Being Thankful

To simply spend the day being thankful is a brilliant concept, and since we all live busy and hectic lives, let's take advantage of this Thanksgiving and think nothing but positive thoughts. Here are just a few things I am grateful for:

My son who inspires me to be a better person, my amazing husband who is my friend & soul mate, my family - both near and far, my mom's homemade cornbread stuffing that is the best stuff you have ever tasted, my sister's smile, my sweet, sweet nephews, my parents love & respect for each other and us, my amazing girlfriends who are always there no matter what, the safe and healthy birth of the newest addition to our friend side of the family - Colette Marie Edmunds, being able to help to help other families, my great job that allows me extra time with my son, and the fact that I am so lucky to be a mom...

I hope everyone slows down just a little bit tomorrow and has time to reflect and be grateful for all the good things in their lives. Wishing you a safe and happy Thanksgiving from our home to yours!

Swim Lessons

Jacob has been taking swim lessons at Auqa Tots for quite some time now. We changed days and teacher about 8 weeks ago and he has really improved his swimming skills. We LOVE Ms. Marry! She ROCKS!
This is Jacob building his leg muscles ans swimming the length of the pool in a "noodle" or "doodle" as he calls it. Just this simple process of swimming with the noodle gave him a lot of self confidence!
Ms. Mary is so great with the kids - patient but firm. She really helps them to get out of their comfort zone and improve their skills.
Lot's of cheering for the little ones along the way!
The quality of the pictures is a little bad as they are behind glass. But you get the idea. We love Aqua Tot's!

Jake's Favorite Place - Target

Jacob LOVES going to Target! This is because he gets popcorn and an icee whenever we go.
Today was funny as we got him some new shoes - he picked out these red Converse all by himself and had to wear them out of the store! He is so my kids when it comes to shoes! I love new shoes and it is always fun to wear them out of the store!

Jake's Helmet Hat

Whenever we are out and about and Jake sees someone on a motorcycle with a helmet - he always says, "look mama, a motorcycle and a helmet hat". So he decided he needed a helmet hat to wear at home. I got him this Elmo one and it came with elbow and knee pads. He will wear them around the house and ride his trike. Today he told me that all his gear made him run very fast. Although I could not capture actual running part on video, the two clips below are still entertaining. Enjoy!

Just Me This Time

Since I have cut my hair, I decided I should update my profile picture on my professional sites like LinkedIn and Plaxo. I decided on this one that I cropped from the below picture of me and my mom and turned it into a black and white. You can check out my profile on LinkedIn and or Plaxo and let me know what you think.

How much do I look like my mom!

Girls Night Out

We went out for girls night out or GNO as we call it to celebrate Sandra's birthday!

Since Andrea turned 21 earlier this month, she got to go with us. Tim had to stay home with Jake so we decided to send him this picture to his cell phone! Me with my Grey Goose martini and Andrea with her raspberry martini! It is hard to believe that Andrea is 21!

My Buddy Grandpa

I picked Jacob up a little early from day care today and we went over to see Grammy Lynn and Grandpa John for a visit. Jacob just loves going over to their house! He was very excited to know that we were going over for a visit. He immediately made Grandpa go outside so he could put his feet in the pool. Jacob was kicking back on the lounge chair by the pool.

Jacob made Grandpa get up on the lounger with him. They had to pretend they were sleeping and then wake up really quick to get the "monsters". It was very cute!

Tim came over after work and we stayed for dinner and had a really nice time. When we were driving home I was talking to Jacob about how nice it was that we could go over and see Grammy and Grandpa. He told me that he had fun and that he really liked going to see his buddy Grandpa. I thought that was so sweet! Just another one of those small but important moments that let us know how blessed we are as a family.

Sunday Fun with the Haralson's

We met Bill, Tara and Audrey over at Johnny Rockets tonight for some family fun at Westgate. The restaurant is very kid friendly so we all had a great time. The kids got these paper hats that were a lot of fun and entertaining while we waited for the food to arrive.
Audrey loves Tim! She was feeding him her french fries off her plate – it was super cute!

Jacob had a lot of fun with the hat – he was being silly with his daddy!

They started dancing at one point and the waiters and waitresses did a dance. Jacob had to go and join the fun. Everyone was enjoying the show. Of course mommy had to go up there with him to dance. I guess it is good that I don’t mind making a fool of myself for my son!

Then it was outside to the water feature! Audrey and Jacob had a great time running around and getting wet. The weather was fantastic so it was a lot of fun being outside with the kids.

My handsome little man! He is all boy that is for sure!

I just love this little picture of Audrey and Jacob. Jacob was up in this chair and Audrey came to join him. I think she needed to check out what was what was up there!

At one point Jake took off his swim drunk and diaper but then he decided he was not done playing in the water. Everyone was teasing me as when I put a swim diaper back on him I guess I pulled it up a little too high. This is his “high water” photo shot. His swim diaper was way up over his stomach. Not to worry as I did fix it!

There was this lion statute that both kids had to get up on and “ride”.

We really had a great night and always enjoy spending time with Bill, Tara and Audrey! We will definitely go back to the water feature at Westgate!

Jake's Fist Play Date

Jake has his first play date buddy come over on Sunday. It is his day care provider's son Karston. Jake loves his buddy Karston! They had a GREAT time! It was a lot of fun having a freind over. Jake and Karston spent a lot of time in the sand box.

Taking a quickt time out for something to drink. I just thought this was such a cute picture of the boys. Karston is exacty one year and one day older than Jake.

Lunch time! The only way I could get them to slow down long enough to eat was to have lunch on the patio. Thank goodness it was not too hot! The kids had a great time and we are looking forward to Karston's next visit!

Jacob and Grandpa John

Mom and I went to get a car seat for my parents car so they can pick Jake up and do things with him without having to use our cars. Jake decided he wanted to stay and play with Grandpa while Grammy and I went shopping. While we were shopping my mom found this big blue tub so that she could store all the pool toys for the grandkids outside.

Jake decided that he and grandpa needed to get in it and hide from the "monsters". He had Grandpa jumping in and out of it with him to get the monsters! It was so cute!

My dad asked me not to post these on the blog - but I just could not help it as they were so cute! Thank goodness my cell phone has a decent camera or I would have missed it! Mostly I love that Jake loves his grandparents so much and wants to go and see them. We are a very blessed family!

The New Bouncy

We got Jake a really cool bouncy and it arrived on Friday. I was so excited to put it up for him to try out. We got one that will actually fit in the house in our great room. Jake LOVES it! It is already getting so hot here so we have been looking for ways to entertain the little man so he can burn off energy in the house. I think we succeeded with the bouncy! I will post more bouncy pictures at a later date.