Giving Thanks

We have much to be thankful for at Myers house. And any holiday that encourages eating is definitely hip in my book. Jackson started the day with the traditional football game at church. Check out that shiner under his eye. This ain't your grandma's touch football game.

The men of the church get together every Thanksgiving morn to toss that pigskin. Three fields full of men. Having some fun before the big bird.

John cooks our feast with a little help from Erin.

Later in the weekend we took advantage of some amazingly warm sunny weather to hike

some trails. This trail has a real name. But we call it the tick trail. Cause in the summer it's so full of ticks you can't really use it.

The Pioneer Woman Part 2

When a blogger blogs about another blogger does the world collapse like one of those strange optical illusion posters. Monday I met the Pioneer Woman. The inspiration behind 100's of blogs and the face responsible for the documentation of the Myers house for the past two years. 20 years from now families across the country will have her to thank for those pictures of the sixth grade science project, the dog on the night that it hailed so bad that he stood on the back of the couch, and their young nieces on the very day they stuffed Barbie salt and pepper shakers up their noises. Yes, documentation is good.

The big book signing attracted bookoos of women. Ree kept it from getting stuffy by bringing along her two boys. Who kept it real, by being boys. If you look very carefully you can see me in this picture. I'm in that mustardy colored green sweater that is right underneath the women's nose on the right.

When I went to see Oprah last summer my left elbow was featured on the show. This time it's my right boob. I don't know where this is headed.

By the way supper tonight was Marlboro Man's Favorite Sandwich, a cubed steak sandwich with fried onions (page 88 of the cookbook) that was perfect for this drab, gray rainy Wednesday. The Pioneer Woman Cooks is available on Amazon.

The Pioneer Woman

Deb and I saw Ree Drummond aka The Pioneer Woman at a book signing on the Plaza. (www.pioneerwoman.com) I read her blog religiously every day so it was a real hoot to see her in the flesh. She even brought along Marlboro Man and her two boys.

It's a little strange to know so much about someone, and yet never have meet them. It feels like stalking.

The event sold out. And her new cookbook is a New York Times Best Seller! You go girl.

Birthdays and Milestones

It's been a month of milestones here at Myers House. Jackson had the gall to turn 14. FOURTEEN already! We celebrated by taking the posse to Dave & Busters.

Which is like a casino for teenagers. Featuring every sort of arcade and virtual game imaginable. I tried the virtual boxing, and couldn't raise my arms for 3 days. And I got my face morphed into a cat in one of those photo booths. And for the record I can't imagine why 14 year olds are a tad embarrassed of their mama's. The boys held their own basketball tournament.

Later in the month we celebrated the 4th birthday of pirate Ben. My cousin Angie went all out with a Halloween themed party. It was a riot.

My Mom has turned into a party animal in her retirement. She had the best costume at the party. The kiddos trick or treated throughout the house and Mom was stationed to give out some silly straws. She'd moved the walker so the kids could get through.

But the most memorable milestone in the past month was on the field on a Friday night. Our own Nick dressed out for the last varsity game of the year. I could not have been prouder watching him as a freshman run onto the field.

I'm proud of both these guys. That varsity jersey was earned with an enormous amount of sweat, grit and talent.

Mustang Football

Myers house is focused on football. Lots of football. 7 days a week football. Games. Practices. High school games. Chiefs games. Patriots games. Get the picture? The Myers men are particularly enjoying this season. The lone Myers woman is getting used to it.

A couple weeks ago Jackson won our local punt, pass and kick competition. So we've been practicing. Remember how Lucy pulled the ball away from Charlie Brown every single time. I understand Lucy a lot better these days. Making Jackson's accomplishments even more noteworthy. He's a lineman. Those are not lineman skills. He never touches the ball - except in the case of a fumble when things have went very wrong.

The Mustangs have done very well this season. The team is having fun. (Mustang photos courtesy of team photographer Rhonda Upman)

The Mustangs have quite a fan club. Grandma and Grandpa, Aunt Debbie, Lauren & Erin. Friends that we've known since the boys were toothless kindergartners. Erin doesn't know about seventy seven, she just knows that her Jackson is the one with the two 7's on his back.

Then most Friday nights we watch high school football. Last night John helped compile stats. They called out numbers and Bill wrote them all down then went home and entered them into a spread sheet which is reported to coaches sometime after midnight. It's all a big deal this football.

a hauntingly good project

Lauren and Erin hung out with me the other night. We did all sorts of fun things. Including making this hauntingly fun craft project. First we painted our feet (in the bathroom with a tub of bubbles waiting for obvious reasons)

Then you make scary footprints on black construction paper. Add a drop of black paint for the eyes and presto instant keepsake.

I did this with Jackson when he was in preschool and we still have those sweet little ghost feet in his keepsake box.

Fore

Jackson has taken a new hobby, and true to it's nature he's hooked. The past few weekends he's been learning to golf. It started innocently enough with a few rounds of miniature golf. Then it progressed to the driving range. Last weekend we played a fun little 'Par 3' course.

The boys have really gotten the hang of it.

Me? I get to move and hold the flag. And keep the score. And laugh when someones very wayward shot nearly whacks Jackson in the head. Then we heard this very soft 'sorry' from some where far away. And laughed even harder.