Thanksgiving

We have SO VERY MUCH to be thankful for this year! Last year we were in the midst of a valley begging God to heal our little boy and make him healthy again. This year, we are on the mountaintop praising that same God for a beautiful home, a wonderful family AND a healthy little boy!!

Thanksgiving actually started a little early for us since LAST Sunday was our Thanksgiving dinner at church. NO LIE, there were 9 - 8' tables completely FULL of desserts that all the wonderful Baptist women cooked for the event. It took 10 women an hour to cut into all of the cakes and pumpking pies and pecan pies and organize the cookies and brownies. It was HEAVEN! (And Malachi enjoyed it too!!)

Here's Daddy and Mommy and Messy Mali!

When I say he was "stuffing" his face, I MEAN it! His FAVORITE Uncle Daniel (and, doesn't Kadi Jo look cute too??)
Whip Cream Face!

In preparation for Thanksgiving, I had been looking for some cute Thanksgiving desserts to make and found these at bakerella.com! So, I decided to try them, only as cheesecake balls instead of cake balls. Cousin Morgan and I worked at Aunt Dena's house for about 3 hours on them! We had so much fun and even though they don't COMPLETELY look like Bakerella's (a professional baker, might I add) I was pretty happy with them! Too bad they were so rich that you could only eat like 1/2 of one!!

What do you think?

Otherwise, Thanksgiving went SMASHINGLY!!! Thomas and I were in charge of the ham for the first.time.ever. But, I think it turned out pretty well! We cooked it in 3 cups of Apple Juice, 1 cup of orange juice and then 30 minutes before it was done, we smothered on a brown sugar/honey glaze!

Here's my handsome hubby carving the ham and my daddy carving the turkey! YUMMO!

We took lots of pictures...

Our family

Me and Cousin Mo-Mo

Malachi and Grandmommy

Malachi and Kadi yelling at Gracie - the Chihuahua who ran away with the hambone

Hannah, Kelly, Aunt Dena, Grandmommy, Lolli, Cousin MoMo and Me

...ate lots of yummy food, including the turkey balls...

Kadi and Karter ...and made it home to Lolli and Pops' house just in time to nap, watch the Cowboys play and admire Lolli's tree...
...from underneath... ...while it spun around! (Yes, their tree rotates...does it GET any cooler than that?)

And, finally, I leave you with a couple of pictures and a video of Malachi helping Lolli peel potatoes for her famous mashed potatoes!! (Hint - if you're reading this on facebook, please had over to http://www.tjandmallen.blogspot.com/ to see this video! It's TOO TOO CUTE!)

Halloween!

I'm a little bit late on posting this. I could go on and on about how busy I've been. I could tell you about my weekends and how crazy life has been. But, I won't. I'll just start from where I left off!!

Halloween this year was a BLAST! Malachi was sick for a few days before with Strep and the Flu, but, we got past it for Saturday's festivities and I'm SO glad that we did! We all decided to get together this year and take our kids trick-or-treating since they're all old enough (almost all of them, anyway) to have a good time!

So, we ALL met at Lolli's house before we commenced Trick-Or-Treating!! All the mommies were thinking that we needed to take pictures BEFORE we started just in case the babies gave up before the night was over!!

This is the best we could get (at least on my camera) - sorry Amanda, Austin wasn't having it! From L to R, (front) Malachi, Connor Cockrell, Austin Schoenenberger (back) Kadi Jo, Karter Lane, Carson Cockrell and Tyler Schoenenberger! And, yes, my son's diaper is showing, those buttons were stubborn!

Special thanks goes to Aunt Kelly for allowing Malachi to use Karter's 1st Halloween costume! He was a HIT! I'm telling you, they just don't come ANY cuter do they? (It's okay if you think the same about your kiddos...I won't mind!) Malachi and Connor - A BOOGER to get them to BOTH look at the camera...AT THE SAME TIME!!! Yes, his face is a little shiny. It was DRY and I lathered him up and APPARENTLY didn't get it all rubbed in. Ask anyone, we're pretty good about gettin' him all greasy!! (It's our secret to his pretty complexion!) A Boy of MANY Expressions!!

Me and My Baby Boy - the only person who knows what my heart feels like from the inside!!

So, who is we ALL, you ask? I've shown you the kids, now here's behind all those little monsters and superheroes! Pops, Kurt Cockrell, Daniel, Thomas, Carl Schoenenberger, Kelly, Tyler Schoenenberger, Carson Cockrell, Keela and Deann, Kadi Jo, Karter Lane, Lolli, Malachi, Amanda Schoenenberger, Austin, Melissa Cockrell and Me (behind the camera!)

We all piled in Pops' truck and headed over a few streets to where we KNEW the trick-or-treating would be at its best! But, first, we had to stop and see Donna at Ninny's house! (We miss you Ninny and we wish you were HERE!)

Connor and Malachi Trick-or-Treating at their VERY FIRST HOUSE EVER!

Emmalie, Aunt Donna and Frank...er, Malachi! We're so glad, Aunt Donna, that you got to be part of his first Trick-Or-Treating experience! We love you!

He caught on pretty fast!

Lolli and her little monsters!

This Frankenstein danced and sang Michael Jackson songs! Malachi danced and danced!

I just thought this was a cute angle!

Our protectors! I told them they looked like bouncers! (Or a parade float!)

And, finally, here's a couple pictures of Lolli all tricked out as Witchiepoo (Malachi was napping) and visiting Pops with Kadi and Karter (Post-Nap!)