Happy Thanksgiving!

I'm not sure who wrote this - but it's hilarious! Happy Thanksgiving!!

"TWAS THE NIGHT OF THANKSGIVING"

Twas the night of Thanksgiving, but I just couldn't sleep.
I tried counting backwards, I tried counting sheep.
The leftovers beckoned - the dark meat and white,
But I fought the temptation with all of my might.

Tossing and turning with anticipation,
The thought of a snack became infatuation.
So, I raced to the kitchen, flung open the door
And gazed at the fridge, full of goodies galore.

I gobbled up turkey and buttered potatoes,
Pickles and carrots, beans and tomatoes.
I felt myself swelling so plump and so round,
'Til all of a sudden, I rose off the ground.

I crashed through the ceiling, floating into the sky,
With a mouthful of pudding and a handful of pie.
But, I managed to yell as I soared past the trees....
Happy eating to all, pass the cranberries, please.

May your stuffing be tasty, your turkey be plump.
Your potatoes 'n gravy have nary a lump.
May your yams be delicious, your pies take the prize.
May your Thanksgiving dinner stay off of your thighs

Halloween!

Halloween 2009! It was Parker's first time trick or treating in a neighborhood! (Last year we did a little trunk or treat with our friends. But he didn't really know what was going on. This year, he got it! It's all about the CANDY baby!)

Anyway, we probably only went to about 10 houses - but he did really well. He always said, "trick or treat" like he was supposed to and then he said "thank you". He makes a cute monkey!

Chad carved this Michael Jackson-Thriller pumpkin! He's thinking about taking up pumpkin carving as a job since his law degree hasn't paid off. The only thing is, the season is half over. Anybody need a pumpkin carved?

Parker getting his first piece of candy from Grandpa. (He had to have a practice round).

Our little monkey!

Here he is bending down.

The loot!

I told Parker to roll around in his candy. I think he was just too tired after all the excitement!

Chuck E Cheese

On Wednesday, we went to meet Nichole and Tyler at Chuck E Cheese. We had a really good time! Here some pics!

Tyler and Parkie hugging!

Parker playing Skee Ball. Gee, does he cheat or what?

Tyler and Chuck E!

The mouse himself! He's such a great singer!

Parker and the mouse!

They were on some rollar coaster ride.
And let me tell you they were cracking up the second time around!

Parker loved this horse. He rode it at least 4 times!

A Girls Weekend

Once a year, my good high school friends get together. We always call it our girls weekend away, although in recent years some of our kids have tagged along. Anyway, my friend Sheetal - who is Indian (dots, not feathers) - went to India for her brother's wedding last year. We haven't seen her since then, and she bought the cutest outfits for Parker and Ava (my friend Sarah's daughter), and we got some really neat elephants and birds and gorgeous shawls.

Anyway, here are some of the pictures. I have to get some more from my friends...

Parker kept putting Ava's bracelets on the elephants nose.

Ava with her dot.

Ava and Parker

Ava in her gorgeous outfit!

Parker in his little outfit.

Jenn and Ava

Parker lovin' the drums on Rock Band!

Pump Up the Fun!

My friend Jenn and I took our kids to Pump Up the Fun last week. They had these massive inflatable obstacle courses. It was super fun! Here are some pictures!

Here's an overview of the place. Pretty cool huh?

Me, Parker, and Caleb riding down the slide.

Caleb riding on the car.

Me and Parkie - laughing after we fell down the stairs.

Carlee - isn't she cute?

Caleb getting ready to ride the car again.

Parksie taking his turn on the car.

a bad omen? aka the car wreck

chad here - temporarily regaining my blogging duties. so celeste and i went to indianapolis for my swearing in ceremony on oct. 16 (see the previous post). after the ceremony, we traveled down to bloomington where i had an interview at a law firm. after the interview i picked up celeste and we were headed back to indianapolis when we had an unexpected setback in martinsville. i'll let the pictures speak for themselves (okay, with my captions)...

this was car #1 in the pileup - minimal damage

car #2 - more damage - her bumper got knocked right off

car #3 - this girl definitely got the worst of it, as you can see her
front end is pretty messed up and her airbag deployed.

so how did it all go down? well, it was raining off and on
and the roads were wet. i saw her slam on her brakes so i hit mine.
i saw her hit the car in front of her, but by then my brakes had
locked up and we were sliding. from that point on it was
simply physics - a big heavy moving car sliding until
something stopped it - in this case, her car.
fortunately no one was injured,
but the tibby did get messed up pretty badly...

this is what the tibby looked like - the hood got bent up in the
middle and my front bumper was pushed back and
broke the radiator. tibby and the bug both had to be towed away.

epilogue: so needless to say, it sucked pretty bad getting into a wreck on what was previously a day of celebration. we ended up getting a ride to the indy airport with a friend (thanks lisa!) where we rented a car and drove back to wv the next day. i was worried that the tibby would be totaled, but thankfully it was repairable and we are looking forward to picking it up next week.

Chad is OFFICIALLY a LAWYER!!

So a few weeks ago, we went to Indiana for Chad to be sworn in as an attorney!

Chad is announcing his name before all of the judges and all the people.

You can see Chad taking the oath here.

I'm so happy that I'm a lawyer now! Actually, I ran up to him and said - "Chad I thought this ceremony was going to be 30 minutes to an hour. It lasted 3 hours!" And he found that awfully funny as you can see.

Chad taking his duty seriously!

Me and Chaddie

The Huntington Mall

The Huntington Mall just put in a really nice play area for kids. One day it was rainy, so my friends and I went to the mall to let the kids play. Here's a couple pictures.

A Soccer Game

We decided to go to Chad's high school soccer game. Hurricane High School kicked booty!

Parker dressed up for the cold weather.

Jenn and Parker.

Chad and his mom.

Brett and Jayme.

The score ended up being 9 to 0.

The game in progress!

Me and Chad at the game.

frustration...

this article from the aba journal sums up the frustration that I and many others in my situation are now feeling. check out this link to read the full article from bill mcclellan of the st. louis post dispatch.