Thanksgiving and Fun!

To start the Thanksgiving Day celebrations, I volunteered in Brock's classroom for his "Fall Learning Experience." We decorated turkey cookies!

My cookie example :)

Brock was holding in his excitement on my "Room Parent" attendance. 

Later that week, we all attended swimming lessons - Kade has progressed so much since the start of his lessons. His goal is to make swim team Summer 2020!

Only picture from actual Thanksgiving Day - the start of the meal! Looks like some excited eaters!! Also of note - Kade's first year with the fine china! He only tried to "pick" at the decorations surrounding the plate a few times before he stopped!! ;)

By Black Friday, we needed something to get the wiggles out! A trip to Defy Apex!!

Super cute faces!

Tickets were selling out for the Frozen 2 movie so fast! Good thing I purchased tickets 5 days in advance!! I think Kade liked it a bit more than Brock - he's been requesting "the song that Elsa sings with her Mommy" all week! 

I have it documented! Brent played Candy Land with Kade!

Lastly, a cute picture of Moose! I had a section of my room barricaded to wrap presents, but Moose wanted to be close/see what I was doing. He mostly could fit under my bench!

JC Raulston Arboretum with Kade

Monday, November 11th (Veterans Day), Brock and Brent took a final stab at some off-shore fishing. I had the day off and opted for Kade to stay home too and have a Mommy-only outing!

What to do with a wild, rambunctious, always-moving, four year old (that won't break the bank)? We ventured over to JC Raulston Arboretum for some exploring and outdoor time. 

Kade worked out a compromise pretty quickly - if I take a picture of him, then he needed to take a picture of me in return. Okay, fine. 

Admiring the painted tree

Running off again!

Now here Kade starts with the posing. "Momma, touch the flower with your your hand...." 

"Momma, touch this flower with your hand, put your other hand out like this."

Maybe I was trying to recreate this picture....

Brock.... circa August 2014

Maybe we'll see Kade as a future director.... ;)

And.... I know you all were waiting patiently for Brock's fish pictures - I don't want to disappoint!! Brock reeled this one in all on his own!

9 pound King Mackeral

Blue fish

Video evidence of his catch!

Halloween 2019

It barely fit.... if he didn't move, it would stay ;)

 We were all ready for Halloween!! Unfortunately, not ONE of our Halloween costumes fit our big boy Moose. I thought for sure the pumpkin would fit Moose because if fit Diesel (although it was tighter in Diesel's waist than on Moose! ;) )

On one of those fishing weekends Brent and Brock went on, poor Kade stayed home sick. Another weekend I had all these "plans" for Kade and I, but his immune system thought differently!! I let him work on the Halloween haunted gingerbread house all by himself as Plan B.

Sure Kade, pick out the largest pumpkin out here when Brent isn't here to help me pick it up!

The night before Halloween, I was up late making all kinds of goodies.... to bring to work! Ha!

 All of these came with me as they are made with peanut butter....

....but some of these stayed home for the boys!

My two little trick-or-treaters!

Brock - Police Officer
Kade - Buzz Lightyear

Brent - is that a trick or treat bag for Moose or you?!?? HA!

First stop is Mr. Warren's house - he had an EXTRA special treat for just the boys - skeleton rings and TWO HEAPING handfulls of candy to give them a headstart! 

I'm so impressed by so many of our neighbors' decorations! They are so cool!

Moose REALLY liked this one hanging above the driveway! ;)

Happy Halloween 2019 y'all!! :)

Fishing for Kings with Brock

I started hearing about a week out that the fishing was going to be perfect on Friday and Saturday October 18-19. We decided Brock could miss out on one day of school to go on this "marine biology field trip" with his Dad. 

They left out about 7am Friday morning to drive to Atlantic Beach. Gorgeous sunny day - albeit a bit cooler on the water - hence the very warm Seahawks hat! 

Perfect day to try out Brent's new curtains - it blocks the spray and the wind for everyone sitting at the console.

Brock practiced his math - announcing their speed in comparison to what it was before, depth, subtracting how far down the fish were from the boat, etc. 

On Auto-Pilot....

 The first afternoon was a success - one good-sized king to bring home!

Look at all those seagulls in the background waiting for a scrap!

After a good night's sleep at the hotel, the fishermen were up before sunrise to head to the fishing grounds.

 Sunrise (and blue LED lights on Brock's face!)!!

The boys saw porpoises, sea birds, a few flying fish, and even caught an octopus! One of the poor Octopus' legs got stuck on the side of the boat.

The best part was Brock reeled in his very own fish ALL BY HIMSELF! Brock's catch clock time was 5 minutes! Brock told me his arm really hurt afterwards.

After catching the second fish that day, Brent called it quits and headed back to Apex! Three kings in one trip - not bad!!

Brock's fish is on the right