Happy Thanksgiving

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving this year. Last Sunday, we went over to Ricky's parent's house to have a great dinner with most of his family. Kris and Joanna came up and joined us and we had some really yummy food. Then on Wednesday night, we went to my grandparent's house in Illinois. My grandma got to come home from the nursing home and spend the day with us. It was really nice spending time with family and remembering the old times of celebrating Thanksgiving. (There are a few more people since most of us are married and have children now!) Since Ricky had to work on Friday, the kids and I stayed with my mom and sister at my aunt's house and my dad and Ricky came home. My sister, cousin and I were those crazy shoppers who decided to hit all the stores when the opened. We started at midnight at Toys 'R Us. We got some good deals, but nothing worth the wait for me. It was just fun to see all the excitement from the other people and spend time with my little sis and cousin. We got done around 2:30 and tried to hit up Old Navy, but they didn't open until 5 since they were in the mall. We headed over to Kohl's next and went in at 4am. (I know, we are crazy!) I got some great deals at Kohl's since they did their Kohl's cash and I had an additional 15% off. Next, we headed over to Walmart, which was a joke. Not going there again. It was too chaotic and not worth it at all! Target was our next stop and landed us the best deals. We got a 32 in. Sony TV for $250! The adrenaline was running, so we headed over to the mall to Old Navy and Bath and Body Works. We got the great deals there too, and then went home. My sister and I were out from 11:30 pm to 10:30 am! Luckily my mom offered to watch the kids for us so we could be crazy! We came home and crashed for a while. We enjoyed the rest of the weekend by playing card games and relaxing with family. The kids did great and played well together. It was a little busy with 8 kids ages 1-7, but they were great! Thanks mom for letting me be crazy and enjoy Black Friday!

Motivation

On Saturday, I didn't have any plans, so I called my mom and invited her to come hang out. We went to the craft show at Harrison High School. It was really good and we were impressed with the prices. We had a great time and the kids even cooperated so we could shop a little. Yeah! Then we came home and started making strawberry-raspberry jelly. I was really excited to try it again and ended up making 18 containers of it! I guess I need to make some room in the freezer!

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We had to wake the kids up the other day, so I wanted to get a cute picture of Lauren sleeping. I love the sleeping pictures!Ricky got Dylan up and he was being really cute, too!

One of Lauren's many looks. She was looking at a rabbit in our back yard. I think the rabbit's back for the winter. She was here last winter, too. Dylan wanted to give her some carrots. I don't think she'll leave if we feed her carrots! Lauren standing up. Still not walking, but up on everything! (and as an added bonus, you get a side shot of my belly!) We are all doing great around here. No more sickness for the momma which makes a happier home! I've been in a cooking mood, but not a dishes mood which can cause some problems! I need to clean up before I start making another mess. I have a lot of ideas running through my head, but haven't started them. I am almost finished with my Christmas cards. I just have to glue one more piece on. Yeah! I also made a tu-tu for Lauren the other night. It was really easy and very inexpensive. I already have orders to make some for Christmas presents! I got an idea from the craft show on how to make them look a little nicer than my first one. They are really fun and make me feel more crafty! You'll have to wait until after Christmas to see it on Lauren (she's getting it for Christmas!).

Family Pictures

I am very impressed and love them! Thanks Jaime! You are the best! I'm looking forward to ordering a canvas print to put on my wall!

All alone

Ricky and I got a wonderful weekend without any kids! Well, mostly. Saturday morning we had my wonderful friend Jaime take our family pictures. Too bad Lauren was being a little stinker and wouldn't look at the camera. I guess it just shows her personality! After the pictures, we headed to Indy to drop the kids off at my parent's house. My mom offered to watch them for the weekend. It was so different and nice being alone for the weekend. Ricky and I ran some errands on Saturday and noticed how quiet it was in the car! Then, we went to see the new movie 2012 at the theater. It was so nice. We used to go to movies all the time before we had kids. Now it is so hard because of the times they play the movies. It took us back to old times. Don't get me wrong, I love my kids! It's just really nice to get away without them for more than a few hours. Sunday we had to drive back to Indy to pick up the kids, but it was well worth the weekend of quiet and relaxation. Ricky and I got to enjoy each others company without any whining or interrupting. It was so nice. Thanks again mom!

Another sick vacation

Ricky had some leftover vacation time that he had to take before the holiday season, so he's off for another week! Yeah! It would be even better if Lauren didn't have an ear infection. Poor girl was up all night crying and we had no idea. Luckily she is a trooper and taking it very well! Once she started the antibiotics, she was fine. We are enjoying eachothers' company and I am getting some organization done around the house. I love getting things under control around here. I just wish we had an attic to put some of the un-used totes in. That is one thing I will definitely be looking into before we buy our next home. I guess you live and learn, right!?! We are looking forward to a weekend away from the kids. My mom offered to watch the kids so Ricky and I could get away for the weekend. We are really excited to get away, if only we knew where we are going! The joys of being spontaneous! You'll have to check back next week to find out where we went! :) On a side note, here are some more cute pictures of Lauren walking around with her walker and my heels. She loves her shoes!

Happenings

I taught Joy School again this week. It went a lot better this time. Maybe the kids are getting more used to the schedule, or maybe I just got better and knew what to expect. Either way I really enjoyed it this time. The kids seemed to have fun and I know Dylan loves it!

We have just been hanging out around here. We've been going outside everyday since we have been having such nice weather. It has been in the 60's and 70's lately. Very unusual for November, but no complains here! Dylan loves riding his bike and his scooter. Lauren loves to ride in her wagon, so it works out great for everyone.

Lauren still isn't walking yet. She shows all the signs that she should, but something isn't clicking for her. The doctor suggested we have First Steps evaluate her, so I hope everything is ok. She'll be 16 months old next week. Crazy how the time flies. Oh yeah, I have her 15 month stats:

Weight: 22 lbs. 2 oz. (25th percentile)
Height: 32 1/4 in. (90th percentile)
Head Circumference: 46.8 cm. (50th percentile)
She is getting bigger by the day and we love having her around. She is talking like crazy! I only wish we knew what she was saying. Some of her words are very clear, while others are just gibberish. I think it's cute! Her newest obsession is with shoes. She loves them. Any shoe works great. They go on her hands as she is crawling or she will sit and try to put them on her feet. Silly girl! She gets them on every once and a while. She thinks she is pretty funny!
Her hair is getting so long! I had to trim her bangs the other day because they were in her eyes! I put her hair up in a little pony tail and she absolutely hated it! She cried the whole time, but I think it looked cute! We'll have to try it again soon!
We went to the park the other day with my mom and her friend. The kids were really cute and we had a wonderful time. Here are the best shots I got!Lauren was so cute playing peek-a-boo around this tree!

Happy Halloween!

For Halloween this year, I thought it would be fun to make pumpkin pancakes for breakfast. The kids loved them and I think they turned out really cute! One of my friends suggest them, so thanks for the idea! I'll have to start getting more creative for the holidays! We decided to stay home and trick-or-treat with our neighbor friends. Dylan and Chloe, their daughter, are really good friends and had a blast together. We walked around with them last year, too. It was really nice to just hang out around home and then pass out candy. There were a TON of kids walking around our neighborhood. I guess we lucked out and got a great family friendly area! I tried to get a few shots of the kids before we left. Lauren would not look at the camera at all! Dylan, on the other hand, was cheesing it up!

Here are Dylan and Chloe walking away from a house. It was really cold outside, so we were very glad the kids had fleece costumes! Lauren thought it was fun to take a piece of candy out of the basket and drop it into her basket. It was too cute! She actually said Thank you by the end of the night, too! This morning, I had to get a picture of the kids with all of their loot. Dylan was throwing a fit until I gave him a piece of candy before breakfast! He was happy after that! I love how they are smiling as they look at all of the candy! Lauren didn't know what to do with all of that candy! She started throwing it behind her after I took the picture. At least she is looking at the camera!

Dylan with his goofy grin. It's amazing what candy will do for a 3 year old!This is one of the traditions that I started when Dylan was a baby. Overall, we had a wonderful day and enjoyed spending time with our friends.