Buckeye Success!

Great times this morning! The boys played so well together, and we got our buckeyes made. Gavin really enjoyed his first buckeye, but of course he tried to put the whole thing in his mouth and gagged. Now he is napping away, and I wish I was! :)

Fun Times Friday

Today is the day I make buckeyes!!! My favorite holiday tradition ~ well, one of them, at least. It started when Megan and I were much younger, helping mom make buckeyes for all the people she works for. When I went away to college, mom sent Jarrod and I care packages to our dorms full of buckeyes. I remember opening my box and finding crumbled buckeyes everyone, yet Jarrod's arrived perfectly! Apparently she wrapped his box better.

When Jarrod and I got an apartment of our own, I continued the buckeye tradition with Angie, Heidi and Lauren. It was part of our gift exchange. I wish I had that silly picture we set the self-timer up to take that year...us all lined up with one of us (I think it was Heidi) holding a peanut butter ball on toothpick! :)

The first year we moved to Centerville, and I hadn't made many close friends yet, I made buckeyes alone....and cried while doing it! I missed my Toledo friends! But eventually, I made wonderful friends at Shaw, and we made buckeyes at Lindsay's house one year. Great memories! And when Angie, Heidi, and Lauren and I got together for a girls' night gift exchange, we always tried to make buckeyes.

Last year's buckeyes were a failure - once again I was making buckeyes alone. Jarrod was in NY, and it never worked out to get together with friends to make them. I always gave buckeyes to my parent volunteers, so I desperately needed to get them done. Not easy with a 7 month old. For some reason, Gavin didn't cooperate in the buckeye making and they turned out horrible...I think I only got half my batched dipped.

This year, I'm excited to make new memories in my buckeye making extravaganza! I wanted to make it a playgroup event, but I knew Gavin wouldn't do well with too many kids over here so I limited it to just two other moms. Danielle and Shara are coming in an hour or so to make buckeyes with me with Evan, Antonio, and Gavin play and watch Sesame Street. I'm so excited! I'll try to take pictures so I can post them. I can't wait until I can make buckeyes, and many wonderful memories, with Gavin....just like I did with my mommy! :)

A week ago today...

....was Thanksgiving! So, I'm finally getting around to uploading the pictures and wanted to share with you all what we did.

The day started out a bit rough for me. I'd made the pea salad the night before, knowing I'd have to make Grandma's cole slaw on Thanksgiving morning. Well, I guess because I went to bed with it on my mind, it made me dream about grandma. She was here helping me make the cole slaw. :) It was great to see her in my dreams, but it made me wake up sad, knowing it was our first Thanksgiving without her. Luckily, I had lots of hugs from Jarrod and Gavin to make me feel better.

We made some coffee, enjoyed the parade with Gavin (you should have seen how excited he was to see the Sesame Street and Yo Gabba Gabba floats!), and then got started on the cooking. I made the cole slaw (yummy!) and Jarrod made a new mac and cheese recipe. (Yes...it's really mac and cheese....with lots of bacon and onions on top!)

Then, we headed to John and Erin's. The weather was surprisingly nice! John, Jarrod and another manager, Dan, spent much of the afternoon hanging outside, while Gavin and I played inside with Erin. Gavin was lots of help...he took all their bowls out of the cupboards!

Here you go, Mama!John fried a turkey outside. It was really good! Of course, the beautiful weather turned to rain just as the turkey was finishing up. Oh well....it could have been worse :)

We got the table set, and Gavin kept himself busy playing the drums with the silverware and dishes. He was having a ball! I took a ton of pictures, but most of them turned out blurry.
And, here's the gang around the table. They look thrilled, huh? John's hiding in his hoodie; Jarrod isn't even looking... Boys....

And lastly, just a couple cute pictures ~ a family shot, and one of Gavin and his mama. :)

We ate entirely too much. Gavin, of course, didn't eat much of anything. Oh well...his time will come when he'll realize how much his family loves food! We were exhausted when we got home. I got both my boys in bed by 7:45 (that's what happens when you have to be up at 2am for Black Friday sales at Sam's!) and I spent the evening watching the Thanksgiving episodes of Friends on the couch. A great ending to a great Thanksgiving!

Wordless Wednesday

Pictures from this weekend

While the family was here, we didn't take many pictures! Hard to believe, huh? Mom left her camera in Ohio, and I just didn't take many. I wish I'd taken the video camera out and recorded some of Gavin playing with his aunt and uncle. He had so much fun with them, especially with the grocery cart!


Gavin's in a "cheese" phase....he holds everything up to his face and says "Cheese!" like it's a camera.

Briana is going to hate me for putting this picture on here, but I had to! Look at her hair! Isn't it gorgeous? :)

Another "cheese" shot....this time using the button to turn on our Christmas lights.

Silly, grandma! She kept stuffing newspaper up my shirt and I kept trying to get it out. We were being so silly!

Before leaving for the mall, Gavin needed a snack....and this is how he decided to eat it. Looks comfy, huh? :)

And a group shot, take around 7am on Monday morning before they took off. They all look so tired! :)

Love you guys! We had a lot of fun :) Thanks for visiting!