What a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend we had and so much to be thankful for! Our health, family and great friends but most of all the outdoor, electric deep fryer!
We started off the night before with a sleepover at our house...for the kids :) It was Mama and Papa's turn for a night out and with Grandmama and Poppy in South Carolina for the holiday, we were forced to hire a sitter for the night. We were quick on the draw and got the most popular sitter amongst our friends, Jessica, two weeks prior to Thanksgiving Eve. So when the weekend before rolled around 2 others called on her and quickly found out that she was already booked. It was decided then, since we were all going out to the same place that night and for the same amount of time, we would ask Jessica come over to our house with a friend to babysit all 4 kids...Isabelle, Mackenzie, Roxy and Jazzy. The night went off without a hitch, the kids were great, we all rode in a party bus to Mulligans, which was a blast, and we had our babysitters back to Jessica's house by 1:30am....don't worry, I was the responsible one that night :) We wound up having a sleep over of our own with the Price's in the downstairs bedroom with their girls and Mikee, Amber and Johnny asleep in the living room on our new couch and one in the recliner! It was too funny!
Vanessa, Amber and Mikee getting the "deep fried goodies" ready.
But let me tell you, 8am rolled around really quick and we were up and at 'em with scrambled eggs, bacon and donuts to start Thanksgiving off right! Out came the deep fryer, crock pot and industrial mixer for the Owston contribution to the Thanksgiving feast. We had so much good food and people came prepared to deep fry. We had mozzarella sticks (deep fried string cheese), zucchini, rolls, bananas, sweet potatoes, onion rings, pears (thanks Tara), mac and cheese, these Puerto Rican rice balls, a 13 lb. turkey and 2 turkey breasts that were infused with all sorts of spices and to top of the end of the night....chocolate cake (nasty)! Isabelle wanted nothing to do with the turkey or stuffing but loved Auntie Nessa's (Vanessa) macaroni and cheese, my crock pot sweet potatoes and the deep fried ones, corn and of course, Papa's rolls.
Papa deep frying Vanessa's macaroni and cheese....mmmmm, good!
Tia Tara and the turkey
Friday we hung around at home so Tia Tara and Isabelle could play together while we got the house back together. And for the rest of the weekend, we did a little Christmas shopping and hung out with friends and ended it with a welcome home dinner with my folks on Sunday, yet another thing to be thankful for...safe travels home :) 
Speaking of "pooped", we are still working on potty training but we have to admit, not consistently. She does however let us know when she has a poopie diaper and lately, she says "poo poo" before she goes. So we are able to share with you that we have had one success story with going #2 on the potty! YAY! She loves being in the bathroom, sitting on her Elmo seat and reading all of the "bathroom literature" we have in a basket for her; "Got to Go", "Once Upon a Potty", "Everybody Poops" and a few other books that we hope will inspire her to "go. We will be sure to let you know!
Slides, swings and sand...what more could she possibly want? 
Looks like they had a great time with one another but I know they are both looking forward to next week's play date :)
Michael is an awesome Dad when we are all home and even more so when I am gone. Not only does he do a great job holding down the fort when I am away (not that I am Captain of the house or anything...wait, who are we kidding here? I am the Queen! LOL!) but part of Isabelle's and his morning routine, whether I am at home or away and whether I can answer my cell or not, includes calling me to say "good morning", "I love you" (which is actually "wuv woo") and "bye bye". Needless to say, this perks up my morning instantaneously. And at night, I always get a phone call right before bedtime so Isabelle can say "nah night" to me. Here is a message that was left on my cell phone this past Monday morning while I was at a meeting in Delaware, which I shared with my Dad and our client at lunch and it brought a smile to their faces too:
Michael started a play date with a friend from the theatre and his little girl, Jenna. On Wednesday mornings at 10, they meet at the Summit Park to let the girls run around crazy...OK, so it may not be totally crazy just yet but they are having a blast! 
Michael,
We decided to keep Isabelle home from daycare both Thursday and Friday last week, since she had a low grade fever on Thursday and we wanted to make sure she was all better for trick or treating let alone the annual Halloween “photo shoot” with her and all of her friends on Friday. To add to the low grade fever on Thursday, right before bedtime Isabelle slipped off her stool and knocked her chin on the corner of the coffee table leaving a nice cut and bruise for Halloween pics! What a day Thursday was…no sleep, no appetite, still feeling a bit under the weather and then ending the day with a bonk. Maybe we should have had her be a boxer or a hockey player for Halloween instead of a ladybug :)
Like we mentioned, we kept Isabelle home from daycare on Thursday and she was all fired up when Friday's Halloween shenanigans came along. After trick or treating at Nana’s house, the 2007-2008 babies all met at the theatre for our photo shoot. This year we knew we were in for it! With only 2 non walkers, there was a lot of chasing and running around going on. We did manage to get one group shot, minus Mia, before escapees or meltdowns occurred. I think the video footage of all of the parents may be even funnier than looking at the photos we shot of the kids! Look out school recitals! 
Check out the escapee sequence below which literally happened all within 2 minutes...
That night after chatting with our neighbors in our complex, we headed over to the 
We took Mackenzie and Isabelle out trick or treating the easy way...in push-able cars J The “bonnet” served as the candy collection place while the girls were seat belted in, cruising around being a bunch of 
