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.

Olive Garden

We went to Olive Garden for dinner tonight. It is one of Jake's favorite places to eat. He mows on the salad there - typically asking for seconds. Of course I just love that he will eat salad period as a lot of kids his age won't.

Of couse the bread sticks rock too! We are so lucky that Jake is such a good eater!

Spidy Glove

We have been working on potty training a little bit. For some reason today, Jacob decided that he needed his Spiderman glove to go potty.

He is sitting on the potty playing Spiderman. I guess everything does go a little bit better when you are wearing your Spidy glove!

Daddy Daughter Spa Day

For Father's Day we gave our dad a "Spa Day" with me and Joni at Dolce Spa & Salon. They do a great old fashioned shave with a straight razor so we got dad a scalp treatment and shave as well as his face. We also did a paraffin hand treatment and massage for him. I was told not to post these pictures on the blog - but couldn't help myself!
While dad was getting his face and scalp massaged, treated and shaved, Joni and I got pedicures. The only bummer was that the pedicure stations were around the corner from the barber room where dad was getting his treatments.
The final product! Here is our handsome dad! Afterward we went to lunch at his favorite little Greek restaurant. It was really nice to have some special daddy / daughter time!

At the Park

One of Jacob's most favorite things to do is go to the park. On Sunday, daddy was getting the garage all cleaned out and straigtend up. So Jacob and I took a load of stuff over to Good Will to donate and then we hit the park! He loves to climb up and go down the slides!

He must have gone down this slide about 20 times! Such a happy little guy! And such a joy for me to watch!

Jake Loves Cheeto's

Jake went grocery shopping with me on Saturday morning. He is pretty good but as any normal two year old, he can get antsy after awhile. Nothing that a bad of Cheeto’s can’t fix! He had the orange stuff everywhere!

The Cheeto activity continued in the car ride home. Got to love that sweet Cheeto face!

Mama's Got A New Do

I got a new hair do this past Friday. I can't even remeber when my hair was not super long - I know it has been long at least since the 7th grade. This is not the best quality pictues as I took it of myself with my camera phone - but you get the idea! It was time for a change and I have gotten a lot of compliments on the new look. Sometimes you just gotta shake things up a bit!

Ice Cream Independance

Just like his daddy, Jacob LOVES ice cream! He is definitely sporting his independence and does not want anyone to feed him anymore – he is a big boy after all!

We went to the mall to run a few errands and stopped at the food court for lunch. Daddy and Jake got an ice cream cone for desert and Jake went to townJake did pretty good all by himself - but mommy was there to assist with a wipe at the end! What's the fun if you can make a mess, right?!

Jake's Choice

Today was one of those days when the little man wanted to pick his own outfit. He was so proud of this combination! Although I have nice clothes for him to wear and like to have everything mach - you have to pick your battles and this is just not the hill to die on!
I think it is good for kids to be able to sport their own independence. So what if everything does not match completely - Jake was happy and it made for a smooth transition to daycare this morning! He is a whole mess of cuteness anyway! Who cares what is on his body when you see that sweet little face!