our day/weekend of thanks.

Thanksgiving 2012 was probably one of my favorite Thanksgivings yet.  It was a mix of family time, relaxation, good food, nice weather and the official beginning of the Christmas season.  

Wednesday night we put the final handprints on our Thanksgiving tree.  It turned out perfectly!  Carter loved thinking about what he was thankful for each day and I loved watching the tree grow. Definitely a tradition we will continue.

 Some of the thankfulness hands, up close.  My favorites: meatballs, hair, nice bosses and milk.

 So much to be thankful for!

 The tree in all its glory.

 Thursday morning we headed down to Matt's parents house.  I got busy cooking all the side dishes, Matt watched football, Lucy wandered around and Carter found Matt's old toy box.  It was the the perfect day.

 Yoshi waited so patiently for a piece of turkey (and probably got more than just 1 piece by the end of the night!)

 Carter LOVED playing with Matt's old Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and kept asking us if he could take some home.  Hours and hours of entertainment.

 Her first thanksgiving!

 Love them.

 Grandma Vance with her favorite little girl.

Our attempt at a family pic.  I forgot about it until after Lucy went to bed and Carter didn't have any pants on.  But, we are all smiling and looking at the camera so I'd say it was a success.

Friday Matt and I headed out shopping.  We somehow avoided all the crazies and finished most of our shopping!  

Saturday we headed over to my parents house for a 2nd Thanksgiving dinner.  Christmas decorations were up and Lucy loved playing and reorganizing all the ornaments. Another delicious dinner and then we were headed home.

 We aren't putting up our Christmas decorations until after Carter's birthday party (trying to avoid excess clutter) but I couldn't wait to put up lights (I mean, to tell Matt to get on the cold, slippery roof and hang lights).

Perfect end to a perfect weekend.

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a little catch up.

Life has been busy (a very good busy) and is about to get even busier.  Having 2 kids with December birthdays is so much fun.  We love the excitement, joyfulness and holiday cheer during this time so adding 2 birthdays to celebrate makes it even more joyful!  But also a bit stressful, expensive and well...busy.

So, to recap the last month or so, here is our life in pictures.

We are working on more arts and crafts projects.  I'm not a crafty person but pinterest makes me think I am.  So, get ready for some homemade Christmas presents!

 The heat in our house sucks.  It's like little space heaters in each room that get so hot you'll burn your little finger off.  So, it's taken some time to figure out how to stay warm and keep it child friendly.  In the mean time we use lots of blankets and wear slippers a lot.  Or...rain boots!

 Story time.

 Just the cutest little smile you've ever seen.

 And one of the funniest expressions she's given me.

 He's finally starting to warm up to the camera.  For the past year Carter usually runs the other direction when he sees me pull out my camera, but in the last month he's actually letting me create some memories.  Love it!

 They really do get along, like, all the time.  It's amazing to watch Lucy's face instantly light up when Carter comes in the room.  And, other than a few moments of wresting her to the ground each day, he really is the sweetest big brother and always tries to make her happy.

 We've had a few really nice fall days.  When it doesn't rain we head to the park!

 Early morning kisses.

 Carter just LOVES that Lucy can sit next to him in the cart now.  I still hate how germy they are (and use about 50 clorox wipes each time before they sit down) and feel like I'm pushing a semi-truck through the store, but it keeps them happy.  So, I will continue to do it.

 We met up with my parents and visited the Tacoma Children's Museum.  My parents loved watching the kids run around and explore.  Such a fun day.

 Playing on a random elephant statue near a park on Camano Island.  Not really sure why it was in the middle of a field, but Carter loved it.

 Silly faces!

 Her "oh no!" face.  Lucy's personality really is starting to come out more and more each day.  Her favorite thing to do is nod her head "yes."  It's so funny to watch this little person interact and answer your questions with a very serious head nod.

 Last weeks rain storm flooded our backyard and almost made its way into our house.  Matt ended up coming home from work early, putting on in his famous yellow rain suit and carrying 50+ gallons of water by the bucketful out of the yard.  Better him than me.

And....that's our life!

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Happy Halloween (a little late)

I'm trying to catch up on the last few months so I apologize for the Halloween post being a month late.  But, we had the cutest little Peter Pan and Tinkerbell so I couldn't pass up posting some pictures.  Carter has been and continues to be obsessed with Peter Pan.  He watched a few minutes of the movie (yep, hasn't even seen the entire thing) about 6 months ago at our babysitters house and now his world revolves around pirates fighting the evil Captain Hook!  

He decided Lucy needed to be Tinkerbell and we couldn't disagree.  She made a pretty cute little fairy.

 We bought the official costume and he still loves to dress up in it every day.

 She had to make a quick phone call before heading out to trick or treat.  Anything with buttons on it Lucy now thinks is a phone and quick holds it up to her ear to "talk" to her friends.  So cute!

 Carter wanted his pumpkin to match his pumpkin shirt.  And Lucy had her handprints!

 Adoring each others costumes.

 Her face cracks me up.

 Because it was raining we went to the mall first (worst.idea.ever).  It was so crowded and a little overwhelming but we still had a fun time.  Carter was so excited to inspect every single piece of candy he received and did a great job saying "thank you!" each time.

 When we got home the rain had stopped so we headed out to our neighborhood.  We have the friendliest neighbors who all made Carter feel so special when he knocked on the door.  I was so giddy watching him trick or treat all by himself while I stood at the end of the driveway.  What a big boy!

Love this holiday and all the imagination it creates.  Now...on to Thanksgiving!

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from the mouth of an almost 3 year old.

Just so I don't forget....some random quotes from Carter in the last few weeks:

While going potty 3 weeks ago - "Mama, my penis is as big as Pinocchio's nose!"
Then, yesterday while flushing the potty he said again, "My penis is big.  Just like Pinocchio's nose is big."
Such.a.boy.

C: I'm a big boy.  Lucy is a baby.
Me:  Yes, you are right.  But you used to be a baby too.  You used to live in mommy's tummy.
C: Yes.  Do you have a baby in your tummy now?
Me:  Nope.
C:  Well, you should.  Many, many many babies.  But only sisters.


While looking at Grandma Vance's movie collection:
Sleeping Booty (Sleeping Beauty)
Too White (Snow White)
Many doggies (101 Dalmatians)
Toofasia (Fantasia)
Booty and the beast (Beauty and the Beast)
Laddin (Aladdin)
*Clearly the Booty movies are the best!

C:  I love you Mama.
Me:  Oh, I love you too Carter.  You're the best.
C:  No, Daddy is the best.
Me:  Oh.

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our thanksgiving tree.

I'm not crafty.  Not even a little bit.  I've always wanted to be.  Like my friend Katy Pancake-Boal.  The type of person who can just whip up some little arts and crafts project and it look so amazing over 1,000 people would pin it on pinterest.  But, she's an elementary school teacher so it's sort of required.

Even as a little girl I was never that great in Art Class.  I liked making little crafts but my Type A perfectionist personality would come out and if it didn't look just like the teachers I would be so annoyed.

But, I'm moving past that.  I decided that despite my lack of creativity I would just make it work.  My kids (at least at this age!) don't know any better so during nap time today I created this little tree.

 It's not perfect, but most trees aren't.  Making it more realistic!  And, I totally just took some scissors and started cutting....very unlike me.  But, I like how it turned out.  So did Lucy.

 Then, I added some leaves.  My leaves were totally irregular shaped, not like I had planned, but I went with it.  Because nap time only lasts for so long and I wanted to finish this before I had an extra "helper."

 Then, tonight after dinner, we added our handprint leaves, including one thing we are all thankful for.  I really wanted to start some sort of Thanksgiving tradition with my family.  I love this holiday but it often gets forgotten in the midst of Christmas planning.  Each night we'll add another handprint (one from each of us) with a note about what we are thankful for.  I'm pretty excited about it!

 Tonight's words were:
Carter - my family
Lucy - Yoshi (Carter helped her decide)
Julie - a nice house
Matt - mama (I was a little annoyed with him at the time because of his negativity for the thankfulness tree, so it was sort of his apology note - either way it was very nice!)

I can't wait for Thanksgiving morning when we can read every little handprint!

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