Twenty Nine

Blogging is becoming harder and harder.  Last year for Christmas my mother-in-law got me an amazing gift for my birthday, a print out of my entire blog for the year 2012!  She got herself a copy as well.  When I went over there for Thanksgiving the book was sitting on the counter, so I picked it up and started flipping through it.  Each page and every picture in that book brings back so many memories.  If it wasn't for my blog, there would probably be hundreds and thousands of memories forgotten.  I need to keep reminding myself why this is important.  I always tell myself "I want to remember everything."  I want my boys to hear stories about themselves as babies.  So here I am, again.  Attempting.  

This post will be about my birthday back on October 24th.  I turned 29 this year.  I feel like every year since my 24th birthday, a part of me gets a little sad as my birthday draws nearer.  Another year older.  I don't know what freaks me out so much, every year gets better than the last.

One thing that some may find hard to believe, I actually enjoy working on my birthday.  I love to see my students.  They always have so many cards and smiles and hugs for me :)

I got a sweet little video from Ryan telling me "Happy Birthday, Mommy" & Rebecca sent me a picture of Aiden, Rian, and Asher.

A few days before my birthday, I told Tim that I wanted to go to Subway for dinner on my birthday.  I had been really wanting Subway, but he said no!  He said he would bring me some for lunch at work.  & He did.  They came in when my class was doing their Daily 5 centers and of course, Jakey made me hold him the whole time.  Ryan sat at someone's desk and read himself a book.

Looking at this picture of Ryan made me remember that my birthday happened to fall on pajama day!  Haha, what's better than wearing pajamas to work on your birthday?!

Came home to some pretty flowers from my momma and my husband.  Plus Tim was making me a cake.  He was actually pretty proud of himself because it was the first cake he had ever made.

Flowers from my mom.

& Tim.

Tim planned a birthday dinner at one of our favorite mexican restaurants.  It's Ryan's favorite place to eat!  We were there with Casey, Tecia, Jenn (Tim's sister,) Caitlyn (sister in law,) and Kylie.

I was proud of Ryan, he went potty on the toilet for the first time in public!  

Dinner was delicious.  I never expect presents on my birthday, but everyone who got me something knows me so well!  Kylie got me some m&ms, we got a beautiful new bed set from Tim's mom, Tecia got me some measuring spoons because she knows I love to cook.  Tim got me a shirt, flip flops, a spice rack, a new wallet, and some new bed sheets.  My parents sent some money and I used it to get ink for my printer so I could print out my coupons!! Tim's sister made me this awesome "R" sign for our bedroom- I took a pic but was dark.  It's awesome and the picture doesn't do it justice!

After dinner, Tim's mom and Tecia came over to babysit some babies so Tim & I could go to the movies.  We have been wanting to see Gravity so we decided to see it, and we splurged and watched our first 3D movie.  It was awesome! Haha, great movie and the 3D made it so good.

We got home pretty late, babies were already in bed.  Tim and I put together our new bedding and he hung my R up in my bathroom next to my vanity.

Lots of people helped make my birthday special.  & I can't believe that in less than 11 months I am going to be 30!!

The Month of November

Another month has come and gone, again.  Time is always just flying by.  With November came more memories for our family.

Ryan finally got a big boy bed!  I've kept him in his crib for so long.  It was his last baby thing to go.  My dad made him a twin bed and my mom made him a pillow case and quilt.  The whole thing came out better and cuter than I ever could have imagined!  I was so happy about his big boy bed for so long, but the second we started taking apart his crib, I got sad!  Ryan was so excited though and that made me not be so sad anymore.  We had to rearrange his room for his furniture to fit better.

His bed is gorgeous and the quilt is so perfect for his little personality.  At the end of his bed is his afghan that my Grandma made for him.  I love that my kids have so much handmade stuff from their grandparents!  & I love that his bedding is one of a kind.  I didn't have any twin sheets around, except for Elyse's, so I went to Target and the only thing they had that was cute was Thomas the Train.  I knew he'd like those, so we got them for him. He's been in his new bed since the weekend before Veteran's Day and he still stays in bed.  Which I am glad.  I've seen horror stories on Nanny 911 about the kids getting out of bed a million times a night, thank God he goes to bed when I tell him to.

The morning after his first night in his new bed, we woke up super early to go couponing.  Ryan loves going grocery shopping with mommy!

That afternoon, Ryan was going to back with my parents to Yuma.  He was so happy to go to Grandma and Papa's house.

He was supposed to be gone from Sunday until  Thursday night when we were going to head out to my parent's house.  My dad's birthday was Thursday, so I took Friday off of work to be in Yuma.  Well, Tim's aunt had passed away and her funeral was on Friday.  & Last minute, a soccer team wanted Tim to take their pictures on Saturday morning.  We didn't end up leaving town until Saturday afternoon, meaning I was away from Ryan for 6 days!! I missed my baby!  That's a long time, considering I am never away from him unless I am at work.

We got to Yuma on Nov 16th, and my parents had made a birthday dinner for my dad's 60th birthday.  My grandparents were there, Steven, Rebecca, Rian & Asher.  Aiden was out of town with his other grandparents.

I got to meet sweet little Asher for the first time.  He is so perfect.  He was a sleepy little guy.

This picture of Rian and me has awful lighting but I had to post it.  She was being soo cute and she kept making my heart so happy.  She was sitting on my lap so I could read her stories.  Before she left she said "I want to hug you!" and she wanted me to  buckle her in her car seat.  She kept melting my heart and I didn't want her to leave.  I was sad that I only got a couple of hours with them instead of a few days.  It's really hard to be away from them all the time.  We are lucky they only live a few hours away,but I still wish we lived in the same town.

We have a lot more cute days around here than we do obnoxious days. Thank god.  The kids are getting along better than they have been and are learning to share.  They make me smile when they are being so cute with each other.

The weather has gotten cool enough to wear we can wear long pants.  Some days it's even cold enough for long sleeved shirts and hats!  I like it better when it's not cold enough for long sleeved shirts, but the boys look too cute in their hats, so I guess cold weather has it's perks.

This year we spend Thanksgiving with Tim's family because we spend the last two with mine.

I am most thankful for these little guys, how well behaved they are, and how much they fill my heart.

With Thanksgiving comes the start of Christmas jammies!  My kids have WAY too many Christmas jammies, but there isn't much that is better than Christmas jammies.

Happy 60th Birthday, Dad!!

As I write this post about November, there are only 2 days of December left!

Halloween Pictures

I love having a husband who can take awesome pictures, but it also stinks because my kids know him so well that they don't always cooperate.  Ryan's actually a million times better than he ever has been.  He will look at the camera now and give a cheesy grin where before he would purposely ignore the camera.  Now that Ryan is used to the camera- Jake is the one who will not look!  & if he is looking, he always gives you this blank stare like he has no idea what you're talking about.

Tim wasn't able to get too many pictures because the sun was almost down by the time we arrived at the park.  But I am in love with the ones he did get!

Here is Jake's famous picture face!

Halloween is a holiday I never really cared about until I had kids.  Elyse always used to ask us if she could spend a Halloween with us and I never knew why it was so special.  But these past few years I have loved Halloween!  I almost think it is my favorite holiday now that I am a mom.  I love all of the carnivals the weekend before Halloween, the pumpkin patch, and Halloween.  It's a week long celebration.

Now I have a whole year to think about next year's costumes.

Halloween 2013

All year, I had wanted Ryan and Jake to be The man with the yellow hat and Curious George for Halloween.  I found a few cute DIY costumes of the man with the yellow hat, but I could not find anything cute for DIY Curious George costumes, not to mention, the store bought ones were awful.  A few weeks before Halloween, I was looking up boy costumes that go together and I came across the cutest Mario Brothers costumes!  I sent them to my mom, and wa-lah! She made them.  Unfortunately, there were a ton of Mario and Luigi costumes out there, but my kids were definitely the cutest!  No velcro and no awful plastic.  A million thank yous to my mom for making their costumes, again.  She's so crafty and I wish I was.

This year's Halloween festivities were going to be extra fun because my parents were coming into town and they were bringing my nephew, Aiden with them.  Once again, during holidays, I load up on all the activities.  I love that there are so many different Halloween events going on.

I already know I post too many pictures, thankfully only a few people read my blog.  Plus I want them all when I print out my yearly blog!

They got into town on Friday night, and I have to participate in our school's annual Harvest Fest. I wasn't able to spend too much time with the family because I have to work at a bean bag toss booth.  I was able to hang out for a little bit.  When my parents and Tim showed up with my kids I couldn't believe how cute they were in their costumes!  I wasn't able to see them before hand because my mom had brought them into town.

Mario

Batman-- who is still in a 5 point harness (at 5 years old)!!!  A few weeks ago I saw a boy a month younger than Jake who just uses the shoulder belt!  Ahh.  Safety first people!  It's unbelievable to me how many parents just don't do what is safest for their kids regarding carseats.

& my little Luigi

The Harvest Fest at my school was fun, but I wish I could have spent more time with the boys.  The next day, my parents were going to spend the afternoon with my Aunt Betty (my dad's sister) and her family.  They live in Georgia but they were visiting Tucson because their son lives here.  My parents left Aiden over here so that he could play with Ryan and Jake.  My house was a mad house!  Now I know what my life will be like when we decide to have another kid!  The boys were running all over the house pushing cars around.  They were pretty cute at times when they would sit so quietly and play with the car ramp.

That night we were going to go to two different church carnivals.  We had went to both of them last year and had fun, so when I saw they were holding them again, I was excited to go again.

On the way over to the first carnival, Aiden fell asleep in the car.  He was a little grumpy when we first got to the carnival and didn't want to play any games.  After about 10 minutes he was back to his normal self and wanted to keep going down the inflatable slide.

All 3 boys digging through the treasure chest.

My kids totally cheated at all of the games this year!  Jake wasn't big enough to play last year, but Ryan was and he cheated then too!  He walked up to everything.  Here they are walking up to the felt dart board and putting the balls where they need to go.  Next year Ryan will be 4 and he'll be too old to cheat at all the games.

Cuzzies riding the train.  I always think of how lucky my kids are to have all of their family so close.  They get to be best friends with their cousins, I never had that when I was growing up.

This was too funny!  Ryan and Aiden were doing a cake walk and Ryan was right behind this girl, but he stayed RIGHT behind her.  He stepped on every paper that she was on when the music stopped.  She kept turning around to look at Ryan.  Tim and I couldn't stop giggling.  Aiden won the cake walk and he was so happy picking out which plate of goodies he got to take home.  He picked a plate of cupcakes.

After this carnival we went to another one.  They also had trunk or treat afterwards.  My mom had to walk around with Aiden because he was so speedy compared to my little slow pokes!  My Aunt Betty and Uncle Bert took my family out for mexican food afterwards.  It was nice to be able to see them, they also came to Arizona back in May.  It's fun to watch her kids play with mine.  When I was younger and we would go back east to visit them, I always loved playing with Aunt Betty's babies and now they all play with my babies.  

The next day, my parents, Aiden, and my family spent the day at the pumpkin patch.  Every year we go to Apple Annie's but I wanted to try out a new pumpkin patch this year.  We went to the Marana Pumpkin Patch and I am SO glad we did.  There was a ton of stuff for kids to do.  We spent the entire day there and had so much fun.  We will definitely be going there next year.

They have this huge straw climbing thing, geez, I can't think of what they call it!  Anyways, Aiden was so excited to climb all the way up to the top!

Aiden and Ryan were excited to watch the pig races- except we showed up at the wrong time and Aiden didn't get to watch it.  We watched the pig races after my parents and Aiden had already headed back home.

We took a tractor ride out to the pumpkin patch to pick pumpkins.  When we were walking up onto the tractor Aiden said, "I want to sit next to my cuzzy." :)  And they wanted to sit next to Grandma and Grandpa!

Ryan's face was priceless when Papa found the perfect pumpkin for him!

After we picked the pumpkins, it was time for them to go home because Aiden had school the next morning.  Boo!  It's always sad when they leave.  After they left we watched the pig races and did two different corn mazes.  Ryan loved the corn mazes and was running through them telling us which way to go.  He was pretty cute.

I didn't actually get any cute pictures of my kids trick or treating this year.  Boo!  This year was more fun than last because Jake wasn't walking last year.  He got to walk around and get candy.  The boys were loving going door to door and collecting all the candy.  After a while we put them in the wagon and pulled them around.  Jake started dumping out his candy and eating anything he could get his little fingers on!  It was hard for me to see him because it was so dark out, sneaky sneaky.  After a while, Tom & Caitlyn brought Kylie over to do a little trick or treating together.  We ended our night by stopping by Auntie Jenn & Uncle Wes's house to get our last bit of candy and to give hugs and kisses.

Backdating this entry from 12/29 to 11/01 to keep these posts in order!