Brandon missed another Thanksgiving, thanks to work. He had to work nights the week before and the week of, so I took the kids up to my parents house at the lake to stay for a little over a week. It's not worth staying home b/c the kids won't stay quiet that long and Brandon can't sleep. I was ready to get out of town anyway. We haven't seen my parents in almost 3 months so they were as anxious as we were to see them. Here's what happened over the week:

Christopher playing on the door of the dishwasher with his new ornament from Grammie, along with the other little diggers he found at her house. He can make anything a road!

Christopher helped Pop load rocks into the trailer to the lawn mower. He adores Pop, playing outside and anything dirt, rock or construction related.


He's really gotten into fishing lately. Maybe this is a little too much, but he thought it was fun.

Saturday, the Khans came up to visit. The boys had a great time playing together and chasing Burt inside and out.

Here's the crazy foursome, Nicholas, Christopher, Joshua and Sophie. Nicholas was smaller than Christopher as a baby, just like Joshua is, but now he's a good bit taller, so maybe the same will happen with the babies.

Grammie had a bunch of pecans that she needed to crack open. Christopher was more than willing to help. He was pretty good too! He let me have a turn and before I started he warned me to be careful about hitting my fingers. So sweet!

My second attempt to take Christmas photos. Was a complete disaster. We tried several locations, bribes and finally gave up. They wouldn't sit still for anything! I did get one good shot of Christopher playing with a truck (imagine that!) and figured I'll just have to use individual ones b/c there is no way I'm going to get one with both kids sitting still.

After the photo session, Christopher and Grammie made homemade ornaments. He was a big help and loved every minute of it!

He had to do it all by himself. He's very independent that way. (I know, it's really b/c he's two.) But he really is good at doing things in the kitchen. He helps us make things all the time.

Poor Grammie, I had so many projects for her to do while we were there. Only one of them was needed before we left, but she never wants to disappoint and worked hard getting all of them done. Even made a new outfit in one day that she had never made before, while having a bad cold. She is so sweet! Sophie enjoyed sitting at her feet and playing with whatever she could find.

Christopher wanted to color on the kitchen floor while Grammie and I were working on dinner and when we turned around, this is what we saw...

Funny thing is, she didn't even care! She just sat there and let him color her face, hands and feet.

Off to the bath they went to get cleaned up and we started playing a fishing game. I put the fish outside the tub and Christopher had to throw the line over the side to see what he could catch. Sophie, well, she does everything her brother does.

Again, Christopher finds ways to dig, or pretend to, practically anywhere. By the end of the week he discovered tiny rocks in the fireplace. They fit perfectly in the tiny diggers he'd been playing with so he'd back the dump trucks up to the edge (while making a "beep, beep, beep" noise), fill it up, drive forward and dump it for the tiny diggers to use. He did this until we left.

Sophie finally warmed up to Pop. The only man she will go to is her daddy, who she adores. But she finally fell in love with another man.


Pop helped Christopher make his own tool catalog. They traced their hands on the cover and then cut and paste photos of tools out of one of Pop's numerous tool catalogs. It was very cute! In case you can't read the sign, it says, "A man and his tools, it's a powerful thing."

Sophie took off up the stairs the first day at the lake. Then she just stayed at the bottom and would dance and laugh, then one day she decided to try again and she wouldn't stay put. She was so proud of herself, it was so cute! This was taken the day we left.

The day before Thanksgiving we went to my in-laws to stay until Friday b/c it was their holiday. Brandon's sister and her family were unable to come b/c the baby came down with RSV and they were afraid Sophie would catch it. We missed them terribly and it didn't really seem like a holiday b/c everyone wasn't there. The kids ate early so it was just the four of us around the table. We didn't make everything we normally would b/c we knew the four of us couldn't eat it all. Lisa and I had planned to hit the stores early Friday morning with Sophie and drop Christopher off at his friend Nicholas' house to play, but Christopher and I didn't wake up until almost 7:00! Sophie had woken up before 6, but I never heard her and John went to get her for me. I really needed the sleep, but felt terrible that I was so tired I never heard her crying. Odd b/c I didn't have a problem hearing it at 1:00 in the morning! We had some success at Toys R Us and Target, but didn't feel like doing much else after that. I needed to get on the road with the kids before it started raining anyway. We made it home in time to see Brandon for about 2 hours before he had to go back to work. I got to run to the store to get milk and a few other things and learned the day after Thanksgiving is the absolute BEST time to go grocery shopping! Nobody is there!!! (duh, I know) The kids were so happy to be home and Christopher happily crashed in his bed, while Sophie was so tired of being in different beds that she couldn't sleep at all. I don't think it will take long to get back into our groove again. It's nice to go away, but even better to come home!

Can anyone tell me how they made the really cute blog banners that everyone has? I can't seem to figure out where to find them to make them. The first place I found it was going to cost money and I knew that people weren't paying anything, or at least not as much as these people were asking, to add them to their blogs. Would someone please help me? Also, if you are looking, I'm going to post photos from Thanksgiving once I get a chance to go through the many, many photos!

Today Sophie is 10 months old. The last 6 months of the first year seem to go by the fastest and I can't believe she will be a year old in just 2 months! She crawling faster than ever and walking along every piece of furniture she can. Her hair is getting thicker and longer and looks really cute when she lets me put a bow in it. She's starting to slim up a little, but still has her lovable, kissable chubby cheeks. She loves making Christopher laugh and playing peek a boo with anyone. She is most definitely a momma's girl and would just sit on my hip all day if I could hold her that long. Happy 10 months, baby girl!

I thought I'd get the blog in the mood for some turkey! I'm headed back to Montgomery this week with the kids for Thanksgiving. Brandon is working nights for 2 weeks, so he'll miss another holiday. But we get to spend a week and a half seeing friends and family, which I am psyched about!!! We are going to spend Thanksgiving with my in-laws and we can't wait to have the kids together again. Christopher and Cameron are always silly and the babies, well, we will just have to see what they think of each other! We will also attempt to brave the "day after Thanksgiving" shopping crowd. I did this two years ago with my mother-in-law and we had so much fun, but we also didn't have any kids with us. This year we'll have Brandon's sister and at least 2 kids joining us, hopefully not all four or we won't get anything done. But it will be fun regardless!

I know I'm not the only one out there who reads blogs from people she doesn't know, but I am guilty of reading great ones and then forgetting how I found them. So, I decided to just add them to mine as I came across them again and that way I can get there faster! I changed "Our Friends" to "Favorite Blogs" b/c well, I know most of blogs on our list, but a few of them I don't, so I can't technically call them my friend, even though I'd love to know them! Feel free to check them out and you'll quickly see why I keep going back.

I went to pick Christopher up from MDO this afternoon and had great news when I arrived. He went on the potty TWICE while he was there!!!! He's been following another little boy into the bathroom the last few weeks and mentioned his name when he would go potty at home, but he's never been away from home before. (Wait, he went at William's house last Friday night.) I was so proud of him!!! He goes back and forth every day on how much he wants to use the potty and I am not allowed to mention it (still), but he's still going so I'm not going to mess anything up now. Brandon is so excited he asks him constantly and I try to tell him to just leave him alone b/c I'm afriad it'll scare him out of it again, but I understand his excitement too. Now I'm just not sure how much I need to push him to really get him out of diapers before he goes backwards or whether I just leave him alone and let him keep going at this pace. It would be the greatest Christmas gift in the world if I didn't have to buy diapers for him anymore!

Here are some photos from this week:

The kids playing in the bed one morning. I had gone to wash my face and when I came to get Sophie out of her crib, I found Christopher in there playing with her.



Sophie loves playing in the dirt with Christopher (which I absolutely love!!) and when I came outside I saw Brandon had put her on the tractor. She loved it! The other day she was pushing one of his toy cars around while going, "brrrrrrrr."

We attempted to take Christmas photos, but it was just way too bright outside, besides the fact Christopher refused to sit still. Sophie on the other hand, loved the camera. Not sure if we'll get one this year of both kids, but we're going to try again later.

I added a new link under our favorites list. It's one that my sister found. It's a mom that has great tips on how to save money, something we all need help with during this time! She also gives tips on how to clean with products you probably already have under your sink, but aren't toxic. My son is like hers and wants to help all the time (thank goodness!) so I'll probably start trying her ideas. I thought you might want to check it out too! It's the "Great tips" link. Enjoy!

She said it! The day after she said "dada" Sophie finally said "mama." I was so excited! Now she crawls around the house saying it. I love it!!! We thought she'd said it before, but we weren't sure if it was intentional or not. Also, she is cutting another tooth. This will make 7 teeth for her and she's only 9 months old! I have never known a child to get so many teeth in such a short period of time. (First one came in only 3 months ago.) I guess it helped that she got 3 of them at once, but seriously! I'm curious to see how many she will have by the time she's a year old.

Just as big, Christopher was actually excited about Mother's Day Out on Friday. He has been very upset the last 2 months about going and it's been really hard for both of us. I think staying home more has also played into this b/c he talked about how happy he was to go and play with his friends. When we got there he walked right in, went straight to the digger toys and never looked back. I'd been picking him up an hour early, but I thought I might try stretching it out some. This time I went 30 minutes later and he was doing great! They said he never cried and his lambie was still in his backpack. That's never happened!!!

It has truly been a great week!!!

This has been quite a week at our house. We usually have somewhere to go almost every morning, but I realized that I will never be able to potty train Christopher if we are never home, so I decided to drop a few things. I miss them terribly, but know the kids need a break from the chaos. I say all that b/c I finally see it paying off. Here goes:

Sophie has said her first word, "dada". This was Christopher's and so we have been trying with all our might to say, "mama" around her as much as we could. We know this is silly b/c they say d's sooner than m's, but it was worth a shot. Brandon wanted it for me, and I must admit, I would have loved for me to be her first word, but knew it wouldn't happen. So I tried dada again and she said it. Several times. When Brandon got home we got her to do it again and he was so happy. I knew he would be and though he won again, I'm just happy she loves her daddy so much. I get more than enough loving from her that I can share some.

Next, I've tried every trick in the book to get Christopher excited about going potty. Big boy underwear, following friends to the potty, suckers, bubbles, chocolate, everything and he could care less. The mention of the word would literally send him running away. Then one day he said, "Mommy, go potty by myself!" and took off running to the bathroom. I caught him right as he was trying to sit and I couldn't believe it but he went! I decided then and there we would get serious about this and I'd follow his lead. I made a potty chart (yes, I actually researched this on the internet) and every time we have success he gets a sticker to mark it and a sucker as a reward. I learned the trick is he has to tell me he needs to go, I can't ask him. He'd never gone more than twice in one day, so I told him if he goes 3 times he gets a prize. This word apparently has been used too often b/c it didn't excite him. Day 1- went twice. Day 2- went once. Day 3 - SUCCESS!!! But this wasn't without some hinting. I told him he'd get a new truck if he went potty again. He paced around the house after that saying, "My new truck's coming soon." Finally he runs back to the bathroom and he gets his new truck. Today has been great, he has gone all day with his big boy boxers on (minus naptime) and went three times before lunch. After naps he decided he had to go again, but wanted to stand up this time. I've never been so excited to see someone stand up to pee before. It was hilarious! I am so proud of him and hope that this sticks. It has made staying home all week totally worth it!

We went to a friend of ours for a Halloween party last night and had great food and desserts. We took the kids trick or treating and it was so fun! I haven't seen that many kids trick or treating in a neighborhood since I was a kid. They were everywhere! Christopher had so much fun going house to house. He was too shy to knock on the door and say anything, but he would tell them thank you. Sophie was starting to get a cold, drop a nap and a bottle all in the last two days, so she was pretty fussy by party time, but still looked adorable as a little lady bug. Here are photos from the evening.


Sophie as a ladybug, me as a cat, Brandon as Mr. Incredible, and Christopher as Dash