My fabulous weekend!

What a wonderful time I had this weekend with mom and Aunt Laney. I must first say what an amazing husband I have to allow me to escape from the insanity known as motherhood to have a ladies weekend. Theo did an excellent job holding down the fort while I was away and the kids seemed thrilled to have the time to spend with him.

I wasn't supposed to arrive into Dallas until almost 11 p.m. But as luck would have it, our plane was going to be delayed two hours from Colorado Springs to Denver. The airline was going to bus everyone up to Denver but since I was heading to Dallas, I was able to switch airlines and get a nonstop flight from the Springs to Dallas. I ended up getting to Dallas as the exact time as mom and Aunt Laney.....except for a little detour around the airport...:) Shut the front door!!!

Friday night we stayed in and had dinner at Copelands at the hotel. Yummmy! We don't have any good restaurants here where I can get good Cajun food so it was great to have crawfish etoufee :)

We stayed at the Hilton in the Southlake town center (thanks to Aunt Laney's great friends and family discount!). This was the view from our room:

So Saturday we headed out the town center and hit all the little shops. It was great. I scored a pair of Loft pants for $2! Can you believe that? Everyone was having great sales being the weekend before Christmas but I managed to reign myself in and not spend too much on clothes :)

We had lunch at this Tuscan Grill and the food was really good. I can't remember the name of the place but I'd definitely eat there again.

Aren't these ladies just beautiful? And they are, inside and out. So glad I got to spend some time with them.

Sunday was our big day out. We were on several missions to purchase things and I think I got everything accomplished. We ate breakfast at LaMadeline's. Fab.U.Lous. I had never eaten there before and it was delicious! We headed to Ikea and it was a whole experience. I only spent a few dollars but man, if I didn't have to worry about packing everything in my suitcase, I probably would have gone Cah-razy! Good thing we also have an Ikea up in Denver because I will probably be going there very soon. We ran a lot of other errands and did a LOT of shopping. I forgot how easy shopping was without three kids in tow :)

Sunday night I went to see Breaking Dawn by myself. I think this may have been the first time I had ever seen a movie by myself but it was really fun. Theo was thankful it was one less Twilight movie he'd be forced to see!

Monday it was time to leave and honestly by that point, I was ready to see my sweet little family. I got home a little later due to the terrible weather and ice on the runway in Denver. It was snowing and 20 degrees when I arrived and I had instantly wished I was back in the South!

The kids were so happy to see me. They made me a welcome home sign that Carter colored and Theo had dinner ready and a cup of hot chocolate for me. He definitely gets the best husband of the year award from me! Now it's back to life. When I'm dealing with temper tantrums and whining, I am going to reflect on my happy times this past weekend and remember as my mom was saying "There is a "me" in mommy" Ahhhh, true words of wisdom.

Thanks mom and Aunt Laney for the best time I have had in a long time! Can't wait to do it again  next year!!!

Tis the Season

This past weekend, we went to three different Christmas parties! Friday night we went to Theo's co-workers house for a party. They have a four year old son and and seven month old son so I was glad their house was kid friendly :) Our kids did really well and had a lot of fun. I brought my camera but didn't manage to take a single picture.

Saturday, we had a family party for Theo's old office. It's nice they still include him in these things. The party was at the Youth Center which was great because the kids ran themselves out! Isaiah got his first experience with Santa. He loved it! I was so shocked.

Carter, on the other hand, not so much, even despite him insisting on wearing his Santa hat to the party.

Olivia sat in Santa's lap but only because I was sitting right by her. Theo's former co-worker was there as the photographer. He is a great photographer and has several thousands of dollars worth of camera equipment. So Theo switched out my very inexpensive lens with one of his and was trying it out. This was one picture of me. In case you can't read my mind, I'm thinking "Seriously, if you drop this sucker, it's going to cost us almost 2 grand!!!"

The kids had fun doing their own thing.

Isaiah had fun playing with Max.

Carter had fun on the rock wall.

And Olivia ran around the gym and got "touched by an angel"

And me and the handsome hubs:

Sunday afternoon, we got a babysitter and went to Theo's big bosses house. It was nice seeing how the other side live :) We had a great time. They had the party catered and so there was food galore. Afterwards we ran a couple of errands and then finally headed home. It was so nice to get out without the kiddos.

Tomorrow, it's back to normal. We have one more office party on Friday. I finally get to see where Theo works. Then I'm on a plane to Dallas for a ladies weekend with mom and Aunt Laney!!! I am soooooo excited!

Pearl Harbor

Since today is the anniversary of Pearl Harbor, I thought I'd share some pictures of our Hawaii trip (2008) and our visit to the Pearl Harbor Memorial. It was definitely a high light of our trip. We had to wait a while to see it but it was so worth the wait.

Trimming the tree

Saturday, we put our tree up! It was fun to see how interested Carter and Olivia were in it and wanting to "help" put the ornaments on the tree :)

 Isaiah hung out in the high chair

until we let him loose....this is going to be an interesting Christmas season....

And just for fun....

One with daddy (minus the funny hats!)

Love making these precious memories with my even more precious little family!

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!!