A post-Thanksgiving musing

Do you ever feel like time is just FLYING by? I mean, yeah, yeah, we all know that "time flies" is a big old cliche, maybe even one of the very biggest cliches. But sometimes I look at my kids, and I think, "Whoa. When did this all happen?"

Case in point: I took William to the dentist earlier this week. The dentist and I were discussing how his permanent teeth were coming in, and I was asking him if I should be worried about how crowded his lower jaw seems to be with these big new teeth coming in. The dentist said no, he's still young, but then he noted that I should probably thinking about finding an orthodontist in another year or two. Braces. We're already starting to think about braces for my sweet little baby. Braces! For a child who just yesterday was standing in his crib in footie pajamas with tousled blonde baby hair and hollering at the top of his lungs, "MOMMY. Come open my DOOR, please!" It seems so close, so recent.

Hmm, perhaps that's because my other baby actually WAS doing that very thing just a couple of days ago. But then, Andrew has an ace in his pocket that William never had. He's got a big brother who is more than willing to come liberate him from his crib so he'll have someone to play with.

I walked out of my bedroom a couple of mornings ago and thought that I heard voices from behind the closed door of the playroom. And that's because I was hearing voices, and no, they weren't all in my head. William had somehow managed to get Andrew out of his crib all by himself. Later, when the boys realized I was awake, Andrew bopped down the stairs to look for me. "Hi, Mommy, hi!" he said cheerfully. Footie pajamas, check. Tousled blonde hair, check.

When William appeared a few moments later, I asked him in a mock serious voice, "So did you change Andrew's diaper for him?" William paused, thinking I was serious. "Welllllll, no," he admitted. "Why not?" I asked. William furrowed his brow and thought about this. "I can't do that!" he finally said, throwing up his hands.

At any rate, he is cracking me up these days. Six going on 26. And on a seasonal note, I was very very thankful this year on Thanksgiving for my lovely little boys. I'm so fortunate to have them and their daddy. I'm grateful for all of my family members. And how terrific was it that we had a big turkey dinner at our house this year, and my Grandaddy Bill got to come along? We had a 92-year age range, from Andrew to Grandaddy.

Here are a few photos....this first one was taken outside of The Meadows. William and I went to have Thanksgiving lunch with Grandaddy and my parents and brother, and then everyone came to our house later for dinner.

And here's one of Diane with William, after we had all stuffed ourselves.

This was the first year we had to have a Grown Ups Table and a Kids Table. The adults who sat in the dining room got to use my good china and the crystal, while the kids (and the adults) who sat at the Kids Table in the kitchen got stuck with the everyday stuff.

One little brother with another! Andrew showed his Uncle Mark how to be a turkey and gobble gobble gobble. William has been singing "The Turkey Trot" for days now, and Andrew has learned just enough of it to be hilarious.

The weekend after Thanksgiving is one of my favorites. We visited with some friends, and I took the boys to see Santa at the nearby garden center. Of course the day that Santa visited, it was about 35 degrees outside, and the Santaland exhibit was in a little uninsulated gazebo thing where you could see your breath. This picture was about as good as I could get under the conditions.

For the record---and I'm sure this will shock exactly no one--both boys want Legos for Christmas. I asked Andrew what he wanted for Christmas, in fact, and he said, "Wegos! Andrew's Wegos!" So I asked him what he wanted to get William for Christmas, and naturally the answer was "Wegos! William's Wegos!"