Happy Turkey Day!

I have so much to be thankful for this year I don't even know where to start.  First off, I'm very thankful for my loving family!  I don't know where I would be without Chad and Eli!  And I have the best friends anyone could ask for!  I am thankful to have a job I love (most days anyway).  This morning Eli was thankful for his tent and the Thanksgiving day parade!  He had a great time watching it while I cooked lunch!

We've had a great Thanksgiving Day so far, even though we are missing our family.  We've gotten used to spending it alone I guess.  We woke up early this morning, had our coffee and then I started cooking.  We were eating lunch by 11:00!  It's was very yummy I must say!  Turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes and gravy, macaroni and cheese and rolls.  After we put Eli down for a nap I started on Grandma's Chocolate Pie.  It's a Thanksgiving tradition!  Since the weather isn't so great outside I'm going with a cool whip topping instead of real meringue.  I'll let you know how it turns out! 

And for the best treat of the day we were surprised with this....

SNOW!!!!! 

It was pretty while it lasted!

Tonight we are going to a friend's house to indulge once again.

I love you Thanksgiving Day!

Turkey Day Eve

 Eli discovered the classic Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. 

It's the only thing we had to watch since Jigs chewed our cable for the THIRD time.

Here Eli is trying to take his own picture with my iPhone while saying "cheese".

That boy does love a camera!

I don't know how that happened?!

Yes, you read that correctly up above.  Jigs has been breaking down our lattice under our deck, pulling out our cable and chewing it so we no longer have TV.  TV is important when you have a toddler and need to occupy him while you want to get some things done around the house (such as cook supper).  On Monday Chad spent part of the day replacing the lattice with plywood so Jigs couldn't get to the cable anymore.  Well, he THOUGHT he had fixed it.  There was one area he forgot about.  Well, I guess Jigs had had his eye on it because yesterday morning he broke through it and chewed our cable again!  Poor Chad spent 2 hours in the pitch black dark (because Jigs chewed our light switch outside) repairing the cable and boarding up the rest of the deck.  Hopefully he will not tear down Chad's repair work this time!  And Jigs has earned himself a kennel.  He didn't realize how good he had it in our backyard.  We hate to do it to him but it's our only choice.  Sorry, Jigs!

Christmas time is calling!

It's that time of year again!  It's Christmas time!  And with Christmas time comes Christmas cards!  I LOVE receiving Christmas cards in the mail!  I know I have slacked off on Christmas cards the past couple of years but this year I'm determined to get one in the mail.  When I decided I would definitely send out Christmas cards this year I knew exactly where to get them.  Shutterfly of course!  Those of you who visit Eli's Shutterfly website know I LOVE Shutterfly!  I've been using Shutterfly for many years to upload and share my pictures, get picture prints, photo books, etc.  Check them out!
http://www.shutterfly.com/photo-gifts/photo-mugs.

You all know how I love to take pictures.  Well, I'm having a really hard time picking out a picture to use on the Christmas cards.  Can you help me?  Leave a comment and let me know your favorite!

Here are the options:

Option #1

Option #2

Option #3

Now comes the hard part, deciding which card to pick!  Shutterfly has so many cute cards!  http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery  I have a few in mind but you will have to wait to see which one I choose! 

And another great gift idea for the holiday season are personalized calendars.  What grandparent wouldn't love receiving a calendar full of pictures of their children and grandchildren?!  Look at all the fun calendar options here http://www.shutterfly.com/calendars. 

For posting and sharing this information with all of you, I will receive 50 FREE Christmas Cards.  If you like shutterfly cards and you have a blog, you can also share in Shutterfly’s Christmas promotion and earn 50 free Christmas Cards.  Check out the link to see how  http://bit.ly/sfly2010

Fun at Silver Dollar City

Yesterday we decided to take a day trip to Branson to Silver Dollar City.  We had a great time!  It got a little colder than we expected after the sun went down but that didn't stop us from watching the Christmas Light Parade!  Everyone should make a trip to Silver Dollar City to see all the Christmas lights!  They are beautiful!

Eli bundled up waiting for the parade.

Eli loading the ball gun and shooting it.  He thought this was the funniest thing ever!

Eli in the ball house.  He LOVED this place!  We could have stayed there the entire time!

Sliding in the toddler area.

Silver Dollar City is fun!

Recent Adventures

I have a bunch of random pictures I've been meaning to post so I thought I would add them all in one post.

Eli loves to put on our shoes and wear them!

If he sees our shoes laying around he always stops to try them on!

He doesn't care if they are on the wrong feet.



Eli enjoyed some chocolate chip cookies tonight after dinner.

I think it's safe to say cookies are one of his favorite foods.

He always asks for "gookies".

The other night I did a long overdue cleaning of Eli's toy box.  I organized books and trucks, put away outgrown toys, separated parts, etc.  It didn't take as long as I expected and the living room looks much better now.  I piled all of Eli's blocks together and he quickly found them and started building towers.  The blocks entertained him for at least 30 minutes (that's the equivalent of 3 hours in toddler-time).

He was concentrating so hard!  

In case you haven't noticed, Eli got a big boy haircut this week!  He looks so grown up.  His teachers at Mother's Day Out said he doesn't look like a baby anymore!  It's hard to believe he will be two years old in two short weeks!  Where have the past two years gone?  Our baby is growing into a young boy!

It's Potty Time!

Yes, that's right!  I've been trying to put Eli on the potty each night before bath time.  He always seems to pee as soon as I put him in the bath water so I thought this would be a good time to try.  So far nothing's happened but I have hope!  He was really interested in the potty tonight and didn't want to get off!  He sat there (well, really got off and back on) for around 10 minutes.  When I finally took him off and put a diaper on him he tried pulling it off so he could get back on!  Hopefully potty training isn't too far away!  He's such a big boy!  He was actually posing and saying cheese in this picture! 

Friends and Cousins

Eli and his cousin, Matthew, are really starting to have fun together.  We went the their house last weekend to watch the Hogs play.  Eli had a great time (and so did we)!  Matthew is a great babysitter!  He keeps Eli entertained and gives us a break!

Matthew showed Eli how to jump off the chair into the bean bag.  Eli thought it was the best thing ever!  A bean bag is now on Eli's birthday/Christmas wishlist!

He also showed him how to ride his monster truck.

This too is now on Eli's wishlist!



Time flies...

...when you're really, really busy!

Sorry it's been so long since I've posted anything.

I was gonna post a couple of pictures and realized I didn't have any new ones since the last post!

But don't fret my pet.
I ran all my errands today while Eli was in Mother's Day Out and I have nothing else to do tomorrow but hang out with Eli and take pictures (in between cleaning the house).

Get ready!

Happy birthday!

Today was a special day!

My two favorite boys celebrated birthdays!

Chad turned 33 and Eli turned 23 months!

My boys are growing up!

To celebrate we went to eat at Copeland's.  I had to share this picture below with you.  I thought Eli looked so much older here!  My baby is no longer a baby!  Next month he will be TWO!!!

Happy birthday, Chad and Eli!

I love you!