November Recap

I feel like I've lost my voice or something... that blogging just doesn't seem to be my outlet lately.  I've kind of become more introverted the past month or so and even though there are lots of times I have things I want to blog I just don't seem to feel the desire to actually type it out.  It is frustrating to feel this way because I know time is slipping by and I'm not documenting these memories or small moments that I'll forget all too quickly.   So... before things get too far into Christmas, I need to do a little recap on November.

• I utterly failed NaBloPoMo.  What the hell.  I'm not sure you could even say I started!
• I utterly failed at my daily Thankful posts.  Again, lots of times I intentionally made a mental note of things I was thankful for (actually I bet on a daily basis!) but I never made the time to write it out.  

Let's see... what were the "big things" in November...

Christmas Parade in Jackson

This is the third (or 4th?) year that we've gone to the Christmas Parade downtown and I swear to goodness we get amnesia every year about how darn cold it actually is.  This year was really windy, and I didn't have a hat or even a really warm coat that actually zipped/buttoned up without making me look like a stuffed sausage.  (the coat I wore fit, but wasn't that warm).  The boys were bundled, but still cold.  And stupid me... wore shoes instead of my warm Uggs.  My feet FROZE and it wasn't until we were walking back to the car I thought WTF... I have BOOTS that are so WARM!  Next year we vow to put the boys in snowpants and bring blankets and hot cocoa.   Yeah.  I'm pretty sure we say that every year!

Regardless of the cold, the boys had so much fun.  This year the floats were really great as well!  I think this was the best year yet.  It cracked me up that the things the boys enjoyed the most  (and ooohed and aaahed over the most) were the tractors that were in the parade and the race cars.  I guess it shouldn't surprise me though!   We intended to meet the Dawson's downtown but they were unable to get across the road to our meeting spot, but we did end up next to a boy that Porter knew from school.  He had a lot of fun watching the parade with him.   

Next year.... warmer clothes and blankets!

Thanksgiving

This probably should have its own little post but I'm lumping it in with "November".   Again, we had dinner at our house.  One of my favorite holidays because both sides of our family gather together under one roof.  I was literally barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen all day and by dinner time I was ready to just stuff my face and then go lay down.  In which I did do both those things quite well.   Everything really went off well... I was able to fit our new kids patio table in the dining room with the kids table from the playroom so everyone was able to eat in one room.  I even got crafty the night before and decorated the kids table up!  

Another favorite about Thanksgiving... the boys and all their cousins are together!  I am so thankful that they have so many cousins that are around their age, and that they love them!  I almost feel bad for Baby Girl because she'll be at least 4 years younger than everyone else.  However, I'm also so excited to see how adored she is because I know all these girl cousins are going to eat her up!

Annual Shopping with Lori

Ohhhh this year was a bust out!  Just like the past.... oh 5 years or so, Lori and I headed to Ann Arbor on Black Friday to hit up the resale shops.  We actually only went to one because I spent SOOO much money on darling little girl clothes (and everything was 25% off... BONUS!).  I walked in the door and said to Lori.... "This is the day I've been waiting for for sooo long!"  I was finally able to dig into those bazillions of girl clothes for myself!  

We spent a good 2 hours in the resale shop (some of which were spent consoling a crying pregnant woman who burst into tears talking to us about how disappointed she was to be having another girl...) and then we went to Red Robin for lunch.  YUM!  We also hit up Pier 1, Babies R Us (got more clothes... some pink Avent bottles and a bath thingy) and also JoAnn to get 2 bolts (12 yards) of fabric for the nursery curtains.  

Our evening wasn't done there.... we had mostaccioli for dinner and then Lori and I went back out shopping to the Toy House.  We then ran home, packed up the families and headed to the Christmas Lights at the fairgrounds.  This has become an annual tradition for us as well and I am always amazed at how well done the lights are!  Just when you think you've seen so many, there are more!

I truly am thankful for these special shopping days with Lori.  It isn't the same without Cathy, and I will always hold those memories dear, but I do love that Lori and I are continuing the tradition.  

Decorating the Tree

This year we had talked about getting back into the "real tree" mode for Christmas and take the boys to a tree farm to cut down a tree.  However... I really wanted to get decorated for Christmas over the long weekend and we were kind of feeling like we wanted to just get the tree up so we went with the fake tree... again.   Maybe next year?   

Just like last year, I realized that decorating the tree is not something I should do with the kids awake.  Let me rephrase that.  I should get the nitty gritty done (tree up, lights on) while the boys are in bed or away... and then let them dig through the boxes of ornaments.  They are always so excited to see all the ornaments they're digging through boxes and making messes and carrying ornaments all around the house.  It drives me nuts.  Also- thank goodness for the unbreakable ornaments that are ALSO beautiful.  Not only did the boys drop a ton, but I did as well.  One special ornament managed to get broken (a windmill from Holland) but lo and behold I had actually purchased 2 on that vacay so it didn't break my heart too much.  After all, it was an accident.

So there we have it... Hello Thanksgiving, love ya, muah, see ya later and Hellooooo Christmas!

First Snow of the Year  

The last day of November was a SNOW DAY!  Yeah!  While snow days used to be so dreaded to me (not because I don't want to get to stay home... but because I don't get paid if I'm not working)... but I've come to embrace them.  I love the unexpected day off of work to hang out at home with my boys in our pj's. 

The boys were SO excited to see snow on the ground.  I think we got around 5 inches or so?  Maybe?  They were up at 7 and were begging me to go outside.  The sun wasn't even up!  However, by 7:30am they had me out of bed and they were running around the house in their underwear screaming with excitement.  We all bundled up and were out in the snow by 7:45am.  WHEW!  Both of the boys loved shoveling the sidewalk and Porter ended up shoveling almost half of our driveway.  They spent a good 2 hours outside playing!  The rest of our day was spent inside by the fire, watching movies and doing a little laundry.  Perfect, perfect day.

Day 1: Today I am Thankful for...

[[Today I am Thankful for my mom who can visit often so that the miles don't seem so far apart.]]

I love our conversations and that we get each other's humor. So many of our conversations have us laughing to tears over stupid silly things that we find so funny but others just stare at us like we're crazy.  I love her and I'm so thankful she is my mom.

P's first re-tellable bad dream...

Poor little guy! He woke up this morning in a whiny, scared, half asleep dream state.

I walked into his room and asked him what was wrong. Still half asleep, eyes still half closed he says "Papa just punched me!"

Me: "What?"

Me: "Why? Why did Papa punch you?"

P: "Because Papa just punched me in the nose."

Me: "What were you doing?"

P: "I was chasing daddy."

Me: "Why were you chasing daddy?"

P: "Daddy chased me."

Me: "Were you scared or were you having fun?"

P: "I was just scared!"

Awww... poor little guy! I hate it when he wakes up whimpering and sounds like he's had a bad dream. It cracks me up and at the same time makes me feel so bad for him that he remembered a dream like that! Seriously... Papa punched him in the nose? Oh my!!

He's fully awake now and I just asked him a few more questions to see what he'd say... and he sounds like he's starting to tell stories... he says Daddy was chasing him and pulling on his pants trying to get him dressed but Porter didn't want to to to bedtime. And Papa was chasing Daddy and pulling on him. And at that point he started grinning like he was making up some funny story. HAHA!

Hopping and Slobbering....

That's what my day has consisted of. Hudson is a drool bucket... errr... he NEEDS a drool bucket. He soaks a bib in no time and we go through about 5+ bibs a day. And its not just the bib... he goes right through his shirt as well. I don't remember Porter being this drooly.

Porter got into the Halloween candy that Lori brought over last night and the kid has been hopping and skipping around the house ALL. DAY. LONG. He can't even manage to walk when I tell him to slow down and walk. He walks for like 2 steps and then he's hopping again. He is off the wall. I swear he took energy pills or something. And the kid definitely doesn't need energy.

We've had a pretty lazy weekend... it was nice to not have to go anywhere or do anything. Probably the first weekend of that sort in the past 2-3 months. I'm still in my pj's today! Love those kind of Sundays. We spent the weekend hanging out, playing with the boys, peeling wallpaper, hanging out with friends, watching movies and organizing/rearranging the playroom and basement.

I finally took Hudson's 5 (err...5.5) month photo with the bear....

Scrap Night or Social Night?

As we enter the holiday season, we have quite a few dates that we're entertaining. We're hosting Thanksgiving and also dinner with Ryan's family on Christmas Eve. I'm also contemplating a New Years Eve pot-luck. I'd probably throw in a few more dates if I could afford it... I'm so excited to have a home that we can entertain in!

I've also been hosting scrapbook nights at our house... we have a full basement that we've been using. Tonight was the second scrapbook night and I spent the day getting the house ready (even though no one spent much time in the upstairs of the house) and preparing to have snacks and drinks while scrapping. It occurred to me, while I was stock piling ice cubes into Ziploc bags, that perhaps I'm into this whole "scrapbook night" as a way to just have girlfriends over and to socialize. And well, what's wrong with that? It fulfills my desire to entertain in small increments.

I always have a great time with the girls whenever we scrap. We always are laughing at something or another, we always have great conversation and we even manage to throw together a scrapbook page or two! I love this little "scrapbook group" we've molded into and I love that its made up of many friends from many different circles and we all mesh together so well.

Tonight our group consisted of Lori, LeeAnn, Jane and my friend/co-worker Gina. We had a great time listening to Dave, O.A.R, Hootie and the Blowshitfish and other Pandora picks, mopping up Gina's spilled margarita, stuffing our faces with leftover Halloween candy and chit chatting about tv, kids, husbands, friends, blogging, and life in general.

Thank you, ladies, for a great social tradition that I truly cherish!

Made in the USA: Spoiled brats"

Another good read I just had to share. I got this email from someone at work a few weeks ago....

Article by Craig R. Smith: "Made in the USA: Spoiled brats"

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=53028

The other day I was reading Newsweek magazine and came across some poll data I found rather hard to believe. It must be true given the source, right? The same magazine that employs Michael (Qurans in the toilets at Gitmo) Isikoff. Here I promised myself this week I would be nice and I start off in this way. Oh what a mean man I am.

The Newsweek poll alleges that 67 percent of Americans are unhappy with the direction the country is headed and 69 percent of the country is unhappy with the performance of the president. In essence 2/3s of the citizenry just ain't happy and want a change.

So being the knuckle dragger I am, I starting thinking, ''What we are so unhappy about?''

Is it that we have electricity and running water 24 hours a day, 7 days a week? Is our unhappiness the result of having air conditioning in the summer and heating in the winter? Could it be that 95.4 percent of these unhappy folks have a job? Maybe it is the ability to walk into a grocery store at any time and see more food in moments than Darfur has seen in the last year?

Maybe it is the ability to drive from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean without having to present identification papers as we move through each state? Or possibly the hundreds of clean and safe motels we would find along the way that can provide temporary shelter? I guess having thousands of restaurants with varying cuisine from around the world is just not good enough. Or could it be that when we wreck our car, emergency workers show up and provide services to help all involved. Whether you are rich or poor they treat your wounds and even, if necessary, send a helicopter to take you to the hospital.

Perhaps you are one of the 70 percent of Americans who own a home, you may be upset with knowing that in the unfortunate case of having a fire, a group of trained firefighters will appear in moments and use top notch equipment to extinguish the flames thus saving you, your family and your belongings. Or if, while at home watching one of your many flat screen TVs, a burglar or prowler intrudes; an officer equipped with a gun and a bullet-proof vest will come to defend you and your family against attack or loss. This all in the backdrop of a neighborhood free of bombs or militias raping and pillaging the residents. Neighborhoods where 90 percent of teenagers own cell phones and computers.

How about the complete religious, social and political freedoms we enjoy that are the envy of everyone in the world? Maybe that is what has 67 percent of you folks unhappy.

Fact is, we are the largest group of ungrateful, spoiled brats the world has ever seen. No wonder the world loves the U.S. yet has a great disdain for its citizens. They see us for what we are. The most blessed people in the world who do nothing but complain about what we don't have and what we hate about the country instead of thanking the good Lord we live here.

I know, I know. What about the president who took us into war and has no plan to get us out? The president who has a measly 31 percent approval rating? Is this the same president who guided the nation in the dark days after 9/11? The president that cut taxes to bring an economy out of recession? Could this be the same guy who has been called every name in the book for succeeding in keeping all the spoiled brats safe from terrorist attacks? The commander in chief of an all-volunteer army that is out there defending you and me?

Make no mistake about it. The troops in Iraq and Afghanistan have volunteered to serve, and in many cases have died for your freedom. There is currently no draft in this country. They didn't have to go. They are able to refuse to go and end up with either a ''general'' discharge, an ''other than honorable'' discharge or, worst case scenario, a ''dishonorable'' discharge after a few days in the brig.

So why then the flat out discontentment in the minds of 69 percent of Americans? Say what you want but I blame it on the media. If it bleeds it leads and they specialize in bad news. Everybody will watch a car crash with blood and guts. How many will watch kids selling lemonade at the corner? The media knows this and media outlets are for-profit corporations. They offer what sells. Just ask why they are going to allow a murderer like O.J. Simpson to write a book and do a TV special about how he didn't kill his wife but if he did … insane!

Stop buying the negative venom you are fed everyday by the media. Shut off the TV, burn Newsweek, and use the New York Times for the bottom of your bird cage. Then start being grateful for all we have as a country. There is exponentially more good than bad.

I close with one of my favorite quotes from B.C. Forbes in 1953:

''What have Americans to be thankful for? More than any other people on the earth, we enjoy complete religious freedom, political freedom, social freedom. Our liberties are sacredly safeguarded by the Constitution of the United States, 'the most wonderful work ever struck off at a given time by the brain and purpose of man.' Yes, we Americans of today have been bequeathed a noble heritage. Let us pray that we may hand it down unsullied to our children and theirs.''

I suggest this Thanksgiving we sit back and count our blessings for all we have. If we don't, what we have will be taken away. Then we will have to explain to future generations why we squandered such blessing and abundance. If we are not careful this generation will be known as the 'greediest and most ungrateful generation." A far cry from the proud Americans of the "greatest generation" who left us an untarnished legacy.

Who is this man...

and where is my husband?

Ryan has been hard at work stripping the hellish wallpaper in our dining room. By himself. And not complaining.

Background: He doesn't do painting/decorating/wallpaper stripping type jobs. He's the guy knocking down walls, installing floors, building shelves etc etc.

Last night we went to work to attempt to get the dining room wallpaper stripped since we're hosting Thanksgiving dinner here in a few short weeks. I've stripped wallpaper in 4 other rooms of our house (5 if you count the playroom I started) and none of the other rooms were half as hard as this room. The vinyl layer of the wallpaper comes off in 1' x 1' little shreds.

Ry went to put Porter to bed last night and somehow bedtime took an hour. *cough* *cough* staller! *cough* *cough*. So I finally got sick of waiting for him and said "I'm done. I'm hiring someone and it'll be our anniversary present. I'm done." And I cleaned up my mess and went on to other projects in the house. Ryan, though, got back to work and worked on the dining room for a few more hours last night and has been working on it most of the day today. MOST OF THE DAY!!! I was helping him a bit earlier and jokingly said "Oh the only reason you're doing this is because I threatened to spend $$ to hire someone to strip the wallpaper and you'd rather buy new phones for our anniversary."

He says.... "Actually, nope. I want to make you happy. A happy wife makes a happy husband."

BWAH HAHA HAHA! Think the dude wants some ice cream?

On the agenda:

Stripping the wallpaper in the dining room.

How. Freaking. Fun.

Let me just tell you how much I HATE dogs. And carpet.

GRRRR. Its been a month from hell with our carpet. Let me just note.... our house is 90% wood floors... the only room that is carpeted is the playroom and we have area rugs in the boys room and in the living room.

I hate carpet.

We always said when we moved the first thing we'd do is replace all the carpet with wood or Pergo. And lucky us, our house is almost completely wood. I'll bet you that soon will be 100% wood.

Let me back it up. See, when we moved in the playroom carpet was kind of yuck, but it was fine for now. Then one of the dogs were left in the house too long and peed in the playroom. (WHY not the kitchen which is ceramic tile???) We tried and tried to clean it up with no avail. So we replaced the carpet with a remnant that Ry's dad had.

$50 for the pad
$75 to install the carpet

Ahhh... life is good. Fresh, new, clean carpet.

A week later someone wet their pants in the playroom leaving a nice pee puddle. Then one of the dogs started sniffing it out and peed next to it. So my entire living room and playroom stunk like pee. GRR. I have a super sensitive nose and it drove me CRAZY. We used cleaner after cleaner (even professional odor eliminator from my grandma) and still weeks later it still reeked of pee (probably b/c the pee was down in the pad).

So on Monday we had the carpet cleaned (by Breezy Clean Carpets in Jackson... I recommend them-- super cheap $25/room!!). And within 2 days my carpet was fresh and clean and non stinky.

And then tonight... that damned Zoey went in there and PISSED on the same "marked" spot AGAIN! Luckily we got to it right away but I can guarantee you I'll still be able to smell pee. My nose is so dang sensitive.

I give up. If the pee smell is still there next week, we're just going to have to rip out the carpet and put down wood. I'm so over carpet. I hate hate hate carpet!!

When did he get so mouthy?

P has been raiding the pantry and I find him with an oreo stained mouth at least once a day.

I just went downstairs and, bless him, the kid is too honest for his own good. I asked what he's doing.....

P: "Hiding something."

I find him with my candle jar and inside the candle jar is an oreo cookie. He hands it to me and covers his ears (what he does when he's scared or knows he's in trouble).

Me: "Why are you covering your ears? I'm not going to yell at you. I'm just going to take this away."

P: "No! Don't take that from me! I would like to eat that! I just want to eat that all gone!"

I continue to walk into the kitchen as he is hanging on my leg.

P: "I need that! Stop your feet! Stop! I need that thing!"

Me: "No, Porter. Let go of me."

P: "Don't put that away! I want to eat it all gone!"

I put the child lock on the pantry.

P: Don't put that thing on there! I need to get in there!"


I assume this is what parents with teenage daughters deal with......

The Positive Post

• Reasonable gas prices
• Watching my 2 year old put together a 24 piece puzzle by himself for the first time
• Positive outlooks on America's new leader
• An organized house
• Getting a head start on Christmas shopping
• Our leaves are finally all raked (err... blown)
• My healthy, happy children
• Finally coming to terms and making a much needed appointment
• 70* days in November
• Having enough patience to do some craft projects with Porter
• A perfect out of order day off from work
  

God help me...

If I hear "NO!" or "Don't tell me to _________!" one more time today........

These make me smile....

as do these.

This makes me nauseous (let's see if this video works)

I can barely stand to watch it. I've heard its being investigated. It appears to be some kind of insane dance/swinging routine with a 9 month old baby. I've watched it a few times, trying to see if somehow its a fake baby but no... it looks damn real to me and I can't see how they'd be able to edit the video to slip in a double. Each time I've watched it I just keep waiting for the baby to whack the tv or something. But at the end... he's all grins. WEIRD.

Watch more LiveLeak videos on AOL Video

I voted!

Oooh it was so exciting and liberating to vote tonight... and thank God there were no lines even though it was 5pm!

Btw... I'm surprised to see the "maverick" taking the lead. Not that there's anything wrong with that. "Friends... I have to admit... "HAHA love my shoddy photoshop skills, no??

I'm curious....

Are more of my readers Donkeys or Elephants... or neither. Don't worry... its anonymous so there won't be any nasty political debate on my blog.

I'm excited to vote today... this will be my first time voting (I know, I know... I'm nearly 27 years old and haven't voted yet!). I know who I'm voting for and I'm confident he'll be great for our country. Although I know many who don't agree. Oh well :)

H. Riley

He's my snugger bug. I wish I was talented enough to hold my camera out and aim correctly but unfortunately this is what I end up with. I love it anyhow. He's so cuddly I could eat him up. I must say that often because Porter will say "I am gonna eat him up!" And his newest nickname from Porter..... H. Riley Hudson.

BWMRW 2009

I originally wasn't going to post this but I figured what the hey... our group has grown to 20+ people so I guess the more the merrier? (Plus there are some bloggers that us FG* girls are pretty close with who still haven't joined the group and I wanted to put this out there in case they missed my emails!) If you're interested in joining in on BWMRW 2009 and you're a blogger (must have a blog- one stipulation!), you can join us at BWMRW 2009. Apply for the group and please post your blog in your application.

In case you're wondering what "group" of bloggers this consists of... well, its most of us "*First Generation" girls: Me, Kim Berrisford, Heather Morrison, Leslie Collins, LeeAnn Howard, Kasey Laughlin and Maria Cook along with some other blog friends we've met through this wonderful addiction.

Currently we're voting on location, so if you're wanting to go and you have an opinion on where it should be (sorry, a select few locations have already been chosen and the voting is in process....), you can vote on one of the selected locations now!

Family Photos

Today we swapped sessions with Jen from JoNa Photography. Technically she was gracious enough to shoot my family because if you remember, she did an amazing job with my maternity photos this past spring, so she has one up on me. :) Thanks so much, Jen!

The day started out beautiful but as I left the house for her session it was raining! She traveled here from Lansing so we met up anway and headed to the train station for a little coverage. Luckily the rain let up and we did get to meander downtown.

Ryan brought the boys downtown after I was done shooting Jen's family. Porter (as always) started out being overly bashful and wouldn't even look at Jen. He even began screaming as we attempted our first location. Nice.... Luckily Jen was great and patient and he warmed up to her pretty well... maybe it was because I encouraged him to jump in some mud puddles (in 40* weather!) while she was shooting. HAHA!

Jen has a sneak peek up for us and I have posted mine for her... I think both sessions turned out great! (Although, I told Jen... why the hell did I wear that belt under my saggy leftover baby pooch?! Must. Get. Rid. Of. It!)

I am so happy to finally have photos of the 4 of us!

Girls Night Out

Its been awhile since I've met up with these ladies for dinner and drinks... in fact, I think the last time was Maria's bachelorette party last fall... and I had a migraine and was nauseous from being pregnant with Hudson! So you can imagine it was a much needed night out.

We had dinner, drinks and hung out for a bit to chat. Missy and Lauren took off a little early for bedtime :) and the 4 of us stragglers went to play some games in the gameroom... we played air hockey and pool... neither of which any of us were that good at. We did have a great time and laughed a lot! It was so nice to just catch up with these girls. We've been friends since junior high/high school (and even before... Maria and I met in 4th grade!).