Happy Turkey Day

Turkey Fruit Gobbler

This year for Thanksgiving, we were blessed to have all of our families together for Thanksgiving. Nanny, Opa, Grandma, Papa, Grandma & Grandpa by the Water, Aunt Christina, Uncle Wayne, Hayley, Lilyanne and Brayden (cousins), Uncle Charlie, Uncle Matt & Amber, Mama, Dada, Alyssa and Jaden; all together for a wonderful holiday feast!

Prior to going over to Grandma's house for Thanksgiving dinner, we spent the morning making a few special holiday treats. Alyssa had been so excited all week to make the Thanksgiving treats, however when it finally came time, she lost her patience after the first one. We made turkey cookies, first, and as for Alyssa's help, I guess I can't expect much more from a 3 year old! She spent the whole time eating the various candies and cookies we were using to make the treats. She was, however, a great help when it came time to unwrap all the chocolates! I think Amber and I had more fun making all these little turkey surprises! For a little appetizer, we then made a Turkey Fruit Gobbler. It was adorable! We poked cheese and grapes into a squash to form a turkey.

After the treats were done, we headed over to Grandma's house to begin the festivities. Daddy and Opa grilled one turkey and Grandma cooked a traditional turkey in the oven. Aunt Christina made a ham with a wonderful sauteed pineapple sauce on top! And of course, all the fixings ~ stuffing, mashed potatoes, corn casserole, home-ade macaroni and cheese, sweet potatoes, green beans, rolls, zucchini casserole, cranberry sauce and asparagus. Delicious!! For dessert we had pumpkin pie, home-ade apple pie, lemon meringue pie and an assortment of cakes thanks to Grandma by the Water. What a feast!

The day concluded with a little football watching, lounging and the kids enjoying playing with each other!

We are so thankful and blessed to have so much family near us and that we are able to spend the holidays together!

Daddy and Opa grilling turkey

Turkey cookies

Santa Claus is coming to town.....

So, I must say my blogging has lacked over the last month! There are a multitude of reasons, to include the fact I've been picking up a few extra shifts at the hospital, the family has been sick so we haven't been doing much, and my children are having moments where they absolutely protest having their pictures taken. My camera doesn't capture pictures well with kids running away!

We did have a very exciting Sunday this week. Our local Bass Pro Shops has a Christmas Wonderland set up to start the holiday season. We spent 2 hours playing games, climbing in and out of boats, playing in pretend snow and most exciting, seeing Santa. Alyssa was absolutely thrilled to talk to Santa and sit on his lap! It's the first year in her existence that she didn't scream at the sight of the man in the big red suit! She jumped right up into his lap and said, "Santa, do you want to come over to my house for milk and cookies?" So precious! I'm pleased that she didn't go into the million toys she is already asking for out of the numerous toy catalogs I've received!

Jaden, on the other hand, wanted nothing to do with Santa. He was memorised by the fake, glittery snow and the toy train set up. He was happy as can be to walk around and touch the snow! From the likes of Alyssa, he may have a few more years until he'll be sitting on Santa's lap!

Alyssa on one of the ATV's

Jaden loving the snow!

One year milestones

We have reached that One Year Milestone with our dear boy Jaden! Boy has this last year flown by and we watched him grow up from a content and laid back newborn to a happy, smiley energizer bunny of a toddler! I thought I would share a few "stats" about Jaden as of now~

*weighs in at 23 pounds & 10 ounces (50-75% on the growth chart)
*31.5 inches tall (greater than the 95%)
*head measures in at 18.25 inches (50%)

*eats all table food and when I say all, I mean ALL! Jaden is an exceptional eater! He will pretty much eat anything I put down in front of him at mealtime. He does, however, have some favorites: pancakes, blueberries, strawberries, grapes, crackers, cheese, yogurt, peas/carrots -- just to name a few!

*is walking, running and climbing on everything! Jaden has a very hard time sitting down and playing with toys. He is very busy all the time and just prefers to pick up various toys and walk around with them.

*one of his favorite things to do is to pick up things and hide them inside of other things. For example, we watched him pick up toys and throw them away in the garbage can. We're not sure how long he has been doing this before we actually saw him, so some of the toys that we think are else where in the house, just might be at the local garbage dump by now! :) He also likes to hide things in drawers, bins.

*he is absolutely by far and outside boy. He jumps at the chance, which is very frequent, to be outside. He loves playing in the backyard, throwing rocks and going to the park.

*he has great pincher grasp reflexes and tremendous hand eye coordination. He can throw a ball overhead as is he's been playing baseball for years!

*I think because he is so physically active, he has lacked the vocabulary that Alyssa had by now. He can say "mama," "more," "uh-oh," and a slew of babble

Keep up the good work Jaden! We love you so much and are so blessed to have you in our lives!

Pumpkin Patch

Here are few pictures from our trip out to the pumpkin patch, or as Alyssa says, "Halloween festibal."

everything is a ball to Jaden

Alyssa high in the sky on the bungee jumping ride

Halloween

Lilyanne, Alyssa & Hayley

So there's absolutely no way to try to 're-create' or catch up on my blogging from the Halloween weekend, but here are a few photos. In short, we drove to Ft. Irwin, California for Halloween this year to spend the weekend with Aunt Christina, Uncle Wayne and the cousins. The weekend consisted of 2 Halloween costume parades at the girls' schools, a Halloween party at the house, Trick or treating, making Halloween treats, carving pumpkins and making a few Thanksgiving crafts. It was a busy and exhausting weekend, but we all had a great time!

Jaden loved the talking candy monster!

Watching football with Daddy

Jaden the dragon

Princess Cinderella

Birthday Pictures!

Jaden, squinting in the sun, but not too sure about all these people starring at him!


Here are a few pictures from Jaden's Birthday Party! Enjoy!

Jaden's personal caterpillar cake!

Caterpillar cake and worm cupcakes we made!

Jaden and CK playing (CK was born an hour after Jaden!)

Playing in the dirt!

Not sure why everyone is standing around singing!

Mmmmm cake!

Grandparents enjoying lunch!

Jaden still playing in cake!

The end result!

Playing in the sprinkler = easy clean up!

Opening a present - Jaden not interested!

Daddy, Uncle Charlie and Jaden relaxing after a long party!

Jaden's idea of opening a present!

Birthday boy!

Yay! I love the presents when they're open!

Caterpillar First Birthday BBQ!

It's finally here! What an exciting day today, as we hosted Jaden's First Birthday Party!! After way too much time planning, Jaden had a great day at his Caterpillar Birthday BBQ!

My mom and I spent all day Saturday baking a caterpillar cake, cupcakes, making Jello cups, ants on a log, shopping for food, and making treat boxes! I've come to the conclusion that a first birthday party is really more for the parents, than for the 1 year old! I don't even think Jaden had a clue what was going on!

Our good friends, Michelle & Kelly, offer to let us have Jaden's party in their backyard. They have an enormous sized yard, compared to our tiny patch of grass, so we decided it would give the kids more room to run around and play. It was a great idea, but did take a lot more work to drive there and clean, set up, decorate and then have to transport all the food, clean up and load everything back up in the truck to get back home! It was a pretty exhausting weekend, but all for a special occasion!

The kids had a great time playing in the dirt, blowing bubbles and sound horns and riding bikes/cars. Equally, the adults had a good time BBQing, visiting, having a beer and enjoying a nice 80 degree day in Vegas!

We decorated the party with a primary colored Caterpillar theme which included a homemade caterpillar cake, lots of red, blue, yellow and green balloons, streamers and table decorations. We also did little bug themed cookie boxes as favors. Andy spent most of his time grilling up some delicious chicken and sausage to go with the other salads and dishes.

Cake time! Jaden was just amazed when everyone was standing around his highchair singing to him! And even more amazed when a whole cake was put down in front of him! He made a dent in the cake, but wasn't as interested in it as Alyssa was. And if you know Jaden, he doesn't like to be confined for very long, so he was done with the cake time and ready to get back into the dirt!!

We attempted a few times to open gifts, but again, Jaden was interested in sitting still to open presents. He just wanted to play with the paper and climb on the gifts. I guess this is the beginning of the difference between a boy and a girl! All in all, Alyssa ended up opening Jaden's gifts back at home that night!

I must say, after an exhausting hot, BBQing day, we ended the day with a long soak in the bath and an early bedtime!

Thank you everyone for joining us in celebrating this special occasion and for all the great gifts and toys you chose for Jaden!

Fall Park Day

Tyler & Jaden just like best friends

We had such a great day at the park today! It's been a few weeks since we've had a "day" at the park! It was either too hot to play or too windy the last week. Today was perfect....sunny, no wind and clear skies. Alyssa had a blast playing with Cole! And, for once, Jaden had his very own playmate. He's usually running around with Alyssa and her friends, but today, he enjoyed Tyler's company. And as usual, it was so nice to have some mommy time with Pam and Gena!

We brought a nice picnic lunch to share and then play, play, played! I thought that the parks and recreation people turned off the water features October 1st, but I was wrong. Alyssa thought it would be fun to play with the on/off pole, and sure enough, the water came on! Their faces were in total excitement as all the fountains and poles starting squirting! Of course, I didn't come prepared today, seeing as it is the middle of October. No towels, no extra clothes! Oh well, a short ride home in panties never hurt anyone!

Thanks Pam, Cole, Gena and Tyler for such a great day at the park!

Yay! The water's on!

Tyler & Jaden exploring

Alyssa & Cole telling each other about all the toys they
have at their own houses to play with!

Alyssa & Jaden love the water!

Jaden playing in the water

Tyler having fun in the water

The month is gone

I must say, the month of September has flown by! I finally got the hang of my blogging and let it all go this month! We definitely have been busy this month with many play dates, swim time and park time, but due to lack of time and mommy forgetting her camera, not much was posted here. I wouldn't even know where to begin to try to back track now, so we'll move forward in the coming month and try to make more time to blog.

The month of September did bring us lots of activities! We had a great family photo shoot out at Lake Las Vegas. I don't have the prints yet, but will hope to post some soon. Thank you to Aaron Harvey for taking the time and having the patience to coordinate a 2 hour photo session with a 3 year old and an 11 month old! You definitely are a great photographer to get many great shots!

We also spent many Saturdays with a full calendar of birthday parties! As Alyssa gets older, her social calendar definitely stays full! One of her favorite places of course, Chuck E Cheeses. We had a great time that night celebrating our friend Audrie's 5th birthday. I do have some photos from this event that I will post later. Jaden thouroughly enjoyed walking around CEC all night and eating his first slice of pizza! This being a staple in many households, I was actually in disbelief when I realized we hadn't eaten pizza in a very long time! All in all, the kids had a great time. Happy 5th birthday, Audrie!

The next Saturday we spent at an outside BBQ in honor of Jordan's 3rd birthday party! She had a multitude of little swimming pools lined up outside and plenty of toys inside for the kids to play with! Jaden and Alyssa both had fun playing in the water! Alyssa had so much fun playing with all of her friends; Maddie, Sophia, Jordan an Aidan, all at one party! It tends to be more of a challenge taking Jaden to other people's houses now that he can walk, climb and get into everything! You don't realize how childproof your own home is until you take him to someone elses! Up and down the stairs, into the movies, into the cabinets, etc! Makes for a fun but exhausting afternoon! Alyssa is still at the age where she has a hard time with other people opening birthday gifts. Of course, she wants everything they got and doesn't understand why she can't open all the toys and play with them! She wants to help as much as she can to open all of the gifts, as do all of the kids. We ended the afternoon with not one, but 2 big slices of cake and off to home we went. Happy 3rd birthday, Jordan!

We also hosted a small birthday dinner for Uncle Charlie at our house! We dined on some pork char su and rice, bean sprout salad and a delicious lemon cake for dessert! Happy Birthday Uncle Charlie!

September made for a wonderful, fun filled month! Promise to be a better blogger in the time to come!

Pool Day

Unfortunately I didn't have my camera today, as we enjoyed a great day at the MGM Grand pool. We had a great time with Grandma and Papa lounging, playing in the kiddie pool and floating around the lazy river. Alyssa spent a big amount of her time doing cannonballs under the water fall and Jaden loved floating around the river in his boat!

Hopefully Aunt Robyn or Grandma got some pictures! If they did, I'll post them later. Thanks Grandma and Papa for a fun day at the pool!