Thanksgiving And Black Friday

Ever realize how hard it is to get back to blogging after a long break? I'm not the only one am I? It's not that I don't have things to talk about, it's that I have so much to talk about. I take a break from blogging because I have to much going on and that only makes me feel so far behind when everything slows down again. I have so much to tell you all. So much has happened. And I feel oh so overwhelmed. Where to begin? What to include? What to leave out? Mainly just so much to say. So much that it can't all be summed up in one post. You know unless I wanted to make your eyes bleed.

So we'll just start with Thanksgiving and Black Friday.

I love Thanksgiving. Everything about it. I love getting together with my family. I love drinking too much wine waiting for dinner to cook. I love eating. Oh how I love eating.

We celebrated at my parent's house this year and for the most part my whole family showed up. It was packed. People everywhere. Just about every little nook and cranny was filled up with someone.

Preston might have had the most fun out of all of us this year. He's finally big enough and old enough that he can play with all of his cousins. And he loved playing with his cousins. In fact Preston pretty much rotated his way around to give everyone a little bit of his attention. From the men watching football in the living room, to the women drinking wine and playing cards in the kitchen, down to the preteens and teenagers in the basement, and most importantly to the 4-6 year olds that were racing all over the house. Preston seemed to have the most fun with his cousins Trey and Alyse. They raced around the house. They wrestled in the hallway. They dog piled in the living room. Fun was had all over the place.

I have to say this year was very enjoyable due to Preston's new found independence. Both Brad and myself were able to sit back and relax while Preston played with said cousins.

All that playing sure did go a long way in wearing my little guy out.

Brad and Preston even sat back and enjoyed their full bellies and some technology at the end of the night.


Full bellies that almost didn't get full due to the fiasco in the kitchen. Somehow when my Mom went to check the turkey some of the butter spilled and caught the tinfoil on fire. Resulting in a full blown panic among the women in the kitchen. My Mom ran for the fire extinguisher and was headed for the oven to take care of the fire. Which most certainly would have put an end to our turkey dinner. Fortunately Brad stepped in just before she doused the turkey and fire and pulled the tinfoil that was on fire out of the oven and tossed it into the sink, thus saving Thanksgiving.

Saving Thanksgiving on his own birthday, what a husband I have. That's right my wonderful husband turned 26 on Thanksgiving this year. Happy Birthday Baby!


I wish that I could say that we got a family photo, but the best that I could come up with was really pathetic. I couldn't seem to get my boys to pay attention to the camera. Those iPhones seemed to keep them fairly busy, even when I very nicely requested them to smile. There's always next year, I guess.


The night ended late. Way too late. Especially considering that Kait had convinced me to hit Black Friday with her. Somehow I'd agreed to go shopping at the ungodly hour of 5am. That's right people Kait picked me up at 5'o'clock in the morning. It was still dark outside. If it hadn't been for the Starbucks that Kait bought me I really don't think I would have survived the day. We hit Fred Meyer, Target, Walmart, Toys R Us, and Kohls. I was home and exhausted by 1pm. But all that shopping and all those sales mean that I am finished shopping for Preston and that I got him everything I wanted and then some and even better, I came in under budget! Plus it was a good thing that Kait has a minivan because we filled that sucker up. Seriously filled it up. It was so much fun. I think it's going to become a tradition. That's right Kait, I'll be expecting you next year at 5am in my driveway so we can do some serious shopping!

There was no rest for me, after all if there had been I could have updated the blog. After I arrived home from Black Friday shopping we were off to the post office to start the paperwork on our passports. I'll let you know more about why I need those passports as it gets closer to us needing them and our plans become more concrete. Let's just say that someone is turning 30 and she wants to celebrate and celebrate big! We ended the day at my MILs as my SIL was in town and we were taking advantage of all the extra people willing to wear out our little ball of energy.

More to come...I haven't even gotten to the weekend.

I'm Around

It's been a crazy week. Between seeing New Moon again, dinner with friends, birthday dinners for Brad, Thanksgiving and Brad's birthday (in the same day!), visiting with family, shopping on Black Friday, decorating for Christmas, and hunting for our Christmas tree things have been a little bit crazy around here. I'll get around to giving a much better update, with pictures even, but first I have to find the time. And that might not happen until after the weekend is over. I hope you've all enjoyed your holiday and your time with family. I'll be back and when I'm back not only will I catch you all up, but I'll also be catching up with you!

Midnight Madness

I did it. Not only did I go see New Moon opening weekend, but I also saw it opening day. In fact I saw the first showing in theatres ever. That's right people I was one of those crazies at the 12:01am showing Thursday night/Friday morning. It was insane! The theatre that we went to sold out all ten theatres that they were playing it in. There was a little bit of a crowd.

Kait went with me, in fact it was her idea to go to the midnight show. Yay for Kait being as fanatic about Twilight as me! Of course being that staying up until all hours is something that we haven't done in a while, we also made a mandatory stop at Starbucks on the way to the theatre. It was a necessity to survive the night.

I'm not going to lie there were some crazies there. Not that surprising really when you think about the fact that you have to be a little bit insane to decide to go see a two hour movie that starts at midnight. In fact some of the people were so crazy that they were taking photos with this cardboard cutout of Edward, Bella, and Jacob...

I know, I know...it's just a cutout don't embarrass yourself people. There is no reason to be rubbing up against a piece of cardboard. I was just so embarrassed for them.

Oh wait, it looks like me and Kait were some of those crazies. Hello Edward! If only the picture wasn't so crappy.

Then it was time to head on in and enjoy the show. It was packed. We got so lucky and happened to score two seats in the center in the row behind the bar. Not too far forward and not too far back. Even better was that when I had to use the restroom (all THREE times, thank you Starbucks) all I had to do was hop the bar.

Now the movie. Hmmmm...what to say. I've got some mixed feelings on that one. I left the theatre furious. I'd just reread the books so everything was nice and fresh for me and every change that they made was just so freaking obvious. I'm sure it didn't help either that it was like 3am. Eeek! But the more that I think about it the more that I liked the movie. They really did do a great job covering all the key points of the book and not changing things up too much. I'm dying to see it again. I just know that it will be even better the second time. The first time that I watched Twilight after reading the books, I noticed all the differences and hated it. But everytime after that first time I liked it a little more and more. I finally stopping seeing all the differences and just focused on the movie. Now all I have to do is figure out when I can see it again!

Nesting...In A Non-Pregnant Way

A very non-pregnant way. Just to set the record straight. I am not pregnant. NOT PREGNANT. Whew, now that we've gotten that out of the way.


I'm sure you've noticed that I'm around a lot of pregnant people lately. If they aren't pregnant it's because they've just had a baby. That's a lot of talking about pregnancy and infants and getting ready for babies. A lot of baby gifts that must be bought. A lot of baby showers that must be attended and thrown. A lot of time spent thinking about babies. It's not difficult to understand that I have babies on the mind these days.


Not in the "I want a baby" way. I know that I'm not ready for another baby just yet. I'm enjoying having my body back. I was pregnant for nine months and then nursed Preston for 21 months. That's a long time of sharing my body. Not to mention the sleep factor. Preston was not a good sleeper. At all. All the way up until we quit nursing Preston could be counted on to wake up every 2-3 hours every single night. Meaning that I also woke up every 2-3 hours up until Preston was 21 months old. Add in the fact that pregnant women don't really sleep all that great, and I've got a whole lot of sleep to make up before I do this all over again.


I'm also enjoying having just Preston. It's easier to get out of the house. He's starting to get to that age where he's more able to do things on his own. Yet he's still such a little cuddler that I don't feel like he's too grown up to need me. Not to mention that I really don't think that Preston is ready to share us. He's very territorial. We are his and while he is willing to share me and Brad to a certain extent, adding another baby to the equation would more than likely be too much sharing. Sharing that I'm not ready to impose on Preston just yet. I only get these first few years of me and him for so long before he's too grown up or there is another baby. Plus Preston really just is a handful. He's two right now and full of energy and I only have two hands and currently he requires both of them most of the time.


Don't misunderstand what I'm saying, for some families having their children close together is ideal. Part of the plan and a well thought out plan at that. I have different spaces in ages with all of my siblings ranging from 2 years to 11 years, so I see the benefits of closer aged siblings and further aged siblings. It's just that spacing Preston and our next baby out by what I hope to be five years will work better for our family.


The point that I so easily veered from is that I'm surrounded by pregnant women and newborns. Do you know what pregnant women do to prepare for their newborns? They nest. Baby item are purchased. Nursery themes and ideas are discussed and purchased. Baby furniture is picked out. A nursery is created and all of those teeny tiny little baby clothes fill the dressers. All to welcome baby. Guess what I've been feeling an overwhelming urge to do lately? NEST!


Nest for the baby that will happen...down the road. Down the road in an estimated 3 years. THREE YEARS! A baby that I don't even know the sex of. A baby that currently doesn't exist. Yet I am filled with the overwhelming urge to buy this baby things. To pull out all of Preston's baby things. To begin decorating my future child's nursery. This may have gotten worse when I realized the other day that Preston's bedroom is just that, a bedroom. It's no longer a nursery because he is now a toddler rather than a baby and toddlers have bedrooms not nurseries.


This crazy urge to nest got so bad that about a month and a half ago, I freaked out. I began to clean and clear out Brad's office. Brad's office is our future nursery. Where I will go crazy with baby things for our next baby's nursery. This may have gotten so out of hand because I'd recently picked out both boy and girl nursery themes on a trip to Babies R Us with my sister while shopping for my future nephew. I was having a near panic attack at the mess that Brad had made of this room. There was crap everywhere. I do mean everywhere. I didn't marry Brad because he is the cleanest person in the world and that is evident when you look into his space. But in that moment that room was no longer Brad's. It was the baby's. You know the baby that still has yet to be created. This panic even resulted in me calling Brad while he was at work to talk about moving everything out of the room. I was desperate to create more of a relaxing atmosphere in our future child's nursery. Move in a couch, a TV, a lamp, and a bookcase. A "calm" room was what I referred to it as. Fortunately I was having this discussion over the phone with my husband so I only had to hear his reaction not see it. Even more fortunate, I came to my senses and realized that you don't start preparing a nursery three years in advance when you need the room right now, before I'd emptied the room out.


But I'm not just nesting in a shopping and decorating kind of way, I'm also freak cleaning. My house had never been so purged of junk. So organized. Everything has a place and it needs to be in it's place. I'm going through areas of the house that I haven't messed with since we moved in three years ago. I even finally got around to bleaching and really sanitizing the downstairs bathroom. Score for nesting. I've ordered pictures from a vacation we took two years ago, because I needed to get those photos in an album now! I've picked through my closet, Brad's closet, and Preston's closet removing any and all items that no longer fit, are no longer in style, and things that I just don't like anymore. Even the garage is cleaner. Brad's half as well as mine. My half is usually clean, but Brad's side not so much. That in itself in an accomplishment. Not to mention that I packed up all of the summer toys and organized the storage containers they go in months ago. Poor Preston has been digging through them for his toys whenever we played outside and I would have to stop myself from following him around and picking things back up and putting them away as he finished playing with them. OUTSIDE!


I think it's obvious that I am ready for all of my friends to have their babies. I need to get past this nesting phase and I'm really hoping that when I'm surrounded by all these newborns everywhere I look that I don't develop baby fever. Although I have already informed a certain friend that while she may be pregnant now when I get pregnant in two years she better be ready again! That's right Courtney I mean you! I mean what good is having friends if you don't make sure that your kids are friends with their kids too?


All this baby talk makes me want to pull out all my pregnancy and teeny tiny baby Preston photos...oh wait it looks like I already did! Wasn't I huge? And Preston is all of five months and younger in all of these photos, he seems so small! You didn't think that I could do all this talking about pregnancy and newborns and babies and not remember mine did you?

A Confession

I'm going to be completely honest here. Gotta get this off my chest. Promise you won't think less of me?

I am absolutely beyond excited to see New Moon. Really I am. I am a Twilight fanatic. No doubts about it. I even reread the books, you know to prepare for the movie coming out this month. I wanted to make sure that I remembered every detail, every single one.

But...

I'm kind of dreading the whole experience. The lines. The wait. The packed theatre. Mostly though, I'm just dreading the movie. It will be good. I know it will. And I love me some Robert Pattinson. But it's just not going to measure up. It can't possibly be as good as the book. They are going to leave things out. They are going to change things. Things that I love about the book.

Then I keep coming back to Twilight the movie vs Twilight the book. There really wasn't even much of a comparrison. The book kicked the movie's ass. It was pretty pathetic. The two really shouldn't even be compared to one another is was that big of a difference. Is New Moon the movie vs New Moon the book going to be the same thing?

There's this small part of me that wants to spare myself the disappointment. I look at the other movies opening this weekend and think maybe I'll just see one of those instead. Like The Blind Side. This one looks really good too. Maybe I should just buy a ticket for it instead. Avoid the crowds of New Moon and hold off what is sure to be a slight disappointment when compared to the book.

Then I watch a preview and I remember why I'm going to be there opening night in the theatre that is playing New Moon. Even if it's not as amazing as the book it's still going to be good. I'm still going to like it. Like it enough that I'll probably want to see it again. And if it's not and I don't, well at least I got to stare at this for two hours.


Oh Edward, take me now!

Weekend Recap

Whew, I'm exhausted. We had a fairly busy weekend and Preston had some late nights, leaving me exhausted.

We of course started the weekend with SoccerTots. In fact I think we are going to continue on with SoccerTots after this session ends. Preston loves it and I love having him involved in a sport. Plus he already seems to be learning so much. Not just skills required to play soccer, but also things that are beneficial to him outside of sports. Such as listening, learning, waiting his turn, and interacting in a physical (but nice!) way with other kids that are both his size and smaller. I would say bigger, but Preston is definitely the tallest kid in his SoccerTots class! This week Preston continued to improve on sitting on his spot and following instructions that the coach gave him. I did have to pull him aside a time or two and let him know that if he didn't plan on playing soccer than we would be going home, but after that reminder he got right back on track. Preston also tried his hand at some basketball after soccer was over. He even slam-dunked...with Grandpa's help!

After soccer I dropped Brad and Preston off at home and headed over to the DOL. Nothing better than showing up two hours before closing on a Saturday to make some changes to your driver's license. It was busy. But I finally got around to changing my last name over to Brad's last name. We've only been married for almost a year. It's about time I took care of that!

Since Brad had some classes to take for continuing education in plumbing, I ran home and picked up Preston. We headed over to the library. I realized that Preston hadn't been since he was like seven months old and then we only went for a Baby Lapsit class. It was time to pick up a library card and some books. Preston loves to read and be read to, meaning that he loved being at the library. He seemed in awe of all of the books everywhere. When it was time to leave he kept telling me "NO Mommy, books!". We will definitely be back.

From the library we paid a visit to my parent's house. Preston was desperate to play in the "Spooky Room". My Mom has turned a basement bedroom into the spoooky room of the house and Preston loves it. He would drag someone downstairs with him and they'd turn off the lights and make ghost noises. Clearly I'm not raising a scaredy cat!

Sunday was just as busy. Brad's Mom bought us tickets to see The Lion King with her and her boyfriend. Meaning that Preston got to go back to Grandma and Grandpa's house and play in the spoooooky room. I'm not even sure he really noticed or cared all that much that we were gone he was having so much fun. Grandma took him to McDonalds for lunch and then to the mall for some shopping, where Preston convinced her to let him play in the play area for over an hour!

While Preston was busy, we were enjoying The Lion King, it was so good! Seriously so good! They did such a great job and the animal costumes were very impressive. Definitely a must see. I wish that Preston had been old enough to sit through it, he would have thought that the animals were so cool. As the show started at 1pm, by the time it was out we were starving! My fabulous mother-in-law not only treated us to the show but also to dinner. YUM. I'm still full. It was so much fun to get out and be able to sit and watch the play and then to eat a grown up dinner. Although if I'm being honest I was watching the little boy in front of us a little bit throughout the show and missing Preston every time he got excited about something. I can't wait until Preston is old enough to enjoy things like this!

We picked up our sleeping baby from Grandma's house and headed home to finish off the weekend watching The Lion King with Preston. Just because he had to miss the show doesn't mean he has to miss the movie!

FALL!

I finally got the Fall pictures I've been wanting! It was quite the process too. I showed up early, not intentionally. I actually thought I was late. Only to realize after attempting to take the first picture of Preston that I'd left my memory stick in my laptop...at home. Lovely. Just lovely. I ended up being late, as I had to run to the closest store and purchase a spare memory stick for the next time that I find myself in a situation like this. I'm finally on time to something, early even, and somehow I still manage to be late. Go figure.

It was all worth it in the end. I got my "Preston plays in the leaves" pictures. Preston played outside with his friends. Which he throughly enjoyed! He raced around, jumped through the leaves, climbed rocks, and checked out the little creek. Plus there was the added benefit that it was fifty degrees and sunny. All was right in the world. And next time I will have a spare memory stick, you know just in case.


All in a day's work. Hope you enjoyed the pictures!

Busy? Not Quite

We had one of those quiet and lazy weekends. It was mostly my fault. Or at least that of my monthly visitor. I was exhausted. Drained to say the least. Simply moving around left me feeling like I was going to drop dead. Not to mention that my visitor left me in pain with every movement anyways. And to top it all off, we ran out of Aleve on Friday and I didn't have the energy to go get anymore myself or beg Brad to either. So I suffered.

It wasn't all bad. There was the part where I didn't have to move from bed except to take a bath, that was pretty nice. Brad handled feeding us and taking care of Preston while I tried not to move unless I absolutely had too. I even got in a nap on Saturday. Since Preston doesn't nap anymore, I never nap anymore. It was nice, I've missed napping.

A perk of spending a lot of time in bed this weekend? I finally got to start rereading the Twilight series. Yes, that's right. Rereading. With the second movie coming out, I've been wanting to read these again and just haven't found the time. This weekend I found the time. A lot of time. Since Friday night I have managed to get through the first three and more than half of the fourth. Not that it was difficult, what with Edward there encouraging me to keep on reading. Oh Edward. *Swoon*

We did get out of the house on Saturday morning. Preston had SoccerTots! He did just as good this week as last week. In fact, you could even say he did better. This time he actually listened and sat on his spot when he was supposed to. Improvement! There were also more kids there this week, which made it more fun for Preston. Preston is quite the social butterfly, in a very masculine way of course. Just today he informed me that he'd like to see his friends please. Poor kid doesn't seem to enjoy spending time with a Mommy who doesn't have the energy to move around much. As you can see from the pictures, the lighting and everything about the gym makes it practically impossible to get the best picture and trust me I tried. :(

Luckily, I'm feeling almost back to normal now. Thank goodness. As much as I loved the quality time that I was spending with my Edward and having Brad do all the cooking, I have things that I need to get done around here. There's cleaning (oh the mess that my two boys managed to make while I was in bed), there's grocery and Christmas shopping to be done, and so much laundry. Ahhh, sometimes it's nice to catch a break and spend a weekend in bed but I'm ready to reclaim life again.

Before I start reclaiming that life, I have exciting and big news around our house from last week. I know you are just dying to know, Preston recently learned something new. Something new and exciting. All by himself. Well almost all by himself. He had a little bit of help from my iPhone. Preston learned ALL of his shapes on Wednesday. He started playing with a shape app on my phone on Monday and by Wednesday Brad and I were watching him and he had it down. He was getting them all right, we were shocked. Absolutely shocked. We really hadn't started working on shapes yet and three days with my phone and BAM! I bet you're now wondering what shapes he knows? Maybe not...but I don't want to forget! Get ready for the list...circle, square, triangle, rectangle, hexagon, crescent, star, heart, and diamond. Needless to say we've downloaded a few more educational apps. One for numbers, another for letters, and one for colors. Preston already knows his colors but we figured it doesn't hurt to have a game that encourages him to continue working on it. I hadn't really considered teaching Preston his numbers yet, but I figure it can't hurt. I'm so excited right now about the letters app. He did so well with the shapes that I figure that along with what we've been working on letter-wise right now a game that works in the same direction definitely won't hurt. My baby knows his shapes, he's so smart!

Wordful Wednesday - SoccerTots!

SoccerTots! Just saying it makes me excited. Excited that Preston is in sports. He's already learning the excitement that comes with being on a "team". I use team in quotes, because at this point in soccer Preston isn't on a team so much as he's part of a group learning about the fundamentals of soccer. There are two other little kids on his team. A boy and a girl. We spent an hour with them on Saturday morning, them and our coach, learning all about soccer. Preston was so excited and it was so stinking cute.

I have to be that parent now. That one who brags in a ridiculous way about their child. I apologize in advance, but it must be done. Preston was the most athletic one on his team. The most athletic one. The other kids weren't even on the same level. Not even close. Preston lapped them, literally. I was so proud! SO PROUD!

I should also mention that Preston arrived with a fan club. It was actually a little bit embarrassing. The other two kids arrived with their parents; Preston showed up with both me and Brad along with Grandma and Grandpa, two of his Aunties, and Gigi and Dave. A whole group of us there to support and cheer on Preston. What can I say, we were all so excited. Plus there's that little boy that we are all just crazy for.

What did Preston learn you ask? We set up cones and kicked them over. We then used our feet to set the cones back up. Only to then knock them back over. There were some practice shots into the goal. As well as some running. First me chasing Preston while he wore a cape. Then it was my turn with the cape. Only I couldn't get Preston to chase me. That is until I took the soccer ball away. Then he chased me all over the place. There was also an obstacle course. This is where Preston really kicked butt. We were supposed to tip toe across a rope ladder that was laid out on the floor, jump through a hula hoop, jump in and out of some hula hoops laid out on the floor, fly like an airplane through some cones, jump over a bunch of pool noodles, and finally jump through one final hula hoop. Preston loved the obstacle course. As soon as his coach started explaining what he was supposed to do he was struggling to get up and get going. Once he was up, he not only completed the obstacle course correctly but also lapped the other kids not just once but twice on their first run through. Not bad! I was so proud. And worn out. Seriously, exhausted. In fact I tagged Brad in and stepped off to the sidelines to catch my breath and take a break after the course. We ran that obstacle course probably close to fifteen times. Preston wasn't even winded. He quickly moved on to the next game. Following a course and kicking the ball into the goal. Then finished off with a parachute game.


Preston loved every minute of the whole experience. I know that he is going to be so excited when we walk back into that gym this weekend and he sees that he gets to do it all over again. Only this time I hope that he's a little better at listening when it's time to sit and learn about the next game. He didn't do so awesome in that department. While Preston could run circles around the other kids they sat and listened so much better than he did. It was a struggle to get him to come to his spot when the coach called for it and even more of a battle to get him to stay there. We're clearly going to be working on that. He just wants to go, go, go.

Sorry for the crappy pictures. I was a participant, meaning that my camera was handed off to my little sister and then Brad. Neither of them really seemed to get a handle on it. I promise to take better pictures of Preston at SoccerTots this weekend. Much better pictures. Not that it will be hard, considering the amazing lack of quality in these ones. :) Well except for that last one. I took that one during my break.