Thanksgiving at Mam's and Pompy's

Thanksgiving 2009. Dinner was great! Food... amazing! Mom & Dad made such a delicious turkey! Lots of sides... thank you everyone! I am so grateful for my family... my wonderful parents, and siblings, my in-laws and my kids and hubby!

Dad carving the bird

Mitch and cousin Josh

Mitch and Great Grandma

Mike and Noah

J w/ Uncle Marc and Pompy

My siblings and parents

I am Thankful

.... that sometimes I get to glimpse this sweet, love that these two have for one another. Usually they are screaming at one another, however, once in a while I am allowed to see the love... and it makes me happy!

What will he do with his free time?

He has one more game as a Freshman Football player for Franklin High. He said to me the other day, "Mom... I only have 3 more seasons of football!" And then for good measure, he repeated himself... to make sure the weight of what he said was heard. I acknowledged what he said, and then told him he could maybe play in college... like his Uncle Marc. He reminded me that he was only 5'8''. I reminded him that he was only 14... and just a year ago was a good 4 inches shorter than he is now. With only one more game looming next Thursday he said... "What will I do with my free time? I don't like the sound of that!" I am so proud of him. He has had a GREAT season... he played 1st string Offensive Tackle and 1st string Defensive End... he even played Nose guard for a couple games... and did an awesome job! He had quite a few amazing tackles and sacks! I still am amazed that this 14 year old boy is my son!

Heading off the field at half time talking plays over with Coach Fong.

Celebrating a great victory against Elk Grove!

Protecting the Quarterback #15 against the Sheldon Huskies.

Bringing down an Elk Grove offensive player!

He has his "Angry eyes" in!

Just a little bit of scary...

We had a fun Halloween. We carved pumpkins earlier in the day... and went to my Mom and Dad's for trick-or-treating and soup and bread. Megan had so much fun handing out candy.... I think more than she had collecting candy. She didn't want to give the candy to anyone who was scary. She would ask her Mams to give the candy away. Then she would tell me, "he was just a little bit of scary"

My Dad with the Nacho Libre mask and Mike as a biker.

Maddy the tiger

All five smile big!

Meg and her cute cousin Ryn!

Super tough power ranger!

Meg wanted her picture taken with my Grandma!

Scooping out the ooey gooey guts... as Mitchell likes to call it!

Yep... a little relaxation is good!

5 Nights and 6 days of relaxation aboard the beautiful Radiance of the Seas... just what the Dr ordered! Or maybe not the Dr... but the stress of life, can't really be any more stressful than they are, and we just decided we needed to get away. So, we took a few days out! Thank you Mom and Dad and our friend Kayla, for watching the kids for us. It was such a nice break to relax!

Our 1 formal night

We spent the day in Cabo San Lucas on Lovers Beach, snorkeling and relaxing in the sand. It was so warm!

My husband LOVES wild animals... especially cats like tigers, lions and jaguars... we got to cuddle with a cute little 2 mos old baby lion and a 5 week old jaguar cub! A dream come true!

After spending the day in Cabo.... back on the ship looking back on the beach we had been on earlier that day. This is also known as "lands end" where the Sea of Cortez and the Pacific Ocean meet.

The waiters sang "Happy Birthday" to me and put a candle in my brownie! Yum! I definately did WAY too much eating. It was a great way to spend my Bday!!

She can hang with the boys!

Yep! She finally got her way! Here she is in all her cute, pink glory! She LOVED playing with the boys.... and was even quite proud of the welts that were left. She was quick to show them off to her brothers... when they started comparing battle wounds. And.... SHE DIDN'T CRY! Nope! Proved wrong once again! She is a Carter through and through!

Mike's 11th Birthday party! They invited the Dad's to join... and they had as much fun as the boys! Maddi was in on the action, too!

Mike hiding behind a bunker!

She cried because she didn't get to play

My daughter cried today at the paintball field. She cried because she was too young to play with the boys! She begged her father to let her play! She asked me 100 times throughout the day as we sat and watched the boys. When a game was over and they needed to clean up the reballs... she was the first one in to clean them up. Then upon completing her task she would look at me and ask, "Please... can I play this round?"

Seriously.... I never thought my daughter would want to shoot people or be shot at, for that matter! A week back, her dad let her shoot at him, with the reballs, as he tried to dodge her shots on the trampolines. She tagged him at least a half - dozen times. I think this experience is what had her so excited to play. However, she has NEVER had anyone shoot at her. The boys were proud of the small welts, where some of the shots had found their mark, a little too well... this didn't even phase her.

So... when she finally gets the chance to play, I wonder if she will cry again... but this time because she finally got to play... and she realizes that it sometimes hurts to play!