Pre-Christmas

So I've wanted to post about Christmas all week long but just haven't gotten around to it.  I went to choose pictures and ended up with 30 so I decided that was way too many for one post so I will split it in two (even though I wanted to get it done all at once:). Anyway, I found Beckett one evening just chilling in his rocking chair looking at the tree.  I didn't even know he knew how to get in it himself!

I made snow-globes with the kids.  It was a fun 10 minute project that I had to do everything for because they can't use a hot glue gun or spray paint.  They thought they were cool though and loved dumping the glitter in the jar. 

Next year I think it would be better to use smaller jars.  This was last minute so I had to dig what I had out of the recycling.  They just seemed too heavy for the kids. 

Bathtub Santas- cute.....ho ho ho!

Real Santas- not so much.  Chandler had his program at pre-school.  It was really cute and Chandler did amazing with his part and singing.  Afterwards they had refreshments and Santa for the kids to go see.  Emery wouldn't even go near for a picture and apparently Beckett is not a Santa fan either:)

 Emery is crazy.  I was trying to practice getting bokeh in my pictures and this is what I got from her.  I read lots of tutorials about how to do it with changing things on the camera but I just don't have the patients and it is all too confusing for me.  I cheated with my zoom lens and moving the kids way in front of the tree to get the background blurred.  I really wanted a picture of the whole tree with no one in front of it all blurred but I never figured it out.  And now my camera is broken but I'll tell you about that later.

A few days before Christmas we made sugar cookies and fudge and delivered them to a few neighbors with our Christmas card.  Don't worry, we kept the ones the kids made.  There was a lot of licking going on with these two:)

Could they be any cheesier?

Again, trying to practice bokeh, again, cheesy Emery.  Pesky kids don't cooperated when I want them too...

We took a day and went uptown to see the mechanical bears sing and play Christmas songs.  I love that Charlotte has so many cool free things to do.  We met Steve and he came to lunch with us and we ate while listening to Christmas music.  It was fun and I even was proud of myself for finding my way and parking on the street.  Every time I go uptown we always go to Discovery Place so I just park there but we weren't going this time so I had to find parking.  I did have Steve on the phone telling me what road to make sure I was on. 

 We had to pull the kids away.  It is super fun watching those bears. 

One Friday I went to the grocery store and saw a sign that said Santa was coming to the shopping center at 5.  It was 4:45.  So I ran the ice cream home and then we came back and waited for Santa.  It was so cute.  They had Santa, Mrs. Claus, Rudolph, Frosty, and some elfs arrive on a horse drawn carriage.  The kids loved it.  It started raining on us so when it was our turn I was feeling really rushed.  Plus the fact that Beckett was freaking out.  I convinced Emery to stand by the purple present.  I can't believe I got her that close to Santa.  Anyway, I was so mad because all my pictures were way blurry.  It wasn't even really dark out but apparently I suck at picture taking.  All my pictures have been just slightly blurry lately- it's driving my crazy and I'm wondering if that is part of the problem with my camera breaking??  Anyway, Mrs. Claus gave all the kids these little stuffed elfs and they have been the favorite toy around here.  The kids play with them all the time and even wrapped up presents for their elfs. 

 Steve's parents got into town a few days before Christmas.  Their luggage got lost but they got it the next day so that was good.  The kids didn't take any time warming up.  Chandler sat on the couch explaining all kinds of things to grandpa about how he was going to build something.  It was pretty funny to hear him. 

 

Surprisingly Emery loved sitting with Grandpa and looking at all his pictures.  Before they got here she was telling me how she couldn't play with Grandpa, just chandler can.  So I was surprised how much she loved hanging with Grandpa. 

I had asked Steve's mom if we could get another ornament for our tree made.  She has a lady who does these little ornaments and we got a Purdue one that I love.  So I sent her a  picture of our house and the lady combined that with this picture of us at the apple orchard.  I didn't know what family picture she was going to use so it was kind of fun to see the ornament and figure out what picture it was of us.  Beckett is in a snugglie and Steve has a B on his hat and the boys have their cool hats on.  It's just so cute and will be so fun to look at in 20 years. 

BUT, I did not ask for this one and Steve's mom really surprised us with it.  It was so fun to open and just be so surprised and gasp and love how cute the little sculpture/ornament is.  She made a little 3D sculpture of the picture I took of the kids at Halloween.  All the details are there and the placement of the kids hands and everything.  Emery even has tulle on her skirt and Chandler has a piece of a feather on his hat- it isn't just painted on.  It is so cute and I love it!

Okay, next will be Christmas Eve and day.  For now Happy New Year.....Steve is asleep next to me on the couch.  I don't think he will make it to midnight...

11 months

Baby boy Beckett is 11 months old today.  It's midnight so I will keep this short and just say he is still our favorite baby ever.  He stands all the time and loves to let go and see how long he can stay standing before falling down.  He is pretty much still the same in everything else.  The one bad thing is he has been very whiny and if he sees me he just whines and whines until I pick him up and then sometimes still is fussy even if I am holding him.  Kind of annoying but he is so darn cute I just can't get enough of him.  I can't resist his sweet little head and thumb sucking while he lays his head on me.  Beckett is such a sweet little baby...I'm sad he is growing up so fast:(  

merry christmas

From our home to yours-

May your days be merry and bright!

Christmas Cheer

Can I just say that I love people who put antlers on their cars.  Or should I say the kids love it.  It is the highlight of driving around town.  We love spotting reindeer cars and it makes us laugh every time. I could never do it because I just don't do things like that but I sure am grateful for those quirky people who do it and entertain my kids.  I'm sugar coating a little....there is actually a lot of screaming and fit throwing because one person spotted antlers and the other didn't see it.

I also love people who put blow ups in their yards.  Again, I would never be able to bring myself to do it.  I stay with classic lights lining our roof and wrapped around our posts and bushes.  Next year I'm planning on doing wreaths in all the windows.  Anyway, back to blowups.  Kids love them and we love to wave at Santa (or frosty, or penguins, or trains, or whatever) as we drive by.  Super fun and entertaining.

We tried to bring a little Christmas cheer tonight by going as a family to pick out some gifts for some kids.  It was all clothes that were needed but we still wanted the kids to help pick them out and I choose a girl and a boy who were about the same age as the kids.  It was going well and the kids were being cute and having fun but things suddenly went south and we had screaming kids and crying kids and frustrated parents.  Hopefully in the end the kids got a little something out of it and realized how lucky and blessed they are and how important it is to help others.

I don't know what I would do without Christmas music.  I love it and listen to it all the time for two months out of the year.  Pandora is so great for my listening pleasure.  I love that the kids love it too.  Emery loves singing jingle bells but just sings jingle jingle jingle over and over and over again.  So cute.

Chandler has his Christmas program at preschool this week.  I can't wait to see it and hope he sings the songs.  So far he tells me he doesn't know what songs he is singing.  But he heard Joy to the World today and recognized it as one of the songs they are singing- so I'm sure he probably knows all the ones they are singing.  I'm glad he gets to do this because from what I hear most public schools Christmas programs aren't really that.  They take the Christmas right out of it so it isn't too religious I guess.  Not sure how true that is but we'll find out next year.

We had our ward Christmas breakfast this morning.  It wasn't as great as years past.  I made cinnamon rolls and never even got to try my own.  I was bummed because I got up at 6 this morning so they were fresh and I didn't get a fresh one.  I think most people make them the night before.  I have this great recipe where you make the dough the night before and leave it in the fridge and then just roll them out and they rise for an hour and then bake them.  So it doesn't take as much time the day of.  Anyway, I think the ward breakfast should have Santa there but our ward has never done that.  Kind of a bummer.  It isn't like they replace the Santa aspect with a spiritual part.  Basically it was just music and breakfast.

I don't think I ever mentioned that I got a new calling at church as the compassionate service leader.  So not me but I think this time of year is a great time for me to practice.  So what should I do??  I need to be more compassionate and serve more.   Maybe I should start with my own family.  I think I will go apologize to Steve for our argument tonight and go snuggle into bed with him.  good night.

Thanksgiving rundown

So Thanksgiving was great.  My parents came Thursday night the week before Thanksgiving.  They stayed until Saturday morning and then went to my sister's for a few days.  While they were here my dad helped Steve go and get our swing set.  They came back on Tuesday and then my sister and her family came on Wednesday.  Wednesday was busy with me making 4 pies, brining a turkey, and our house getting trashed and then cleaned.  My dad spent 2 hours scrubbing my kitchen floor.  It was impressive and he made it look so good.  We have nasty dirty colored linoleum so it always looks dirty but my dad actually made it look decent.  He definitely earned his keep.  

The kids got spoiled at bedtime with many stories from Grandma.  We had to crack down on Grandma and tell her it was time for bed so she would stop reading more stories:)

On Thanksgiving day we relaxed and Steve and Michael went and played football in the morning.  Around noon we held our own little turkey trot.  The kids loved it and ran back and forth many times. 

Emery impressed me with her determination.  She was last every time and just kept running.  Her little body is so stinkin' cute.  Chandler tried hard but had to take breaks and even got mad after he couldn't beat Sawyer.  He was cute after one run when my mom ran with him and told him good job and keep going.  He said, "thanks for telling me good job grandma". 

While we were outside enjoying the hot day, my mom looked at the time and realized it was well past noon and we hadn't gotten the turkey in the oven yet.  So we went into high gear and got cooking on our thanksgiving feast.  I came up with a great makeshift table cloth by remembering the packages of drop cloths I had bought a few years ago with the purpose of making curtains but that never happened.  Our table turned out better than I had thought.  (notice the bench that Steve made and I stained and painted to match the table...I have yet to finish the chairs but at least we have a cool bench.)

I had made these cute little pine cone turkeys with the kids and we were supposed to make more so every plate would have one but we never got around to it.  So we just clustered them together on the table. 

 

The spread.  Everything was delicious.  We had sweet potato casserole, butternut squash, homemade ginger cranberry sauce, regular homemade cranberry sauce, stuffed celery, deviled eggs, mashed potatoes, stuffing, rolls, turkey, and gravy.  I ruined the potatoes and put way too much liquid in it so we were microwaving more potatoes to mash up and add to it and suck up the extra liquid.  The turkey finished way sooner than we thought so it was done for almost an hour before everything else was ready.  But none of that matter.  Everything was great and the turkey was amazing.  I highly suggest following Our Best Bites turkey brining recipe.  It was very easy and the turkey was flavorful and moist.  

Finally it was meal time.  An hour later than we had planned but that's okay.  It was an eventful dinner with Sawyer throwing up mid dinner.  Thankfully he was away from the table before it happened:)  Steve of course had to comment how awesome it was that my food made someone throw up.  He's so nice like that.

(Steve's Note:  Come on, that has to make it a memorable meal, right?  I mean he threw up multiple times.  Felt bad for the kid, you could tell he was embarrassed.)

I think the only thing my kids ate were the rolls.  Darn picky kids.  Actually Chandler ate cranberry sauce and turkey too.  

Of course the pies were a hit.  Chandler ate some of every single pie.  I had saved Emery's dinner with plans on making her eat some bites before she could have pie but ended up saying what the heck, it's Thanksgiving!  Pie is always better in the morning and I wish I had listened to that and not eaten pie at night.  I wasn't stuffed from dinner but the pie put me over the top and then I felt gross the rest of the night. 

We spent the evening perusing all the black Friday ads.  We actually decided to go out at 9:00 to Toys'r'us.  We got there and ended up turning around and coming home.  I don't know what we were thinking but when we saw that you couldn't even park in their parking lot and there was a line that wrapped around all 4 sides of the building we decided it was the most ridiculous idea ever.  Then I was going to go to Kohl's at midnight but we drove by the new one by our house and they had signs that it wasn't opening until 6 am so I was glad we saw that.  So we came home and went to bed.

I got up at 5:30 and went to Kohl's and actually waited outside a store in a line.  I have never done that before.  It wasn't anything crazy though and there weren't a ton of people.  I shopped and went to a few other stores and got home by 8:30.   

 

Beckett was hilarious and loved having all the attention from everyone and he has learned to mimic sounds so very well.  Steve and he got into a throat clearing contest and it was absolutely hilarious. It got everyone making a throaty sound just to hear Beckett do it back at them.  

 

Our backyard turned into a giant playground one day.  The new swing set has been a hit with all the neighbor kids.  Of course something new and interesting makes them come running.  I hope Santa brings some new swings and accessories for our playground.  Beckett really needs a swing to swing in.

Emery loves swinging and I was impressed with her ability to go high while sitting.  At parks she never wants to go high and she usually just lays on her stomach.  She is growing up so much.  

  

Kendra and Michael went on a big black Friday shopping excursion (they have to take advantage of stores since they live in a small town) and while they were gone Max decided he had too many days without a nap and crashed on the couch while they were having their quiet time movie.  So so cute.

My mom made these cute little egg carton caterpillars with the kids and they loved it.  Grandma is so much cooler than me because she plays with the kids and does projects with them. I feel like I don't have enough energy or patients to do such things.  

There were more bedtime stories that Grandpa joined in on.  My mom is amazing at telling stories and making things up and Chandler loves it.  He always wants her to tell her a story about something.  I just can't make up stories like that.

On Saturday we just relaxed and everyone started packing up their things getting ready to go.  Kendra and Michael went home and then I got our family ready and we went and had my mom snap some family pictures for us.  I was stressing over it and Steve and I had been at each other all morning but thankfully we got over it and the pictures were decent.  The only problem was it was a little too late so the lighting was a little too dark and most of the pictures were kind of blurry.  So annoying.  But I was impressed with myself that I found us all outfits out of the clothes that we already had.  I always want to get new clothes for pictures but I told myself I just had to make do with what we had.  

Then we came home and I got out leftovers for dinner and got the kids plates ready and called everyone to eat.  Emery came in and looked at her plate and said, "I don't want that" and then threw up all over.  So she was sick Saturday night.  She never threw up again but she just didn't feel well all Sunday.  Then Sunday night when we all went to eat dinner Chandler looked at his and said he didn't want it and he threw up in the middle of the night.  So the kids caught whatever stomach bug Sawyer and everyone else had.  My parents weren't ever really feeling that great and Kendra had had it the week before.  I think Chandler's still not feeling great because tonight he didn't eat dinner and said his stomach hurt.  

So we had Saturday night with my parents and we said our goodbyes.  They snuck out in the dark of the morning (about 4:30 I think).  On Sunday morning when we woke up I said to Chandler I was said Grandma and Grandpa were gone and he said, "that's okay because they can visit again" then he said, "it just makes my eyes water".  Me too buddy, our house felt so lonely and sad without any visitors.  We had such a great visit and I am so thankful that my parents drove so far (15 hours?) to spend Thanksgiving with us (and that Kendra, Michael, Sawyer, Max, and growing baby girl drove to our house again- it is way past our turn to drive down to them).  We miss everyone but thankfully we will get Steve's parents in a few weeks.  

Chandler turns 5

Someone had a birthday around here.  I can't believe we have a 5 year old!  It just seems so old and it doesn't help that Chandler is huge!  He weighs 53 lbs and is 45 inches (I think?).  We've had multiple little celebrations.  I have pictures out of order here but on his actual birthday I sent Steve to the store early to get balloons and donuts.  Unfortunately in the middle of the night Chandler woke up and threw up so he wasn't feeling all so great.  He at a couple little nibbles of his donut and that's all. 

Today I sent Chandler to preschool with robot cake pops.  Unfortunately when I went to pick him up his teachers told me he had a bad day and was misbehaving and so they just put the cake pops in baggies and sent them home with the kids.  So they didn't acknowledge his birthday and sing to him.  I didn't really know what to say about that.  Of course I was discouraged that Chandler was bad (most days I get a bad report on his behavior at school) but then I was kind of annoyed and sad for Chandler because it was his special day and I stayed up really really late making these cake pops.  Anyway, he didn't seem phased or upset about it but I don't think he really knew any different. 

Chandler wasn't set on any particular theme for his birthday.  I think it was because we weren't really doing a real friends party.  After talking over things I was willing to try and make we settled on a robot.  It wasn't our best cake but cute nonetheless.  Of course I got a great idea on how to make the robot standing after the fact.  And by the way, cake pops are a lot harder than they look. 

So the day after Thanksgiving was when we did Chandler's cake and party.  My parents were here and my sister and her family.  It was a crazy day and kind of stressful because I wasn't really prepared.  I hadn't really thought things through so there was a lot of running around and on top of it I had gotten up at 5:30 to do some black Friday shopping so I was really tired.  At one point Steve and I were working on the cake and arguing about it and Chandler came up between us and put his hands out and said, "guys, stop fighting about my cake!".  Way to put us in our spot.  Poor little guy just wanted his parents to get along and have a good birthday.  Last minute I remembered that I didn't have a birthday shirt for him so I had to rush around and make one.  I couldn't have cake pictures without him wearing a birthday shirt:)

We ordered pizza for dinner and I made homemade root-beer.  I think this will have to become our birthday tradition.  It was a huge hit and the kids thought it was so cool.  The only problem was we put too much dry ice in at once and it almost froze up into one big root-beer slush. 

After dinner we sang and had cake.  I video taped the first blowing out of candles so we lit them again and turned the cake around so I could get a picture of him blowing them out.  Chandler helped put the robot buttons on the front of the robot.  He also chose the colors (green was a no brainer) and told me he wanted a big smile.  And he told me where he wanted the candles. 

After cake it was time for presents.  Chandler had seen the big tonka dump truck and tractor at Kohl's and asked if we could buy it.  Of course I said no.  Then he saw it in the Kohl's ad and said he wanted it.   I was going to get him more Trio blocks and I did buy some but then my mom brought a little set for him and Steve's mom sent a set so he didn't need anymore.  So on Black Friday the dump truck was a great deal at Kohl's so I went and got it and he was so happy.  It was a huge hit.  Sawyer was so funny and had the best reaction when Chandler opened it.  He got an awesome Optimus Prime transformer from my sister's family and my mom had to switch her present to a transformer mold play-dough set.  She did have some Lego's but we decided they may be a little too small and hard for him still. 

On Chandler's actual birthday I wanted to do something fun.  Unfortunately he had thrown up the night before and wasn't feeling well still.  He laid on the couch watching t.v. and I really debated just staying home but I decided we should still go do something.  We were going to go to an indoor water-park but he wasn't feeling up to it and Chandler suggested Discovery Place.  So we went and they had fun.  Beckett can now enjoy it too since he can crawl around.  We went and saw Steve at his office but opted out of lunch with him because I was afraid of feeding kids in public with the throw up we had going on plus Steve was asked to lunch that day.  Then we came home and had naps.  Chandler said he wanted macaroni and cheese for dinner so we ended up going to McAllister's Deli since we were out running errands and at 5:30 I finally heard from Steve and he wasn't making it home so I decided to just bring the kids to dinner.  I thought we were going to have a throw up episode there but thankfully Chandler never did.  He did lean back and say he needed to take a break from eating and then started complaining his stomach hurt and was laying on the bench.  We quickly packed up and left.  Then I let the kids watch a little short movie before bed.  Chandler said prayers and first said, "thank you for a good birthday" but then said, "please help me to have a real birthday next year".  What?!  way to make me feel bad.  I asked him what a real birthday was and he said, "you know, when you have lots of friends come over and decorations and all kinds of activities to do".  So I guess we better do a party next year. 

I forgot he also got to open his present from Steve's parents on skype so they could watch him.  That was fun for everyone I think.  He was so cute calling Grandma, asking her if she wanted to Skype, and then opening it up.  It was fun chatting with them and seeing Robbie and Erin as well.

Chandler is a great little boy and we are lucky to have him as part of our family.  The past year has been a hard one for him and us so hopefully things will get better as he gets older.  Chandler is so sweet and loving.  He is sincere and thoughtful of others (at times).  He is so smart and is learning so fast at school.  He still loves all the same things.  He is funny and talks so cute (especially when trying to explain something).  He is creative and so incredibly imaginative.  We sure love Chandler! Happy Birthday to my very first baby!

10 months

This little crazy guy is 10 months old yesterday.  I took my picture yesterday and then forgot to post it.  Beckett is the best baby in the entire world.  Seriously, ask anyone who has been around him....they will tell you the same.  He smiles and laughs and interacts like crazy.  He loves people and always wants attention. He just wants someone to talk to him so he can talk back and smile and be silly.  He imitates any sound you make.  He says dada and baba sounds.  He has yet to say mama.  He does say something that sounds exactly like hi and uses it in the correct setting.  He also will wave his arm to wave.

The other day all of a sudden Chandler yelled, "dad, Beckett crawled up the stairs".  Sure enough he had climbed the entire flight of stairs while under Chandler's watch.  He was sitting there playing his Leapster and just let Beckett climb the stairs without telling us until he was at the top.  It was pretty funny but scary because it could have turned out bad.

Beckett eats most anything but still loves milk the best.  His two top teeth came in last week.  (Mon. Nov. 21)  So now he has 4 teeth.  The other kids had probably 10 teeth by 10 months.  He wakes up at least once a night but usually twice a night.  He takes two naps a day but sometimes actually needs 3 still.  He loves being outside and crawling all over and putting everything in his mouth.

Beckett aka: Bucky, Bucket, Cutie Pie, Little Weed (chandler made that up and calls him it sometimes) is the happiest cutest little baby we could ever ask for.  We all just love him so much and I would have 10 more babies just like him if it was guaranteed that they would be just like him:)  He is perfect and so much fun.

15 things for Monday

It's been a while, how about a random little run down of what's going on around here??  

1. I took some pictures of the kids in the leaves.  Oh how I wish we had some nice trees in our yard with beautiful leaves.  We just walked to a connecting neighborhood and borrowed their leaves:)  What did I learn this year?- Beckett LOVES leaves.  He laughed and crawled and crunched and smiled and wanted to stay forever in the leaves.  So cute.  

2. My parents came last week.  They came bearing all kinds of gifts.  One of them being this ginormous tub of fluff.  Did you ever see such a thing?  It is awesome and of course the kids wanted peanut butter and fluff sandwiches for lunch aka fluffanutters.  

3. Chandler loves Tom and Jerry.  I kind of think it is rather violent.  But I was at Old Navy and saw they had Tom and Jerry shirts and found one on clearance and said what the heck, I've got to let him be a kid.  So I bought if for him and you should have seen how excited he was the next morning to get dressed.  I have never seen him get dressed and be ready for school so fast.  I can't even believe that I let him wear it in public.  I'm a pretty strict no character clothing kind of mom.  But it made him so so so happy.    

4. On Saturday Chandler and his neighbor friends worked hard building themselves a swing set:)  Okay, that is not really true.  My dad and Steve and our neighbor worked hard on a swing set.  Somehow we lucked out with our friends neighbors were wanting to get rid of their swing set and so my friend asked if we wanted it and of course I jumped on it and so my dad and Steve went and took it apart and then brought it to our house and then Steve and our neighbor started setting it up.  It still needs the roof put on and the swing arm.  And we have to pressure wash it and stain and seal it and get new swings but for now it is great.  I can't decide if me or the kids are more excited about it.  I just get so happy when I see it sitting out in our yard.  I compared it to the idea of people wanting that perfect white picket fence house.  The swing set is my white picket fence.  It just completes our house and makes it a home for me.    

 5. Here's my friend who hooked us up with the swing set.  Her little girl Ivey likes to come play with our kids.

6.  She also hooked me up with Taylor Swift tickets last week.  I did something so out of my comfort zone and left my kids and went to a concert and stayed out late.  It was fun and nice to not have to put the kids to bed for once.  Steve has been working a lot lately and I usually do dinner and bedtime by myself most nights of the week.  Steve told me I deserved a break so he basically forced me to go:)  Taylor Swift really is the entertainer of the year (and she won artist of the year last night at the AMA- not that I follow that).  The concert was very entertaining and it was fun to just watch all the crazy fans (teens and older women too (like the 40+ year old woman crying while Taylor sang Love Story- hilarious)).  The other hilarious thing was the men's bathrooms turned into woman's restrooms.  Too funny but great idea!  

7. Fall seemed extra beautiful this year.  There were so many amazing flaming red trees and brilliant yellow trees.  I just loved it and loved driving around and seeing so many beautiful colors.  Now almost all the trees are bare or only have a few brown leaves hanging on.

8. The weather here is so weird.  Last week it was freezing and like 28 degrees in the morning and then today it was close to 80 degrees.  It was so hot today.  

9.  Chandler got a terrible rash all over his face.  He basically infected his whole face because he wouldn't leave it alone and stop itching.  He had gotten a little tiny line from the elastic from his peter pan hat at Halloween.  He started bugging it and scratching it and it got bigger and then red nasty looking stuff just started popping up all over his face.  His whole side of his cheek and neck were red and puffy and so bad looking.  I finally decided it wasn't getting better and brought him to the doctor.  He had infected himself with a staph infection.  We got our medicine and within 48 hours he looked tons better.  It is gone now and I'm so happy because it was horrible looking.  

10.  Thanksgiving is at my house this year with my sister and her family and my parents.  I feel some sort of pressure because it is at my house.  Like I have to have place settings and table cloths and things like that.  I have none of that.  We have mismatched chairs and ugly cups and I don't even own a table cloth.  Sometimes I wish I was more formal and had a dinning room with plates always set on it with cloth napkins and napkin rings and centerpieces that change out for seasons.  But that is so not me and so not our life.  I have 3 little kids for goodness sake.  Can you imagine leaving glass plates set on a table all the time with my crazies running around??  Anyway, I found this printable that I think I will print for the kids and I was going to have Chandler and Emery help make some pine-cone turkeys but we may not get around to it.  I wish I had a table big enough for a centerpiece but we don't and we can't have one any bigger in our kitchen because then there wouldn't be any room.  So I guess instead of wishing I had prettier/nicer/bigger things I should just be thankful that I have a nice house and food and I get to spend thanksgiving with part of my family.  

11.  We are doing our thankful tree again this year.  We haven't been very faithful at it though and I forget to have the kids do it a lot of nights.  Like I said, I'm usually by myself so I have a lot of other things I'm trying to do.  Anyway, so far a lot of the things the kids have been thankful for are a cute baby bother, a silly baby brother, and that mom makes cute babies.  Emery always says the same thing Chandler says.  She doesn't seem to grasp what exactly we are doing.  Anyway, when we remember it is fun and nice to reflect on all the many things we are blessed with.  

12. My friend Kayli made me the most awesome hats in the world.  I can't even tell you how many comments I get on them.  Emery is obsessed with hers and loves wearing it.  Beckett looks absolutely adorable in his and Chandler has one just like Beckett's but I haven't gotten a picture of him in it yet.  They are my favorite and I love having cool friends that are so kind to send me stuff all the way from Switzerland.  Swiss chocolate is so yummy!  It all has a slight hazelnut/nutella taste which I love.  mmmm...

13. I painted a wall in our bedroom.  I was all ready to go and do our big bedroom makeover but I painted one wall and lost steam and got all discouraged.  I don't like it.  The color is fine but it isn't what I wanted so it is really bugging me.  I saw this color in the West Elm magazine.  It was exactly what I wanted so I got a sample and even got Benjamin Moore paint so I wasn't even color matching.  Anyway, it looks blue on our walls and it just really bugs me.  I want gray, not blue.  For some dumb reason I went ahead and just did it even though I thought it looked blue hoping that when I did the whole wall it would look gray.  Well, now it is one big blue wall which I hate.  I haven't done anything else to the room yet.  I haven't even taken the tape off.  Anyway, it is just frustrating when I see the picture and it is exactly what I want and the color chip looks perfect but then the actual paint is so different.  Though when you hold the color chip up to the painted wall it totally matches.  I just don't get it.

14.  My thing lately has been telling Steve that I'm really good at wasting money.  I've done a lot of dumb projects lately that have just been such a waste either in not working out or getting the wrong material or whatever.  But even though I spent a small fortune on a gallon of expensive paint that I don't like, it won't go to waste.  I will probably just use it in another room.  It actually is really pretty, just not what I wanted.  

15.  So that is what's been going on around here.  My parents come back tomorrow, my sister comes the next day, we will have Thanksgiving, then Chandler's birthday celebration, Steve will be home from work (though I'm sure he will still have to work some), then it will be December, then Christmas and Steve's parents visit, then Emery's birthday, then our baby will turn ONE!  How has time gone so fast?!  I can't even believe it.