Thanksgiving 2012

Our Thanksgiving meal is usually with the Gunnell family and this year was no exception. We had a great crowd and all of Phil's siblings were in town. Gramps Gunnell hosted the event at his community center, Phil's mom, Susan, worked really hard on the meal and everyone pitched in with sides, desserts, etc. Sad thing was that Susan got sick and missed the entire day! We enjoyed visiting with family but I always long for more interaction and tradition. Here is a bit of our day in pictures.

Kate loves Great Grandma Standage and I know that Grandma loves her right back.

My food assignment was mixed veggies and all the girls brought a pie. Wendy requested I bring my lemon meringue and I threw in pecan pie bars since pecan is my favorite. Both were delicious though my crust on the lemon was tough. Boooo! Lesson learned: don't try a new recipe the day of Thanksgiving. I borrowed the picture of the bars from my pinterest board since I didn't take a picture but they turned out precisely like the picture. They were tasty and I ate twelve too many.

The nicely laid out tables complete with edible acorns and turkeys for the kids. Again, so much work from Susan. Stephanie and Allison were in charge of crafts for the kids and it was a hit.



They made turkeys and there was a thankful tree where the kids could trace their hand, write what they were thankful for and those were the tree's leaves. I am thankful for Max, Kate, Rhett and Phil.

Rhett was happy to roam and eat rolls and chocolate acorns. I didn't care what he ate as long as I could eat my meal in peace. Little turkey kept sneaking outside and I "lost" him for a few minutes when I was changing Kate's diaper and Phil was helping Max. The back door was open and I just knew that he slipped outside undetected. Visions of Rhett getting creamed by some senior citizen driving a boat of a Buick kept running through my mind. Thankfully a family member (whom I don't know very well) was outside trying to get his baby girl to nap and he kept an eye on Rhett until someone claimed him.



The best family shot of the day. Max looks like a teenager here.



The dinner was at 12:30 and we left at 3:30. Rhett was a good 3 hours past his nap and he crashed as soon as we headed home in the truck. We let him rest in the truck and Max and Kate played in the front yard with our neighbor Dylan.



Sleeping babies are one of my favorite things, especially my sleeping babies. Mwah! Before I know it they aren't going to be babies anymore.

Goldfield Ghost Town

Early October we went out as a family for an outing to the local ghost town at the base of the Superstition Spring Mountains. The kids were excited to go somewhere and especially with their dad. Heck, I was excited too! Two cool kids kicking it in the back seat.

As we passed the Superstition Mountains and Flat Iron I told Max that Phil and I have climbed to the top. He thought we were awesome and now every time he sees the mountains he says "you climbed the "Super Duper stition" mountains?" Haha.

We unloaded and started our little tour around the dusty town. Rhett was adorable.

Ha! I love this. Max was posing like this on his own, though I did encourage them to get in the mine shaft elevator, or whatever it was.

Kate being her temperamental self and refusing to stand by her brother.

We stopped in the reptile exhibit. The kids have not been conditioned to be leery of such creatures but I had the heebie jeebies the entire time. I kept having visions of the kids knocking off the top of a snake cage and the vile thing getting out and biting one of them.

Um, especially this mondo rattler.



After the reptiles we headed to an overpriced bakery shop. Seeing the prices for one cookie or treat was over $3 we had them all share the dry, dusty confectionery. If you are going to charge $3 it better be tasty!



The outing was maybe an hour long and that seems to be more than enough for Phil and I when we are toting three children, two of which are ornery strong-willed toddlers and one who thinks he can walk every where he darn well pleases.

Rhett's Ears

Since we have moved back to Mesa Rhett has had 5 ear infections. That is pretty much one infection per month. Ridiculous! Poor kid is fighting one off all the time. I remember the first time he got one. He had been sleeping all day, was warm and not interested in eating at all. I was primarily concerned about his diaper output and that day I could have never changed his diaper and he would have been fine. I was really surprised when the doctor said it was because he had an ear infection. Max and Kate have never had one and I didn't know what to look for then. Now, I know Rhett's signs so well that I know as soon as he is a bit feverish that he has one. Our pediatrician's front desk knows that when we call it is about another infection. 

He finished an antibiotic about 10 days ago and we we went to the ENT to talk about ear tubes. Rhett did well at the office in the beginning. They were so busy and running behind there that at the end he was wiped out. He had his hearing tested and it was determined that he does have some hearing loss but that it is due to the fluid in his ears and will resolve. We opted to try an alternative route to surgery for one month to dry up the fluid in his ears via a daily dose of antihistamine. If that doesn't work and he gets another infection that we are putting in tubes. Fingers crossed this works!

Tired boy waiting for the doctor. Hooray for my phone to offer some entertainment! I love the range of emotions he shows in just a few frames. Sweet babe.

At church this week Rhett woke from a nap and was not himself. He was feverish and very fussy, just a regular grumpy pants which is not who he is. I walked the halls, offered food and water, nothing was working. I got the keys from Phil and figured we would head home. Once outside we just sat in the truck and read some books. It was 3rd hour and I was hopeful we could make it through. We went back inside and again held up the hall walls and Rhett dozed fretfully in my arms. Again, not normal behavior. I felt certain that he had an ear infection, he was just so sad. We got home and went to urgent care. After a long wait we was deemed healthy. Thank goodness! Hopefully the antihistamine is doing it's job and Rhett can stay healthy. We've had enough doctor visits.

Sea Life Aquarium

Back in October we went with our friends the Merrill's to an aquarium. Five kids between us and two strollers. We did pretty well and the kids had a good time. We breezed through within an hour since we mostly looked at the fish and corralled busy toddlers and one wandering walker. It was difficult to keep an eye on everyone and it made me realize just how easy it would be for some creeper to snatch a kid and walk away. I need more arms and eyes! Not to mention it was really dim inside.

There were these cool pop-ups that you could stick your head in and feel like you were in the water with the fish. Thank you J'lene for holding my children up. Life is always easier with a friend.

Max was brave and touched a starfish and baby crab.

Rhett was cracking me up here. He took the brochure/guide and plopped down in front of a tank and proceeded to "read" and flip through pages.

Tried to capture a picture of the kids in this tunnel and then J'lene offered to take a picture of all of us.

Right. Seriously only moments later and everyone turned into a turd.

The kids had fun, we got to hang out with friends for a bit and thanks to Groupon this trip was semi-affordable. We will maybe hit up this aquarium once a year as the kids grow. At the end of the exhibit they have a play area for the kids and we spent only a few minutes there before Kate had a total meltdown at the top of the play contraption and I had to shimmy myself up there and rescue her. That was our cue to head home.

Grandma Nay Visits!

This post is long overdue and I know my mom has been waiting to see pictures from her visit. She came to visit us for almost 2 weeks around the kids' birthdays. We are always excited to have our Grandma Nay with us and wish we all lived closer so we could have more time with our family.

The kids loved the extra attention and playing with Grandma. I often feel bad that we aren't able to get out and do more but am happy that this trip my mom planned a sister's retreat and got away for one weekend. She put up with our warm accommodations and leaky air mattress too. :)

Our next visit is over the Christmas holiday and we are excited!

First Fire of 2012

There are perks to being back in our home, one of them being our back yard and the fire pit that Phil built. This past weekend it was cold enough for a fire and we were so excited! We busted out the camping chairs and Phil got busy building a roaring fire. We invited some friends over for s'mores.

Rhett is just sad here in the picture since he wanted me. Clearly I am sooo loved. 

Fire gazing, one of the best things about a fire.

S'mores! "Mom, I'm sticky." Yes, yes you are son.

Daddy's Home!

Playing out front, dad pulls up, everyone is SO excited.

Toys and treasures are shown, baby is swooped up and nibbled on.

We love our daddy.