Thanksgiving

I feel like I've been in heaven the past few days. I love having my husband home with us so much and I could just eat up my sweet boys. I'm cherishing every moment and just trying to breathe them all in. Literally - I keep smelling them like I did when they were babies. I don't care if we leave the house or what we do really. I am loving being together. I am still recovering from surgery a little bit and have been taking things pretty easy. I wonder if I'm enjoying life that much more by doing less. We baked some pies for Thanksgiving at the Poyners. We made two apple and two pumpkin. Jeff and I worked together in the kitchen and had a really nice time doing it while both boys napped (a real rarity!). I felt bad that Jeff never got a chance to taste his scrumptious apple pie - it was too yummy to last! I also made a batch of my parent's "famous" sweet potatoes. We had a huge feast with about 40 people. Everything was so delicious. The kids were very well behaved and pretty well entertained themselves. We got to spend some good time talking with family members and really enjoyed ourselves.


We've started on the Christmas decorations and it is helping me get into the spirit of Christmas. Our tree is up and we have a few lights on the house. I feel very full and happy and grateful for so many things.

Cupcake Love

Everybody wanted to show how much they approved of the cupcakes. Here is a sampling from the "I love cupcakes the most" contest:

Grandma wouldn't take a picture showing her tongue, but we know she loves the cupcakes because she was the first to sneak one... ha ha ha!

Lincoln is FIVE

I had a big t0-do all worked out to welcome Lincoln to his 5th year of life. It didn't really work out. The giant yellow party might still happen one day soon, but we did still try to make yesterday special for him. Grandma spent the day with us so that she could help me with the kids and all of the day to day things (thanks so much grandma). She brought him the game Elefun and the boys had a great time playing with it. We made cupcakes (not all fancy and decorated like I'd planned, but still... cake, and yellow... and he didn't seem to mind).

He knew that it was his birthday and that he was five now. If you ask, you'll get this: "I am five now. I used to be four. Did you bring me a present?"

I love you one hundred and two thousand and a million big brother!

Taylor Ray

We don't have a gender to work with, but I still feel a need to give a name to this little life. I need something to call it. Taylor is a part of our lives. I went through our little presidential list of names and found Taylor as a good choice for either gender. It is perfect. And Ray. I have the most wonderful aunt Ray. Anyone who knows her knows that you can't say Ray without smiling. Ray. I can always smile when I think of Taylor Ray. There is nowhere official to put this name but here and in our hearts. A part of our family.