Thankfulness

Today I am thankful for:

• Having a great weekend with the family.  Friday night, Rich and I went to our Supper Club at Cantina Laredo with our friends.  It was our first night to spend the night away from Reese.  It was nice to be able to relax, but I missed him so bad!  Saturday morning, I went and got my hair done and did some more shopping while Rich played golf with my Dad.  We went to Church Saturday night, and cleaned/shopped all day on Sunday. 
• My first Coach purse.  Rich gave me my birthday gift a little early.  I've never been a big purse person, but I LOVE my new purse.  
• Only having one more load of laundry to do before our trip.  We leave tomorrow when we get home from work for KY, and I'm finally almost finished with all of our laundry.  Reese is packed and our stuff is all laid out.  I'm ready for a road trip!
• My last day of work for the week being tomorrow.  We have Family Day tomorrow in my class.  Each student is bringing their favorite family recipe (along with their families) so we can all sample them.  I also made them all a recipe book with all of the recipes in it.  Tomorrow afternoon we are painting bowls for the homeless.  It's going to be a busy day, but I will get to relax for the next couple of days. 
• Reese's precious kisses tonight.  He has become quite the Mama's boy lately.  He cries when I get up from the table at a restaurant, when I drop him off in the nursery, etc.  Tonight, he would grab my face and pull it to his and kiss me.  Then he would say "awww."  He's so funny.

That's all folks.  I have a stack of papers to grade and it is already midnight. 

I am thankful for:

• My final evaluation being over!  It has been a crazy, busy week, and I'm so glad that all of my paperwork and evaluations are over for the school year!
• getting to go on a quadruple date tomorrow night (Dinner Club).
• having a hair appointment Saturday morning.  I love having freshly colored hair.
• getting our grocery shopping done and being able to make potato soup for my boys.
• Getting the kitchen clean. 
• Going to bed 10 minutes before midnight!  I don't think I've made it before midnight this week.

Short and Sweet

I just got finished getting all of my work done for tomorrow, and it is 11:45 so this will have to be short and sweet.  Today, I am thankful for:

• getting everything finished for my 3rd and final evaluation tomorrow. 
• getting to eat Subway after Church with Rich.
• Seeing my parents at Church tonight.
• my husband washing all of Reese's bottles for me so I could get all of my paperwork finished up. 
• getting to play with Reese and hearing him laugh.

Bedtime!

The Hulk

Reese got to be the Hulk for Halloween this year.  I posted some pictures of him with his outfit on, but you have to see the whole costume (face paint and all) to appreciate it.  We went to our Church's Fall Festival for a little bit.  We had just planned on stopping by because it is an Outreach that is usually packed, but my mom wanted to take Reese around to show him off.  Here are some pictures of Reese's first Halloween.

My boys

Reese was excited!

He's such a lover.

Nana and Reese



Playing with Sophia.



Watching the big kids in the jumping thing.

3 Days?

Did I really forget to blog 3 days in a row?  My only excuse is that it was a crazy, busy, wonderful weekend!  Anyways, today I am thankful for:

• Almost being finished with all of my Christmas shopping.  I went shopping for 15 hours on Sunday with my friends Robin and Julia.  These two girls know how to shop!  It was so fun getting to have a day with the girls and get lots of shopping done.  We may have done a little shopping for ourselves, but we got a few things knocked off of our lists.  I am taking Rich with me on Sunday to Cool Springs to finish up getting his stuff done.  I need him to try stuff on so I can finish his shopping. 
• Finding a paint color for our living room.  Ok, it's confession time.  The only room that I completely finished decorating in our house is Reese's nursery.  Some of our walls are still bare and white.  I finally have the decorating bug again so I'm going to do our dining room before January 1.  I just have to get my china cabinet, make my drapes, paint, and get chandelier shades for our lighting fixture (I'm making those as well).  I'm thinking about doing bead board at the bottom, but we'll see.
• Getting to eat dinner with my Dad tonight.  Rich had to work late so I took Reese to get his first hair cut and to eat at Ricardo's with my Dad. 
• Taking a bath with Reese.  I'm sure some people think it's gross to take a bath with your child, but it is Reese's favorite thing in the world to do.  Tonight, we got in together and just played with all of his toys.  He loved the fact that mommy was taking a bath with him.

That's all for now.  Be on the look-out for The Hulk!

Reese's First Birthday Party

We did Reese's birthday party at Peek-a-Boo.  It was a wonderful day that I will never forget.  He loved his birthday party!  We did the party from 10-11:45 on Nov. 6th.  They had it decorated for us, had juice boxes for the kids, plates, silverware, etc.  We had our cake delivered so all we had to do was show up with the birthday boy.  It was zero stress, and I got to enjoy every second with our precious boy, friends, and family.  Here are some (or a TON) pictures of his special day.

I had the cake made by a lady from Crossplains.  She delivers her cakes and can do anything you want.  It was the best cake I've ever tasted (not exagerating), and I only paid $80 for a THREE tiered cake AND Reese's personal cake AND delivery.  She did the top and bottom layer with white cake and the middle layer with chocolate.  She even made  his candle to match the cake.  It was perfect.

It looks like fondant, but doesn't have the bad taste that fondant does.  She makes all of her cakes and icing from scratch.

Reese was pumped for his big day!

RJ playing with the trains.  He looked at me and said, "I love it here."  I barely saw him the rest of the party. 

Ariah and Ariana played in the kitchen for a good hour. 



Reese playing with the big boys.



His two favorite girls.  This is what he does when sees Sydney and Kate.  He adores them.

Oh the love Reese has for Sydney.

and Kate.

I think we are going to have to have a talk with Reese about his fascination with girls.

RJ letting Reese honk the horn on his car.

Samuel not wanting his picture taken.

The girls

Playing basketball with Uncle Jutt and Aunt T.

Please notice the kid MADNESS that is taking place at Peek-a-Boo.

and then notice what my Dad is doing while the chaos is going on around him LOL!

The boys

Lawson brothers

He loved the shopping cart.

He saw the cake and was ready to go.

Love at first bite.

Austin and Andrew laughed so hard at Reese having cake on his face.  They were so entertained.

I love this picture. Austin has sheer joy all over his face and Andrew decided just to go for a bit of cake with his hands.  So adorable.

ready for the next bite.

My sweet boys.

Hall Party of 3

Reese wouldn't stop eating for a picture.

Seeing if Nana wanted a bite.

Clapping

About to suck it off his thumb

Reese on the way home from his party.

Playing with one of his new toys.

Everything goes in the bus.

TGIF

Yesterday, we all went to bed as soon as Rich got home.  Literally, we all climbed in our king size bed and all went to sleep.  We woke up at 9, ate a bowl of cereal and went back to bed.  We all 3 didn't feel great, and it felt amazing to just catch up on some sleep.  I obviously didn't get to the blog yesterday so I'll just combine the two days.  I am thankful for:

• Fridays.  They are all around amazing.  I remember Fridays being awesome as a little girl also.  We would always order Little Caesars pizza (two square ones) with crazy bread.  My mom would usually either clean the house while we watched "TGIF" or we would have family movie night.  Now I look forward to getting to wear jeans on Fridays to work, playing with Reese and taking a nap with him around 3:30 , ordering pizza and watching a movie or watching KY play basketball.  My Friday routine was a little different today.  I had to take Reese to the pediatrician and didn't leave until 6:10.  I got home at 6:40, dropped Reese off with Rich and drove to our Church to go to the Women's Holiday extravaganza.  I debated on going all day because I didn't want to have to leave the boys, but I'm SO glad I went.  The older ladies in our Church were adorable and so proud of all of their holiday traditions that they do with their families.  I got so many amazing ideas and laughed so hard my stomach hurt. 
• My family life growing up.  I have probably already put this on a thankfulness blog, but it deserves to be on there more than once.  I grew up with a picture perfect homelife.  I literally never saw my parents even have ONE argument... ever.  Infact, when Rich and I had one of our first arguments I almost broke up with him because I did not know it was normal for couples to have disagreements.  Both of my parents worked their butts off to ensure that my brother and I got to go to college and literally did everything they could to give us the best life they could.  My mom always kept our home clean, laundry done, worked, and almost always had a home-cooked meal for us.  We would all 4 sit at our kitchen table for hours and eat dinner and tell stories about our days.  We were never allowed to watch TV during dinner time.  My Dad always took time to play with us outside and play catch or basketball, and my mom spent her summers taking us to Opryland.  We had season passes and would go all the time.  My parents were always supportive.  I don't think that my mom missed ONE of my brother's high schools football games, and my Dad would only miss if he were working.  If he was not working, we got there an hour before the game started so my Dad could even watch my brother warm up.  He would even take him a candy bar during half time so he could have something special before the second half of the game.  When I cheered, my Dad would sit with all of the moms (because most Dads didn't go to just see their daughters cheer), and would watch me.  I knew he did not want to have to watch a bunch of girls cheer, but it meant so much to me to see him in the stands.  My parents always allowed us to have our friends over and always welcomed them as part of the family.  They were incredible Christian examples for us, and Church was a huge priority in our lives.  As long as we were under their roof, we were not allowed to miss Church, even when we would come home on college breaks.  There were times that I had no desire to be at Church, but looking back it was one of the best things my parents could have done for me.  I learned how God speaks to me in the back row of the Church, with my arms crossed, and a snarl on my face.  I remember the service distinctively.  Pastor John was out of town, and Pastor Glenda was preaching for him that night.  I remember her talking about the gentle voice that God would speak to us with and how to listen to it.  I can't remember what event I was missing out on with my friends, but looking back there isn't an event that would have been worth me missing that sermon. I thank God that my parents had no desire to be my friend or the "cool parents."  They stood their ground and MADE me go sometimes.  My mom also taught me how to have class.  I was not allowed to wear trashy clothes (I may have changed in the car during my last few years of high school), but she taught me that I didn't have to show a lot of skin to be pretty.  I always had a white and black cardigan.  Oh, and one other thing that helped that they did.  My brother and I were not allowed to have a TV in our bedroom.  We would find shows or a movie we could all enjoy instead of us all going to seperate bedrooms and not spending time together.  I think (especially for teenage boys) you are asking for trouble when you put a TV in a bedroom.  I realize how lucky I am to have had a great marriage that was modeled for me growing up.  I adore my parents and brother and cherish all the memories we share.  I can't wait to pass on traditions as we grow our family. 

I'll stop there since it is one of those long-winded type of nights.