Auburn, Thanksgiving, Christmas, & a Big Bowl of Jelly

Dustin and I went to the AU vs. Furman game this year. We even got to go without kids! The weather was amazing, the company was perfect and the game was a big Auburn win. It was such a great trip down to Auburn.

Maybe this is more common than I realized, but since we don't get to see this on TV, I was surprised to see a group of Auburn players and Trooper Taylor kneeling and praying before the game. How awesome is that?

Many of you know we had a rough couple of weeks recently. It was officially kicked off with a boom when our NEW hot water heater busted and flooded our house and Jacob was diagnosed with Pneumonia on that same day (fever of 105). Dustin was in substantial meetings at work with prospects that he couldn't get out of and I was...well....I wasn't having the best day of my life! However, ServPro came out and did their thing. It meant the kids and I had to leave our Wind Tunnel of a house for about 3 days though. This is some of the equipment that was in the backroom and hallway. There were equally as many fans and dehumidifiers in Jacobs Room and Dylans Room. ServPro was amazing in doing this as carefully as possible - they managed to replace all of the carpet padding effected without destroying my house.

If you know my mom, you know this is unlike her. She had saved a huge box from work and brought it home to be a castle for the boys to play in DOWNSTAIRS. They love it. So for Christmas she brought it UPSTAIRS and we decorated it. She is actually leaving this in her living room for the holidays....Quite a site to see in Liz Johnson's Southern Living worthy home!

GiGi has a collection of Nutcrackers the boys have grown quite fond of. Thanks to Super glue, they get to play with them :)

Over the years mom has collected the Dicken's Village pieces. Her collection is quite impressive and Matt's skills at putting the village together are pretty amazing too.

The boys think of it as a big playground. Lots of little people and houses to play with (and don't forget the snow). Matt about has a panic attack when they are around it and modify his strategic layout, but nothing has broken yet!

I took the boys to see Santa last week. Jacob took letters (one for him and one for Dylan). He loved it. Dylan - not so sure! He talked about it and seemed excited, but when he saw Santa he freaked. Screamed and held on to me like there was no tomorrow. However! When Santa offered him a Candy Cane....he Immediately perked up and said "Sure!", Sat on his lap, talked to him and smiled big for the picture. It was very funny to see the immediate transition. (PLEASE NOTE THE GREEN FROGS BOOTS HE INSISTED ON WEARING!!)

I was lucky enough to get to go visit Jacob's class for their Thanksgiving Feast with Mrs. Burk's class next door. We had soup and fruit salad the kids made and then did several different craft projects.

Jacob with his 2 best buddies in his class - Paul Davis and Alec.

Story time with Mrs. April.

Jacob was pretty fascinated with the idea of cooking a turkey. He said for days he wanted to go to a Turkey Farm, kill a turkey and cook it....What? I was pretty sure the idea of something like that would freak Jacob out. He wanted to know where the turkey's head was when Daddy was prepping it and where his feet and wings were.

This was hilarious. I was doing a little video on what they were thankful for and Jacob ran with it. Not sure where he comes up with this stuff, but I'm glad I got this on video!

** After you watch it once, replay it and listen to Jacob after Dustin says "Preppin' the Bird". Jacob's interpretation will make you laugh! Was that a Plurpin' I heard?

And to end our Thanksgiving Feast, Jacob had a MOVIE THEATER set up in the backroom (playroom). He brought in the office chair, folding chairs, childrens wooden chairs, etc. He turned off the lights and welcomed everyone to the showing of "Hero of the Rails". About 10 minutes later (yes, we all participated, how could we not?) he said "Ok, thank you for coming, next time you can come watch the whole thing", turned on the lights and shook everyone's hand as they left. Dustin and I had nothing to do with this at all - and I don't even know what triggered the idea for him. But it was so precious seeing him so happy and seeing our families cooperate with his master plan!