Meet Pablo

Yes, Pablo.

We read the story. After many names, we finally decided on Pablo. I think there is a Backyardigan named Pablo, if you were wondering.

Pablo made his first appearance this morning. It took Brady forever to find him.  

Once he did he was very excited and he didn't try to touch him!!! Success! 

I think Pablo will transition nicely into our Christmas traditions.

Thanksgiving 2011

We had a great Thanksgiving! 

We went to my parents house at noon for lunch. The weather was perfect, so all the kids got to play outside. I think they had a great time. 

We hung out at my parents until it was time to go to Caleb's parents house that night. We ate around 6:30 and we were actually a little hungry again. That never happens. I didn't take a single picture at Caleb's parents.

We enjoyed a lot of good food and good company. 

After all the meals, Caleb and I dropped Brady off at my sisters and we began our shopping. We shopped from 10pm until 4am. We had so much fun. We laughed and laughed. A lady at Target told me I was the nicest lady out on Black Friday, then she gave me a $5 off coupon. Ha Ha! We really do enjoy it. We were so tired and sore by the time we got home, though. 

We slept in, grabbed some breakfast at Cracker Barrel, and caught a movie before picking up Brady. It was a very enjoyable and successful Thanksgiving.

Bring on Christmas!!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I am wrapping up my posts of Thanksgiving today. I realized that I could have done Thanksgiving post for the entire month of November and had plenty of things to be thankful for.

So today I will just list some other things I am so thankful for, in no particular order.

My niece and nephew, my brothers, sister, sister-in-laws, and brother-in-laws, our home, food, vehicles, electricity, clothing, the changing seasons, our church family, friends, Brady's friends, and so so so much more.

More than anything, I am thankful for a loving, forgiving God.

There is just so much to be thankful for, no matter your situation. There is always a silver lining.

I am also thankful for this time of year to set aside time to force us to count our blessings.

Hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving!

The new blog design is up! I love it! It is so simple and pretty! Jenna did a wonderful job, especially since I had no direction and gave her very little ideas. She made it perfect. I just love it! Thanks Jenna! And thanks to my sister for giving me the blog design.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

I am thankful for...

Caleb's job and my current job of SAHM.

Caleb loves his job and works so hard doing it. I am thankful he has found a career he loves and has tons of opportunities with. It is great to see him proud of his work. It makes a much happier family.

I am also thankful for this season of my life as a SAHM. I am not sure what the future looks like for our family. I don't know if this is just a season or several seasons, but I have enjoyed it and am thankful for it. If I had to or decided to go back to work tomorrow, I would still be so thankful for this time at home with Brady.

You may see some changes around here today or tomorrow. I am getting a blog make-over. I will write more about that after it happens. I am excited. Its the little things.

I am thankful for...

my Grandparents.

 I was blessed with 6 grandparents as a child, my 4 and then 2 more when my mom remarried. Three of those 6 have passed. We gained a bonus grandfather when my grandmother remarried. I realize how special it is that I still have so many grandparents still living. Caleb has none. : ( I think it is a little bittersweet for him. He loves that he has gotten to know and love my grandparents, but he misses his greatly. I am also thankful that Brady has gotten to know his great-grandparents. I need to make more time for them. I will make that my goal today to call them, just because. I am terrible at that, but I am so very thankful for them and need to do better. They are each so special to us 

I am thankful for...

Caleb's parents.

I have awesome in-laws. I know that is against the stereotype, but I do. They love me just as much as they love Caleb. Caleb and I have a joke when we disagree or something, that if we asked his parents they would take my side. Ha Ha! Of course, we never ask them. They are great people and would do anything for us. Good in-laws is a huge blessing.

I have 2 today, since I missed yesterday.

I am also thankful for our health. Every day it seems I hear of someone else diagnosed with cancer or some other sickness. Our prayer list is extensive right now and it really makes me thankful for our health. It is something we take forgranted every day. We are so blessed that Brady, Caleb, and myself are in perfect health.

What are you thankful for this week?

I am thankful for...

my mom and my Gary.

I have wonderful, amazing parents. I honestly don't know what I would do without them.   They love us all so well. They welcomed Caleb into their home and family just like he was their own. The more people I meet and get a glance into their lives, the more I realize how special my parents are. Also, the more I am on the parenting side of it, the more I appreciate them. My mom is the best mom and is incredibly strong. My Gary step right in became my father when I needed one and no longer had one on this earth, even when I didn't want one.  I wasn't very wise at 7. It took me many years to understand how special that was and that he chose to do it. He didn't have to. I am very grateful for that.

Funny story: I never knew Gary knew I didn't like him at first. I thought I kept it a secret. Then several years ago, we were all in North Carolina on a trip to the Biltmore, when I was in college. In a conversation about the past and my parents getting married, Gary said, "That was when Amber didn't like me". I was so embarrassed, because I didn't think he knew that. I thought I had kept it a secret for 10+ years. It wasn't personal, it was just a difficult situation for a little kid. 

Anyway, I love my parents and am so thankful for everything they do for us each day!!!

 

I am thankful for...

Brady, of course.

When Caleb and I learned we were going to be parents back in April 2008, we had no idea how much that would change our lives. We knew it was a blessing, but we could have never guessed how much. I am so thankful God gave me this sweet, energetic, funny little boy. I am so thankful God has trusted me with his sweet life. I learn something from him every day and can't imagine one day with out him. I am simply amazed by him and pray daily that I can be the mother he needs me to be. I know God has great plans for him and I am truly in awe that I get to help him make those come true. I love him more than he could ever know.

Yesterday, I decided to go ahead and put up Brady's little Christmas tree in his room. I am so glad I did. He was so excited about his Christmas tree. We had a lot of fun looking at his ornaments he has collected over the past 3 years.  I think the tree looks pretty cute, too.

Here is a sneak peak. 

Happy Friday!

A Week of Giving Thanks.

Today marks one week until Thanksgiving. I thought I would try to blog something I am thankful for every day for a week. It can be so difficult to remember to be thankful and too easy to get caught up in life, goals, desires, faults, etc.
After Thanksgiving, life seems to turn into a whirlwind until after the new year for me. I love it and this is by far my favorite time of year, but I also want to make sure I take time to really reflect and be thankful for what I have.



Our honeymoon, July 2006
He looks so young.



Today I am thankful for my husband. He is a great husband. He loves, respects,  and supports me in all aspects. He strives to be Christ-like. He works hard and is so dedicated to our family. He is a wonderful father. He rarely complains and is so humble when it comes to his strengths. He is kind, funny, generous, fun, loving, and forgiving. I am certain he would give a complete stranger the shirt off his back, in fact, I believe he has.  I am so thankful for the type of husband women dream and pray for.



Cruise, September 2011



Weekend Recap

We had another fun, but busy weekend.

I will start with Thursday, because Caleb was off and we had a fun family afternoon at the park. Brady loves when daddy can come to the park with us.

 Daddy helps him with the monkey bars, mommy is too short and weak for the monkey bars. Ha Ha! Caleb was impressed because Brady could hold onto the bars without help.

Friday night, Noah came and played with us for a couple of hours while his mommy and daddy went to a movie.

 

The boys really loved playing with Caleb. If I sat down in the floor to play, they completely ignored me. They payed attention to me when it was time to eat. Funny boys.

 
This is a horrible picture of Brady, but at least everyone is looking at the camera.
 
Saturday, we got up early and helped my grandmother move closer to my parents house. We got most everything moved and a lot put away, but they aren't moving 100% until the end of the year, due to my grandmother's working situation.

Saturday night, we attended a devotional at a friends house with our church. No pictures. We were so worn out when we got home.

Sunday, we picked up a bed we purchased from some friends of ours. They have a young boy and are upgrading his bed, so they needed to get rid of the old one. They threw in 3 sets of sheets, because they had no use for them. I am planning a full big boy room post in the future.

 
Brady was/is so excited with his new bed. He put all his "aminals" under it and climbed all over it.
 
He was smiling so big when we tucked him in last night. He didn't feel well all day yesterday, but when he saw that new bed, he got instantly excited.
 
Mommy and Daddy like it, too.  We can sit with him and read, saw our memory work,  prayers, and whatever else we want.

Note: Brady takes naps in our beds from time to time, because it is darker and so I can clean his room while he is sleeping.  He does really well and doesn't fall off. He also has been sleeping his crib converted to a toddler bed for several months without a toddler rail, so we are not planning to put a rail up at this time. The other side of the bed is against the wall.

It was a great weekend, but we are all exhausted today. Luckily, Caleb is off today as well, so we can all rest up and get back to normal.

Brady's style.

Brady is really into picking out his clothes right now. I never dreamed this would be an issue with a boy, but it is.

This was his outfit of choice yesterday for the grocery store: tye dye shirt, gray sweatpants, orange jack-o-lantern socks(not seen), and cowboy boots.

I don't always give in and let him wear what he wants, but to the grocery store I didn't care.

 Sometimes his outfits of choice are not so, uhm, crazy. Sometimes they are actually pretty cute.

For example, he begged to wear this to church one Wednesday night a few weeks ago.

The boy knows what he likes/wants and when he likes/wants it, he always has.

Pumpkin Muffins

Brady and I made these 2 ingredient muffins on Tuesday that are all over pinterest. He loves to help in the kitchen. This is what the recipe called for.

We added a few of our own ingredients; chocolate chips, cinnamon, a little nutmeg, and brown sugar on top.

 The muffins are completely gone so I guess they were good. Brady kept telling me while making them, "he didn't wike the orange stuff"(pumpkin). I just told him he did and to just try it. It turns out he loved the orange stuff.

He is a great helper. I have made pumpkin muffins before, but these were so so so easy. We will definitely be making these again. So easy and no oil or eggs required! 

Halloween Night

This is my last Halloween post of 2011. Promise.

I mentioned we didn't get out to Trick or Treat, but we did enjoy a little family Halloween fun indoors.

We watched Hocus Pocus and ate popcorn. Brady really liked staying up and watching the movie with us!

I also put Brady's glow sticks, that didn't get used Saturday night, in his bath and turned out the lights as seen on pinterest. He enjoyed that for a while.

We also handed out candy to the 6 trick-or-treater's that came to our house. Brady asked a couple times why those kids were at the door, but didn't ask any more questions than that.

After a busy weekend, it was nice to have some family time at home.

And just for fun, because one more Halloween has come and gone.

Me and Brady, Halloween 2008

I was around 7 months pregnant.

Brady, Halloween 2009

10 months old

Brady, Halloween 2010

22 months old

Brady, Halloween 2011

2 months shy of 3 years old (34 months old)

It is crazy he has gotten this big. It all goes by so fast. It seems like it was just the other day we were waiting for him to join our family. On the flip side, I can't remember my life without him!

Trunk or Treat

Trunk or Treat was Saturday night at our church. We talked Caleb's parents into coming this year. They even sat up a trunk. This meant both sets of grandparents were there. Both my grandmother's were there also. Everyone got to see Brady and we only had to make one stop. It was so nice. I hope we can work that out again.



It was really cold!!!



Caleb's brother, SIL, and neice planned to come, but didn't make it. Life with a one year old. So, we did have to stop by Caleb's parents on the way home to see sweet Carleigh. We didn't mind.

We didn't get out to Trick or Treat again last night. Brady had a lot of candy and we just didn't bother to do it again. He doesn't know the difference right now anyway. He thinks Trunk or Treat is Trick or Treating and that is just fine with me.