Let's just squeeze this in before December...

I LOVE Thanksgiving. It has always been all about God, family, food and football. And being thankful for all of those things ... in that precise order. My mom always made it special with her "Spare no frills" Thanksgiving day lunch, and creating an obsession in me for that great "cooked all night" turkey smell on Thanksgiving morning, not to mention just the satisfaction of us all at home together. My Daddy was famous for his ability to make enough spots in our cozy family room for any family that might appear and about 4 TVs. We'd cook, watch the Macy's parade, cook, watch football, cook, watch more football, eat, .... Thanksgiving was always a big deal and I am fighting Malls and commercials to keep it that way. Therefore Christmas is not talked about until Thanksgiving night or you get "thumped" on the ear. I am sure this particular little tradition will be one of the top ten in my children's "The Stupid Things My Mom Used to Do List".
I am bound and determined for my children to have the same warm fuzzy/somewhat bizarre obsessions and memories that I have. So, after all the Scarecrow parades and Thanksgiving "Feasts" at school were over, indescribable joy exploded at the Cox house due to the promise of no school for 5 days and the hopes of family, food and football... and as "The Reverend" always says... that great smell you wake up to on Thanksgiving morning when the turkey has been cooking all night. And, yes, he has had me cook a turkey all night even when we were going to be at someone else's house for dinner. I knew I married the right guy! I just know in all my efforts that one day down the road my grown children will be sitting around the Thanksgiving table laughing about their lives and memories and perhaps.... sharing the aforementioned list.

And then there is Grace....

Our first daughter, Grace Elizabeth, turned eight on November 5th. These pictures of her pretty much tells it all. Grace absolutely loves life. She loves school, she loves church, she loves being with her friends, she loves being with her family. She thinks tests are fun and soccer is even better.She loves to talk.. and talk ... and talk.... and talk.... She loves hot dogs and veggies (shout out to Aunt Angie) and anything sweet. Did I mention she loves anything sweet.... She is not a fan of the tomato sauce but "deals" with spaghetti night as she must in a family of six on a budget. She loves road trips to Waco and continues to be a big Baylor fan even after the many disappointments suffered this football season - I keep telling her she will get used to it! She loves spending the night with Mimi and PawPaw and I am sure "Always ice cream all around " has nothing to do with it.
Her best guy is her daddy with that good ole' PawPaw coming in at a close second. She would rather eat dirt than let any of us down and as sweet and gentle and girly as she is, the words, "Grace - don't hurt your brother" (Jackson) have come out of our mouth. She can get down and dirty with the best of them and makes a great tag team wrestling partner in the floor of the family room.
Of course she is a joy and light of our lives. When I look at her I see ... Kevin much dainiter and prettier, of course. She is one of the five biggest blessings from God in my life wrapped up in its own specific style .... even on spaghetti night... that's just Grace.

Keeping up....

Ok, so I am a bit behind but I just can't let the birthday party and Grace's birthday get by me. As you can see the girls' decided on an American Girl party. They each got to take a friend and I got to take Mimi, Aunt Angie and Olivia. My favorite part of the entire day had to be when some strange woman literally shrieked as she walked by us because the "baby doll" that Grace was holding actually moved it's head. Grace was holding Olivia - who, as usual, was all smiles! It was a great "luncheon" out with my girls. Sigh... how can they be 6 and 8. Wasn't it just yesterday when....

Birthdays... Round One!

Here at the Chaos we do birthdays in rounds due to the fact that in our immediate family of 6 we all have birthdays about 2 weeks apart. However, it is divided into two separate rounds (surely for my sanity). The Fall round - which we just concluded is comprised of Maddie (oct.3rd), Daddy (oct.22nd) and Grace, (Nov. 5th). So, if you will bear with me, we will go consecutively for the next few blogs giving everyone their own seperate blog so that when I am blamed on down the road for their need for years of therapy I can atleast say, "Yeah, maybe so, but on your birthday I wrote about you in your very own blog." Does it matter that it was a month later?.... nah.

We begin... with Madeline Kate Cox. On October 3rd, "Pixie" turned 6 years old and still has not seemed to grow into those ginormous blue eyes! She can cling to anyone and anything like a spider monkey (a name given to her at age 2 by her Aunt Sarah), and, according to her Daddy, has her mother's temperment (God Be With Her!) She started Kindergarten this year and continues to crack us up with her endless curiousity about how things work and and why everyone around her doesn't see things her way... the "more right" way. Her best friend is her sister and her best "fenemy" is her older brother. Her best "guy" is her Daddy with her Paw-Paw running a close second. She loves bling, babies,(no way) spaghetti, vanilla ice cream, shoes, anything miniature, and anything messy. She does not like being hot (shout out to Auntie Ang), cheese, or getting up too early.

Maddie is a joy and, of course, a love of my life. My favorite thing about her is her uncharacteristic deep voice laugh. It's contagious. When I look at her I do see God's perfect design, my dad's chicken legs, and amazing blessings that I will never have deserved.

Halloween Hangover...

I don't know about you but I am glad it is November. With all the festivities of school and the "Corner Carnival" (psycho chaos where we gave away 600 bags of candy in under 2 hrs.) that happened in my front yard on Saturday night I can securely say that I am glad October is behind us.October always begins with the joyous occasion and celebration of Maddie's birthday but then takes a total heck raising dive (Kevin won't let me type H---) into what our sweet Mimi calls "The Devil's Holiday". (I honestly can't even type that without laughing outloud - and if you know Paula Cox, picture it - then neither can you.) And, let it be known that she grins and giggles and whoops it up just as much as anyone when she and PawPaw are in charge of the Vista Church Halloween night Hayride.

So, with all that behind us, the girls and I are going to clean the orange and black nail polish off our toes and move the whole family on to November - a month of thanks. Curious... is it possible that November is the month of "Thanks" because we are ALL SO STINKING GLAD THAT HALLOWEEN IS OVER! Praise Jesus!!!! (not the devil)