Playing Catch-Up

I had no intentions of taking a little blog break but it was super busy around here so the break was much needed.
Now I need to catch up in a major way, so here is my catch-up post and all it's randomness.

Baby A is cutting at least 4 teeth and she is one unhappy camper lately. She whimpers in her sleep ALL. NIGHT. LONG. I heard her at least 5 times before midnight last night and she was up for the day (or so she thought) at 5:00 this morning. She is also currently not eating well at all. I think this has to do with her teeth also. She loves her carbs (especially pastas and breads) but you can forget about meat...she will not eat meat right now. She is getting most of her protein from cheese and beans right now. I really hope these teeth cut through quickly and this picky eating phase is short lived.

Rascal has hit a growth spurt. All of his poor jeans are way too short. Thankfully we have some hand me downs that are a tad long but much better than the alternative. He could care less, as long as he has he cowboy boots on he says it doesn't matter. :) Rascal cracks us up daily with his personality. As I am drying his hair in the mornings he is constantly making faces at himself in the mirror. He talks to himself CONSTANTLY! He can carry on a long conversation with just himself. He is a one of a kind!

Scooter is growing up so fast. 3rd grade or age 8 (which ever way you want to look at it) is a really big turning point in my little boy becoming more and more grown up. I can't really point out a good example but it just seems that this year (since starting 3rd grade) he has a much more grown up way of thinking. This has also brought it's bad attitudes but maybe this is God's way of showing me what's to come in the teenage years....YIKES! After all they are only 4 1/2 years away.....yep that is a very scary thought!!

Our Christmas decorations are up but not finished. We had a little home improvement project that set us back on getting our lights up outside. Now that the project is done....it is raining every day! I am hoping they can go up this weekend, if not then we will just have to skip this year.

Remember  my little front door project I finished a few months ago? As great as it looked I still planned on getting a new front door eventually. Well eventually came sooner that we thought. This past weekend we installed a new front door and a nice glass security door. I love it so much. I would show you a picture but it is raining so I will try to post a picture later this week.

The boys had the entire week of Thanksgiving off of school so we had a bunch of fun things planned. Monday I finally got to meet up with Jana (after not seeing each other for nearly 6 months!) and meet sweet baby M. The kids all enjoyed playing with her other kids and seeing their long time friends. I enjoyed sitting and visiting with Jana but it did make me miss living so close to her quite a bit. There is nothing like good close friends and being further away in distance hasn't always been very easy for me. Note to self (and Jana) we must get together more often!
Tuesday the plan was to go to the zoo but due to rain we had to push that back a day. Instead I helped set up for the Thanksgiving dinner at church and the boys had fun coloring Thanksgiving pages and making some crafts. They were so proud of their crafts and were SO WELL BEHAVED while I was busy. That night we had dinner at church and Baby A decided to sing at the top of her lungs while dancing in her chair. She was quite the entertainment for anyone close by us.

Wednesday we made it to the zoo. It wasn't the most ideal day but we bundled up and prayed the rain stayed away. The weather did keep the crowd away and the animals were preforming all over the zoo.

 Love this funny picture of Rascal!

The grizzly bears did belly flops into the pond right by us, the Rhino was up and running around his cage, the elephants were standing right at the front of their cage facing us and flapping their big ears, one panda was up close and eating in his cage and the other one was in the outdoor cage playing with some toys, the lioness was up and roaring loud. We could hear her all over the zoo. We walked closer to her cage and you could feel the roars in your chest they were so loud. She even walked VERY close to the front of her cage and roared at us....it was pretty AWESOME! We had to make our stops into the reptile house (which I HATE) and the animals of the nights (which I also hate due to the horrible smell). But I was glad we went into the animals of the night. There was a new Kiwi bird that was cool to see up and running around, the anteater was up and pacing his cage and there were some new monkeys in a cage too. It was keeper chat time when we went in so that was neat to hear about each animal. Scooter soaked in every word they said.

Wednesday night we headed over to my parents house to visit with my family and eat ribs.
Thursday we had lunch at Tim's parents and dinner at my parents. We ate lots of yummy food but I was very proud of myself for not stuffing myself to the point of being miserable. I worked hard to lose this now 20 pounds and I want to try and keep most of it off through the holidays. Keeping it off will be the hardest part for sure.
Friday we spent the day finishing the front door project and putting out more decorations inside. I also shopped online for me some clothes. I was very pleased when I got 9 shirts, 1 dress, 4 camis, 1 puffy vest, 1 pair of athletic pants, and some leggings all for under $175! That is my kind of deal. I had no desire to get out ad shop with the crazys on Black Friday. Tim headed to Lowes close by us to get a new drill but was home in less than an hour.
Saturday we went back over to my parents to eat lunch and visit once more and then we went over to Tim's parents to help hang Christmas decorations and eat dinner. I made a run to Hobby Lobby were I spent lots of money on Fabric. I have my sewing table stacked high with projects that I need to get sewn soon. VERY SOON!

Sunday was church and today is back to the old routine. The boys are back in school and I am hanging out at home all week to catch-up on housework and sewing during nap times. I bought the material to make our stockings so I am off to try that now. I will post pictures once I am done with them.