Thanksgiving and a few surprises

We enjoyed a very nice and relaxing Thanksgiving. We went to Nana and Poppa's for lunch and then to Mee Maw and Paw Paw's for more eating, sitting, and socializing. We started out the day with pure excitement over the Macy's Parade and all the "Thanksgiving parties" we were about to attend. We had already attended Mimi's "party" on Sunday :)

My First Thanksgiving. Sweet butterball!

Enjoying the BEAUTIFUL weather 

Big Boy chewing on a piece of ice. Poor baby is teething something fierce!

Surprise #1... Sprout the Elf is back! Here is Sister getting "close but not touching him"

Surprise #2... Not calling anyone out but SOMEONE with curly hair locked us out of Ty's nursery Saturday night. No access to his pajamas or diapers. Thank goodness he wasn't in there! Daddy was not a happy camper at this point!

Surprise #3... The TOOTH FAIRY visited Collin and left him some $$ for his very first tooth Friday night. Kyle called me while I was Black Friday shopping and I about fell out! This little boy is growing up way too fast. 

We also put up the tree, decorated the mantle, and put out some outdoor lights. Kyle had a brief relapse of the stomach bug Saturday night, but other than that it was a wonderful weekend. Thank you Lord for your abundant blessings! 

Little Indians

Other than gearing up for the holidays, the Crager household has been fighting off an icky virus. YUCK!! I think over the course of 3 weeks we have all (except Ty) had the stomach bug TWICE in some form or fashion. Gross!! We have gone through so much Lysol that I get nauseous just smelling it, ha! I think poor Collin has had it the worst. Little fella couldn't catch a break between that and the sinus crud :(

Last week C & B had Thanksgiving parties at school.

Cute little indians!!

We have been so impressed (and very thankful) for all that they have learned over the past 2 weeks about Thanksgiving and our county's heritage. I even relearned a few things! 

And that brings us to Thanksgiving break. I could write that we have been busy with lots of activities and outings, but that has not been the case. We've basically been bumming the past few days, and it has been really nice! And the kiddos are about to jump out of their skin to decorate for Christmas!! I have to be in the right frame of mind for that, but I agreed to let them decorate one of our small trees this morning. Shooting to put up the big tree Saturday.

Tomorrow is Turkey Day!! Yay!

4 Months

Ty has really come out of his shell so to speak this month, and his personality is starting to shine. He is still a calm baby. But he has found his voice and his feet this month, and he is enjoying exercising both of those things. He is really filling out these days! His pediatrician made the comment that he was "quite chunky" and that he looked like a 6 month old. He's smaller than our other babies were, so we think he's "normal," ha!  Here are some other facts about Ty at 4 months. He:

• LOVES t.v. especially the Baby Faith videos (these are a must!)
• Likes the exersaucer and the "Jumperoo" (Yay for something else to do for entertainment!)
• HATES to be on his stomach. He hasn't rolled over yet due to the fact that tummy time is miserable for him. But he's getting really close! Not sweating it ... our other two were late rollers and turned out just fine :) 
• Has the sweetest giggle, and he gets cranked up and squeals when you tickle him and sing to him.
• Chews and drools constantly!! Seems early for a tooth, but at the way he is acting maybe one is on its way. 
• Has regressed significantly in the area of sleep over the last month. I'll just leave it at that... Whew!! Perhaps due to the previous point?? The last few nights have been better, so maybe we are getting back on track.
• Has started baby food and does not like it at. all.  But I know for many babies it just takes time to get used to it. 
• Takes 3 naps (and sometimes a little cat nap) on the few days that he's home all day and has the opportunity :) 
• Weighs 16 lbs and is 25 inches long. He had his 4 month shots a couple weeks ago and did great.
• Is really just the sweetest, cuddliest little thing ever!!

 Check out those thighs!

 This is the same response to peas, sweet potatoes, squash, carrots, and bananas :/

Always chewing on those hands and drooling. He loves the toys on the saucer too. He is all business when he "works" on them. 

Baby Dedication

Today is a very special day- we dedicated our sweet Ty to God. Children are an incredible blessing from the Lord.  As Christian parents, we have the privilege and honor of dedicating him back to the One who created him and holds his life in His hands.

We were joined by Mimi, Paw Paw, Lolly, Poppy, Nana, Aunt Casey, Uncle Derek, Fischer and Tate (who  missed the picture.)  What a blessing to have them there!

Thank you Lord for the blessing of children. Please empower us with the wisdom and grace to parent them. 

Fall Soccer Recap

Soccer season was busy, busy with both Collin and Brantlee playing. Collin played 11 games and Brantlee's team played 10 or so. Coach Kyle and his boys had a great season! Every boy improved so much from the first game. This is the first season that Collin actually said he liked soccer. As in, we wants to play in the spring, and he was sad that the season ended. He scored 3 goals this season and was much more aggressive. But most importantly, he enjoyed playing and didn't take himself too seriously :) :)

Brantlee, on the other hand, learned that soccer is not her thing, ha!At least not right now. It sounded good in theory, but it really wasn't as fun as it looked for her. She loves to run and kick the ball, just NOT during the games. We don't really have any pictures of her during any of the games because I had to be on the field with her ;) I am proud of her that she toughed it out til the very last game though. She was so proud that she got a medal (and really that she never has to play again, ha!)

GO PANTHERS!

Good Job TIGERS!

Little Ty missed very few games. He enjoyed being passed around and loved on by all the spectators. Here he is getting some attention from Mimi and Paw Paw. 

More Fall Fun

Here are some additional random things from the last month or so. I keep telling Kyle that I feel like I'm mentally stuck in August and September and that it is hard to wrap my mind around the fact that it is November... time for the holidays already?! We were also talking the other day about how nice of a "fall" we've actually had weather-wise. It has been WONDERFUL!

Our babies before church a few weeks back. Our other baby was probably asleep in the swing waiting for church time. 

After a soccer game last month, we went to the Loblolly Festival. These two actually made the newspaper eating their corndogs! TyTy stayed with Pammie for this day. It is soooo nice to have family to help with Little Bit, even though we still manage to drag him to LOTS of stuff ;)

Collin's class field trip to Mitchell Farms. He and Calvin are BFFs for sure.

This past week was Harvest Festival week at school. This meant dress up days for the kids and running around like crazy people for mommy and daddy :/  Collin's school had a Sock Hop on this day and B had school spirit day. Fun times!

The sock hop was adorable!! I was really proud of Collin participating. But I couldn't get any good pictures of him dancing from where I was standing. Boo!

Sister had a singing performance at Grandparent's Day at her school one day last month. It was very cute!

(I hate that this pic is sideways) Brantlee had her 6 month eye appointment last week in Jackson. She was SUCH a big girl when they put the "silly drops" in her eyes to dilate them. We don't have to go back for 1 year!! Yay! We enjoyed the day in Jackson with just our sweet girl even if it did involve an eye appointment :) 

Ty officially wins the easy baby award. I joke that he wakes up in a new spot after every nap, but in the last couple of weeks that has almost literally been the case.  He has been such a sweet sidekick on our adventures the last few weeks. 

We had some family pictures made last week. These are so hard to come by and we are so happy with how they turned out!

My next post will be a recap of our soccer season. And let's not forget we have a 4 month old in the house now...