Thanksgiving

In an effort to give our boys an authentic and historical perspective on Thanksgiving, we took a new approach this year. To start with we adorned their heads with the most stereotypical hats possible (see picture to the left). Any history book will tell you that all Pilgrims wore hats with brims 4 inches wider than their shoulders and slapped a Big Tex belt buckle right in front. Beck decided, or it was decided for him, that he would represent the native American Indian. We went with this design of headdress after watching Peter Pans' Lost Boys get captured by the Indians. We were inspired by the "How did the red man get red" politically correct song. We went with two feathers to represent his age...oh shoot he is only 1 this year. Oops.

Anyway, once we were appropriately dressed, Courtney explained that we celebrate Thanksgiving because the Indians helped the first Pilgrims survive their first winter. Apparently they waited 8 months after winter to make sure they had really made it. Now that we were all confused the only thing left to do was to get the food ready. I took the boys out back, gave Nash a gun, he shot the Turkey, Beck plucked it, Courtney pulled out the innards and I deep fried it just as they did low those many years ago.

Just another holiday at the Giles house...

Adventure Man

Nash has been cracking us up lately. He is so cute! For his birthday he got a little explorere kit which had a backpack, water bottle, lantern, whistle, etc... Once we opened it he would not put it down. He wants to either "go exploring" or "go on an adventure". The other night he wanted to go exploring in the dark. So we packed his dinner, and sent him to his room to explore. So he went into his room, set out his meal, and ate by lantern light. We are so proud!

Cruise 2008

Lance and I just got back from our vacation to Mexico. We went on a 5 night cruise from Galveston with our friends Danielle and Cass. Five glorious days of no responsibility, no kids, no making meals, and no one calling out "mommy, mommy". Disclaimer - I love my kids and did miss them dearly, but I think that Lance and I are going to be better parents because we took the time out for ourselves. I will have to only hit the highlights of our cruise or this post would be too long to read. Needless to say we had a blast! We had so much fun with Danielle and Cass and laughed until it hurt everyday. What a rejuvinating week.

The four of us getting back on the ship after Cozumel, Mexico.

Formal night on the Ecstasy. Ok girls - check out the earrings. Aren't you impressed that I wore them.

The four of us at Chichen Itza.

Here we are ATVing in Cozumel. I know, I know I got over some fear and went out on an ATV. We went through the jungle on a very rocky path and had a great time.

Lance and I on the beach. I was thinking at this point that it was crazy that Thanksgiving was like three weeks away.
I will write more about the cruise in the coming days but I would like to say a big thank you to everyone who helped keeping our boys. We could not have gone without the help of Marilyn, Autumn & dean, and Gary and Linda. Thank you, thank you.

Halloween Party

Last Saturday night Lance and I went to a Halloween party. No kids allowed. We had a blast. The big thank you goes to my friend Tammi who made our costumes. Seriously she did them in one night. I wish I had that kind of talent. By the way this might be the first time I have worn a costume since Sing Song in college.

Cousins

Last Saturday and Sunday my mom, brother, sister, and I traveled to Louisiana for my aunt's funeral. It was heart wrenching watching her husband, kids, and grand kids suffer and grieve. My memories of my aunt unfortunately all revolve around me being a small child. My extended family has not seen each other very much since we grew up. We used to get together all the time with all the cousins but time and distance seems to keep us apart. So even in the sadness it was great to see all my cousins again. He we are all grown up.

I will say that we are missing our cousing Shannon who could not make it from North Carolina. We missed her.

Most People Would

This picture is special in many regards. First of all it was our annual trek to the Texas State Fair. Secondly the picture commemorates another fabulous Ford family story. Let's set the stage. There we were (mom, Autumn, and me) at the end of the Birds of Prey show. Marilyn wanted a picture with us, so as all good groups do, we stopped a passerby to take our picture. The guy that we hand the camera to kind of chuckles and says, "Well this is a first for me." We are confused but proceed with the picture taking. Not until he is walking away that my mom recognizes him as someone we should all know. He is walking away when my mom yells down the stairs to him, "I know you're a singer but I can't think of your name." As he walks away - too far away to get a decent picture, he calls back "Micheal Buble." Yeah, I know most people get their picture taken with famous people, but not us. We get our picture taken by famous people.

Before and After

It has been a while since we cut Nash's hair. The 14th of September to be exact, but after seeing these pictures I knew I had to post what a dramatic change it actually was. Here is the before

Here is the after