Thanksgiving Memories

Well I meant to blog about this sooner, but we've had a crazy week. We got back Saturday night and spent Sunday doing laundry and resting and then Monday I had to run some errands with the kids and then we drove up to Silverdale for Tyler's 10th birthday dinner...still can't believe he's really 10 years old...all day Monday, Timothy kept complaining that he had an owie in his mouth and he kept pointing to the same side of his mouth so Tuesday I took him to the dentist to make sure it wasn't a cavity and thankfully his teeth looked great.

Tuesday afternoon my mom came over and gave Charlotte her first real bottle!!!! We decided it might work best, since Charlotte was asleep when my mom got there, if she just went in and picked her up out of bed and started giving the bottle to her before she was really awake and it worked and she did wake up while she was taking it and drank a whole 3 ounces!! You can only imagine what a relief that was for me, and I think her new thumb sucking habit may have helped!!

Tuesday night I took Charlotte and we went out to dinner with some of my friends from Weyerhaeuser and Brandon stayed home with Timothy and when I got home he told me that Timothy had been limping...well he was still limping Wednesday morning when he woke up and wouldn't really walk on his left foot at all and cried whenever I touched it and he has this bruise on there that he's had for at least a month now so I called the pediatrician and she said they wanted to see him, so I took him in that afternoon and told them what had been going on, he had been running a 102 temp earlier that day as well but of course by the time I get him there at almost 4pm he's had a nap and the Motrin had kicked in so the fever was gone and he's walking around just fine so the doctor said he looked fine and not to worry...he did say if the bruise is still there next week and it's not healing that the will want to look at it again and possibly do a biopsy so please pray that it goes away between now and then!!

So this morning he woke up saying again that he had a owie in his mouth, but I think it's just a sore throat. Once he drank some water and Grammy bought him a smoothie at the mall he was just fine. So as you can tell, we've had a busy week. I haven't packed anything and I feel like I've wasted four days. Oh well. On to our Thanksgiving week in Texas...

We got there on Saturday and went straight from the airport to Cracker Barrel...yum, just what I needed after a flight with an almost three year old! Sunday we went to church and had lunch at Brandon's aunt's house, Monday we got to drive back over to Houston to see our best friends the Thompsons and their three girls. We had so much fun visiting with them (even though it felt like we were yelling over three little ones the whole day - oh wait, that's exactly what we were doing) and we're so excited that we're going to be living closer to them now. We've really missed them a lot. Tuesday we did some Christmas shopping and Wednesday the guys went fishing and we went to church. Thursday for Thanksgiving the whole family came over to Brandon's parent's house. There must have been about 30 people there, it was a big crowd, but it was a lot of fun. Friday we went to the mall and out to lunch and that night we let the kids decorate a gingerbread house and opened presents. It was a fun week and of course went by too fast.

Anyway, I would love to say more, but Timothy's crying and I think "quite time" is now over...here's pictures from last week...hope you all had a great Thanksgiving!

Pictures with the family

Timothy LOVED to ride the tractors!

Charlotte fell asleep rocking with Papa almost every night that we were there!

Playing with the Thompsons

Aren't they a cute little family?

Making the gingerbread house

I'm sure I don't remember what was so funny here...

Three Months Old

So we made it back from TX safe and now the marathon packing and Christmas shopping and all of that begins...but before all of that, I need to blog about Charlotte now that she is three months old. So here's what the little girl has been up to this past month!

I am three months old now and I'm so much fun to play with!

I found my thumb and I love it and it helps me fall asleep and makes me happy when I am sad.

I like to hold up my head so I can see everything and I get mad if I can't sit up.

I love mommy more than anything else and I sometimes get mad if she's not holding me.

I sleep through the night now that I've found my thumb and mommy and daddy think it's the best thing ever!

I love to look at my hands and feet and I'm almost sure I know how to use them.

I still hate my car seat, but I don't cry as badly about it now that I have my trusty thumb to get me through :)

I don't like to wear blue jeans and I become very happy when I'm just laying around in my diaper.

I love to smile and everyone thinks I look just like my daddy when I smile, I laugh out loud when things are really funny.

One Trip Down...One to Go!

Well we survived the trip to San Antonio, it was productive and quite stressful, but we made it. We found a house so now I just have to get all the paperwork and stuff done and faxed back to the property management office before we leave again Saturday morning (which means I need to get it done today so I can pack and clean tomorrow!). I am so tired, I can barely tell what day it is...I didn't get out of my pj's until about 3pm yesterday.

So to recap our trip, we flew in Thursday and got there late Thursday night. I had these grand plans that Timothy would sit quietly on the plane and watch movies on his little dvd player, but about 5 minutes into his movie, the battery light started flashing so that plan didn't work. He did about as well as you could expect a two year old to do on a four hour flight, he played with a lot of stickers! We had quite an adventure finding the rental car and getting to the hotel and we were exhausted when we got there.

Friday we spent hanging out at my brothers house in the morning and then in the afternoon my mom and I went out to run some errands and Timothy fell asleep so we brought him back to the hotel and I got to rest a little. We went back to their house for Stefan's birthday dinner that night and that was the night the kids slept the best. Charlotte slept 12 straight hours...I was so happy. If only that had continued into the rest of the weekend! Saturday we had lunch at our friends the Cunningham's house and then mom showed me around a little that afternoon. We all tried to go to church together that night, but my dad and I were in the rental car with my kids and we went the wrong way and ended up in horrible traffic so we turned around and went back to the hotel and he helped me map out some of the houses that I had found to look at and then we met everyone for dinner later.

Sunday morning my dad ran in the Rock & Roll half marathon. He did really well and beat his time from the one he ran here in Tacoma a few months ago. Mom and Brittany and I took all the kids down to see him finish. It was really neat to be there. They had a live band and the boys all had fun dancing. We made him a sign that said "Way to Go Grumpy" and traced all the kids footprints on it for him. Sunday afternoon I met with a realtor who was supposed to show me some houses but she only had two to show and they were horrible so I was a little stressed Sunday night. Not to mention the fact that Timothy didn't get a nap Sunday or any downtime and he was so tired Sunday night he could hardly hold himself together. Monday I spent the morning calling around on a bunch of houses I had found online and set up appointments to view them. Thankfully one of them worked out so now I have to fill out all the paperwork...yuck!

We left Tuesday morning and the nice ticket agent at the airport got us on a earlier flight out. I had charged the dvd player all day Monday thinking it would work and we get on the plane and I think it lasted about 30 minutes and then it was done. I almost cried. We made it home and I have never been so thankful to sleep in my own bed. It was a good weekend, but it was tiring and stressful.

Timothy had a blast playing with his cousins. He and Hadley (who he called "Happily") played football almost non-stop. Hadley was nice enough to share his spare Cowboys jersey and helmet with Timothy and then surprised him one night with his very own football and a new Lightning McQueen car and a Mater. Timothy was one happy little boy. Charlotte was her normal self and screamed when anyone but me was holding her. I can't even describe how much fun that was. Anyway, we're very happy to be home, but we leave again Saturday morning to go down to Brandon's parents' house for Thanksgiving for a week. At least this time I will have Brandon flying with me!

So here are the pictures from the weekend and a video of the boys dancing. Happy Thanksgiving and I'll be back in December!

Christmas is Here!

Well since they have all the decorations up in the stores and we saw Santa in the mall the other day, I figured it wasn't too early to decorate our house as well! So...Saturday we pulled out all the Christmas stuff and started decorating. I know it's probably dumb to put up a tree and get out all that stuff when we're moving next month, but Christmas is my absolute favorite holiday and I just have to decorate for it.

Timothy was hilarious, everything we pulled out of the box, he would get all excited and yell, "mommy, look!!" and then we'd hear all about Santa or the snowman or the Christmas tree. We have a fake tree, it's not my favorite or what I would prefer, but we got it our first Christmas together when we had a puppy and a cat so we didn't want them tearing up a real tree and then the next Christmas we had a baby and then a toddler and now two kiddos so it's been good to not have to worry about a real tree, but I think we'll probably get rid of it after this year and get real ones from now on. I love having the tree up though, there's just something magical about Christmas lights, they make me smile.

We have such a busy month ahead, I really don't know when I'll be able to get on here, hopefully a little next week. The kids and I leave Thursday to go to San Antonio until next Tuesday, I'm hoping to find a house and start to learn my way around a little more. I am meeting with a realtor Saturday and Sunday and then I have an interview at a recruiting firm on Monday so I'll be really busy. My dad's running in a half marathon Sunday morning so we're all going downtown to see him finish that and the rest of the time we'll be spending with my brother and his family. I'm a little nervous to be flying with Timothy and Charlotte all on my own, and even more nervous about getting the three of us to sleep in a hotel room, but we'll manage!

So we got home from SA on Tuesday and then the next Saturday all four of us fly down to Houston for the week for Thanksgiving. So next week I'll basically be doing laundry and re-packing everything! Timothy's really excited to ride on Papa's tractor though and I'm excited for Charlotte to get to meet all of Brandon's family. And then we got home and it's practically December which only leaves me a few weeks to pack and clean and then we're heading South!

Anyway, pray for me this weekend! Hopefully I won't go completely crazy! Here's some pictures from our Christmas decorating!

Silly Girl

Charlotte is so ticklish, it's hilarious! We got her on video today laughing out loud, she has the cutest little belly laugh, it's so funny.

What Do You See?

While to the untrained eye, this may only look like a bunch of scribbles...to a certain little two year old boy...it's Buzz Lightyear and Lightning McQueen! He was so proud of himself for drawing these pictures, I had to get out the camera to remember them. He won't draw on his easel with the paper hanging down, you know, like normal...he has to pull out the paper onto the floor and get down and draw on the floor. Oh well, whatever works! Not much else going on here, the kids and I have settled into a pretty good little routine now that I've been home full time. I now live for 2:00 pm every day...Charlotte eats and goes right down for a nap and Timothy goes into his room for "quiet time". He gave up napping a while ago, much to my dislike, but he has pretty much accepted the concept of quiet time so I guess that's as good as it gets. Anyway, here's some more pictures for now!

Vote Vote Vote!!!

Please remember to take time to vote today...if you don't vote...you can't complain!! And please pray before you vote, our country needs God now more than ever and I'm praying that whoever is elected will agree!