A Year Ago Today...

Click HERE to see the full post.

But, for grins and giggles here is the video:

And for the record...Bridget got over the whole boy thing and LOVES Macey-Moo!

(what's not to love?)

Oh man, good times.

Ps...he was born 6 days later! Whew!

Thanksgiving 2012

This year we did things a little differently.

Instead of going to the Witte's, we did Thanksgiving here.

Instead of having the TV on and hanging out, we had a no TV day and spent time with each other.

Instead of waiting around for the food to made, each kid took part in the process.

Instead of waiting for Dec 1st to put the tree up, we did it after "dinner."

After that, we went to the Witte's for dessert.

Lucas was in charge of the bird.

Bridget in charge of dessert.

Scarlett was in charge of bread. I think we went a little overboard on the yeast...

Juliet was in charge of station 1:

Placemat making.

Lucas laminated with the small laminator.

Mason and Juliet took naps, and we played games.

 We had appetizers, and I decorated with the kids thanksgiving art work.

This is the only picture that I have, but we had deviled eggs too. 

 Regardless, we fulfilled Nathan's "Its not Thanksgiving without..." request.

 Everyone enjoyed.

Bridget and I continued on the dessert.

We coaxed Mason into walking some more.

 The bird was done at 1:30.

 I think I am the only one who doesn't brine. I love it this way.

The rolls, albeit, massive, were yeasty pillows of heaven.

We set up the tree.

Finished up a few desserts for the cousins, and headed out the door.

I loved everything about today.

I loved being with my littles and having a simple quiet peace in the house.

We signed Christmas cards, we started out 2012 ornament making, we talked about what we were thankful for. We talked about what Thanksgiving is all about. We enjoyed the Witte's for dessert.

We came home and the kids were out.

Left to a turkey carcass, and sink full of dishes.

I am thankful for this life, and thankful to be a wife to a man who is everything I ever needed and wanted.

I am thankful to be a mother to these children who are the light of my life.

I am thankful for so much.

Sniff, Sniff

Well, it has happened. 

Mason is officially off formula and bottles. This means, I can start pitching the baby stuff. What?!?!

  

It is bittersweet because we no longer need to schlep that stuff around. We no longer need to make sure we have that stuff around, and it means, we will now have more cabinet space!

It also means he is phasing out of babyhood.

One thing that I have learned through this preemie year is that we were oh so lucky (insert sarcasm) to live through some growth spurts TWICE. For instance, the 8 month wake up in the middle of the night for food. We dealt with that when he was 8 months actual, and again at 8 months adjusted. Thankfully, we are just about over that stage. 

Now we are in the shaking head "no" uncontrollably stage, again! *JOY* And my all time (boy only) phase of sitting up and slamming the head onto the floor. I can't wait till he starts to sport the perma bruise that Lucas had from 1 to 15 months. Arg! He is also in the 9-10 month stage of shouting, like a pirate, when he is playing with something. "AAAAH! RRRRR!"

No denying that Orange hair!

Mason just cut 2 teeth FINALLY, and absolutely loves food. He is oh so close to walking. He is an expert scaler of furniture. He can go up the stairs faster than any of my other babies could. He still sucks his thumbs when he is ready for bed. And, sniff, he is almost one! ONE! 2 weeks! 

I can't believe it.

This time has flown.

It's amazing to see the changes this year has brought.

I love my boys. I am so glad I have 2.

This last picture makes me laugh.

It is like Mason is looking into a mirror of the future. 

He will be lucky to look like Lucas, but even luckier to be just like him.

I am truly blessed to have some amazing little people.

Popcorn and Pie

I bought Brave as a Christmas present but the man of the house pretty much said we needed to bust it open for family movie night.  We had a special visit from my new Visiting Teacher and she brought Pumpkin Pie!

So we just had homemade Parmesan Popcorn and Hot Chocolate for dinner AND Pumpkin Pie for dessert.

It was fun, and the hubs liked the movie!

Not much else is happening here. 

Soooooooo looking forward to the break this week. I need a week to gear up for Christmas.

One good thing is that I finished ALL the shopping this weekend (present wise) and only have 5 "things" to "make" and I am D O N E! Wahoo!

Bridget's SPAmazing Weekend, part four!

It was time to pack up and go.

Bridget was sad and happy. She wanted to stay one more day, but - Daddy needed us to come home. :)

We said good bye to Grandma and Grandpa bright and early, and spent the rest of the day with Auntie Steph. We went out for a fun breakfast, then we forgot something back at the house, so we went back to grab it. I tried something super AMAZING :

If you can, try it. DEEEEEEEEEEEEEELISH!

We drove around, got to the airport and snuck a Krispy Kreme in.

Auntie Steph dropped us off, Bridget cried a little. She missed everyone (Horns not Wittes)

This is where our trip went cuh-razy.

We spotted this police scooter inside the airport.

Then there was an announcement for a Denver flight that had extra seats. I rushed over there, but it was going to cost me quite a bit of money to hop on that earlier flight.

Bridget felt the need to apply, reapply, and reapply her chapsticks and gloss several times while we waited in the airport.

We jumped on the Denver flight and met another Bridget!

Our flight connected in Las Vegas. It was a FULL plane. We sat next to a toy developer from Lakeshore, and we talked about my blog and we swapped business cards and I am going to have a SWEET giveaway next month! YES!

We got to Vegas and we were the only 2 passengers going from Vegas to Denver. There was a weird delay and they said we had to wait on the plane alone for one hour.

They put music on for Bridget and she danced through the aisles.

It was awesome. She got to tour the cockpit, and check out the kitchen.

Then they told us to get off the plane because of the blizzard in Denver.

I was like what?

They gave us food vouchers for the airport to Jamba Juice. I could have died drinking there, so we grabbed the burritos and moved on.

Then they paged us to get back on the plane.

We were in the front row, first to board.

The staff all high fived Bridget and people thought we were some kind of VIPs.

Our flight was so bumpy and when we got to Denver it was outrageous conditions.

We were in the air for 40 extra minutes.

Then we drove for 40 minutes trying to find a place to park the plane.

The flight attendant said "The reason our flights are so cheap is because we fly you half the way there, and drive the rest!" HAHAHAHAHAHA

Once we finally hit the gate, they asked for "Princess Bridget to come up to the front."

She walked up, and they let her off the plane first.

It was pretty awesome!

We got outta DIA as fast as we could and when Nathan pulled up the kids were screaming "MOMMY!"

Juliet was trying to incredible hulk herself out of her seat to hug me.

It was flippin adorable.

I had a great time, I know Bridget did.

Thank you to my family for making Bridget's 5th Birthday AMAZING!

Bridget's SPAmazing Weekend, part three!

Bridget woke up, and slapped on her birthday outfit that she picked out.

Auntie Steph and Phil came over and then we went to Breakfast.

She treated us to IHop. I was pretty good, and the owner "loved" Bridget.

Kind of in a creepy way, but we are going to move on from that.

Next, Auntie Steph took us to this awesome indoor playground.

She did a great job picking this outfit out!

She was so happy it matched her toes!

This was a treehouse with slides and stuff.

Then we went to TRU to pick out GiGi's present.

She picked this and a Hello Kitty Ring Pop!

After TRU we had Milkshakes and Fries from In and Out for Lunch! YUM-O!

Something totally awesome about Bridget was that she wanted to Learn how to blow a bubble with gum.

Since that is my sister and I's favorite thing to do, we had a little lesson.

 She looks SO grown up in this picture! EEK!

 So, she tried...

and she did it!

But, let's face it...no one can beat me in a bubble blowing contest!

 Or a picking it out of your hair, and chin, contest. LOL Just Kidding!

A little later in the day, Bridget practiced with her play makeup/nail kits.

We were pretty good at playing along. :)

For dinner we went out for Chinese. This is one of my favorite places here in CA.

Stephanie texted Theo 

Aww, Shucks! I miss you dad!

 Then I texted him: Me too!

We all got a good chuckle from that and then something came over me.

I was being so irreverent.

We belted out Justin Bieber way too loud. Windows down and shouting wild.

I mean, if you know how I am with Christmas music - or any 90s chick music, you will totally get it!

Stephanie was right there with me.

I already lost my voice, so I sounded like a barking dying dog, but Bridget LOVED it!

Bridget JUST got this CD for her birthday. She was so excited to sing to it!

Then we danced in front of the car.

She went to bed with a huge smile and a full belly!

She told her brother on the nightly phone call that this was the "best birthday of her WHOLE life!"