Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving! We hope you all had a wonderful one. This was the first year that we spent Thanksgiving just the five of us. It was a really good day. Of course it helps that we have an overwhelming large amount of things to be thankful for. God has richly blessed us. Especially this past year with the addition of Isaiah to our family. Can you guess what he's thankful for? I'll give you a clue...he's very attached to them (his two fingers!) :)

We are also incredibly blessed to be the parents of these two, who I might add were so well behaved yesterday while their daddy and I spent most of the day preparing our feast. With the exception of one ten minute meltdown at the end of the meal, they played so sweetly together and were very happy yesterday.

Even though it was just the five of us, we made a ton of food. Thanksgiving is Theo's favorite holiday and one of this top five most favorite meals so we had to do it up right! He prepared and carved the turkey.

Our other turkey, Mr. Gobble Gobble, also made his debut!

We also made several sides: mashed potatoes and gravy, corn casserole, green bean casserole, sweet potato casserole, rice and peas, stuffing, and cranberry sauce. We ate good yesterday!!

This guy waited patiently all day for the dessert.....apple pie!

My favorite part besides the food was decorating our table. We used our china and I used what I had to make a beautiful tablescape (if I do say so myself!)

We went on a "nature" walk this week (really I just needed to go to the post office but we turned it into a spontaneous nature walk!) and Carter had fun collecting pinecones. They are pretty hard to come by around these parts. I realized I miss the abundance of pine trees that you see in the south.

This year we did a thankful jar and Theo, Carter and I would write on pieces of paper what we were thankful for. We read them out loud at dinner. Some of the things in our jar were: friends at school, Mrs. L (Carter's former teacher), candy, toys, healthy children, a loyal husband who works hard to provide for us, family, spectacular views, completing my first 5K, health insurance and a wonderful pediatrician, just to name a few. I think this will be a tradition of ours from now on. I hope to leave the jar out all year round so we can practice gratitude on a daily basis and not just one month a year.

We hope your lives are blessed and that you have much to be grateful for. Happy Thanksgiving!!

Nine months

Isaiah technically turned nine months old about three weeks ago but I just took him for his nine month check-up yesterday.  Here are his vital statistics:

Weight: 17 pounds 14 ounces

Length: 29 inches

He is right on target for his growth. He's still hovering around the 10 percentile for weight but he looks healthy and is gaining good weight. I stopped nursing him at eight months and haven't regreted that for a second! On his actual nine month birthday, he was not crawling. That all changed this past weekend and now he is ALL over the place.

Precious little man, at nine months old you:

-are growing so big and strong! I can't believe in just a couple of more months, you'll be turning a year old!

-are such a happy, laid back baby. You are incredibly easy to take ANY place and I'm so thankful for that. You are so calm compared to your older siblings.

-are on soy formula and seem to be tolerating that a little better than cow's milk formula. I know you don't have a milk allergy but your little tummy likes the soy better.

-are finally getting some table foods (eggs, banana, puffs, cereal bars) and you love everything you tried except mommy's squash soup!

-mostly eat baby food but are not liking your veggies as much as you used to.

-still only have two teeth which I am so shocked about. I can't believe no more teeth have come in but I keep expecting more any day now.

-wear a size 3 diaper, size 2 shoe (but hardly ever wear shoes), 9-12 month clothes.

-love bath time. You splash yourself all the time and look a little shocked, and then you just laugh!

-are putting everything in your mouth. I have to sweep 27 times a day to keep all the little food and dirt particles out of your mouth.

-still love your exersaucer and jumper. You are going to have strong leg muscles.

-are attempting to pull yourself up onto things but only get to your knees and then aren't sure what to do after that.

-are still not really sleeping through the night. You did last night but you also got your flu shot yesterday so I'm certain it was just a fluke. Tonight will tell! You wake up about once around 2:00-3:00, take a bottle, and then fall right back asleep.

-take two naps during the day, one little catnap in the morning on the way home from the gym and then a good long afternoon nap. You still love your Aunt Vickie knitted blanket and never sleep without it.

-keep your big brother "up all night" :) Oh, the joys of sharing a room.....

-are the joy of our lives. We are smitten with you and have such a special place in our hearts for you because you will always be our baby. We love you more and more each day Isaiah! Thank you for blessing us with your sweet little self! It's hard to believe nine months ago, we were bringing you home from the hospital! My, how you've changed :)

What's goin' on

And the answer to that would be a whole lot of nothing! But it's been a few days so I thought I'd at least post a few pictures. I'm sure everyone who reads this is also on facebook and has already heard this story. But for my dad, these pictures are for you (Olivia got into my makeup and decided to redo the master bedroom and bathroom in the shade "warmth")

Praise the Lord, all of that make-up came out of everything....except the rocking chair that she was sitting in when she decided to play dress up. Fortunately, it was NOT the rocking chair from my last post!!!

This little pirate started crawling over the weekend!

 My life just became drastically different. It's all eyes on him. No more leaving him sitting in the middle of the floor playing unsupervised. Nope, he's into EVERYTHING. He loves plugs, lights, anything he can get his little hooks in. But it is SO much fun to watch him crawl around :)

I found him all hung up in the blanket a couple of days ago.

It was a little alarming when I first saw him but he was fine and seemed all too snuggly.

I'm so glad Carter has the week off of school. But let's face it- not like I'm going to get to sleep in. It seems like the kids wake up even earlier on the days there is no school. *sigh*

I am hoping to get the kids out from in front of the t.v. (I've been really lax about that lately) and get crafty. I'm finding all kinds of great ideas on pinterest.com and my creative process is in overdrive. I did buy some fabric to make Olivia a reversible Christmas dress. It's the same pattern as this dress:

In other news, I ran my first 5K this past Friday! I did it in about 32 minutes which is way faster than I've been running on the treadmill. So today, when I went to the gym, I really pushed myself and found that if I do that, I can run a lot faster (at least fast for me). I am really hoping to lose these last 5 pounds but it has been extremely challenging. I guess having 3 babies in 4 years will do that to a girl :) So I'm trying to get back on the healthy eating bandwagon and hopefully by the end of the year, I'll be back to the same weight I was when Theo and I got married. But as Theo said "It's the wrong time of year for that, huh?" :) I guess he's right. Thursday will be tough! Hope you all have a great Thanksgiving!!

Nostalgia

I realized this past week that I never posted pictures of Olivia's rocking chair. This chair is so special. It was my mom's when she was little. Mom made new cushions for it to match Olivia's room. Olivia and Carter were fighting over who gets to sit in it while we were in Louisiana. In fact, they still fight over it occasionally.  It was imperative that we were able to fit it in our truck while we were down south. Even if it meant leaving one of our kids behind so we could have room for it. Okay, not really!

But now everytime I look at it, I think of my mom as a little girl. I wonder if she wreaked as much havoc as my precious girl does. I imagine my grandma looking at mom sitting in her little chair. I imagine their eyes locking in on each other as my grandma smiles watching her baby girl. I can almost feel how proud my grandma was of my mom. I know this because I'm so proud of my baby girl too. We are leaving a legacy of mom's raising daughters....one pink rocking chair at a time.  

Our weekend

We had a four day weekend and it was great to have Theo home with us for four whole days! Friday night, we went out to eat at TGI Friday's. Considering we had to wait for over an hour, the kids to great! My meal was one of the best meals I've had since moving here which is sad it came from a national chain :) I love Colorado but the food here leaves a lot to be desired!

So, to help avoid disaster of an hour wait in the restaraunt, we spent half that time in the car. And in an attempt for me to get more pictures with my sexy husband, this is a self-portrait. I love how you can see Carter in the background :)

Isaiah got his first driving lesson

I promise the kids were more happy than how they look here!

Saturday night we were supposed to double date with our friends Amy and Jeff. We'd been planning this for a couple of weeks and realized neither of us had double dated with any other couples (without our kids in tow) since we moved to Colorado! But unfortunately, their youngest son was sick so we had to cancel. Theo and I had already arranged for our neighbor to babysit so we went out anyway.

What did we do, you ask? Well, we had the most exciting night evah! We went to Dick's Sporting Goods, Whole Foods, and Best Buy. Theo really wanted to someone more adventurous but as we perusing the washer and dryer aisle of Best Buy, I told him it was so nice to be able to just do everyday things without chasing our kids through Best Buy and having to spend ten minutes in the kid movie aisle repeating "No, we're not buying that today" :)

Sunday, we went to our churches. It was Sunday to volunteer. I have to say I tear up every single time I watch a room full of six and seven year olds worshipping God. I hope we are raising our kids to be worshippers and to follow after God whole-heartedly!

That afternoon, I got some cuddle time with this little fella

I rocked him and sang to him until the desired effect was achieved

I was reminiscing of this day....

Where have the past nine months gone? Hope you all had a great weekend!

Happy Veteran's Day!

I am so thankful for the freedom that has been afforded to me and my family because of the sacrifices of our veterans, both now and in the past. I am so proud of my veteran and am honored to be a military wife. I hope this little guy will follow in his daddy's footsteps!

Trick-or-treating

Halloween was a lot of fun this year! The two oldest really loved getting all dressed up. Carter has worn his Super Why costume so much that he's getting holes in it!  Olivia was the perfect "Princess Presto". She got really into collecting candy this year.

 My two favorite little fellas:

Carter with his other BFF: Tristan (our neighbor)

Before we went out trick-or-treating, we had dinner at our neighbor's house. This is a group photo of all the kids, both young and old:

Princess Presto with her #1 Prince Charming

 First house of the night:

Post trick-or-treating...Theo finallyd decided to put his costume on. It had the "scream" movie mask but he took it off in this picture.

We had a great time and hope you all did too! So glad I haven't consumed all of the leftover candy this year. Gotta get these last five pounds of baby weight off :)

Beat 'Bama!!!!

What's that? Did someone say there's a big football game on today?

Whodat? Oh LSU!

Who's ready for some football?!!!!!!

WE ARE!!

Our second annual Halloween Party

Saturday night, we hosted our second annual Halloween party. It was a lot of fun. We had a great turn out and had a blast.  There are a lot of pictures in this post so be prepared :)

This was the appetizer table. We had a veggie tray, cracker and cheese tray, crab dip, candy corn, candy pumpkins. I loved making the peep tabletop decoration. It was an idea I got from pinterest. Love that site!!

This was the dessert...pumpkin turtle cheesecake. I made the cheesecake, mom made it look pretty!

This was the kids' drink...orange kool-aid in my pitcher with a vinly jack-o-lantern face. How cute and simple is this?

The adults' drink.....sangria. My first time making it. I don't really like red wine so I doubt I'll make this again. It sure was pretty though.

The main food...we made two kinds of chili: Theo's spicy chili and a kid friendly chili. Jeff brought a gorgeous chicken salad. We had rice, corn casserole, chicken wings, and Kevin and Mary brought a seven layer dip that was delicious!

One of the party hostesses with my little tiger :)

The party attenders (Jeff, Mike, Adam, Kevin, Shane, and my honey)

The ladies: me, Amanda, Kelly, Sascha, Mary, and my mom

Carter with his BFF Caden (who left before the group kids photo)

A couple of late comers...Ben and Tim *aka* The Swamp People!

Some of the other ladies: Ashely, Kelly, and Lauren

The kids: Olivia, Carter, Guy, Aspen, Maddy, and Kylie

Host and Hostess: Happy Halloween!!!