Thanksgiving

Sad to say, Thanksgiving wasn't as great this year as it's been in the past. Gavin has been prepping the past few days for a big studio shoot weekend, so he was gone all day & night the day before Thanksgiving, and again all morning, early afternoon on thanksgiving. I think I met my match with how much i can handle. 2 kids+ 6 hours + 1 parent + 6 dishes to cook + mess to clean= 1 cranky mommy. not doing that again! I told Gavin next year no working on Thanksgiving since I usually do a good amount of cooking for the family. But maybe next year i can get out of cooking and volunteer for Meals on Wheels or another charity of the sort in the morning. not a bad idea!
I think i was better after dinner and things were cleaned up, I was finally able to sit for a few minutes and relax. Thankfully Maddox wanted some cuddle time, so I was down with that. Mason teaches me to enjoy the small things in life. Maddox teaches to sit back and relax. I sure needed the relaxing thing yesterday.
We got some fun pictures as the kids were hyped up on home made ice cream after dinner.

Mason & Papaw during dinner

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Sweet Baby Maddox turned 9 months old yesterday! notice the ring of drool on his shirt...yuck!

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Uncle Christopher trying to get a smile

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this is the playground at my Dad's house. My mom's korean step chest. its a strange cabinet that can be moved in many different positions. Mason & Rilee like to climb on it and hide IN it.

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Sitting still JUST long enough!

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their indoor playground.

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Me and my 3 most favorite kiddos in the world

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Amy, I and our kiddos

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Us & Uncle Josh

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My dad included! Love this one how cheeky Rilee was being. Notice her just about strangling Amy & I!

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Me and my Boys :)

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alternative parenting

when Mason gets in big trouble he generally gets a time out. Occassionally, he gets spankings when we catch him doing something that could essentially hurt himself. Lately timeouts seem more like poutty time for him. He sits there and pouts. I've been trying to be creative with discipline.

Since he's been waking up SUPER early and sneaking around the house. As soon as I hear him, I've been trying to jump out of bed to make sure he's not causing trouble.
Sunday morning he beat me to it. I didn't hear him when he first woke up, he went/snuck into Gavin's office which is OFF limits. He found a pair of sharp pliers and went into Gavin's tool box & took out a long sharp drill bit. As soon as I heard him & walked out of our room into the playroom i saw the drill bit on the playroom floor. Thank the LORD he didn't hurt himself with it, or the cat or dog either. First I made sure he didn't hurt himself, Then I spanked him, sent him to time out & then scolded him. The punishment that got him the most- NO cartoons for the entire day.
That was genius. He asked all day to watch cartoons & I just asked him, "No, do you remember why you can't watch them today?" Sure enough, he remembered all day. Mommy: 1, Mason: 0. so maybe he was ahead in the beginning, but I shut that game down! ;-p
This morning, he came into our room at about 6:30 am & crawled into bed. (Score, more sleep!) a few minutes later he wanted his lovie & tractor so he got down to go get them. He was gone maybe 2 minutes. He comes back in & gave himself a beard. WITH. MY. MASCARA. are you kidding? He knows that only Mommies wear make up. He knew he did something wrong and asked to wash it off. I said, "NO. if you're going to wear make up like Mommy, then you have to wear it all day." thankfully we only went to the bank today. But both Mimi & Papa & Rilee came by today, so he got to explain why he had a beard.

I fully plan on nipping this phase in the butt!

for ME!!

I don't get much Mommy time. When I'm not with the boys, 99% of the time I'm working. Even after they go to bed, I'm either catching up on e-mails for work, or getting some artsy fartsy orders done. I joke with Gavin that I don't even get to pee or shower by myself as Mason follows me everywhere.
We've recently been blessed with some amazing new neighbors. This new family has 2 boys, our boys age. So you can imagine how much we love our new neighbors! LS & I get along great- being both moms of boys, attend the same church, love learning to cook, etc. We've recently started the Couch to 5K running program. it's 3 days a week, 30 minutes. add in stretching and Mom-talk, it's more like 50 minutes. The best part(s), LS is right next door. We're held accountable to each other. We run in our neighborhood, which means it's FREE. and not to mention, we get some GIRL time in! The program is 4 months, in that 4 month period you go from walking to being able to run a 5K (3.5 miles) so in February is the Cowtown 5K which we will RUN. I am so incredibly excited/nervous/anxious/thrilled/inspired to do this. Both of us are looking to drop weight after both having babies this year. The crazy thing about this, i loved running in high school. I don't run anymore, unless something is chasing me. I feel like i do SO much for my family, for once - something for ME. to better myself, to commit myself to a challenge, to get healthier and accomplish a physical challenge (which probably hasn't really happened in the last 10 years.)
SO I'll keep you posted of our progress!
So far we're in the middle of week 2. We stretch first, warm up walk for 5 minutes. for the next 20 minutes it alternates 90 seconds of running with 2 minutes of walking followed by 5 minutes of cool down walking with a LOT of stretching for us.
What is necessary for our training:
1. my iphone
2. C25K iphone app- this thing is AMAZING. it sets off an alarm when we need to start running,and when to walk, cool down, etc.
3. a good play list- which can be synced up with the C25K app. when we run, we seem to concentrate on our breathing, so we don't chat as much as when we walk. good music keeps us going as well!
4. Shelby, my dog. We go at about 8:30pm after our boys go down, so it's dark. Our neighborhood is safe, however- she's protective and a great running companion as well.
5. GOOD running shoes. I splurged a few months back at Luke's Locker here in Colleyville and got fitted for a good pair.
6. Heel inserts. I've had pain in the muscle from my heels to the ball of my foot since having Maddox. it's gotten a lot better than it was in the spring (there were times then i was having to ice my heels down they hurt so bad!) stretching my calves REALLY well helps, and heel inserts in every shoes i wear seem to make an amazing difference!

So cheer us on and check back for our progress!

Procrastinating.

Look what I made while procrastinating tonight!! New kitchen towel with zebra! I love it.... Gavin is gonna hate it! LOL super easy to make too :)



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Pooped!

We don't carry Maddox's infant seat many places anymore, so we'll be getting rid of the travel system. I asked Mason what we should do with Maddox, since we need a new seat for him & he said, "um... Put him in back!" haha!
I had a better idea that he agreed to. We'll get Mason a new seat if he gave Maddox his. He was all for it. Here he is wanting to go somewhere so he can try out his new cupholder!






Ps- it's a Graco Nautilus 3-in-1. I got a deal.
TRU had it for $179.99
Wal-Mart had it for $155.00
Amazon.com had it for $135.98 & FREE shipping! Yahoo!!

Mason has been the little stinker lately. Getting into trouble at 6:30 am. (for example: instead of coming straight into our room like usual, I'll hear him open Gavin's office door or pull a chair to the counter to see what he can find. I'll catch him & ask what he's doing & he'll say, " I'm lookin' for something". Grrrr...looking for trouble is what it is.
We've been working on potty training, if he wears underwear around the house, he's fine. Put clothes on top of that, forget it. Put a pull up on, forget it. He'll pee on the potty but that's it. I've been bribing him with Thomas the Train, a big play dough set, a Mack truck, an airplane .. U name it, I've tried it. Tonight he went pee, so we reward him with a high 5 & a piece of candy. He saw the lollipops I bought tr other day & asked about it. I showed it to him & said "only if you go poop on the pot." he said, "Mommy, I go poo poo NOW." sure enough he ran to the potty & went! Horray!!! We had a huge poo poo dance, high 5'd, got his lollipop & called Dee Dee, papaw, Mimi & Sara so he could tell everyone he pooped. So proud of him!!
Apparently all the excitement wore him out, he didn't even make it thru his fav cartoon before bed. He pooped out on the couch (which NEVER happens.)
ZONKED.



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This kiddo just kills me.

He kills me with his smile! I could kiss him a thousand times & that not be enough. I can't get over how much of a sweet, happy boy he is! What an incredible blessing he's been to our family.
Entertaining himself.



So happy. & clueless I'm taking his picture.


Oops. I've been spotted.




Ahhh who cares! Shakin' a washcloth is more fun!




So stinkin' happy it's contaigous!!


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Homemade vanilla extract

Vanilla isn't cheap. Save some $ if u bake a lot (or make lots of homemade vanilla ice cream & pancakes like us). Gavin has officially dubbed Friday nights as 'Breakfast for dinner' nights. I'm evil. I converted him. ;)

I'm not a vodka type girl. But my uncle's Russian wife is. This was my Christmas pressie 3 years ago from her :) I'm a beer & wine type girl. But I won't let good vodka go to waste!
Whatcha need is:
1 cup of vodka
2-3 vanilla beans
1 jar
(note to self- put the mac n cheese pot in sink before taking pix next time!) ew.


Slice the bean down the middle & put in jar. I used a masamun curry jar that we finished off last night. It was yummers.



I don't measure. Another reason why I don't bake. I also don't pin when I sew. {gasp} this could explain a lot of things. .....
Pour the vodka in. If you've got a bigger jar & fill it w/vodka u might need 3 beans. I'm cheap. So I used 2. So it might take longer. We'll see!




Put on the lid & store in a cool, dry, dark place for about 2 months. Shake occasionally. Never buy store bought vanilla again.



Let your husband finish off the last shot of vodka & after he's done shaking the grimace off his face, remind him why he doesn't drink vodka!!


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Random things

So apparently (so I've noticed) that I tend to take pictures of random things thru out my day. Not sure why or what that means. Probably something unhealthy...
Just a few from the past week or so...
My $20 find for Mason's room



2 broken & 1 bent heavy duty grade needles. Did this while sewing/quilting a baby gift...



A cupcakery in Colleyville that carries gluten free cupcakes.



New carseat I ordered for Mason. But I got it on Amazon for $135.98 w/free shipping. Beat that babies r us!!



Quilt I'm workin' on which is now almost complete ! Horray!!! It's a college t shirt quilt for a friend.



Gavin brought me a pumpkin spice cupcake from Sprinkles in Dallas today. Good husband... Bad husband! Which is it? It sure was good though!





Shiny happy baby after bath.

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Dialog for Maddox

Hey Mom, I'm still hungry!



So is this how this thing works?



Here's my what's for dinner #2 face!




Ghost? What ghost?



Oh that silly Mason is such a kidder!




Just like my mommy, fat & happy ;)


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Sew fun!

We took the boys to Nana's (Gavin's grandmother) house tonight for a short visit & I ended up coming home with some FUN stuff!
Okay we'll say vintage fun stuff! Tons of fabric scraps, zippers, trim & bias tape. I'll have some fun with this :)
So of course I'm procrastinating from OTHER work & decided to sift thru some.
Check out these old prints! These are just some of my favorites ...







I LOVE this green, I'd love a skirt made out of it. I'm addicted to green, brown & black!







I love this red print, it's really fun & the yellow farm print reminds me of my childhood somehow...







I'm diggin' the blue pelican print, I see a lot of fabrics now that are SO expensive that mimick these simple designs. And the white/red/blue/pink flowers reminds me of a shirt my granma wore... Except it was polyester ;)



Ck out this trim... Never been opened & there is tons of these that have never been opened!



-- Post From My iPhone