2 U Mass shirt since his daughter goes up there to school. Go tigers! Also, say a little prayer for Larry Finch, it has been so sad to listen to what a difficult time he is going through.

Here is the link to the awesome intro video that has a cool "Memphis Blues Theme" http://www.runningpony.com/uofmintro/

Come on tigers, I am up for another run in March!

High School Musical 3, the movie

Lane and I went to the movies a couple of weeks ago with some girlfriends (Amanda & Gracen, Amy & Abby, and Kate & Ella)...High School Musical 3, Prom night.....we have all been anxiously awaiting its release for a year! I think all of the mom's agreed that we were more excited than the girls!

Halloween

Once again, our Halloween was filled with lots of driving, and eating candy in the car! We made it to Munford, our church trunk-or-treat, Main Street, and the Links. Lane started out as the "Tooth Fairy", but by the end of the night, she was calling herself "Tinkerbell". Bo, of course, was Leonardo, the Ninja Turtle.
We got chased by the chainsaw men at Miss Summer's house!

Nanny made us Chili and hotdogs....

Baby "Mary Cairla" as Bo calls her!

Buss, Spidey, and Leonardo at the annual Naifeh party!

(Benjamin, Jonah, and Bo!)

Smores!

Yes, that is marshmallow on Bo's Jacket and he even had a graham cracker stuck to his jacket at one point!

Georgia is hiding that belly!! (but it was good to see that she has finally grown one!)

Rob, the firemaster!

We had a little campfire and let the kids do smores and play in the "Dora" tent. Lane has been asking to since she knew we had the adult Bonfire last week! Rob has much improved his fire skills and we were actually hot!! Bo literally had a graham cracker stuck to his jacket with a marshmallow. Brad, Georgia, and Addie came over, and when they left we put the kids to bed and Rob and I sat out by the fire and enjoyed the cool night!

Happy Birthday Baby Reagan!

I just had to share about the infamous "Baby Reagan" (our neice)! She will turn 1 on Nov. 20th, and I hope that one day we will drop the "baby" and start calling her "Reagan", but for now Lane talks about her ONLY cousin, "Baby Reagan" not just often but daily. Bo calls any baby he sees "Baby Reagan. " We do not go in a store without her trying to buy her things, "can we get this for baby Reagan??" She is the sweetest little baby ever, and we miss her sooo much, hint hint Jay Jay and Chele!!

These pictures are from the "American Girl Cafe" in Chicago when we went in the spring. We hope to make a return trip ASAP!

My Sweet Lane

Lane has really gotten my heart a couple of times lately and I want to remember her sweet innocence.....

One of her bedtime prayers last week:

Dear God, Thank you for the beautiful flowers you made, thank you for the beautiful trees you made, thank you for the animals you made, thank you for the baby animals you made, thank you for the barns you made, thank you for the cotton, thank you for the meat, thank you for the milk, thank you for the things we need, and for the people, and for the mommies and daddies, and for the little kids, and thank you for the whole universe." (yes, I went downstairs and wrote it down so I wouldn't forget it!)....by the way, this doesn't top her prayer last year that went like this.....(we were having sloppy joes for dinner)....Dear God, um, please, um I don't like this food momma made tonight, um, so please, um, reach down and take it off my plate!"

Here was a conversation between she and Bo on Saturday after they had watched "All Dogs Go to Heaven" that Ellie and Boo gave them for Halloween:

Lane:"I already knew dogs went to heaven, just like my fishy went to heaven."

Bo: "Lane, what's heaven?"

Lane: "It's where you go when you die."

Bo: "Who is Die?"

Lane: "No, you know, like when you get to be a great grandpa, Bo, then you will go to heaven......I hope mommy never goes to heaven."

I started out laughing at their conversation, but at the end, I was fighting back my tears.........