Thanksgiving-So what is "normal" anyway?

Reid and I are always doing some sort of art project...and November was definitely no different. We started making Reid an Indian headdress and then we thought "what fun would it be if the whole family dressed up like Indians and Pilgrims!" Why not? We really got into it and Reid told us all the Thanksgiving story. Shot and Grammie came to the house for lunch and you could just imagine their surprise as we opened the door. We had a great day. We could not be more thankful for all of our family. We know we are so fortunate and blessed. That weekend we went to Iola and visited everyone. The boys played outside the entire time we were there. They come in for food and sleep only. (Reid thinks he's a country boy when he is there!) Sunday we went and picked out our Christmas tree. Of course it is a little over the top at 9 feet tall...but hey, what have you come to expect? The place was great. They had Christmas music playing and there was a petting zoo for the kids. We came home and got to decorating... There are some pictures below. Photos of all of our Christmas decorations will follow soon.



The Family
"Pilgrims and Indians"

Peace

Now this is one upset Indian!


"Round Rock"
(Reid's Indian name)
These goats were trying to eat our pants...

Reid liked the little donkeys.

Lots of ornaments near the bottom!

Hope you all are having a great holiday season!

We love this time of year.

Reid's short answers...

I saw this on someone's blog and I thought it would be cute from time to time. Out of the mouths of babes, or so they say... I will give you a short story that fits before we do our
Q and A.

Brian and I went to Reid's Thanksgiving lunch at school last week. (Of course the food was scrumptious... ha ha). Anyway...I was standing in line with Reid and it was crowded. The cutest little girl in front of us with braids looked at me and said "I am sad, my Mom and Dad never come to anything." This of course broke my heart because I know what it is like as a parent... you do the absolute best you can do. I told her "I know your parents want to be here sweetie...if they could be, I know they would." Reid speaks up LOUDLY... "Maybe your parents are just lazy!" I quickly exited stage right and went back to sit by Brian...

Here are Reid's (5yrs) responses to random questions:
Q. What is your favorite part of living where you do?

A. Ummm. I would say my favorite chair because it's soooo comfy.


Q. What do trains carry?

A. Trailers (As he looks at me like I am from another planet for not knowing...)


Q. What do police do?

A. Keep people from speeding. (BRIAN, YOU REALLY SHOULD SLOW DOWN...)


Q. Where do gas stations get gas?

A. From another station that makes it. I think... You?


Q. If you could do anything for a day, what would you do?

A. Probably travel around the world.


Q. What is your favorite holiday?
A. Christmas.

Q. Why?
A. Because we get presents. It's Jesus's birthday. Mom, that's true isn't it?

AND I ASSURE HIM...OF COURSE!!!! AND THAT IS THE REASON FOR THE SEASON.


He lives... We love you all.

NBA or Top Chef...just another night at the Route's

Brian had a game against A&M Consolidated tonight. I just got a text from Brian and he said they won by 4. According to his text, Consol was very physical and it was a great game. We are always so proud of Dad. We hope his Tigers have an AWESOME season!

Here at the house, it was business as usual. Reid "cooked" his own special concoction. (not sure exactly what it is, but I give him a ton of ingredients and he mixes and adds until his heart is content.) This is a HUGE deal for him. He loves it. So is a chef his first choice for his lifetime career?....hey, whatever makes him happy!

In the meantime, Rhett and I were playing Thomas the Train cards and seeing who could make the funniest face. Here are some pics of our night together. We miss you Dad!!!!

Wurstfest is BestFest

This is year 2 of going to Wurstfest in New Braunfels for my birthday. We had a great time again. Deb and Chad, our neighbors, went with us and I also was able to meet up with some people from work. It was a great time with awesome food and music!


Brian's parents watched the kids and Brian and I enjoyed some time with just one another. As usual, BR ate too much!!!

I just thought Brian looked great. Can you believe he's 41?

Even though Brian and I had a great time, less than 24 hours away from the boys...all that I could talk about was missing them. We decided that we would go get the boys early and take them to Wurstfest on the way home to experience the German music and food. We had a great time!

Reid absolutely loved the porkchop on a stick, the potato pancakes, the funnel cake.... I have decided that maybe I should start putting our dinner on a stick and the boys will eat it all.

Rhett got really upset when the food ran out and he dropped (or threw) his roll....

Round and round on the Merry Go Round....

Reid and Rhett came home from San Antonio with a kid size Snuggie. Snuggie socks included! Reid has worn his every night since. Their Great Pa Pa Jackson bought them for the boys, which was very sweet...

It is so nice that when our little Roo Roo gives you kisses now, they are not the open mouth, lean forward type... They are the actual "Pucker Up" kind!!!!

Still love our kisses from our "big" boy too....

Sit back, relax, and enjoy the Route...

What a month full of family and fun...!

October 17 was Dad's birthday. The family loaded up and went to Iola. It was a great time. We went to their Halloween carnival and Reid explored the outdoors as always. Here is our latest find. A very fat green worm thing. (My Dad got home from church and threw it over the fence. I am fairly confident that if we had not been there, he would have smashed it all together...but he was being nice to Reid...) Apparently it eats plants and flowers... He said one day it would be a moth. I am a true country girl. Can't help it ..... it's in my roots! Grammy and Shot were soooo nice to come down and help me out with Reid's fall festival at his school. Brian had a football game, so I was on my own. I love my in-laws...they watched the kiddos so I could help in Reid's class booth. We had a great time. Grammie retired this year, so we figured she had a couple more Fall Festivals in her....

Reid is in soccer this fall... He is playing with his friend Gavin, which is our old neighbor... He is having a good time... Here he is with his Mohawk which he has been dying to have!

Playing goalie...his favorite spot. Can you blame him? Definitely the least confrontational....

We have been looking forward to Halloween for quite some time. It is a HUGE event around our house. Reid decided a few months ago that he wanted to be a tiger. Easy enough you say? Not so much... Unless you are 18 months, being a Tiger is not an option. Long story short, I made the costumes. Reid and Rhett were both thrilled in the end. I love showing my creative side...

Courtney, Steven, and Landyn came down to hang out with us. Landyn was Handy Manny and he was too cute. We had an awesome time trick or treating. We are always so thankful for family and that the boys get to hang out with their cousin.

On a side note, Rhett we a RIOT. He was of course afraid of NOTHING and wanted to go up to every house on his own. He said "Tick or Teat" and "Fank You" at each home. This one is motivated by....SUGAR!!!

Reid was great as usual and had a blast!!!! He was in "Tiger" character the whole night.

Following are pictures from the night...

Trick or Treat... Sure is sweet!!!! We love you all.

Buckle Your Seatbelt...

I apologize in advance for not updating for over a month. This was one of my fears when I started, but I am not going away! Following, you will find a snapshot of the Route Family over the last month...hope you enjoy as much as we did.



Let's start with Labor Day. About as far from labor as you could get. Courtney graciously came over and hung out with me. (I was kind of having a rough go...) The boys had a great time and in the end all ended up Super Heroes. Well, Rhett was kind of "Super"...he was a Pirate! Boy, the sisters are going to kill me on this one. I am going back on my word big time...but hey, I have to. MOM TURNED 60!!! Courtney and Tracey both had eye infections and swore off photos, but oh well. We love you Mom, you're always 45 to us. Boy, that will be weird soon when I look up and I am 46!

My brother in law, Steven, and I played in a "couples" golf tourney. Shoes should always make the blog, right? I know, I know....he wins with these.

Can you believe Brian commented on my tan here??? He is one to talk!

Landynn turned 3 in Sept!!! OTW home this creature was crossing the road. Inevitably, Brian hit the brakes and we all had to take a look. EEEHHH... We were just glad that my dad was not with us. He would have picked it up.

HUGE news at the Route House. REID ROCKED OUT!!! Maybe not what all 5 year old are in to...but hey, it's great for hand eye coordination. Here's to Guitar Hero. Good Night Austin!

We had a BBQ with some of Reid's old friends from Cornerstone. They are each in their own schools now in their Kindergarten class, but we hope they will always remain friends. They are a great group and we had a really fun time catching up. (Reid thinks Caroline, the girl with the straw, is the best friend ever...)!

And now for the biggest event of the month... THOMAS THE TRAIN came to Burnett!!! Be still Rhett's crazy beating heart. He was pumped. This is the ultimate for him. If you so much as tried to touch his train hat, you would probably at the minimum lose a finger. Here we are at Aunt Courtney's before heading out.

Me and my boys. It was raining and freezing, but that wasn't stopping our parade!

Just thought this was a kind of a cool picture of the boys. They enjoyed looking out the window and we had them open the window for the 2nd half of the ride, which Reid enjoyed.

Oh no....he's NOT camera shy. (Grammy has taken more than 500,000 pics since he was born...he's what we refer to as a natural.)

This was a heart breaker. Rhett saying goodbye to his current Hero. He really loves that train!

It was a fun time had by all... It was special to share with cousin Landynn, who is a Thomas lover as well. (Reid let us know from the beginning that he was just there for the "little" boys.) I remind you that he is 5.

Done.... Wee Wee Wee... all the way home.

Just another month with the Route's... I noticed, as well as I am sure you did, that Brian's photo did not make the blog. They are all still off at the photo lab getting photo shopped... J/K, truth be told, he is worse than a female and always says that "there is absolutely no way he could be that fat" and tries to delete them. He really just wasn't there for many of these. We will make sure you see him on the next blog. I'll get him! We love you all...

In line at Starbucks....

when I heard the news Sept. 11, 2001. I am certain you remember the day as clearly as I. This day is a day that makes me reflect and re-evaluate. What is important? Where are your priorities? Do you truly appreciate what you have? Most importantly...where is your relationship with God? Live each day as it is the last, love openly, laugh often...

A poem of reflection on this day:

On Monday We E-mailed Jokes (Author Unknown)

On Monday we emailed jokes.
On Tuesday we did not.
On Monday we thought that we were secure.
On Tuesday we learned better.
On Monday we were talking about heroes as being athletes.
On Tuesday we relearned who our heroes are.
On Monday we were irritated that our rebate checks had not arrived.
On Tuesday we gave money away to people we had never met.
On Monday there were people fighting against praying in schools.
On Tuesday you would have been hard pressed to find a school where someone was not praying. On Monday people argued with their kids about picking up their room.
On Tuesday the same people could not get home fast enough to hug their kids.
On Monday people were upset that they had to wait 6 minutes in a fast food drive through line.
On Tuesday people didn't care about waiting up to 6 hours to give blood for the dying.
On Monday we waved our flags signifying our cultural diversity.
On Tuesday we waved only the American flag.
On Monday there were people trying to separate each other by race, sex, color and creed.
On Tuesday they were all holding hands.
On Monday we were men or women, black or white, old or young, rich or poor, gay or straight, Christian or non-Christian.
On Tuesday we were Americans.
On Monday politicians argued about budget surpluses.
On Tuesday grief stricken they sang 'God Bless America'.
On Monday the President was going to Florida to read to children.
On Tuesday he returned to Washington to protect our children.
On Monday we had families.
On Tuesday we had orphans.
On Monday people went to work as usual,
On Tuesday they died.
On Monday people were fighting the 10 commandments on government property.
On Tuesday the same people all said 'God help us all' while thinking 'Thou shall not kill'.

It is sadly ironic how it takes horrific events to place things into perspective, but it has. The lessons learned this week, the things we have taken for granted, the things that have been forgotten or overlooked, hopefully will never be forgotten again.
Author Unknown


Love you all!!! (stand by for a lighter blog this weekend....:) )

No big surprise...

Well, you know that there is never a "normal" event around here. I let you see Rhett's party. Now for the rest of the story... Throughout the party, we kept hearing what we thought was a baby bird crying loudly for it's mother up high in the tree above our back porch. We figured out at the end of the day when my mom, sisters and I were relaxing out back that it indeed was not a bird, but a very tiny baby squirrel hanging on for dear life. What to do? Courtney panicked and said we should call Diego. We mothers should really get out more... We went in to tell the guys about our finding. Dad, whom I will not reveal his actual age...but let's just say OVER 60, proceeds to shimmy himself up the tree. It is about 50 feet at least. He gets the squirrel and climbs higher and puts it back in what we think is his nest. Yeahh! The squirrel is saved...or so we think.

An hour goes by. Reid, Madison and I are playing croquet in the backyard when what falls from the sky? You got it...the baby squirrel. We then decided we would care for him until nighttime and leave him out for his mother to find. She didn't... I woke and went directly outside to find we still had our little "rat". I googled "what do I do with a baby squirrel that I found" and God willing in this crazy technological world we live in, I found a "Squirrel Lady" . After a lengthy conversation with Reid about how Alvin (yes he already had a name) would have a better life with an actual squirrel expert than with us, we drove him into Austin and delivered him to his new home. God bless Alvin...God bless the Squirrel Lady...and God bless this crazy life that we love...