Deck The Halls | 2014

Happy Monday everyone! Today has been a bit rough for me, as I'm dealing with some stomach issues that come about every once in awhile. One of these days I'll make it to a doctor to get checked out, but until then, I'll just whine and spend the day on the couch. But a day on the couch makes for a good time to finally blog about our week. I think I've finally finished obsessing over all of my Christmas decor, so I can finally post this past week's Christmas decorating fun. And I use the term 'fun' loosely, because holy cow...the first weekend was SO not fun.

We always get our Christmas tree on Black Friday, and this year was no different. We had to wait for Dustin to get off work, so during the day we braved some stores to get some last minute Christmas decor (and other fun goodies that were on sale!) and got out all of the Christmas boxes from storage. Gavin had a blast climbing on them all day...who needs a Christmas tree?!

He has also figured out how to climb the baby gate and bang on it when he wants to go downstairs....trouble, this little one is.

When Dustin got home, we went to the tree farm about 3 minutes away from our house. We tromped to the very back of the field before I finally found a tree I liked. Dustin cut it down & Christian "helped" carry it to the car. This is when things went downhill...

On the way home, Gavin screamed & cried & screamed. Luckily it was a short drive home, so we put him right to bed and blamed his screamfest on the 4th tooth that had finally cut through the gum. After the grump-a-saurus went to bed, we put up the trees and got right to decorating. We let Christian help with the downstairs tree...which is the colorful, anything goes tree. He had a blast. Seriously, this kid loves Christmas almost as much as his momma. Thank goodness...I was worried he was going to take after his scrooge daddy, because last year, he was non-impressed.

After we got the basement tree decorated, the boys went to bed and I stayed up to decorate my pretty tree. I did all whites, golds & silvers, just like last year. However, this year's tree was a lot bigger, so I wasn't satisfied with the amount of ornaments. I went to bed with plans to get more ornaments in the AM and finish the tree then. Ha. How wrong I was!

Saturday morning, Gavin woke up in a rotten mood. He was so lethargic and fussy and wouldn't let either of us put him down. He preferred for me to hold him, so that obviously limited my 'getting stuff done' abilities. We had planned on getting the outside lights hung, the house decorated & put back together and then going to my mother-in-law's birthday dinner. Let's just say NONE of that happened...at least for me. Gavin ended up sleeping on and off all day in my arms, had a low grade fever and puked on me 4 times before the day ended. He wouldn't eat or nurse, so he was 2 hours away from a trip to Kosair's to push fluids. Thankfully, about 10pm, he was able to keep a little milk down, so no hospital trip for us.

On Sunday, Dustin managed to get the lights hung all by himself...he was such a trooper! Gavin & I once again hung out on the couch and slept on & off all day. If he was awake, he was either crying or puking. I felt so helpless. Not to mention the house was in complete shambles and Christian was dying for attention, which I couldn't give. The poor kid pretty much hung out in his room all weekend watching movies. I felt like the world's worst mom, but unless I could figure out a way to clone myself, it was the way it had to be.

But hey, at least the outside of the house was finished & looked awesome! You rock, husband! ;)

At one point on Monday, I had to lay him on the floor so I could make Christian lunch and this is what he did. Beyond heartbreaking.

I also attempted to feed him solids on Monday...that was a no-go as well. 

However, finally on Tuesday, he was able to keep milk & solids down and had a little more energy. He still wasn't his smiley self, but I'll take any progress I can get! 

Because I finally had free arms, I was able to start putting the house back together and finish the decorating.

This is Gavin's "the Christmas tree is pokey and I hate it" face.

Come Thursday, we were all back to normal! The house was clean & finished, we were all happy & healthy and we got Christian's school photos back!

HOW do I have a kid old enough to give me school photos?! Seriously though, what a stud.

We had another busy, but actually enjoyable weekend. Friday I got to have my girlfriends over for a Norwex party, wine & snacks. Saturday we celebrated our twin niece & nephew's 3rd birthday, Gavin passed out in his bed sitting up (cue adorable photo op) and finished the evening with wine and a Hoosier victory.

Sunday, we took Christian to my dad's house and did all of the boy's Christmas shopping. Then we headed to my grandparent's house to help them decorate for Christmas, since my grandma has been sick and isn't able to. Christian once again had a blast hanging ornaments, and may or may not have thrown a 3-year-old tantrum when I told him it was time to leave.

But gosh, they are so darned cute!

And that has been our life since Thanksgiving! This week consists Christian's preschool Christmas program (OMG the tears will be flowing), making ornaments with his class, visiting Santa & Lights Under Louisville (an amazing underground cavern with thousands of Christmas lights). Be prepared for an overload of Christmas festivities, because after all, it is the hap-happiest season of all!

Thanks for reading!

Thanksgiving | 2014

Well it's only a week late, but I finally had a spare moment to get my pictures organized! The babies are in bed, the husband is going to grab us dinner (yes, it's 8:30 and we haven't had time for dinner...it's been one of those weeks), so I'm taking a break to share our turkey day! We hosted 2 Thanksgiving dinners this year...one on Wednesday for one side of the family and one on Thursday for the other.

Our Wednesday Thanksgiving consisted of Dustin's immediate family and my dad's family. I did most of the cooking, with the exception of my mother-in-law bringing her famous dumplins. Yum-oh. 

The husband and I tag-teamed the turkey, and along with our fancy-schmancy oven (he sells appliances...of course we have an oven that plugs into the turkey) it was the best turkey we've ever had! We injected Mr. Tom Turkey the night before, stuffed him with lemon & herbs, rubbed him with butter, salt & cajun seasonings & then let our "perfect turkey" oven do the rest. So delish. Gavin tried some turkey and mashed potatoes...not a fan. He'll change his tune later in life...or else. ;)

Considering it was just me cooking, everything went so smoothly. The food all got finished on time, everything turned out great...it was definitely a success! 

Our menu consisted of:

Baked Turkey

Mashed Potatoes & Gravy

Mac-n-cheese

Deviled eggs

Chicken-n-dumplins

Green Beans

Rolls

Desserts...I never eat the desserts, so I can't even remember what people brought! I'm a carbs kinda gal, what can I say!

Day 2...not going to lie, kind of the opposite of day 1! We all woke up feeling super lazy & things were a little chaotic in the kitchen because neither turkey cooked all the way. Actually, when my aunt went to poor the turkey juices into her pan to make gravy, it was straight blood. Mmm, blood gravy anyone?

Dustin thinks he didn't put the temperature gage in correctly, so the oven told us the turkey was done, when it most definitely was not. Not so fancy-schmancy now, is it?! And of course, we had spent all day bragging about our perfect turkey the night before. Sigh. 

No fear though, we always fry a turkey also. But, oh wait, what's this? The fried turkey didn't cook all the way through either. Well, how 'bout that. 

I also made sweet potato casserole, and halfway through realized I was out of vanilla. My cousin had to run to my mom's house, which put our dinner back about 30 minutes, so the mashed potatoes were cold. Sense a theme here? It was kind of chaotic! 

However, everything ended up tasting delicious. We learned a few lessons about turkeys for next year, we had a beautiful table set-up complete with my collection of blue mason jars to drink out of...and most importantly, we were all together! We got a good laugh out of all the mishaps, and enjoyed the wine and company.

In all the chaos though, I forgot to take pictures! Luckily my aunt was on it, so I at least have some pictures to share. What would this blog be without an overload of photos?! ;)

 And that was our Thanksgiving!

I'll share our fun (insert sarcasm) & exhausting Christmas decorating weekend in the next blog. For now, the hubby is back with food and we're off to eat and watch The Santa Claus! 

Happy almost Friday everyone!

Birthdays and what else? Babies!

Happy Black Friday! It's been such a busy week with babysitting, Dustin's birthday, my mom's birthday, Thanksgiving #1, #2 and #3, a little shopping this morning...and it's not slowing down, as this weekend is my brother's birthday, my mother-in-law's birthday and Christmas decorating. So in an attempt to keep some order in my life, let me take a little breather and post this past week's "what we did" blog.

We chased around a very mobile (and clumsy) baby...

We babysat, with a still very unsure Gavin. I think he would like her if I didn't have to feed and hold her. ;)

We watched cartoons together.

We did the dishes...AKA pulled dirty pots out over & over and then give me the death stare when I put them back in.

We went shopping for Christmas toy ideas...Gavin spotted a few he liked and gave them the "get in my cart now" stare.

We found out from preschool that Christian is apparently thankful for chicken. 

We looked extra cute in our cardigan.

We took a 'mom and dad only' roadtrip to Bloomington to cheer on our Hoosiers. Win!

We celebrated Dustin's 29th birthday at our favorite restaurant, Eddie Merlot's...followed by seeing Mockinjay Pt. 1. LOVED it!

We snuggled on the couch after Thanksgiving #1.

We celebrated Dustin's birthday (again) at Sportstime with yummy Framboise and then a trip to Horseshoe Casino.

Christian stole his cousin's headband and thought it was hilarious to put it on himself & Gavin. 

Gavin didn't find the humor.

Christian helped me feed the baby, because of course Gavin got hungry at the same time Miss Alaina was ready for her bottle.

Gavin started warming up to Alaina, and they all had fun playing on the floor together.

Dustin opened his birthday presents. Gavin was appalled they weren't for him.

Gavin forgave Daddy for stealing his presents.

And we took a bath! (Okay, we obviously took more than one bath all week...but you only get one picture.)

And that was our week before the Thanksgiving madness began. Once I get all of our family's pictures organized, I'll take a break from Christmas decorating (an entire weekend event, duh) to post our Turkey Day blog. Until then, thanks for reading!

Hope everyone had a happy Thanksgiving & stays safe on Black Friday!

Thankful Thoughts from 2014

Before all the madness of cleaning, cooking, drinking wine & gobbling up all the food begins, I thought I would take a minute to reflect on my thankfulness this year. I have so many reasons to be thankful, but I narrowed it down to my top 10.

1. I am thankful for my 12th Thanksgiving with my husband.
This man is seriously the best man I've ever met, and I feel so blessed to be his wife. He works so hard to support his family, which gives me the opportunity to stay home and raise our boys. Not to mention, he's quite handsome! He's my best friend, my biggest supporter and I'm so thankful for him every day.

2. I am thankful for the newest addition to our family, Gavin Lee.
I'm pretty sure it comes without saying, I am beyond thankful for this fiesty little redhead. We struggled for 18 long months, wondering if we would ever be able to conceive another child. From the second I took that positive pregnancy test, I knew I would never take this new life for granted. He might be my reason for permanent bags under my eyes, stress me out to the max and make me wonder if a 3rd child will ever happen, but he is also hilarious, sweet and beyond adorable. And that red hair?! He's my perfect little rare unicorn!

3. I am thankful for my firstborn wildchild, Christian Michael.
He's crazy. He's wild. He's my first ginger boy. He taught me what unconditional love is. Before him, I didn't get it. I didn't understand what being a mom meant. The second I held him in my arms, I got it. It's a feeling like no other, and can never be repeated. Everything with him was a first, because we were in completely new territory. We learned boundaries together. He brought Dustin and I closer as our new role of mom and dad. I found a whole new love when I saw Dustin holding his firstborn son for the first time. He makes me question myself every.single.day, but then he says, "Mom, I sure do love you, alright," and everything is right in the world.

4. I am thankful for my momma.
I tell her this all the time, but I seriously don't know what I would do without her. She is the strongest person I know, and an amazing role model. If I ever have questions about anything, I know she'll have the answers, after a sarcastic response first, of course. ;) She is the best Mimi to my boys, and would do anything in the world for us. I always said if we had to move away, we would have to get a room for her, because she would have to come with us!

5. I am thankful for my girlfriends.
I know I've mentioned them on my blog before, but geez I love these ladies! There is nothing more therapeutic than a girls night and a glass bottle of wine. We talk about anything and everything, with no judgements or questions. We laugh together, cry together and can always count on inappropriate remarks from all. I know not everyone has a group of friends like this, so I am beyond thankful for them. So is my husband, because apparently I'm always in a much better mood after a night with the girls. Love you all!

6. I am thankful for my home.
This month marks 2 years in our new country home. Dustin and I have been through every type of living situation together, from living with our parents, college dorm rooms, apartments and our cute little house in the city. Now that I'm back out in the country, you couldn't pay me to move closer to town. I love having friendly neighbors, with tons of kids Christian can grow up with. I love looking out my back porch and seeing trees, hills and cows. I love that the boys will be attending the same great school systems Dustin and I attended. I can't wait to create many more years of memories in our home, and I hope the boys always remember that it's not about the size of the house, but the warmth and love within it.

7. I am thankful for my family. 
Even though my family is spread out all over the country, and will never be fully complete with the loss of my brother 7 years ago, I am beyond thankful for them all. Not everyone is blessed with a large family, and I am very grateful that I am.

8. I am thankful for a healthy year.
We had a big health scare this year, as I mentioned in my Cystic Fibrosis post. I am thankful for positive news and no other major health scares. Although, my grandma is currently in the hospital with a couple infections, she is feeling better and will hopefully get to go home soon...another positive. For now, we are all healthy and happy, and that's something huge to be thankful for.

9. I am thankful for the new lives about the enter our world.
I mentioned this before, but two of my very best friends are both due on December 28th. From the second they told me they were expecting (on the same day!), I was beyond excited for them. There is nothing like bringing your first baby into the world, and I can't wait for them to experience it. I seriously cannot WAIT to get that phone call that they are on their way to the hospital...although, hopefully not for a couple more weeks...those babies need to bake a little longer!

10. Lastly, I am thankful to live in this beautiful country.
I get it. This country isn't perfect. There is a LOT of bad right now. However, I truly believe this is still one of the greatest countries to live in, and I am proud to be an American. The horrific things going on in the middle east...the starving & dying children in third world countries...I am so thankful every day to part of a beautiful, free country. Where I have the right to believe in whatever I want, without fear of persecution. People can choose to see the bad things happening every day, pick apart our country, burn our flags, complain about our laws and systems...but I choose to see the good. Some people think that's me sticking my head in the sand. I don't look at it that way. I look at it as enjoying my life. Enjoying my blessings. I do not for one second think there's anything wrong with being an optimist in a world of pessimists. I cannot WAIT to turn on Christmas music tomorrow, hang ornaments on the tree and create wonderful memories with my boys...simply because I can. I choose to be happy, and because I live in America, that choice is completely mine to make, and no one can take it from me.

SO there you have it, my thankful thoughts from 2014. I encourage everyone to think of 10 things that you are thankful for in life. Life can be downright hard sometimes, and it's easy to overlook your blessings. Count them often and smile!

A November Snow Day!

Ready or not, here comes winter! Although the first official day of winter isn't for another month, mother nature has other plans. However, I'm all about some snow, so you won't find me complaining (until about March...then I'm DONE with snow and beyond ready for sunshine and warmth). 

We woke up here in southern Indiana to about 5 inches of beautiful, powdery blankets of snow. I found this out not because of the blinding whiteness peaking through my blinds, but by Christian coming into my room screaming that it's Christmas time. How confusing for a 3-year-old mind when I tell him it's not even close to Christmas time (in toddler time...in adult time, Christmas will be here in the blink of an eye)! 

This then followed with staring out of the window and asking 37 times if we could play in the snow. I tried to time our snow play during Gavin's naptime, because I knew baby G wasn't going to love army crawling through snow that was deeper than him (thanks to the snow drifts). I snapped a couple of pictures, laid Gavin down for his nap, and then Christian and I braved the freezing cold temps for some snow fun. 

(Gavin was NOT happy about his snowsuit. He could care less about the snow, but that suit? Life ruiner.)

We drew pictures in the snow, attempted a snow angel (and failed miserably because he didn't like snow on his neck) and then once our fingers and cheeks were frozen icicles, came inside for hot chocolate and cookies by the fireplace. 

It was so much fun making memories...and I really enjoyed spending time with just me and Christian. Hopefully he remembers how much fun snow can be, and that since there's not a darned thing you can do about it (except move states), to try to enjoy it and all the beauty that comes with it. Hopefully everyone at least somewhat enjoyed our first real snow...and I'm sure it will be far from our last...I have a feeling we're in for a long and snowy winter. 

Thanks, Disney...I'm totally blaming Elsa. Stay warm, my friends!