Happy 3rd Birthday Thomas

Thomas turned three years old on Friday, November 27th. When he woke up he requested Crepes for breakfast. Ryan made them for him and the other boys since I was out shopping. Ryan put a movie on in the basement for the boys, so he could come out to the garage and see this truck I had bought. I was hoping to have gotten Thomas a one seater motorized jeep, but ended up with this huge black two seater motorized monster truck. Ryan and I laughed and giggled at the size of the F150 truck. We decided there was no way we could hide this big box until Christmas, so we wrapped it up and gave it to him for his birthday. Thomas' eyes were so big as he unwrapped this big present.

He was even more excited to find out that it was a motorized truck aka Monster Truck. He was a big helper and helped Ryan put it all together.

He sat in it with Joshua and they pretended to be driving it. The battery would take 36 hours to charge, so he would not be able to drive it until Saturday morning. He didn't seem the least bit disappointed, he had fun just sitting in it.

For dinner we went to Red Robin. We had them sing to him. He smiled and liked it, then started to get a little shy.

I can't believe my baby is three, where does the time go. He is such a sweet, happy, social little boy. I am so grateful to have this little guy a part of our family.

Black Friday Shopping

I awoke early this morning to go shopping with Emily and Penny in hopes of catching some great black Friday deals. We mapped out all the places we wanted to go the day before and met at 3:30 am.

Our first stop was Kohl's. We stood in the freezing cold line outside for about 25mins. Once the doors were opened, we made our mad dash into the store and went our separate ways to get the items we were hoping for. It was a success! We were out of there in about 20 minutes.

We then headed for Walmart. The store was already open, but the door busters were not for sale until 5:00am. This store was actually high on my priority list as I was hoping to get a motorized jeep for Thomas for Christmas. Once we were in the store I waited until 5am in the jeep line at which time they were going to hand out tickets. I was #8 in line and they had 16 jeeps to sale. I waited patiently in line chatting with the other customers while we waited. Everyone was extra friendly. At 5am I got my ticket, grab a few other items and went to the cashier to check out. While I was paying for my items, I was told that I would need to drive back behind the store to pick up my item. I asked if I needed to do that now or if I could come back later today. The lady told me that since I had already paid, there should be no problem coming back later and picking up the jeep. As I left Walmart I asked the person checking my receipt at the door again if it would be okay to come back later and pick my jeep up. Once again, I was told that should be fine. I had paid for the item, so Walmart would have to hold on to the item for me. So we loaded up the suburban with our goods and headed to the next store.

It seemed we were having perfect luck as all of us where able to get the door busters we were hoping for. A few hours later after shopping at several other stores, we decided to go back and pick up my jeep from Walmart.

Once, we pulled up we were told that they had over sold the jeep and did not have a jeep for me to pick up. I was told that I would need to speak to Gary the manager and he would take my name and phone number. They were hoping they would get more in, but could not guarantee it. I then switched stories and told Gary that I was hoping to give this to my son today for his birthday and was disappointed that they had over sold the item. The manager was very apologetic and said he would make it up to me. He ended up giving me my pick of all the motorized vehicles on the shelve. I ended up picking out an F150 Ford Truck aka a MONSTER TRUCK! The price on the shelve was $360.00, I paid only $88. I scored big time! Later while Gary was helping me load it into the back of my suburban, he told me I had scored big time today. I agreed with him thinking in my mind about the truck verses the jeep while he continued to speak about scoring big today because of the free twine they were giving me to try down my back window. I chuckled because he wasn't meaning the truck which is exactly what I was thinking. This by far was my best deal of the day.

Us girls had a fun morning. You should of seen the back of my suburban. The third row seat was folded down and we filled the back with all of our purchases. When I pulled up to have the Ford F150 loaded in the back. I told the gentlemen that I would need to do a quick rearranging. When I opened up the back they couldn't believe their eyes. I told them that is what you get when three women go shopping on black Friday morning. They chuckled and helped me move the sacks up front. I wasn't sure where we were going to put everything but in the end we did manage to fit everything in.

Thanksgiving 2009

We enjoyed our annual Thanksgiving feast at our house with our friends who have become our family.

We had thirteen adults, fourteen kids and three babies over. We enjoyed good company as we ate yummy food.

Thanksgiving was a very relaxing day. Ryan took Matthew, Christopher and Joshua to play Turkey ball in the morning while I prepared the turkey and other food. Our friends joined us at 1:00 and we began our feast. After our meal we sat around the dinner table for hours talking about the answers from questions each couple had been asked prior to Thanksgiving. Cheryl had made cute place mats with everyone answers. The kids played happily outside and downstairs.

Later we enjoyed 8 different pies for dessert.

Then the women went through the Black Friday ads and mapped out our shopping plans for in the morning. The guys sat around talking and watching a football game. It was a very enjoyable day one of my favorite! We have so much be thankful for. I am grateful for this day of thanks!

Claude Moore Birthday Party

We had a little birthday party for Thomas. He invited three of his friends. Since Tommy loves water, I thought it would be fun to do the party at the Claude Moore swimming pool. They have a little toddler section with slides and fountains along with a big pool with a lazy river and a whirlpool. Thomas had fun playing in the water with his friends. He loved showing off how he can swim all by himself.

We had fun eating cupcakes and opening his presents.

His favorite toy was a Thomas the Tank car carrier that he got from Easton.

Joshua looses his 1st tooth!

Joshua came home from school today and said his loose tooth bothered him during snack time. (I didn't even know he had a loose tooth. Last time I had checked it was hardly wiggly.) For snack today he had a green granny smith apple. I knew immediately that most likely the tooth would be loose enough to pull out. I asked him if I could wiggly it. He eagerly replied, "YES!" After wiggling it one time, I asked him to get me a piece of toilet paper and I would pull it out. He wasn't so sure it would come out but he hesitantly got me a piece of toilet paper. Once I had the toilet paper in my hand and his mouth open, his tooth was out. (Thanks to my mom who taught me the trick to pulling teeth out. She was always a pro.) Joshua was in SHOCK! He couldn't believe his tooth was out. Immediately he said in a shaky voice, "I get money?" His next thing to utter was, "I call Peter? My cousin Peter!" It was the cutest thing! I just love this boy!

Happy Halloween 2009

HaPpY HaLLoWeEn!!!

We enjoyed Trunk "R" Treating with our ward family and playing carnival games. By the way Ryan's trunk was the best decorated for trunk "R" treating! He had a wrought iron gates along the back of the Suburban which were covered in spider webs and little and big plastic spiders. Behind the fence were headstones. He had dry ice making fog along with Halloween music playing. It was creepy, but fun! On a side note, I must record Thomas' love of mice. Yes, MICE! He found one at the party city store and it has been in his pocket ever since daddy bought it.

We enjoyed carving pumpkins as a family! Always a favorite at our house!

We ended this Halloween season with a Halloween party at our neighbors. Followed by trick or treating around the neighborhood with the neighborhood gang.

This year we decided to go trick or treating as a family! Usually Ryan stays behind to hand out the candy. But this year Ryan reluctantly left candy on our doorsteps. We went with the neighborhood gang. It was nice to have an extra set of hands, since the older kids went faster than Thomas could go. The children ran from door to door. Thomas insisted on walking and going up to every door. He was very proud of his candy. When we got home the boys loved sorting their candy! Afterwards, we dumped all of the candy the boys had gathered from trick or treating and trunk r treating into 5 gallon buckets, we filled two of them!

George Washington National Forest

Last Friday Ryan got home from work slightly early. We loaded up in the Suburban along with the Jeep and drove about an hour and half away to George Washington National Forest which is in the Appalachian Mountains. We stopped at the local gas station and bought a permit which allowed us to use the off roading trails. We drove a little bit more to the forest and parked the Suburban in the parking lot. We then packed everyone into the jeep to do a little four wheeling.

First, I must say the pictures we took do not even begin to show the steepness or actual grade of the road. At times we had a cliff on my side of the vehicle and tons of rocks/boulders to drive over. The boys and I were a little nervous at times, but loved every moment. We had a BLAST together as our adrenaline level rose. Tommy kept saying, "Jeeping fun, bumpy, Go Daddy!"