Single Mom Thanksgiving

When I first got this picture back from our photographer I was sad because I loved it & Vic wasn't in it (because he'd gone back to grab our bags).  However, I LOVE it just how it is because this is how it was for 6 months from June 1 to Dec 1.  

Me and my two kiddos against the world.   

Vic Started his training in Chicago at the first of June & came home every other weekend until he moved to Indiana at the beginning of November when he stayed there for a month straight.  Needless to say I was STRESSED!  It is so hard to get the simplest tasks like grocery shopping done when I already had a kid in each arm, a diaper bag, & a heavy car seat.  Then because I was up and going all day I was too tired to exercise & turned to quick comfort foods to deal with the loneliness of it all.. and in turn being out of shape stressed me out more!  It was such a weird thing to have 2 of my favorite people with me all the time and still be lonely!  I'm not trying to share a pity story, but celebrate that the rough journey of "single working mom" is behind me!  I now have SO much compassion for single moms... if they seem on top of it or not, it's not fun.  So if you know any single moms then don't offer to babysit, INSIST on it & spoil them with love & friendship! 
 On to Thanksgiving.... My Dad went out of town for Christmas so I had time to join his extended family for Thanksgiving this year.  Here is my Grandma Hill and I.  She is the one of those sweet Grandmas that you know always love you & will give you the warmest greeting if you show up on her doorstep.  LOVE that about her :)

 More of our Thanksgiving crew.

 One of my cousins made these adorable name tags for every place setting.  It was a gorgeous festive table.

 Tommy making the charming mess he usually does at dinner!

 We did Thanksgiving with my mom a few days later since she is flexible on what day we do it.  Here we are preparing dinner.

 Katie & Whitney wearing matching outfits.  I LOVED Whitney's cute little outfit this day :)  I was happily surprised that my little sis has grown into the best helper.  It was like having Vic around to help.  It sure made my holiday weekend a lot more fun!

 My sister's new husband, Brennon is not a kid person, but he fell into Whitney's spell & now loves her to death... who couldn't with that constant cute smile?!?

 My busy "helpers" getting Thanksgiving dinner ready.

I'll sure miss being around family for Christmas!!!  

However, I'll be very happy to be with my husband for the next holiday :)

Happy 2nd Birthday Tommy!

Tommy turned 2 yesterday.  I have been talking to him about his birthday for a week now & I wasn't sure if he understood, but I'm pretty sure he did as he woke up extra early & for the first time hopped out of his crib by himself.  Here he is with his Lightning McQueen presents & cake.

He was extremely happy about his cake!  I had to hide it most of the day for him to stay out of it because every time I moved it he'd push a stool over so he could gaze/poke at it.  I made it & once again hated every minute of it.  It's funny how I love most decorating things, just not things with frosting!

 I took Tommy to playgroup in the morning hoping he'd make a friend for his birthday party, but nobody showed up!  (and we just moved to Indiana exactly one week ago so we don't know anyone) So, when Vic got home we took him to ChuckEcheese.  I was hoping it'd be crawling with kids to play with, but I guess no one goes there on weekdays!  He still had fun riding this carousel over and over.  His face was dead serious the entire time & then when it was over he'd beg for another coin!

 He really liked this cute little boat that moved all around & had animals that hopped up if you pushed their button.  I was really surprised how cheap all these little rides were.  We had him go on them all over & over & we still have extra coins left over.

 We went to Texas Roadhouse for dinner & he got to ride on the saddle.  He wasn't so sure about everyone checking him out!

He would never smile with the hat on so I got him in action with his new horses at bedtime.

 Whitney didn't mind the hat at all, but she was busy snacking the whole time to smile!

 Tommy & his cake.

 He would blow from so far away until the candles finally blew out.  I think we had to relight the candles & sing him Happy Birthday at LEAST 30 times.  It was hilarious that he loved that part so much  & would clap & laugh every time like it was the first time so we kept on doing it... ONLY cuz it was his birthday! :)

 I love that kids wear their emotions on their sleeves. His face was pure bliss when he saw this present from Grandma.  He hasn't eaten, gone to bed, or taken a bath without these little trains since he opened them yesterday!  

 Another pure delight picture :)

 Afterwards he was very busy playing with them & couldn't be bothered to look at the camera!

 Tommy & his presents: he was very thrilled with them all!

 Tommy at 2:  He is extremely obsessed with cars & watching the "Cars" movies over & over.  LOVES "Thomas the Train" toys, but only likes "Chugington" cartoons.  Runs all over the house pushing one of his large trains/bike things on a daily basis. Loves elephants (I think because he loves to make the sound & do his arm as the trunk roaring up).  Loves horses.  Loves running from A to B over and over until his playmate is too worn out.  He is continually hoping Whitney is older than she is & tries to get her to wrestle, play ring around the rosies, etc. If she ever cries he pats her on the back & tries to shove a bottle in her mouth. Is an emotional roller coaster: he is usually running around wild and laughing 80% of the time & the other 20% is spent throwing a fit/crying--- not usually a happy medium in there!  He is still my good sleeper... taking long naps & sleeping all night.  He loves to imitate down to the slightest detail. (If I'm sitting there with a leg crossed & hand on my chin he works hard to do the same). He loves helping vacuum, sweep, change the laundry, and especially LOVES to cook.  It's actually hard for me to cook because he insists on being the only one stirring, putting the ingredients in, etc.  He is not afraid of anything and I can actually see the adrenaline rush he gets before he dives off of something.  He does all sort of weird rolls & somersaults trying to do cartwheels and jumps, and is advanced in climbing, but he still doesn't talk a lot.  I always know exactly what he wants so he had no need to talk more, but I am trying every day to get him to say more.  He says a lot of words, just never linked together.  I think that sums up this adorable wild little 2 year old!

New Mexico Vacation

I DREAMED OF THIS...

I got so EXCITED to see this

...and I even saw a GLIMPSE of this every morning when we came out of breakfast each morning, but paid it no mind because I knew we were going to see it UP CLOSE the last day of our vacation during MASS ASCENTION....
and then..... it RAINED all night long the night before we left so even though there wasn't a cloud in the sky when we went down to the Balloon Fiesta Launch park all we saw was ONE lone balloon in the sky. It was like showing up for a concert & the band got sick & didn't play... or showing up for a rocket to launch & the astronaunt ate something bad for breakfast & didn't launch... wouldn't you sit there thinking they have to make it up to you anyway cuz you flew thousands of miles to see it & they wouldn't want to disappoint a paying crowd.... NOPE, nobody seemed to mind that it was a BEAUTIFUL DAY & NO beautiful BALLOONS in the air!!!!

...pathetically I was SO dissapointed & just couldn't get over it so we took a balloon ride to make up for it.

...Well in the museum anyway! :) An actually ride was $600 so we passed this time around!
I just had to get a picture of me & a balloon so this one in the museum will have to do.

One of the days we went to Albuquerque's botanical gardens/zoo/aquarium package & we were not disappointed. The place was amazing! Every corner we turned was picture worthy. (Lucky Vic!) I wish I could've gotten married in some romantic place like this:

My gorgeous boys.

I thought these cactus were really cool so I had to share.

The aquarium was small, but every tank was just CHUCK FULL of fish!

..and they had an amazing variety of fun things like this cute sea turtle that loved getting attention through the glass.

By the time we got to the zoo it was POURING rain. We knew we probably won't go back so we trooped through the zoo anyway & it was pretty cool because all of the big cats & bears were out being active.

AND we had the zoo all to ourselves!!! Haha, no other troopers out there crazy as us. I'm surprised the workers didn't kick us out so they could go home.

We decided to ride the tram to the top of the mountain that overlooks the city & eat at the restaurant at the top. It was really good expensive food paid for by Vic's company so we thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience! At the top of the mountain it was WINDY so check out my LION hair-do :)

Now trying to go with the wind for the beautiful wind blown model look, haha!

Our first FAMILY airplane trip together! (we'd flown seperate before, but this way was much better!)

LOL, I can't even type about this next picture without laughing. I held up the camera & told Tommy to say cheese & this is literally the first time he said cheese for the camera. The flight attendant was laughing like crazy cuz she could see his face & Vic & I couldn't. He was being really cute so I figured I'd get a good one, but instead found a bunch of SUPER cheeses like this one!!

This kid cracks me up DAILY. He is hilarious & one of the things I love most about him is that he is already his mama's boy... he does something he thinks is funny & then throws his head back laughing at himself cuz he thinks he's so funny. Lucky Vic gets 2 of the funniest people in the world living in his house! :) :)

P.S. This funny girl won't be so funny tomorrow after 5 hours of sleep, but 2am seems to be the only time I have to get on the internet & read & do updates!!

Halloween Weekend

What could be cuter than a laughing monkey?!?

maybe a monkey eating a banana?!

Actually.... 3 monkeys is cutest of all!!! (Vic doesn't need a costume to be a monkey, tee hee :)

We drove to Seattle to visit my brother's family for Halloween weekend. It was really beautiful this time of year. It was funny to see Tommy & his 2 cousins at every door overwhelming the homeowner by squeezing into their door frame!

We had so much fun watching Tommy trick or treat for the first time. He was so happy that he would be walking down the street & every time he looked down at his bucket he'd start laughing right out loud... cutest thing ever. Every day I've let him pick out one treat out of the bucket after dinner and he gets so excited he does the happy dance.

I loved the houses where people made a little extra effort to make it fun for the kids, but I especially loved this house as they went all out!
Here is Kiersten, Kara, & Tommy making some spooky faces in front of the scary house!
Earlier in the weekend we wen to a Halloween party. Here is our family picture there. Tommy was actually supposed to be a cop & we were to jail birds, but his costume didn't fit!!
He had a ball at the party w/ cake pops, his own mini waterbottle, & treats, but his favorite part was the bounce house. He couldn't leave the thing alone!
One of the days we did some major crafting in the kitchen! We made a ginger halloween house, suckers, and treats. Here is the madness! (my sister-in-law, the brain behind all the fun crafts)

Tommy helped by taste testing all the treats as we went. :)

Here is a picture of our finished mini cakes:

Here is a picture of some of the clever treats we made:

and then we had a lovely Halloween tea party to eat all of our work! Girls are fun that way. Can't wait for Whitney to get older & get excited about making place cards, decorating, etc. You can sure bet I'll train her good!!! :)