Tuesday Randomness

Hope everyone out there is surviving the flood. On my way home from work I thought I might have to find a boat. It is really coming down and the waters are rising.

Thought I would share a couple of things today. We got our Christmas stuff up over the weekend. I was not looking forward to all the decorating but now that it is all up I am loving it. The Christmas decorations just make our living room feel so homey and warm! Ben loved getting to help us decorate this year. I was so proud of how he helped. He also got to put the star on the top of the tree. Now onto Miss Kate. I just realized I never posted about her 1 year doctor's appointment. She is doing great. She had actually gained more weight than I thought. She was up to 19 pounds!! I can't believe it. She gained a pound in 2 weeks. Once she got over her tummy troubles she was good to go. Her weight was at the 16%ile. She really jumped in height too. She is up to 29 inches which is the 42%ile. The doctor did blood work to test for allergies since she had been having some rashes but it was all negative so that is good. She got all her shots which was not fun. The doctor had warned me that she might get a fever a week later and sure enough she did. Thanksgiving day she ran a 102 fever all day. She is also working on getting her molars so she is pretty restless. Hoping they break through soon!

So I have a question for all you moms. Anyone had experience with a child that wants to keep their hair in their face. Kate loves to have her hair in her face. She constantly is pulling it down into her eyes. I can't keep it looking cute or back in bows because she wants to have it in her eyes. She even likes to chew on it with her paci. So weird I think! This is what she looks like most of the time. Such a pretty little girl hiding behind some crazy hair! Any suggestions on how to keep the hair out of her face?

Santa's Village - But No Santa

Last Tuesday afternoon at 3:30 while I was at work, we got an email from Santa's Village. Everyone who is a member of Early Works could go to Santa's Village from 5-7 for free. Only thing was Santa would not be there. Everything else was there but no Santa. On my home, I called Matt and asked if we wanted to go. We didn't have anything else to do so after dinner we quickly changed into Christmas clothes and off we went. Usually Santa's village is $12 a person and VERY crowded. Also it is usually so cold you don't enjoy it. You can check out our previous visits here and here. When we went it was amazing. We were the only people there (what did you expect they sent out an email an hour before you could go). It was nice and warm. No lines. It was free (hey I am cheap if you didn't know). It was great!!! We got to see and do everything without having to wait or fight the crowds. The only thing was there was no Santa. That wasn't a big deal. We aren't that big on Santa and I figure we can go somewhere else and get pictures with him if we decide to later. We had the best time!!

Traditional Santa's Village picture in the sleigh.

Checking out the reindeer

Ben and Kate had the best time playing together.

They had the best Christmas music playing so we had the best time dancing.

Since no one was there we put on our own show.

We highly recommend Santa's Village without Santa. Makes for a great way to kick off the holiday season! We are getting into full holiday mode around our house. I love this time of year.

Our Black Friday Adventure

I have never actually been out "Black Friday" shopping. I am usually done with my Christmas shopping by Thanksgiving (I am again this year!!). I am not a big fan of crowds. And the deals don't seem all that great. I know some people love it. Matt is actually one of those people. he went before work on Friday. Crazy if you ask me!

The kids and I did go on a quick Black Friday adventure. I had seen that Build a Bear was going to have 2 of their holiday moose on sale for $5 each. Great deal! I had been wanting to take the kids so this seemed like an awesome opportunity. We didn't go too early. We got there a little after 10. They were down to 2 of the girl moose. I was so excited we got there just in time!! The kids had a blast making their moose.

Kate checking out her flat moose before it was stuffed. She was so cute - after it was stuffed, the lady handed it to her to test out. Kate grabbed it and was hugging it like crazy. The lady needed to finish sewing it up so she took it back. Kate let out the most pitiful cry. She did not want her moose taken away. Ben showing off his flat moose.

Ben's moose getting stuffed.

Here they are - Hal and Holly Moose.

They have a really cute story to go along with them. The story was on TV yesterday morning so the kids got to watch it and loved seeing their moose on TV!

Not your typical Black Friday adventure. The mall was a little crazy but we survived! It sure was a lot of fun!!

Some Football Cuties

Just had to share a picture of my cuties from before church this morning. Football sweater and cheerleader dress. We were trying not to be too boastful about the big win. Just did some subtle propaganda about football in general. Again WAR EAGLE!!!!!

THE Game

Ok all of you that live in Alabama know what I am talking about. THE game of the century was yesterday. THE game to end all games. THE game that would decide bragging rights for 354 days. THE only game that mattered all season. THE Iron Bowl!!

I think Matt was more upset about having to work on Friday during the game than he was about working on Thanksgiving. Once again, we hated to have him miss out but at least he has a job!

We went over to my parent's house to watch the game. Matt joined us when he got off work. The first quarter was really ugly. We started watching and then turned it off. It was 24-0 before we knew it. I was texting with poor Brad and LeeAnn at the game. They said it was miserable there. I have faith in our team and knew that there was the possibility that they could come back but I just didn't see it happening. It got to the point where I was just hoping we didn't embarrass ourselves. We needed to at least score.

Then the second half happened!! I have watched a lot of Auburn football games in the last 30 years and I would have to say this one is one for the books. The comeback was amazing!!! I still couldn't watch though. I was too nervous. We decorated my parent's tree. Kelly and I took long walks. We did just about everything we could but watch the game. All of our hearts were racing. It just didn't seem possible that we were going to win. But it happened - we WON!!!!! I can't believe it. Such a great victory. I am so proud of the team. It has been an amazing season. No matter win or lose we are Auburn fans but it sure is fun to win!!!

Victory Hug!!!!

She didn't know what all the fuss was about but she loved the clapping and jumping and yelling.
Family Auburn photo!
Big family Auburn photo! Lots of smiles all around.

Turkey Day 2010

I skipped one day of blogging and I am already so far behind. So much has happened in the last few days. Hopefully I will get caught up quickly!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Unfortunately Matt had to work the whole week. Boooo!! That is no fun. So it wasn't as eventful or special as usual. But we are thankful he has an awesome job. For some reason they just don't close down the hospital on holidays. So the kids and I had a lazy morning. We just laid around and watched the parade and dog show. Matt got off around 1:30 which was great. We went out to his parents house and caught the end of his family celebration. All his aunts and uncles and cousins and kids gather at his parent's house each year. It is always fun to get to see everyone.
The weather was great so we enjoyed hanging outside. They live on a golf course so it is always nice to be outside.

One of Matt's cousins brought some Bean Boozled jelly beans. In the pack there are "good" jelly beans and "bad" jelly beans. You don't know what you are getting. The bad ones are really bad. Everyone was spitting them out. But Ben loved them all! He just kept eating them. It was cracking everyone up!

Kate and some of the girl cousins.

Ben loved getting to play football with the big boys!

We then went over to my parent's house to have dinner with my family. It was a great meal! Really our only meal of the day (the kids and I ate crackers for lunch and Matt at cafeteria food). We had such a good time just being together as a family. It was our first time to get to spend Thanksgiving with Kelly and Andrew in a few years so it was nice to have them back.

Kate enjoyed her first Thanksgiving meal. She loved it sort of. She is getting lots of teeth and is in a lot of pain so she isn't eating to much but she enjoyed putting the food in her mouth and spitting it out if it required chewing. Hard to believe that last Thanksgiving she was 10 days old and just home from the hospital. What a difference a year makes!!

After dinner, we enjoyed a rowdy game of spoons. I think a few fingers were broken but overall no one was too injured!

It was a great day!! So much to be thankful for.

So Blessed!

Happy Thanksgiving! I pray you all have a blessed and special day. I love Thanksgiving because it is a time to think about everything we have been blessed with. We can take the opportunity to say thanks to an Almighty God that is the giver of ALL things!! Whether it has been a year of blessings or trials I hope we can all say thank you to God for His blessings.

Yesterday I asked everyone what they were thankful for. Here is what I got...

Matt - A wonderful Savior and a growing, healthy family!
Ben - Axis and Allies (yep that is what he is thankful for so I made him say one more thing and he said his family but it was under protest. Last week at Cubbies they had to list what they were thankful for and he listed Jesus and Daddy so those are better than a game.)
Kate - BaBa and DaDa (I really asked her and that is what I got. She is thankful for Ben and Daddy. I am really starting to get a complex that no one is thankful for me!)

What great things to be thankful for! Here is my list for the year..

• I am most thankful for Jesus Christ and the salvation He gives freely. I mess up daily but He keeps on forgiving which I don't deserve!
• My amazing family!! I have the best husband and the 2 most awesome kids. I can't even put into words what they mean to me.
• My extended family. I am blessed to have a great heritage of faith that has brought me to where I am today. Amazing parents, brother, grandparents, aunts and uncles! Also all the great in laws! God has truly blessed.
• Wonderful friends! Matt and I have talked a lot about how blessed we are with the best friends both new and old. They are such a great source of encouragement to us.
• Our jobs - Even if we have to work on holidays or stay really busy both Matt and I are so blessed. If you had asked us both 10 years ago what we wished we could do with our lives we both would have said exactly what we are doing right now. Not many people can say they are doing their "dream" jobs.
• The opportunity to live in America. It is the land of the free. Even if things get crazy around us we still live in the best country on earth.

The list could go on and on but those are the big ones I am thankful for today! I hope I can always focus on thankfulness so that the little "crazies" of life never get the best of me. Because with a list like that how can I ever get down! Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Thanksgiving Craft Day

Last Thursday we had some of our friends over for a Thanksgiving craft and play day. We had 6 mommies and 10 kids ranging in age from 4 months to 5 years. It was a little busy! A special thanks to Jessica H. and her mom for coming up with all the crafts. The kids had a blast!! And all us moms enjoyed the time to visit. The kids all made some awesome crafts.

Ben who usually does not like crafts even got in on the action.
My little crafters.
We enjoyed a fun kid friendly lunch as well. It was so cute to see all the kids sitting together at the table.
Of course everyones favorite craft was the turkey cupcakes they got to make!
Kate loved her lunch and getting to sit with the big kids.

We all had so much fun we are planning on doing a craft day before most of the holidays! Can't wait!!

My Little Pilgrim

Today at school Ben's class celebrated Thanksgiving with a feast. They had to dress up as either Pilgrims or Indians. I just knew he would pick to be an Indian. It totally shocked me when he asked to be a Pilgrim. That is actually a much easier costume to make so I was all for it. I pulled together my very limited sewing skills (ok I have none - I just did some cutting and velcro) to make this cute costume for my little Pilgrim. I thought he looked so cute! Just like they did way back at the first Thanksgiving don't you think! He loved his feast today. They had hot dogs (just like at the first Thanksgiving), fruits, veggies, chips and pumpkin pie. The teacher said he only ate chips and the whipped cream off the pie. I figured! Oh well. It was a great experience.
He has learned so much in the last couple of weeks about Pilgrims and Indians. I am so proud of him. He came home one day telling me all about papooses. He can tell you the entire story of the first Thanksgiving! So great.

It was a great way to start of a week of giving thanks!