I am Thankful for YOU!

To be thankful is truly a reflection of who we have become and what we will become in this crazy thing called LIFE.

I sit here and try to find the words to tell so many of you how thankful I am for YOU in my life. This year especially, I have so many new things to be thankful for, but at the same time, I have so many things that I will forever be thankful for. I have been given a great life (so far and this is only the beginning) and even though there are times it seems too hard, I look back now and am thankful that I made it through that difficult time. I could not be as strong as I am without YOU..

I have a truly amazing group of people around me that have truly blessed me with their friendships, love and just being apart of "my" family. This would be a very long blog if I sat here and Thanked each and every one of you for everything you have done...and I kind of wish I could have the time to do that...because we ALL need to hear how special we are to someone else. That in itself is an amazing gift...

This blog is for YOU..because you are an amazing person. Your thoughtfulness, smile and love is a gift I am blessed with every time I see or talk to you. I enjoy our conversations we have about life itself, (kids, school, friends, family and more) I love your company and all things you help me with. I love our trips we have taken together and visits we have shared. I appreciate all the advice you give me and strength you provide me with. Without YOU in my life I would not be the complete ME I am today. So I hope know how special YOU are to me....because without YOU there would not be this very special and Thankful ME.

Happy Thanksgiving to EVERYONE in MY LIFE!

Family Fun Weekend!

Well as many of you know we do not get many of these, so when we do it is always something to blog about and share. Last weekend we were able to have two full days with daddy, and oh the fun we had...Maybe too much we are a little under the weather this week.
We took Waylon to Chuck e Cheese on Saturday night. He had fun as always and played so many games with daddy. I think his highlight was actually meeting the mascot himself! Toni on the other hand was a handful this night. She was asleep when we arrived and quickly realized that we were in a very noisy place and she did not like it! So I did not get as many pictures as I would have liked because she was not cooperating. However, as soon as we left she was asleep and happy the rest of the night.

The next day we saw Santa!

I know it is still November, but this is one of the best tricks I learned early. You go early to see Santa! This is such a wonderful experience when there are no lines, and everyone is happy and pleasant. Waylon was able to chat with Santa and tell him what he wanted for Christmas this year. His three top choices were more markers, a bike, and an ambulance. Waylon had drawn a picture for Santa to give to him and Santa loved it. Toni was a little bit of a crier at first when we saw Santa it was close to dinner time. However, once she was in Daddy's arms and the crazy man behind the camera was making all kinds of noise...this lovely girl gave her "what the" face to the camera...We tried for our cute girl to smile, but it was not happening this year...So this one will be just perfect for us and her first Santa shot.
Then after we saw Santa we took his letter to the mailbox in Macy's. Macy's donates money for every letter sent to Santa, and we wanted to make sure that his "LIST" made it straight to the north pole.

Toni all dressed up in her super cute outfit. I bought this months before she was born for $3 at Kohls. I never imagined just how cute she was going to be in her outfit. Glad she wore it to see Santa because with as fast as she is growing, she might not fit it at Christmas time. Yikes!

Waylon showing off his letter and picture to Santa before we headed down to Macy's.

We did many other fun things during the weekend like going to the park, playing out front and just hanging out with Daddy. So often we forget how special a Normal weekend for most is to us. We love you daddy and enjoyed our Family time with you!

Toni is 4 months

I mean really how cute can this little girl get....Can she get any cuter? She is growing up so fast and continues to be a happy girl like this most days. She has done a lot this month like lifting her head up while doing tummy time, giggling, smiling and trying to roll over some.
Laying on her mat during tummy time. This cute little face doesn't last long as she usually buries her head and gets frustrated quickly during this time. She enjoyed her first farm trip when we went to Schnepf's farm last month with her cousin Kylee and Uncle Trevor. She was great and just hung out awake most of the afternoon. Such a smiley girl. We got out the excersaucer too this month. She is still a little small for it, but when it is adjusted as low as it will go and she is stuffed with some blankets around her, she does great. I think at this point Waylon has more fun entertaining her with the toys around it than she does, but soon enough she will really enjoys this. She has hung outside a lot with us as Waylon has painted his pumpkin for Halloween or drawn on the driveway with chalk. She enjoys watching big brother so much and smiles at him or sometimes she gives him the "your crazy" look! Then she also got dressed up for Halloween. She was a bee this year. This super cute outfit I found at the dollar store, well worth it for the 10 minutes she was in it for pictures. So cute.And of course we finish the month off with our monthly pictures in the chair. I love the ones of the two of them, although I still get some shots of just her these tend to be the funnier ones and capture the true silliness of them both. The feature that Toni is most noticed for is her eyes. She has huge beautiful eyes with great long lashes! Her eyes are so expressive to and make you smile the second she makes eye contact with you! She will be starting cereal soon as the Dr. said she could start in two weeks. Her apt. on Thursday she got three shots. One oral one which she did fine with and two in the leg. The first shot she did not even move, and was great the next one... we saw a face kind of like this....
except her face was Bright RED...she was mad!!! Anyway...overall she did wonderful and she also weighs 14 pounds 11 ounces...smaller than I thought for as chunky as those legs are...More to come as little missy gets bigger and bigger. We love you Toni girl...

October Fun!

October has been a very busy yet super fun month. I forget just how exciting the holidays are until you are around children. Waylon was so excited about Halloween this year and everyday he seemed to do something that was related to Halloween. When it came time to decorate he continued to decorate our house daily, as he moved things around in his own way. Once we got his costume he wanted to wear it at night time. So I had my hands full trying to do things that were fall related and that would not break my wallet either, because we all know he will want to do it again next year, so I needed to make my choices carefully. One of things we did (I hate to admit it) but we went to Schephfs Farm. Although this is NOTHING like the tradition I had as a kid going to my cousins farm (Young's Farm) it is one that will have to do for my kids until I find something better and maybe closer. Luckily, my cousin Trevor and his daughter have gone with us a few years and I do enjoy going with them so much. We have a great time. Even though this is not the best picture here is Waylon and Kylee in the (so called) Pumpkin Patch...Great shot right? :-) Then a few days later we bought our pumpkin. Now this is one of those things that I have changed tradition for a little bit...for a few reasons. We paint pumpkins instead of carve them..why??? Because I have a real hard time carving them, and this is usually the beginning of Jake's out of town rotation, so he is not always here to do the honors. So instead we paint them, plus Waylon is a Painter anyway...LOVES it so much..and to do it outside is even better for him. This masterpiece took him about an hour to do...Notice his smiley face in there...so cute.. Along with the painting this kiddo has done a lot of coloring. I may add to that he is getting excellent at it too! This is what he handed me one day. I saved it for his baby book. Not only did he draw the face on the pumpkin himself, but look at how well he stayed in the lines of this pumpkin!!! Amazing, oh and did I mention he used the right colors...ALL BY HIMSELF....The great family photo on Halloween...Sorry this is the best we got..Our Lion and Bee..Waylon went Trick or Treating with Daddy this year and loved spending that time with him. He still tells daddy how much fun it was to trick or treat with him. I stayed back with the rest of the gang and Toni to hand out candy to the neighbors. And of course we can not forget another reason to make Halloween exciting for a 3 year old...It is Daddy's Birthday (and Aunt Courtney's is the following day) So candy and Cake...who doesn't love that...Waylon decorated daddy's cake this year for him and of course helped him blow out the candles. Waylon continues to do well with his letters. They completed H this week. I just had to take a picture of him in his "hat." They made hats on Wednesday out of newspaper..talk about a great way to entertain a bunch of kiddos without any cost to you...He loves this thing..!!! And it looks ridiculously cute on him.