Catching Up

WOW, I am so behind. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving Day weekend.

Our tradition is to go my mom and dad's for breakfast/brunch. My mom started to do this about 5 or 6 years ago to accomadate us and our spouses' families. We have pumpkin pancakes, bacon, eggs, potatoes and turkey and ham. It's delicious!

This is G-Man my youngest nephew and my mom.

G-Man is learning that he can swing a pretty good punch.

Bogie just kept looking at him.
My Grandma (dad's mom) and I.
This year my dad's family decided to join us, which was fun because the boys had some older cousins to play with as well as their younger cousin.

The older boys play baseball, really well.
They brought the Monkey a baseball and bat for his birthday. We're talking a real wooden bat with a hard ball.They were very patient with Monkey.
Monkey listened to all of their instructions.
The boys played baseball for a long time.

And then it was time for us to go to the Dunbar's for Thanksgiving dinner. Only I got a really bad headache. And sat at the dinner table praying the pain would go away. but it didn't. So I didn't take any pictures, not one. So bummed on that.We were home and in bed by 8pm. Seriously lights out and alarm set. The next day...

Mr. Dunbar did what he always does the day after Thanksgiving... put up Christmas lights.

On Sunday we went and got our tree.

I love this shot.
Bogie just kept on smelling the trees.
The boys liked all of the yard fixtures.
He just couldn't decide which tree to get.
Now I have a tree to decorate, bins to unload, and a house to clean. Seriously you can't even walk in here.

(Does it ever stop?)

But my house smells like Christmas, the boys are watching Frosty the Snowman as I type this and we have a surprise for the boys tonight. Good times.

Are you in the Christmas spirit yet?

Thankfulness

This year I am thankful for:

The people in my life.

My husband: Who works so hard each and every day. He provides for his family. He laughs and jokes constantly. (Mostly at me.) He's thoughtful and kind. Sound minded and smart. He puts up with me and my craziness.

My boys: Who wake me up way too early in the morning and don't go to bed till way too late. Who make me laugh and give me snuggles. Who tell me they love me and tell me I'm ugly. These boys stretch me in ways I never knew He intended. They are they're father, so very kind-hearted and they are me; fiesty and stubborn and willful. They show me a mirror of who I am and who I want to be.

My parents: Who would do anything for us. Who babysit when they can and stop by to pick the boys up for lunch or to take them to the toy store. Who let me borrow nail guns, and nails, and bowls. And for the free peanut butter and juice boxes that were in the garage, and free picture frames that have been in the cabinet for years. And for the vacuum cleaner they are going to buy me for Christmas along with the trip to Cabo I'm taking 2010. The list goes on. And on. And on.

Neighbors: Who chase live birds out of my house, pick up dead birds from my entry, bring over bags of candy when the boys are playing baseball in the front yard, build bikes for us, let us use their garage for electricity and tools.

Church: Who grows us, leads us, loves us with God's love.

My girlfriends: Who are like sisters to me. We laugh and laugh and cry sometimes. Often we go to the mall, watch each other's kids, head to Disneyland on a whim with, have coffee together, gab about silly movies, discuss education, banter about Hollywood.

and Life in general.... a home, health, the Bible, a car with butt warmers (because you need those on Thanksgiving when its 80 degrees right?), safety and freedom, access to the Internet, DSLR camera to record memories, hair products, the "lions" who are playing with each other as I type this, magazines, fresh squeezed orange juice, faith in a good God, candles, TJ's spicy apple cider, the book Little Women, the journey of a life with opportunity.

And I am thankful for you bloggy buddies. Truly thankful for your comments and emails, and insights into your lives all over America.

May God bless you tomorrow on Thanksgiving and always.

"O taste and see that the LORD is good; how blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him!" (Psalm 34:88).

New Moon... LOVE

A few of my girlfriends and I went to see New Moon on Friday.
And I must say it was so GOOD!!!

A few girls even went back last night.

New Moon the movie was almost as good as the book, but much better than the first movie.

Scrawny, clammy, and cold is just not my thing.

I, myself, am a total and complete Jacob fan.

I think a few of the Edward girls are now also.

Have you seen it? What'd you think?

Building Up Fun

Monkey had a few friends over on Saturday to celebrate his birthday. He played just like a big kid, running around for hours on end, not once asking me for help or permission to do anything.

It was a nice mid-morning/early lunch kind of day.

(Because lots of 4 year olds have 2 year old siblings who still take naps.)

Like this guy. And this guy.
Of course these two are always side by side.

Miss R was building up lots of things.

And so was Mr. T.

And these precious ones let us borrow buckets and buckets of Legos.

And the nice friends that we have even brought over some fun gifts for the Monkey.

Oh, and why did I bother to clean my house?
Can someone remind me next time that they really don't care.

And the final project of the week

This is the view from the doorway leading into my kitchen. Notice how there are NO cabinets on one whole wall of my kitchen. I never understood that. My only thought is that they would have closed up the kitchen too much. So, I have no cabinet space, like literally, NONE.

To combat the need for more cabinet space, Mr. Dunbar made these shelves for me.


The inspiration being the cafe shelves from Ballard's. (Which are $99 each plus tax and shipping at $20.95. They would have cost almost $250.)

But a little of Mr. Dunbar's time, okay an entire Sunday afternoon, and this is what I got for around $45. (Directions are from Beneath My Heart.)


I think he did a pretty darn good job.

And to end this post on a cute note with bed head.

You are four!!

And I'm the one who scored!

Happy Birthday Monkey!!

Let's take a brief look at your past year...

Watching the Globetrotters with Daddy.

Valentine's Day with Mrs. J the best pre-school teacher ever.
Monkeying around with your brother.
Fun in the tub.
Look at that face.
Easter egg hunting.
Binoculars at Elephant Bar.

Climbing on the school playground.
Playing at the beach...
With a smile that melts my heart.

(If you leave a comment for him, I'm sure he'd be delighted.

XOXO everyone.)

Just to continue the saga...

So I couldn't just paint the bathroom, I had to clean the closet as well.

Then I took these frames and painted them.
So now they look like this.
The bottom one actually, I still need to sand the edges a bit more.

I've also been using this...
and this...
to press these. (Curtains) Because your friends will know whether or not your kitchen curtains are pressed and starched. Right?

This post is totally like airing out your dirty laundry. I feel liberated. Ha.