Moment of Silence

Well folks.
After 11 months and 1 week,
After 8 months of drooling and unexplained crankiness...
WE HAVE A TOOTH!!!!

Last year's Xmas Box

Last year, we decided to put together a box filled with homemade goodies for Grey's extended family (that we see every Christmas) and for a few of our closer church friends.  They were quite the hit!
This year, we're doing the same thing and I thought I'd include some of the recipes for ya.

Cake Pops made from this cake:
http://www.lifeloveandsugar.com/2014/08/06/best-chocolate-cake/

Cookie Dough Truffles from this cookbook

Mint Oreo Bark:
http://www.wineandglue.com/2012/02/mint-oreo-bark-a-k-a-i-must-win.html

Salted Caramel Bark:
http://www.missinformationblog.com/salted-caramel-bark-christmas-gifts/

Salted Caramel Pretzal Candies:
http://bakerbynature.com/salted-caramel-pretzel-pecan-bon-bons/

Grey's Gingerbread
(I have no idea which recipe he uses)

Whiskey Nuts (I think it's from Southern Living, but I can't find them online)

Christmas is in 9 days! Woo Hoo!

Lately...

We celebrated Thanksgiving!

We visited a Blow Up Santa

 James saw his first decorated Christmas Tree and LOVED it!

 (momentary sensory overload from the christmas tree/lights/music)

 This was the best pictures we could get...he wanted to go go go!

 Like Father, like son...both so photogenic

 James took a few baths

He sword fought with an empty paper roll

And...he celebrated 11 months!

 

 He's eating well, no teeth STILL, sleeping a blessed 12 hours at night, walking/running all over the place, giving high fives, blowing kisses...he's a cute little boy!

(Playing, How Big is James?)

A boy and his wagon

The Wagon:

A beloved early Christmas present from Grammy and PaPa

 This kid won't eat any meat...None. We've tried grilled chicken from both us and chickfila, ground beef, meatballs, chicken tenders, deer, turkey, and ham.  Nothing. He winces and spits out the first piece and then dumps the rest on the ground. 

Momma don't do vegetarian meals.

 This week, my heart has really struggled with the fact that this precious boy is quickly growing up before my very eyes.  I've already had so many sweet things come and go.  

 He chooses to stand beside me for story time instead of sit in my lap.

He chooses to put himself to sleep instead of being cuddled.

He chooses to walk instead of crawl.

Last night around midnight, he woke up crying.  As I walked into his room, he was sitting up in his crib crying a very pitiful, "Momma." Any slight aggravation of having to get up continously in the middle of the night for the past 10 1/2 months quickly vanished. For whatever reason, whether hungry or scared, James needed me and I was more than happy to give him some love.

James,

The first couple months of your life were not the easiest.  Daddy and I were tired and grumpy and had absolutely no idea what we were doing.  But, being privileged to know you, love you, and watch you grow into a sweet little boy has been an unbelievable blessing.  We can't imagine our life without you little one!  Thank you for being ours!  We love you!

This Year's Thanksgiving Menu

Will include:
Veggies and dip and pigs in a blanket for the appetizer
Turkey
Ham
Roasted green beans
Crock pot Mac and cheese (doubled...everyone knows that's a fav)
Baked cream cheese corn
Sour cream biscuits
Sweet potato casserole
Mashed potato casserole
Stuffing
Pumpkin spice cupcakes
2 small Apple pies
Dark chocolate salted caramel Oreo pie
Chocolate cake pops for the kids
.....
For 20-25 people.
Are we crazy?!

Happy!

Happy...
(late) Veteran's Day to my Puppup! (The picture: He and Nanny had told us that they were unable to come to our wedding and then BAM! 25 minutes before it's time to walk down the aisle, they show up!  They had gotten up and driven all the way from TN that morning! Sweet Jen was just a tad shocked and emotional when they showed up...) Puppup is a WWII veteran and I am so thankful for his service!

Happy...

10 months little James!

He's a walking, talking, eating machine that loves to babble, spin toys, throw food (No No James!), play with Daddy, and be attached at the hip to Momma.

He's eating almost everything that we're eating.  He loves greenbeans, black beans, cheese, and baby goldfish.  I gave him low fat mac and cheese and broccoli today for lunch and...all of it ended up on the floor. No No James!  He loves to beat on pumpkins and steal any/all of my breakfast.  He has turned a corner with sleeping!  WOO HOO!! He's sleeping through the night (a full 12 hours) about every other day and the other days, he'll wake up around 4 or 5am to nurse.  I feel like a new human being. I (shock!) stayed up till a whopping 10pm the other night. 

 (Clapping for his own birthday)

 (Getting brave...right after this, he took a dive off the chair BUT WE CAUGHT HIM!!!)

 So much for the sticker

 This is Marvin. Marvin is a monkey presented to James only at nap times and bed time.  Marvin gets washed once a week and dried in the dryer 3 times a day. Apparently James likes to suck on Marvin during his nap times. If I don't stick Marvin in the dryer after each nap time, the monkey is still soaking wet 3 hours later when it's time for his next nap. Thankfully, Santa Grammy has arranged for Marvin 2 to make an appearance soon.

Happy....

Pumpkin Spice Oreos!!!!! Recommended by KPS, we HAD to go out and find them.  This resulted in trips to Walmart, Ingles, and finally Publix!  We (Grey more so than me) loved them!  We (Grey more so that me) consumed the entire package in 3 days.  We then (Grey more so than me) decided that we needed to make Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes for our Thanksgiving celebration with these used as the bottom of the cupcake.  We then (Grey more so than me) decided that we HAD to go out and get 2 more packs and thus went on another wild oreo hunt because Publix was sold out of them.  Don't worry...we found them!

Happy Friday tomorrow!

Frugal Friday

First of all, apparently, the baby blue blanket on our bed is a gold mine.

 Back story:  I've wanted a little play table that encourages James to stand and play for about 2 months now.  When James was 5-6 months old, we wanted a bouncy chair for him and saved up to buy him a brand new one.  80 bucks later, the kid wouldn't use it for the first month, played in it for about 2 weeks, and then went back to hating it.  (He never got the hang of actually bouncing in it). Lesson learned. 

I put a table just like this in my amazon shopping cart a while ago and have literally gone to check out 2-3 times.  Right before it's time to enter in your payment info, I've canceled it every time, feeling guilty that we don't really have extra money to be spending on toys.  About a month ago, I found a woman on Craigslist who would sell me one for 20 bucks.  I contacted her and told her we wanted it.  She responded back asking if that Saturday would work.  Grey's mom was supposed to come over that day so I told her no but that ANY OTHER day that next week would work.  She never emailed me back. 

Thus: Today's Frugal Friday addition!

 I SCREAMED (inside) for joy when I saw it...$5.50!

The best part was that I had a $4.25 credit for buying a shirt for Grey that ended up (ahem) being a woman's shirt that (obviously) didn't fit correctly. So!  Our total purchase was....$1.25!!  What a blessing!  With some soap, clorox wipes, and new batteries, it is good as new!  HE LOVES IT!

J: Hmm.  What exactly does this thing do?