Thanksgiving

Hopefully everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Ours was busy with Brandon's parents from Texas coming into town and we celebrate Thanksgiving with Brandon smoking a turkey (he is really obsessed with his smoker) and then head to Memphis for the day to eat again with some of Brandon's family over there. Then on Saturday we celebrate Christmas with Brandon's parents since they won't come back until after the baby is born and so Parkes could get the attention he deserves opening their presents so that is what the pictures below are from (don't really have any from the Thanksgiving festivities). Then the last picture is Parkes last night as we were cleaning out the closet in his room which I think he will forever refer to as his "new room". Sorry for the no pants, but last night as Brandon was changing Parkes diaper he announced that he needed to go peepee so they went to the bathroom and sure enough he went. So afterwards he wanted to put on his Shrek underwear and refused to put pants on, but then told us again when he needed to go and even fussed about putting on a diaper for bed. I was really excited as I have tried potty training several times over the last 8 months to only get screaming when it came time to go to the bathroom, but I should of known better as he has always needed to do things when he wanted to as if it was his idea and not yours. So this morning didn't go as well and ended up wetting his pants at Bible study, but at least he is interested in it so maybe I won't have two in diapers. Oh and a funny story from the week, we went and visited my grandparents right before Thanksgiving, and my grandmother has broken her foot and had a boot on her leg. Well the next day after our visit Parkes woke up telling me he had hurt his foot and needed to put his boot on. So for the whole day he wore one snow boot around the house and a sock on the other foot.

School Program

Well I actually did two posts in one day. Here are the pictures of Parkes at his school program. We had a Thanksgiving dinner beforehand which Parkes spent most of his time running around with his friends rather then eating. Then each class got up and sang 5 songs...we have it on video for anyone who wants to see just how cute it was.

Parkes has gotten really into thanking God for everyone and everything so I put up a "Thank You" tree which we felt was fitting to put up for how much love has been shown to us from family and friends that we wanted to make sure Parkes starts to understand the blessings that he has. So everyday Parkes adds someone or something else to his tree (I have to limit how many he can put up a day though because otherwise I would spend all day cutting out leaves for it).

And finally for a baby update...I had a doctor's appt today which I almost missed because I couldn't remember if it was this Monday or next but they didn't call to remind me like they always do so I figured it was next, but decided to call and check and happened to call right at the time of my appt so luckily it is just 5 mins down the street so I told them I was walking out the door which meant Parkes went with me in a very interesting outfit. The baby is good and size and heartbeat look right on, but they're a little worried I'm not getting enough protein so I get to start drinking Ensure at least every other day which I am not looking forward to on top of my added iron pill everyday. And as for the job hunt, Brandon's still interviewing with some of the same companies and some new companies...he's got two more this week and has been told from one company he is the guy that they will hire once they get the okay to hire another sales guy, but aren't sure when that will be. He has been very busy though doing handyman work which he enjoys that he hasn't been around the house too much. Thanks for all the prayers and please continue to pray.

Finally Pics of Upstairs

Okay well I had been asked awhile back from a friend to post pictures of the upstairs and Parkes' room, and I have been a very bad blogger lately. So here are pictures of half the upstairs (I will not post pictures of the bedroom side until I finally get through the mountain of clothes I am trying to weed through or Parkes' room until we get his new bed and furniture painted). We have been asked by several people about cutting cost on doing remodeling and although our most cost cutting tool was having Brandon do all the work which is not possible for everyone, here's a few tips. First, we saved tons by shopping on craigslist.com for building materials...we were able to get all the shingles, tar paper, carpet, and more from there were people had over bought for their remodels and would get it at a third of the cost or less (always check out the free section too you just never know what you'll find). Second, we took stuff like doors and trim out of houses that were being torn down for bigger house to go up which takes some labor time but you are recycling perfectly good materials. On that same note we tried to reuse everything we could from our house...some didn't happen like taking the oak planks from the roof to use as floors due to Brandon is just one person and time, but then we could resale the stuff we didn't use on craigslist to make some extra money for the new stuff. And thirdly, although not a huge savings but every little bit helps is "Ooops" Paint at Home Depot. It is how we paint our house and one of mine and Brandon's favorite things to go look at to see what colors are out there. It used to be much better when you could return any color if you didn't like it when you got home but they stopped that, but you still have the colors that are mixed wrong or the ones people don't pick up and can buy a $20 can of paint for $5. We just check out the colors everytime we are there until we find the color we were looking for which eventually shows up if your patient. Now these tips are not for those that need things done quickly as they do take patience and storing issues as you collect materials, but can drastically cut down the cost of renovating and remodeling. I put the picture of the bathroom to show the radius wall my extremely talented husband built (it might be hard to tell but the wall is a semicircle).

And then here are some pictures of Parkes painting canvas that are going into the baby's room. I am going to write some Bible verses over them so I'll take pictures of that when we get the baby's room completed. It is getting close, I got it painted chocolate brown the other day (don't worry I wore a mask and checked it out with my doctor before I painted). Parkes and Brandon flew to Houston last weekend to go see Brandon's mom so I had a quiet weekend to work on things and rest because we have 7 weeks left until this baby is here and I'm sure it will fly by with the holidays (actually I know it will as I had Parkes 3 years ago around this time, but like when I was pregnant with Parkes I have all my Christmas shopping completely done and actually wrapped...don't get too impressed if I weren't pregnant I would still be shopping Christmas Eve). Okay I do have more pictures to post from the week....Parkes had his first school program which was adorable and he did a great job singing which when he sings he sways back and forth the whole time so it was very funny. So I will get those pictures up as soon as I can, I'll try this afternoon, but no promises as we are still on dial-up internet so it either works or is too slow and I get frustrated and just get off the computer.

Thank You

I went to drop Parkes off at school this morning and realized I had forgotten my checkbook to pay for his monthly tution so was thinking to myself I needed to remember to bring it when I picked him up. And when I went to put his lunch in his cubby there ws a note for me, I opened it up and saw the word tution and then just folded it up not really thinking much of it because I knew I still needed to pay. So then as I was talking to the director on my way out she pointed to the note and said that she was not suppose to say anything about that which I thought was a little bit of an odd thing to say but I just said that I had forgotten my checkbook and I'd pay that afternoon. Which she responded no you didn't read the note, so then I opened it and saw that it said that his tution had been paid for Novemeber and immediately started crying. The director said she had been ordered not to tell us who had paid, but that we had very good friends. So thank you to whoever did this it means the world to us and to Parkes as he loves his school. It even made Brandon cry although I'm sure he doesn't want me telling people. It has been a very hard month on us and me being pregnant has not helped with my crazy emotions, but I know we'll get through it especially with such great family and friends. God has blessed us so much that I know he has a plan for this next part of our life that will be wonderful and better then we could ever imagine.

Trick or Treat

On Saturday we went up to Parkes' School for a Fall Fest and Trunk or Treat. He had a great time once he realized all the games resulted in him getting prizes. He, also, very much enjoyed Trunk or Treat but returned all candy to the people if it was not yellow (the yellow phase continues). Yesterday morning he had his Halloween party at school and I completely forgot to take my camera, but it was lots of fun with cupcakes and cookies with his friends. Then last night for Halloween we went over and meet his cousins, Abby James and Draper, at their grandparents house and my parents and sister came as well. Parkes had had a rough night and day with some asthma and allergy problems that only got worse when we got out in the cool air and he was running around from house to house so we only did a few stops before heading to the pharmacy to pick up some medicine. But we did get one funny story from the night where instead ofsaying "trick or treat" when one guy opened the door Parkes instead said, "I come in." And then proceed to let himself in and try to go up the stairs in their house as Abby James followed him in. Brandon went in and got them and luckily the people were really nice. Parkes' lastest thing is pointing out everyone's favorite football teams. He himself goes back and forth from his team being either Roll Tide or Hotty Toddy, but then he likes to point out the gators for Matt, Georgia for Keri (which he added Green Bay as one of her teams since they have a G on their helmets, Broncos for Ms. Laura (she's the only one that gets a ms. for some reason), and then he likes to tell us that "we don't like Nathan's team" whenever he sees a big orange T (sorry Tennessee fans but he's right, I still say they would be more likable if they would get rid of the prison orange color...there is just no need for that much of that color). I am very proud of some of the SEC schools for letting their bands wear t-shirts and khakis....i have been saying for a very long time that it is just cruel to make the band were those polester outfits for the heat and the looks so finally someone listened to me though I said they should wear polos and khakis. But I have noticed it on Ole Miss and Georgia's bands so far so hopefully everyone else will follow. Okay well enough of my random thoughts, I leave you with the best picture I got of Parkes and Abby James from last night (Abby James is the poodle and Parkes is in midcough).