Thanksgiving Feast and Santa Visit all in one day

Today was a very busy day for my sweet Max. At school Max had his annual Thanksgiving Feast with his class. He was so excited to take his turkey cookies and share them with his friends. Timmy attended the feast with Max, and Max was so happy to see his daddy arrive. Max was walking with his class to music when he saw Timmy come in. When Max saw him he pointed and yelled, "That's my daddy!"

This year the feast was in the fellowship hall with all the other classes. Once they gave him his food he sat there like a good little waiting until it was time to eat.

Now its time to dig in!!! Max went straight for the juice box and the turkey.

He really wanted daddy to see the the greatness of his turkey.

This boy is ready for a picture at anytime!!!


Look daddy I am eating my turkey seeeeeee!
O yummy this is the turkey cookie I made with my mommy

Here is my necklace I made for thanksgiving. I'm not sure if I'm suppose to eat it, but it sure is yummy.

Once the feast was over Max led his class back to their room so they could pack up and go home.

Since today was a special day Timmy took Max out of school early so they could hang out and have some Daddy and Max time.


Once I got home from work we headed out to see Santa. Max was not so sure about this experience. When we mentioned it to him he kept say no santa he's scary. I am so glad Bass Pro Shop had Santa because Max was really excited about going to see the fish, but not so much about seeing Santa.

When he got to Bass Pro Shop he walked around for a little bit to get the feel for the place. Max loved seeing the super tall Snowman!!!

Once we were down hanging with Frosty we told Max it was time to go and see Santa. At first he was not to sure about going up there. He was checking it out to see if he was ok with this experience.
Max decided he was ok with meeting Santa so him and Daddy headed down the red carpet.
As Max was standing in line he started getting really excited. He was wiggling and jumping up and down. I guess he realized Santa wasn't that scary after all.

Max went right up to Santa and started telling him about all the Toy Story toys that he wants for Christmas. However I think Max thought once I tell Santa then I get the toy I asked for. I guess we will need to work on that concept a little more.
Max is now best buds with Santa!!!
Max and Santa giving high fives!!!

Man this guys takes requests for toys and gives candy, HE ROCKS!!!
And what visit to see Santa would be complete without going to the gun range!!!

Mommy getting some Max kisses!!!
Daddy is showing Max how to run the polar express
Ok mom I am done with this letter to Santa when do I get my toys???
Max and Daddy making a Christmas craft.

When I asked Max to show me his craft he decided to wear his ornament as a purse . . . sometimes this boy is so odd :)
Ok mom enough of this crafty stuff on to the men things. I want to race monster trucks with Daddy!!!

And to end a wonderful experience we must stop and enjoy the turtles!!!
And then as we are leaving we come full circle. We may of visited Santa before Thanksgiving, but this turkey was waiting to remind us what holiday were still need to celebrate before busting out the snowflakes and lights!!!

Today was such a great day. Days like this are ones I will remember for a life time. Seeing all these things through Max's eyes makes me full so joyful and thankful!!! I am so blessed to have an amazing hubby and son!!!

potty time

Potty Training Time

Max is starting to get to the age when we wonder is it time to potty train or is it to soon? For Max's 2nd birthday we bought him a singing potty to see if that would get him interested in the concept, but it didn't. Then we though hey lets get him some fun undies that should do the trick. Nope all of those were a failure. So we have been gradually putting the big boy underwear on him to see what he thought. He was always ok with them at first, but then he would bring a me diaper and tell me I needed to change him.

This weekend was a little different. I got the underwear out and he seemed excited with the thought of putting them on. When we put them on him we told him we would take him to get ice cream the minute he uses his big boy potty. I spent all morning asking him if he needed to use the potty and he would try and nothing would happen.

Playing on the iphone to pass the time!!!

Reading the toy ads and telling knock knock jokes to himself.

Well after sitting on the potty for 15 minutes he said mommy I think its broke. After I was done laughing I helped him put his underwear on and we went to play. No more then 2 minutes after getting off of the potty he had an accident. At first he was a little concerned, but I told him its ok and we changed clothes. About an hour later he had a small accident and took off running to the bathroom. The whole way there he is yelling I need to potty I need to potty. Once he sat on the potty I went to clean up the mess. All of the sudden Max starts screaming Mommy the potty is sing to me. I run in there to make sure he is still sitting and he is laughing and singing with the potty. It turns out he really did need to potty and when he did the musical potty played a celebration song for him. Once the mess was cleaned up and Max had new clothes on we sent Timmy a text to share the good news. Since he was at a wedding I asked Max if he was ok with waiting for daddy to get home before we go and get ice cream. He smiled and said yes. So we spent the rest of the night running to the bathroom, having accidents and cleaning up the floor until Timmy got home. Right as Timmy walked in Max yelled, "you bring me ice cream?" Timmy put his camera stuff down and we loaded up in the car to head out for ice cream. Max was so excited to get his yummy ice cream.

We are far from saying Max is pottied trained, but I am one proud momma!!!

Turkey cookies for the MDO Feast

Max has his Thanksgiving Feast at school tomorrow and he has signed up to bring cookies. Well if you know me I am not the mommy that will just go out and buy some cookies for him to take. Nope Max and I mixed the cookie dough and created some super cute turkeys if I say so myself. When Max and I bake anything he wants to be a 100% involved in the process. He does not want to just sit back and watch. When Max saw me spread a handful of flour on the counter so wanted to help. He reached into the flour jar and grabbed a big handful of flour. Before I could assist him he had spread flour all over the counter, his jeans and his face. It was so fun watching him. His face was beaming with joy because he was feeling so helpful. Now that the counter is prepped we roll out the dough. Max was working so hard. He was determined to get that dough rolled out perfectly.
Now that the dough is rolled out and ready to go we can get to the fun cookie cutting part.

When he made his first turkey cookie he was so excited. After he cut out the cookie he would pick it up and kiss it. The whole this was sweet and funny all at the same time.
Now that all the turkeys were cut out and ready for the oven it was time to sprinkle them. Max really liked this part. He was going crazy with the shaking!!
Now the turkeys are off to the oven. Its time to clean this little baker!!!
Max was so proud of his creation. When I gave him his turkey cookie he walked around telling all his toys look I made this.
Here are the cookies. Some look like turkeys and others look like leaves because their heads didn't make it to the end of the process.
It is so neat that I can share these kinds of moments with my son. I don't know how long he will want to do all this baking fun with his mommy, but I will enjoy it while it lasts. When he sits on the counter and helps it reminds me of all the memories I have from when I use to bake with my great grandmother. As a kid I loved sharing moments like this and I hope Max looks back and enjoys these times too.

Where did my lunch go?

Yesterday was yet another example that I am losing brain cells the longer I am pregnant.

Everyday I go to the break room and get my lunch out of the frig, heat it up and then go back to my room and work while I eat. Well yesterday was a little different. I went to the frig to get it my lunch, but it was not there. So I thought O no did I leave it in my classroom all day? I waddled back down the hallway to my room and searched for it, but it was no where to be found. Then I started thinking did I forget my lunch at home this morning? At this point I am getting a little stressed because I have now wasted 10 minutes looking and I don't have time to leave and get something. After a few minutes of just standing there racking my brain I thought did I put it in the freezer by mistake? When I opened the freezer door I was so happy to see my red lunch box sitting there.

It is kind of embarrassing how happy I was to find my lunch box. I know I love eating these days, but that amount of excitement and joy was a little ridiculous. This little girl is so worth all these moments of forgetfulness, but I sure do hope these missing brain cells come back fast once I have her.

65 days left

As many of you know I am a planner. I like to get as much stuff done earlier when preparing for holidays, parties and well having babies. When I was pregnant with Max I thought I was ahead of the game, but really I was so far behind. It took me months to feel like I was caught to where I needed to be as a mommy of a new born. So this time I am really trying to think of everything. I realize there will be surprises and hiccups along the way, but if I plan for as much as I can now then maybe there will only a small amount of surprises and hiccups.

I think the fact that she is almost here has really started to sink in this week. My ability to get a good nights rest has gone missing. Yesterday I was almost up for a full 24 hours, because I for some reason just had to get the laundry and dishes done. Then I needed to think about my to do list. Finally my hubby turned off all the lights and tv and said go to sleep. After a few minutes of watching him sleep I was able to drift off myself.

Once I wrote down my to do list I thought I would feel better, but boy was I wrong. After seeing everything I have to do covering 2 pages of notebook paper I am starting to get nervous. I know I have 65 days, but that doesn't seem like a lot of time. So many things are filling up my time with the whole bed rest thing lurking, going to the doctor weekly since Rylee wants to be a DIVA already, my contraction meds leave with no energy, my two year old would still love to have play time with his mommy and my hubby is busy with work and most of the house stuff.

People always say everything will get done don't stress, but I am a chubby, sleep deprived, hormonal preggo so not stressing is not in my ability at this time.

Here is my to do list (please feel free to make any suggestions for things I might of left off or forgot!)

Before Rylee Gets Here
1. Make Welcome Home sign for Rylee
2. Buy the last 4 or 5 gifts on my Christmas list
3. wrap the last of the Christmas gifts
4. Finish the oil paintings for Rylee's room
5. Buy cookie and cake mix so I can have treats for when people come to the house to see Rylee
6. buy Christmas outfit for Rylee just in case she comes early
7. look up car seat cover
8. email mom car seat cover link
9. wash and put breast pump together
10. Make sure there are diapers and wipes in the down stairs bath, nursery and in our room
11. borrow glider
12. make sure I leave detailed plans and instructions for sub at work
13. plan out new born pics
14. shop for props, clothes and bows for new born pics
15. plan first family photo
16. pick out clothes and props
17. Plan out my mommy and Max date which will happens 3 to 4 days after coming home
- plan the food for the living room picnic so Tim can go to the store
- plan a craft project to do
- Schedule a time for someone to come and watch Rylee upstairs while I am on my date
18. Finish packing the bag for the hospital
19. Wrap Max's gift from Rylee and pack it in hospital bag
20. clean all her clothes
21. pick out and pack for clothes and bows for the hospital
22. clean all the crib and pack n play sheets
23. set up the pack n play down stairs
24. set up the bassinet up stairs
25. set up the swing down stairs
26. set up the swing upstairs
27. deep clean her room
28. organize her closet
29. get the bath stuff set up in the kids' bathroom
30. organize baby cabinet in kitchen
31. wash all the baby blankets
32. set up arrangements for Max while I am in the hospital
33. confirm arrangements for max once every week from 35 weeks on
34. lay out or pack Max's clothes for the time I am in the hospital
35. Shop for and pack snack for the hospital
- snacks for Max
- snacks and drinks for Timmy
- snacks for visitors who come to the hospital and to the house
36. start working on thank you cards
37. deep clean whole house no later than 34 weeks pregnant
38. Do a final walk through of house and nursery checking everything no later than 35 weeks

The Day Rylee Is Born
1. Buy a newspaper with that days date
2. Schedule us for the January parent dedication at Church if she comes before New Years
3. schedule Rylee's first doctor visit with Becky
4. schedule family photo time with photographer
5. Write my letter to Rylee about meeting her for the first time

No More Then 3 Weeks After Rylee Arrives
1. order birth announcements no more then 2 weeks after delivery
2. Confirm time with photographer the day before session is scheduled

I am sure this list will go, but for now here is what I have left to do.

Queen Esther

Nov 4th

Max learned about Esther this week at MDO. On Thursday he came home with a cute crown that he made at school. When he put the crown on to show me he said, "I Queen Esther mommy!"

Play time with Dixie

Max his been pretending that he is a dog lately. He crawls around, barks and even licks people. Today Dixie was napping in her usual spot and Max decided to join him.

My two little puppies :)

Hair Cut Time!!!

I have been asking Tim if he would take Max and get his hair cut for weeks. And well Tim loves taking Max to the hair cutting place as much as I do. He does great if we take him to the kids places with the fun chairs, but they are super expensive and the ladies aren't that nice. So we tried taking him to Sports Clip, but he screamed and cried the whole time.

So when it was time to get his hair cut again Time decided he would give a try. We figured we could turn the Mickey Mouse movie on and get him a coloring book to distract him. Since he doesn't normally sit still for hair cuts Timmy decided to use the dog shaver on him. It used the guard that leaves the hair an inch long.

The hair cutting started off great. It was as if Max was so into his movie he didn't even know Timmy was shaving his head.

Max is now starting to realize what is going on and he is not to sure if he likes it.

Max decides o well I guess he isn't going to stop I guess I will just color while he does his thing!

His hair cut turned out great and so what if it was all done with the dog clippers!!!

Trick or Treat

Tonight we dressed Max up, met up with some friends and took the kids out to beg for candy.

The night started off with meeting up with friends. As everyone was starting to arrive the kids greeted each other and admired all the fun costumes. It is so fun to watch these little guys interact.

Once everyone had arrived we decided to get a group picture while the sun was still out.

Here is group picture take #1
Aaron had to catch the run away mouse


Group picture take #2
The mouse is one the run again


Group Picture take #3
O no where did the mouse go???


Group picture take #??? who knows we lost count
The mouse is back, the dragon fly is missing and Max has declared he is a hobo!!!


Group picture #187 (give or take a couple)
All this posing is making them tired


Since the group photo didn't turn out as planned we decided to bring the parents in on the photo to see if that helps keep the kids focused.

We got the group photo now its time to get some candy

House #1 these boys were not shy

Max is ready to get some more candy so he makes a dash for house #2
Max is one picky Hobo. The guy gave Max a candy and he decided he wanted to exchange it for something different. So yes that is my son digging through the bucket to get a grasp of his options before deciding.

max got some more candy and now he is ready for the next house
Max is so excited he literally runs from house to house. Timmy had to wrestle him to the ground to get him to slow down and wait for the rest of the crew

This was a super fun night and I think all the kiddos had a blast. I am so thankful that Max has such a great group of friends to share these moments with.