Awesome video! :)

I love this video. I wasn't going to post it since Thanksgiving is past, but we should be grateful for our blessings ALWAYS! Please watch it! :)

Click here.

Google Maps=Amazing

Have you checked out Google Maps lately? They have a new feature that is INCREDIBLE. Type in an address and move the little man over to where it highlights in blue and you can see that area, travel down that road, etc. They took pictures all over the world and you can look almost anywhere. Not a great explanation, but go check it out. Mike and I were looking up our old mission addresses, old home addresses, etc and it was like a severe blast from the past. Amazing! Please check it out!

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is a great time to think of the blessings we take for granted. This Thanksgiving, I am thankful for:

1. Clean, pure water to drink.

2. A wonderful family with loving parents, sisters who I can call my best friends, brothers who I couldn't live without, the great people who have made it into that family by marriage, hilarious neice and nephews.

3. My in-laws, who I love more than I can say.

4. Great friends who make life fun.

5. A warm, happy home.

6. A knowledge of the truth about God and his Son, Jesus Christ.

7. The ability to stay home and raise my son.

8. A wonderful husband who still makes me heart smile.

9. A beautiful, healthy, strong baby boy who astonishes us daily and is ready to conquer the world.

10. My life. I can't begin to thank Heavenly Father for all the blessings I have or list them all.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Post #2 - Also catch-up

Andrew...

can...

crawl!

*And he's discovered that he really really wants to eat my camera.

Yeah, we're proud of you, too little guy.

He can also stay sitted when you prop him up, eat a variety of baby food, bounce like crazy, and throw a fit like nobody's business one minute and steal your heart in the next. Speaking of fits....Methinks I hear one starting. Gotta go. :)

Catch-up -- Andrew and Friends

We've had so much going on lately, and I haven't been able to blog about it. :) This is Andrew trick or treating at my Mom's house. Surprise, surprise he chose the banana split flavored lollipop. :)

Here's Andrew and CJ posing for their photo op at the ward Trunk or Treat. So cute!!

Andrew with his honorary aunt and uncle, Quentin and Natalie. Remember them? They pop up kind of frequently here on the ol' blog. :)

Andrew was apparently texting while CJ...

was being adorable. :)

Here's Andrew mauling his friend Ava on Sunday. I believe he had just poked her in the eye at that point. He's learned to crawl, but watch out because....

Ava's a country girl and she's gonna get revenge. I LOVE the look on her face here. And she did get revenge by pulling on Andrew's cheek a short while later as hard as she could. Babies are so freaking strong! :) But seriously, they had so much fun exploring each other.

This picture is ridiculously cute of the two of them.

Here's me and Andrew with Ava and my beautiful friend Veronica!

Post #1 finished. On to Post #2. Whew.

Picture Time, Picture Time.

We got family pictures done today. Yay! No, this one isn't going to be blown up and put over the mantlepiece, (and not just because we don't have a mantlepiece) but it does amuse me quite a bit and may make it on my new family history wall. Those two sure are crazy about each other. :)

My sister-in-law Laura got Andrew this ADORABLE little Santa outfit. I laughed for a good 2 minutes straight when he was presented in it. Sooooo cute!!! He's definitely going to be wearing this when he meets Santa this year. Yeah, Mr. and Mrs. S have invited us up north again this year for brunch on Christmas Eve. Such a chore, but we must indulge the old man. Just kidding. Please don't tell him I said that.

30

Goodbye 20's. Helllooooo 30's. Yup, tomorrow is my husband's birthday. I doubt he'll see this on his special day as he'll be busy finishing up his huge memo that's due tomorrow for school, but in any case - Happy Birthday, Mike. I sure love you. Because:


1. You're my best friend.
2. You are hilarious.
3. You are genuinely interested in people.
4. You work so hard in school.
5. You are a wonderful, caring husband.
6. You are a fun, nice daddy.
7. You are a good friend and support to all of your family members.
8. You are quite humorous in your sleep. (I'll leave that to another post, web on-lookers.)
9. You are so handsome.
10. You support me in all I do.
11. You brought me Runts at work, thereby saving the lives of my co-workers that may have otherwise perished in a pregnancy-induced rage.
12. You're my favorite handy-man.
13. You are custom-fit for me.
14. You help me strive to do what's right.
15. You make me want to be my best self.
16. You are interesting to talk to.
17. You're smart.
18. You are kind.
19. You help people, even when no one is looking.
20. You watch chick-flicks with me. (And you even like them! Shhh...I won't tell anyone you like Jane Austen movies.)
21. You give good compliments. :)
22. You never yell.
23. You always have great gospel insight.
24. You're strong.
25. You make being married fun.
26. You think of fun things for us to do together (lay under the arch and look at the clouds, giving me a scavenger hunt on my birthday, Birthday Buddies, etc etc etc.)
27. You love me - truly.
28. You are always learning.
29. You love to read.
And lastly:
30. Because you're you. And you are perfect like that.

Happy Birthday, my nice Michael.

Hi=hi!

Funny Girls

Last night was Activity Days. We made turkeys and wrote things we were thankful for on the feathers, with an emphasis on SPECIFIC things we were grateful for. It went pretty well.

Somehow they started talking about MAP testing. One of the girls said that in California it was CAP testing. So they then starting talking about all the other states - Virginia would be VAP testing, Hawaii would be HAP testing, etc. They were all laughing pretty hard at this. Then one of them said, "In Pennsylvania, it would be PAP testing!" I really don't think that any of them know what that means, but it set me laughing along with them, so they continued onward while I tried to stop laughing amid cries of "Yeah, PAP tests! Those kids all have to take PAP tests!" They then started doing it with other states (my personal favorite was Texas - they thought tap tests would be funny - part of it would be tap dancing). It was pretty hilarious.

We had a really good time, and while looking at their turkeys, I noticed that one of them had put, "My Activity Day Teacher's Humor."

Yeah. It went well. :)

Toy Story 3

Here's the link to the trailer. I hope it's as good as the first two which were awesome. :) Pixar is amazing. I can't wait to watch Up again.

Click HERE.

Adventures in Babysitting

I got to watch this sweetness today for about an hour while his mommy was at work and his daddy was hometeaching. He spent the whole time cooing at his toys. Andrew cried anytime I talked to CJ instead of him. It was kind of funny to see him get jealous so early. I love having friends with cute little babies who will be buddies with my little guy. :)

So excited...

Yummmmmmmmm......

Baby News and Karen's Got a New Mindset

So, sorry no pictures, but my kid is about to crawl. He hasn't gotten the hands yet, but he's constantly up on hands and knees. He's either rocking or moving his knees back and forth. Maybe I should get him a baby treadmill. :) If he would move his hands at the same time, he'd be moving. All along my un-vaccumed floor. Oy vey.

Which brings me to my new mindset. My house is little by little getting cleaner and more organized. I prayed for help, and came up with FlyLady. I have yet to follow her advice on anything. Whoops. But (BUT! Yes, it gets better.) I have followed a bit of her mentality. Ready for it?.............

Rome wasn't built in a day. Why in the world do I think I can change all my bad habits and bad mindsets in a day? And because I'm not beating myself up constantly (and with the help of a little guy who is just starting to figure out that he can play on his own) (and with a little help from my favorite of husbands for his help in throwing things away and putting up shelves so we can put up our food storage, etc.) I feel in control. I tell myself that I can only do a little at a time. And that's what I do. I now find myself looking around the room before I leave to find something I can take to the room I'm going into to put away.

For some of you (maybe most of you) this may not seem like a big thing. But for me, it's been an amazing week. I made cupcakes in celebration. Luckily, the missionaries and the Bells are coming over to help us eat them.

And is it just me or is Rainbow Chip icing the best icing on the planet?

40

Happy 40th Anniversary, Little Guys!

Today

***Exciting news!!! It has now been 5 days of ALL the dishes being washed, dried, and put away by the time I go to bed at night. That's right folks!!! Small victory, but it's mine, baby!***

Today my house still looks messy. And that box is still in the upstairs bathroom with 5 things in it or so....and it's been there since we moved in. Ahem.

But today I...

1. Had breakfast buddies with Michael and Andrew. Toaster Streudels. So good.
2. Made taco soup for dinner and had it done by noon. (Really easy, really delicious. Brown hamburger with onions. Add corn, kidney beans, pinto beans, green chilis, taco seasoning packet, ranch dressing packet, diced tomatoes, meat and onions. There were lots of recipes online, but I just kind of added what looked right. Serve it with cheese, sour cream, and tortilla chips for dipping. SOOO good.)
3. Did 3 loads of laundry and folded them. The trouble now is to put them away.
4. Straightened up the living room and baby's room
5. Exercised
6. Changed 11 diapers. I think. I stopped counting.
7. Gathered up the trash throughout the house
8. Watched an episode of Monk online (love that show)
9. Made an appointment with the Parents as Teachers program
10. Stopped all that to play with Andrew. Because I realize that he will not always be this little. He will grow up and eventually not want to cuddle with me anymore. Everything I do will no longer be hilarious, and as much as I am excited to meet Andrew as he grows into his own little person day by day, I think I will always miss my sweet little Jellybean and his goofy toothless grin.

The day wasn't perfect, but for now it was absolutely where I needed to be.

Someday...

Someday I will be able to put all of my groceries away the same day I go shopping.
Someday I will be able to look back and see a truly productive day.
Someday I will keep my house in such a state that I wouldn't be embarrassed if someone were to just drop in.
Someday I will remember to both read my scriptures AND say my prayers properly- on the same day.
Someday I will do all of this because today, today I am taking baby steps to change my habits and become more of the person I want to be.

I don't expect to be perfect, but gosh darn it - I'm ready to start improving my life by small and simple steps. I'm worth it. I just gotta remember that.

Weekend Happenings

I went to my parents' house this weekend with Andrew for a Halloween visit. Jeanette and Jason came, too, and it was a lot of fun! We played games (including Harry Potter trivia - we played by candlelight. Yes, we're dorks, but it was so fun!), watched movies, and basically just spent time together. My in-laws were sick, so we didn't get to see them unfortunately. I somehow left my card and card reader for my camera there, so no pictures. Sorry. :( Other "not so happies" include Andrew burning himself by putting his hand in my bowl of piping hot chili (he's ok, just didn't feel awesome at the time), eating my weight in sugar (seriously, what is it about this time of year that makes me feel like it's ok to go into a sweet-induced coma? If I do, please send chocolate chip cookie dough through my tubes so I can continue with the deliciousness.) and not getting to see Michael for 4 days. Andrew and I were sure glad to be home and see Mike. Visits are fun, but it's true that there's no place like home.