Thanksgiving Weekend

We started off the morning running a Turkey Trot
We went over to the in-laws to toast Carlos' new job
Then we went to my Grandma Doris' house to eat Thanksgiving dinner. My Grandma Jewell was here to celebrate with us this year.
My Aunt Rose from Oklahoma came for Thanksgiving too. Here she is making Will laugh.

It was a busy Thanksgiving weekend! In fact I've just recovered enough to finally blog about it! We started off the morning running a 5k. It was great. Of course, my hubby is used to doing these sorts of things, but it was a novelty for me. Slow and steady was my motto and it was great to get out early and burn some calories before chowing down on some good viddles. We went over to Carolyn and David's to toast Carlos' new job. He and Kristin bought some pisco sour and Carlos made us the signature drinks from Peru, which is a real treat. After that we headed over to my Grandma's house where she was cooking up a storm. I couldn't wait to dig in to the mashed potatoes. She is famous for making tons of pies. Supposedly she cut back this year, but I couldn't really tell. There was still plenty for me to eat! It was nice hanging out with my family. My Aunt Rose and Uncle Andy came from Oklahoma, so that made this year extra special. They came to take my Grandma Jewell back with them so we had to say our goodbyes. On Saturday we went to Tillamook to see the cheese factory, which led to more eating. It was worth the drive just to eat black walnut ice cream in a waffle cone--yum! Thanks to Lee for buying it for me :) After that we drove over to Lincoln City for some shopping and dinner. Will was pretty amazing for a little toddler man. It was a long day for him. It was great hanging out with everyone though and well worth it.

My Will and My Michael

I just had to take a moment and write down some of the cute things that Will did today...

When he heard a train in the distance tonight he said, "choo, choo".

He is copying Mike and I a lot more. Today I made a noise and pretended to pour tea out of a kettle and he did the same--so cute!

When I started to get him ready for bed and started singing the Raffi song about brushing your teeth, he made hand motions like he was really brushing his teeth.

As we were reading one of his books today he repeated the word peacock after I showed him the picture and said the word. Mike said he did the same thing when he read him that book.

He puts his hand out now when he is walking around with a piece of food in his hand to fend off Daisy.

This past week he has started to bring books to me to read. Yesterday I read four books in a row to him. Each time he would bring me one and I took it, he would clap his little hands.

Will loves Jamba Juice. We stopped in to get some for ourselves and a friend today and he knew it was a treat. Sometimes I have to remind him to breathe, otherwise he'd just keep sucking down that sweet liquid! He looks so funny with that great big cup in his hands and drinking out of a straw!

For a while now he has been jumping around and saying, "hop". He's getting better and better at it all of the time!

Now for My Michael...

Mike has had to work late quite a few days in a row. That means that I work late too and I miss him. Tonight he came home with a rose, a bag of york peppermint patties (he read my mind), and some really kind words for me. I thought it was so sweet and thoughtful of him. He is so good to me and I am so blessed that he is my husband. Thanks, Mike!

What a Day!

Will has gone to bed, so it is my time to blog, even though I have a million other things to do. Hey, I have to keep you updated! As I was reflecting upon the day I couldn't help but laugh. It all started out pretty normal. We woke up and I even got a few chores done before we went to waterbabies. I was thinking it might be a pretty good day. We put little float devices on the kidlets during class and Will howled. What do you do? He doesn't enjoy floating on his back anyway. He usually just wants to flip over. Eventually he calmed down. As we were making our way out of the pool one of the instructors tells a kid to get out of the pool because there's poo in it. Will and I booked it out right away--gross! That was a sign of things to come. Now, I'm not complaining because I did actually take all of this in stride and even found myself chuckling over it all. Will was rubbing his eyes as we sanitized ourselves to the best of our ability in the shower. Great! Will is going to go right down for a nap. We get home and it's party time. Okay, so I figure I will get back into the car and go run some errands and shoot for a 1 o'clock nap. Maybe that 1-3 time slot all the moms keep talking about. We're in Safeway and of course the little straps that you use to buckle your toddler in do not hold Will. He managed to finagle himself right out. Now he is wanting to stand up in the cart and is reaching out for me with a great big grin on his face. There was no way I was going to try and hold Will in my arms while shopping and trying to navigate the cart. So I go into tough mom mode and tell Will all about safety and force his locked little legs into the holes of the cart. Again, another howl. Hmmm...twice in one morning, I must be going for mom of the year. I chuckle to myself and proceed forward like it's perfectly normal to be shopping with a screaming child. This happens three or four more times and at the end I was avoiding eye contact completely with all of the other shoppers. Still two women managed to make comments. Grrrrrr, I smiled politely and tried not to think violent thoughts. By the time I get to the cash register I am feeling a little better because I managed to grab myself a York peppermint patty. Chocolate will make things right again and a peppermint patty was a low cal choice, at least as far as candy bars go. We get through the checkout line and I make a bee line for the car. When we get there I take Will's hands and raise them in the air and say out loud, "yes, we made it!". I felt so victorious that Will hadn't made a flying leap out of the cart and split his head open and I hadn't pulled out any of my hair, but maybe that's because I had to keep my hands on Will the whole time I was shopping! By this time Will is acting like a total wild child because it is 1 o'clock and he needs a nap. He fell asleep in the car. Next item of business was to make the transfer from car seat to house. Amazingly, it was successful and Will took a snooze on the couch. I think he might have gotten at least 45 minutes in when Daisy woke him up. Another howl. Oh man. No matter what I tried I could not get that kid to go to sleep. Poor Will. Did I mention it is awful outside, so we were both getting a little stir crazy? To get Daisy back we gave her a bath and antagonized her the rest of the afternoon, heh heh. I think I've already dragged out enough of the minute details of this day and I will spare you the rest. It's been another great day taking care of my crazy little munchkin. Now I'm going to bed so I can be ready for more tomorrow! :)

Will, the waterbaby
I did Will's hair, do you like it?
Red Sox are number one!
Representing Red Sox nation here on the West coast

Here are some pictures for you to enjoy. I should have blogged about these earlier, but I was too busy driving up to Salem to do so. You see, my husband is very superstitious and obsessed about the Red Sox. We had to go up and watch each game of the series with my in-laws because they seem to win when Mike watches the games on their television. It was a lot of driving, but fun to watch with true Red Sox fans. Mike's dad, David is the only person on the West Coast that cares about the Red Sox as much as Mike does. They are kindred spirits in this way or maybe it's just hereditary. My mother-in-law, Carolyn kept us well fed throughout the series and we ate dinner there every night, so again this made it worth the drive! Thanks for feeding us, Carolyn! At one point we thought we heard Will say, "Manny". Whenever we would cheer, Will would clap his hands together. What a cutie!

The first two pictures show just how much Will loves the water. We enjoy going to waterbabies together. Before I even had Will I couldn't wait to take swimming lessons with my little one. He is really starting to kick his legs in the water and he is getting more daring by jumping off the side of the pool from a sitting down position. Going under the water is no problem for him and he does a good job "dipping" with his swim instructor. He even loves going into the shower after we have finished with our lesson. He just squeals and runs around, charming all of the ladies in the locker room with his big beautiful eyes.

My friend, Kara

For those of you who don't already know her, this is my friend, Kara. She is pictured here with her daughter, Sofia and her son, Gabe. To me, Kara is just amazing. Seeing her now, with two kids, just blows me away. She doesn't skip a beat. She's out be-bopping around, smiling and having a good old time. I am so impressed. She is always a breath of fresh air and has more energy than I could ever imagine having myself! Kara and I met while teaching at Lincoln. I remember liking her right away, maybe it was the American Idol connection! We were lucky enough to room together at a conference in San Antonio and we've been friends ever since. She is very honest and open and always makes people feel so comfortable. Since she has so much energy, she is always inspiring me to do things like take walks to the park, start a blog, dance with the kidlets, throw Halloween parties (don't be fooled folks, Kara was the mastermind behind it all), etc. I also have to mention that she asks my hubby all kinds of fun questions when we all get together and I find myself anticipating his answers too! She is always making him think! She has been such a blessing to me, especially during this stay-at-home mom phase of my life. If we weren't friends the *psycho-hose-beast in me surely would have taken over by now. Thank God I have Kara to keep me going! :)

*Psycho-hose-beast is a term that I stole from my brother, Jeff. I wanted to give credit where credit is due. Thanks, Jeff! I use this term all of the time and have found that it evokes just the right image when I want to describe cranky Tonya! Hmmm...maybe you made up that word special for your big sis????

Happy Halloween

Kara as gypsy/supermom and her little pirate, Sofia

I'm still cracking up over Sofia's painted on eyebrows, moustache, and sideburns!

Mike's ping pong buddy, Brenden

This is the best picture we have of Will in his Halloween costume, what do you think?

Marianne (darling kitty), George (farmer), and little G. (dinosaur)

Wendy and her little monkey, Allison

Todd and Juliette with their little frog, Trevor

I am a Red Sox champion, I think Mike is a guy who works at an office on Hawaiian shirt day, and Will is a toddler with a mind of his own who doesn't want to wear a Halloween costume!

We decided Will wasn't old enough yet to appreciate trick or treating so we decided to have a Halloween party of our own with folks from my mom group and their sweet significant others. We had a good time and I am thankful for all of my new girlfriends I have acquired since becoming a mom! You girls (and your families) rock!