Family picture day!

So, we went today to have the boys' pictures taken for our Christmas card.  Dean came along with me, so I wouldn't have to try to corral the two kids all by myself.  I was going to try to go alone, but when he offered to do it with me I decided to take the help and be grateful.  I thought it would be nice to try to take a picture of the 4 of us while we were there.  We didn't use that for the cards, as Dean was definitely decided that he "didn't need to have his picture on the cards".  Who am I to argue with that?  But we did get some nice pictures of all of us, here's one of them:



When I was looking at these earlier, at first I thought I looked old (since I'm not so young anymore), but my good friend was quick to point out that I look like a mom.  It didn't really hit me until then that I've become that mom person!  When did that happen?  And the minivan isn't far behind, I'm certain.  Who is this person?  Could it possibly be me?  I never thought I would have this wonderful family, so I'm making sure to be grateful every day for them.  But that doesn't mean that I'm not grateful for the terrific family that I had before now to bring me to this point - I certainly wouldn't be a wife to Dean and a mom to Roy and Jack without them.  So I'll be thinking of them on Thanksgiving (the ones with me and the ones that can't be with me) and giving thanks for them in my life.  I'm one lucky girl!

Who said anything about snow?

As I was driving to pickup Roy from school today, it started to snow!  Just some flurries, but it was completely unexpected for me!  Admittedly I don't pay much attention to the weather (or the news, for that matter) so I had no idea that flurries were even possible today.  After I picked Roy up at school and we were on our way home there was a LOT of snow falling!  For a second I was actually afraid we might get a snowstorm, but it was too warm for that, I guess.  It was nice to see the snow flying around, even if it was only for a few minutes!

The other day we were sitting around the living room, reading the paper and Roy was playing with some of his cars.  He hit his hand on something, not hard, but hard enough to upset him a little.  So he came over to me for me to kiss it and make it better.  The next thing I know,  I'm planting a "make it better kiss" on every car, truck, van and choo choo that he was playing with.  And then he lined them all up on the floor.  There was quite an impressive line up by the time I was done!  He is so adorable!

Rain, rain, go away

It rained almost all day today, and it was raining pretty hard at times.  Roy goes to preschool on Thursdays, so I usually use that time to run errands that are easier to run with just one kid.  I don't know how I thought I was going to take the baby carrier, diaper bag and umbrella from the car into 5 different places.  I guess I'm learning that motherhood means being flexible and realizing that some things just have to be put off to another day.  Plus, I had a great opportunity to sit down with a friend of mine, have a latte and catch up.  And really, isn't that important stuff of life?  Not whether I buy my Thanksgiving turkey today (or tomorrow or this weekend, for that matter) but that I can spend time with another person, talking and actually listening?  Being there, in the moment, without being distracted by, well, life?  How often do I get the chance to do that?

So I guess the moral to today is that even when life is rushing by (as it always seems to be for me), I need to slow down and make sure I am PRESENT in today and whatever I'm doing.  I'm so lucky to be living this life, I want to make sure that I enjoy every second of it.

Thanksgiving?

I'm hosting Thanksgiving at my house this year.  EEK!!!  I'm not much of a cook (although I'm probably better than I give myself credit for), and I'm going to have 9 people at my house - not including my kids.  My mother- and father-in-law (Mema & Papa) are coming, along with my sister-in-law and her daughters (ages 12 and 17) from Virginia Beach, and my dad and his wife (Grandpa & Bubbe) will be here too.  I'm so excited about the family being around and starting a tradition for the boys to grow up with, but it is really stressful to think about hosting a dinner for that many people. 

That's what I get for starting a blog post one night and finishing it the next day. There's been a change of plans since I wrote the above - my sister in law and my nieces aren't coming.   Although it means less people to cook for, I'm pretty disappointed that they won't be here.  My sister in law and my youngest niece haven't met Jack, and I was looking forward to having a lot of family around.  The particulars of why they won't be here aren't important, but it is a bummer that they'll be staying home.

As for the boys, we had music class today - it's a free class that we take through the library.  It is AWESOME! Ms. Marsha is a great teacher and Roy really enjoys it.  I love watching him get into the music and dancing and playing the instruments.

And thanks to music class, I am enjoying a little "kid-free" time while both boys nap upstairs!  I'm not sure what to do with myself.  Catching up on some not-too-kid-friendly shows on the DVR.  I love my DVR - I don't know how I lived without it.  It takes less time to watch the shows, and there are no commercials!  I admit it, I'm spoiled.  And it's nice to not have to worry about being home to watch a show when it's on, since the fabulous Verizon machine records whatever I ask it to.  So, back to "90210" it is.  The laundry can wait...

Halloween and other treats (or is it tricks?)

We didn't do any trick or treating this year, Roy just doesn't seem old enough for me.  He's been having some stranger anxiety, so I didn't really see him walking up to strange peoples' doors asking for candy (not to mention all the steps up to the townhouse doors here in our neighborhood).  But we did have some Halloween activities where he could wear his Batman costume (which frugal mommy was happy will double as pajamas later) - we went to a Halloween party, he wore it to school and then we had a Halloween playgroup on Halloween.  Jack was a tiger this year, wearing a costume that I got from a friend of mine.  Although the costume was a 9-month size, it wasn't too big on him.  He's getting so big!  It's hard to believe that he's almost 5 months old.  And I cannot believe that I have a 2-year old!

Here's a picture of the boys in their costumes:



They really were pretty adorable, if I do say so myself.  I couldn't get Roy to put the mask down over his eyes, but I was impressed I at least got it on his head.  We called it his "Batman Hat".  So over the last two weeks I heard a lot of "No bat-man hat mommy".  He just makes me laugh!  And his vocabulary has really started to explode. 

Jack has started making many more sounds, I had forgotten how they do that at this age.  He's really turning into a little boy now, not so much of a baby anymore.  It's sort of sad for me, my baby (and he is my LAST baby) isn't a newborn anymore.  I can only imagine what a mess I'll be when he goes off to Kindergarten.

We had our first foray to the children's mecca, CHUCK E. CHEESE, last week.  We went with Roy's friends Madeline and Jack (and their mommies Cristy and Kate, along with baby Jane).  We practically had the entire place to ourselves, and the kids didn't even realize that the cars and stuff moved or made noise for the first hour and a half that we were there.  It was a great way to spend a cold morning inside and made for good naps in the afternoon.  Here's a picture of Roy on one of the rides, and a picture of Jack just hanging out:

[caption id="attachment_57" align="alignnone" width="450" caption="Roy at Chuck E. Cheese"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_58" align="alignnone" width="450" caption="Jack hanging out in his carseat"][/caption]

 

That's the big exciting fun from here for now.  Heading up to bed, I'm sure I'll see Jack at some point overnight.  I can't wait until we can stop our late night rendezvous!