For Thanksgiving we headed out to California this year to celebrate the holiday with Chris' uncle and aunt--J.D. and Paulette. Donna drove out with us on Tuesday night because we had big plans of hitting Legoland the day before Thanksgiving. It was a PERFECT day--65-70 degrees all day--and we had a fabulous time in a not-too-crowded park. The last time we came here (about 3 years ago) the boys hadn't hit the "Lego" phase yet so they didn't appreciate all the structures as much. This time all the kids were "WOWED" but this place. The boys now want to work at Legoland when they grow up--in the construction area. How fun would it be to play with legos all day right?!
We spent the entire day there--from open to close. We did NOT bring a stroller this time and Tatum was a champ:) Ahhh...no more strollers for us:) Oh happy days:)
Carlie and I were "Matchers" on this day:)
RIDES! RIDES! RIDES!!! We actually got Ethan on a few roller coasters this time! We're slowly curing him of his "roller coaster allergy:)"
The Meekers are HUGE HUGE HUGE fans of "Veggie Tales" and have been since Carlie was a baby. All of our kids have grown up watching the videos and LOVING the music--Phil Vischer and Mike Naworki (the creators) are GENIUS! Even today, in all my carpooling, the kids ALWAYS ask for "Veggie Tales"--yes...even the 6th graders in my CTA carpool:)
So anyways, I just happened to see an ad for a new Christian book store opening up right near our home and that Bob the Tomato and Larry the Cucumber were going to be there!!! We had a million things going on today BUT we made SURE that we would be there to meet Bob and Larry!!! So here we are meeting a couple of our personal heros:) (YES!!! Chris and I were equally as excited to get our picture taken with them:)
This is only the BIGGEST holiday for the Meeker family! It's probably because our #3 kid is absolutely CRAZY about costumes and anything to do with spookiness:) To Max, everyday is Halloween and he wants to be "Jack Skellington" when he grows up. We had all our decorations out by September 15--that's as long as the kids would let me hold off:)
We had our "Spooky Town" up--that we add a new piece to every year (this year it was the train--the R.I.P Railroad:)
Pumpkins are a MUST! The kids always get first pick at their Papa Frank's pumpkin patch in NM--pumpkins are his main crop:) Not many people know that Chris is an AMAZING artist--he won several art contests in high school--and so he and the kids scour the internet searching for their PERFECT pumpkin design. Chris then pulls out a few power tools--electric saw and dremmel--and creates the most amazing works of art!!!
Pumpkin cleaning:
The Pumpkin Master (in a pink apron?!?!):
Carlie's Pumpkin:
Ethan's Pumpkin:
Max's Pumpkin:
Tatum's Pumpkin:
All 4 of dad's masterpieces:
Here's my kiddos all decked out:
Carlie: Dead Prom Queen
Ethan: Howler
Max: Wicked Jester
Tatum: a CUTE black kitty
I had a little bit of a sad realization this year....Carlie wanted to go Trick-or-Treating with her friends INSTEAD of us:( Oh well...bring on the teenage years:( All good. She went Trick-or-Treating with one of her best friends, Maddie J.B. Just look at these BEAUTIFUL girls!!! The other 3 stuck with good ol' mom and dad:)
Tatum rode her bike from house to house:
Here's the boys with all their loot:
Suddenly Max shouts out: "HEY!!! I got a text from GOD!" And yes...sure enough, some weirdo decided to hand out these Christian/inspirational booklets instead of candy!!! I'm gonna watch out for that next year:) And what did Max's text say? "cmndmnt 10: dnt ogle ur bff"s m8 or stuff. myob." TRANSLATION: Commandment 10:Don't oggle your best friend's mate or stuff. Mind your own business." I'm guessing this suppose to be "Don't covet your neighbor's spouse." SERIOUSLY?!?! WHO has time to create this stuff?!?! So here are my confused boys:
Whew!!! We made it through our 2nd major show!!! Carlie auditioned for "Copperstar Repertory Co" back in August and made the first show! We were excited to be branching out and trying new things. This show, "Bye, Bye Birdie" is set back in the 1950s and is centered around a SUPER hunky/talented singer, Conrad Birdie, (much like Elvis Presley) who is drafted into the army and so his managers decide to send him out with a BANG! They write a hit song, "One Last Kiss" and pick one lucky Conrad Birdie fan club member to get his "last kiss." SOOOO FUNNY and SOOO entertaining! The music is SUPER catchy, we've been singing it for weeks:) Carlie was in the Youth Ensemble and had soo much fun doing what she LOVES to do...singing, dancing, performing! They performed 7 shows over 2 weekends. Carlie voice was SHOT for a few days in between but she recovered quickly and is back to singing ALL day EVERY day:)
This is Carlie with super hot "Conrad" (a.k.a Josh who is a senior at Highland High School). Carlie got to "faint" over him MANY times:)
Here is Carlie with some of her theater friends: (these girls were in "Annie" with her this past summer: Carlie and Kayleah W.:
Carlie and Savannah P.:
Other cast members: Teen Ensemble:
Boys:
Last night, last show:
Chris' company was hired to film this production and since Chris did all the editing, I have access to the whole show:) This is one of my most favorite scenes--"Honestly Sincere": (Carlie is on the far left--hard to see but he's goes over to sign an autograph for her:) Just LOVE LOVE LOVE this song!!!
This is my MOST favorite Halloween poem that Mrs. Packer has her kids do in preschool. I have my boys recorded reading this and so I JUST HAD to record Tatum too:)
Things are a little crazy right now at our home. We currently have my mother-in-law living with us as she finishes out her chemo treatments for breast cancer that came up this year. SOOO...we couldn't really have a big party with lots of little kids and all their cute little germs running around in our home:) But Tatum was completely fine with this as she ONLY wanted her two best friends at her party anyways! So right after preschool on Friday, I took Tatum, Natalie P., and Chloe V. (the BFFs) to McDonalds for a quick little celebration! The girls were SOO excited about the party that they sang "Happy Birthday to Tatum" all the way TO school and then all the way TO McDonalds. SUPER CUTE!!! Love these little girlies:
After McDs, we came back to our home so that they could play a little and eat pink cupcakes!!!
And guess WHO showed up for a surprise visit?!?! MRS. PACKER!!! AHHH!!! She was like a celebrity here! The girls kept hugging her and sitting in her lap:) They LOVE their preschool teacher and it was SOO sweet of her to stop by. AND she brought lip gloss for ALL of them:)
It's all about the lips:)
Later that night, we had a little family party at Tatum's favorite restaurant--T.G.I.Fridays. She got to open the rest of her presents there and the best part was being the CENTER of attention as the whole waiter/waitressing crew sang to her! DANG she sure is cute!!!
And OF COURSE her siblings were HAPPY to help her finish her birthday dessert:)
The sixth grade at CTA host an Egyptian fair every year. It was funny because we knew this was coming up so Carlie was Cleopatra LAST Halloween so that we would already have the costume for this year:) Anyways...I learned a TON from this fair!!! History never ceases to amaze me. The girls had so much fun dressing up like Cleopatra even though her life was sad and tragic. But just look at these beautiful girls who are SOOO grateful that they never had to marry their brothers:)
This is the Meeker family residing in beautiful, sunny Chandler, AZ. Chris and I have 4 beautiful kids: Carlie (23), Ethan (21), Maxwell (18), and Tatum (16). Thanks for stopping by:)
