Biker

I had to do a quick update for anyone following this.  I mentioned a couple of days ago how the boys got new bikes for their Birthday/Christmas presents from their grandparents.  Well here you have it.  Zackary is full blown riding his big boy bike without training wheels.  No joke this kid picked it up in 4 days.  All we do is help him get started for about a second and he's off.  I'm am so proud of him.  I knew he could do it.  

Thanksgiving 2011

Well, we hosted our first Thanksgiving at our house this year.  And was it sure fun!  I love hosting parties, activities and such.  I love to open up our house to everyone, I always have.  So, since Aaron is such an awesome cook, he got to do the cooking and I got to be in charge of drinks, decorating, and assisting.  It worked out perfect.  Both sides of the family were here to celebrate, I am so thankful that our family can all be together at once.  It makes our lives so much easier.  Here are some pictures from or celebration.

We kept the kids busy with lots of activities.

Here is Aaron's massive turkey he cooked.  Pops was showing him how to carve it up.  This might have been one of the best turkey's I have ever had.

Chloe loving up on Opa.  She loves to be held and just stroke his beard.  It's so funny.

The table turned out beautiful.  I was very proud of our great first Thanksgiving party.

3

Our little Laner is 3!  Man this kid is awesome, although he can be difficult at times, he is really a sweet little boy.  We say he is 3 going on 13.  And he has quite the sophisticated palate.  You would never guess he is only 3.  He prefers stinky cheese (Gorgonzola and blue cheese), lattes, and he enjoys cooking with us.  If you have read previous posts, he is our little early bird and likes to get up and help himself to the pantry for some breakfast, sometimes he just goes for what ever is on the counter.  Such as cupcakes, muffins, candy.  I have to be really good about putting things high and out of sight or he will find a way to get it.  He still is a furniture mover, I probably move the kitchen chairs back to the table 50 times a day.  He is always at the counter into something.  This kid is lust so dang cute I can't stand it.  Good thing, because he can sure work us over sometimes.  Happy Birthday Lane!  We love you so much!

I took cake pops to celebrate in his class at school and we had a little celebration in the evening.  

7 Months

Our sweet Chloe is 7 months old today.  These pictures turned out so cute. I tried my hardest to get a smile and no luck.  But she is still as adorable as ever.  Chloe is still the happiest and easiest baby.  She sleeps great, she goes down laughing and wakes up laughing.  She loves her big brothers and is totally entertained just watching them.  She is so close to crawling, but she can pretty much scoot wherever she wants to go.  Usually she is going backwards or rolling.  She does the cutest little smile and crinkles her nose, usually for her Daddy, I just can't get enough of it.  I love every day with my sweet baby girl!  Here are some of my favorite pictures of her from our holiday photo session this year.

Chalkboard Mason Jars

So I've become totally obsessed with Pinterest.  Man it can suck you in for hours upon hours of just looking for more stuff to do, more tasks to complete, more crafts for kids, everything you could ever imagine is on Pinterest.  So if you have tons of extra time, (just like I do, oh wait, I don't) hop on the ol' computer and waste some precious time.  You will be happy you did.
I however recommend actually doing the projects not just pinning all day!  I thought these mason jars with a little chalkboard square to write you name were so cute.  It was perfect for our first Thanksgiving Day dinner at our house.  You see, Aaron (my amazing chef husband) was in charge of cooking and I was in charge of decorating and getting everything organized.  Teamwork!  So I started my project over the weekend.  It really didn't take that long, I also suckered Aaron into helping me tape.

I had to put 2 coats of chalkboard paint on.  This was a 2 day process, because it got too late for me to stay up and wait the four hours between coats.  Needless to say, I had 2 little helpers the next morning painting the second coat.  They did a pretty good job and didn't make too big of a mess.

I cut out cute fall fabric strips to tie around the top of the glass to add a little fall flair.  I love flair!  Luckily my mom seems to have everything on hand and brought me over several options of fall fabric.  So I got to avoid another trip shopping spree at Hobby Lobby (which might be my new favorite store, that happens to be about 3 miles from my house).  

Here is the final mason jar chalkboard glasses.  They looked so cute and were a huge hit at the party.  Everyone got to write their name on their cup, there was no mistaking your beverage this time.  I recommend using liquid chalk, which I also picked up at Hobby Lobby.  I doesn't smudge easily, but wipes off with water.  

I'm so happy these turned out so well.  They will get used often.  I can just change the tie to be festive for the occasion.  I can't wait to use them again!

Early Birthday

The boys got an early birthday present/Christmas present from their awesome grandparents today.  New shiny bikes.  Big boy bikes, no more of the little monkey bike, remember this one?  Big, shiny, real bikes.  I didn't want Zackary to have training wheels anymore so we just decided to go cold turkey with them, and hopefully this doesn't happen again.  You might think, sheesh, he is only 4, but seriously the kid is pretty much doing tricks on the 2 wheeled super fast scooter, that is actually Aarons!  So NO training wheels!  

Man, look at the smile on his face.  Priceless!  He was so excited. 

And here is Lane's big, shiny, new bike.  So I let him have training wheels.  He is just turning 3.  

He sure took to the bike quickly.  Totally riding around the block within minutes of getting on. 

 I love my little athletic boys.

Aaron started off running along side of Zackary, and was letting go for short periods.  If he kept peddling he could do it, but he kept getting distracted by everyone watching and what his feet were doing.  I was pretty impressed by how well he was doing right away.  Stay tuned, I'll keep you posted on our bike riding progress.

Wedding Day

The third day was the BIG day.  We were pretty low key in the morning, we walked around, ate some more food, I even managed to get a nap in.  Hooray for naps!  Here is a beautiful picture of my mother and I.  She looks so amazing!  I'm pretty sure I have only a hand full of pictures with her.  I'm printing this one for sure.  She is the most amazing person I know.  

And my handsome husband, who decided to shave is awesome chops right before the wedding.  He didn't want them to take away from the wedding pictures.  That's how awesome they really were.  

And here starts the craziness of another night.  The dancing begins.  It was an absolutely beautiful wedding.  The ceremony was short and sweet, I guess to get the eating (yes more eating), drinking (yes more drinking), and dancing (oh and more dancing) started.   They had a band playing great music.  We all had such a great time.  What fun memories we created with our entire family.

Here is Danielle, the beautiful bride, and my new sister in law.  

Thanks for the great time Matt and Danielle, congratulations!

NO Day 2

The next day we headed out for some fresh air to find some gators.  It was a success, we saw several.  The air boat did a good job of waking everyone up and getting us ready for another long night...

We celebrated again with the wedding party at the rehearsal dinner.  What and amazing dinner.  I must say the food in New Orleans is pretty amazing.  Good, hearty, fattening, and delish.  Maybe we just aren't used to food like that because we really don't head out to dinner much any more or maybe the food in AZ just isn't that southern style delishishness (is that a word?).  We had amazing wine with a 5 course dinner, all while being super dressed up in suits, dresses and heels.  As you can see from the smile on my face we were having a great time.  I also was trying my best to not have my droopy left eye in the picture (perhaps I overcompensated in this one).

Here is a beautiful picture of my amazing parents.  They hosted this wonderful night.

Here's my family.  I am so thankful of such wonderful people in my life.

New Orleans day 1

So we, as in Aaron and I and our entire family, headed out to New Orleans for the big celebration.  Little Matty is GETTING MARRIED.  And what a fun time it was.  Our first evening there we headed out for an awesome dinner and of course met up with everyone on Bourbon Street for some old fashioned partying.  We sure made the best of it staying out until 2.  Then the boys headed out for the bachelor party.  

Yes, you read it right they started it at 2am.

Here's me and my little bro.  Isn't he awesome.  Not so little but still my little bro.  It was nice to get to have some drinks and enjoy each others company even though there were thousands of people with us.

Here's some of the family and friends we got to spend some time with.