Countdown to Thanksgiving 11th day away

 

My little Nova. She is my little shadow and keeps my day busy. At 3 she is a handful and a blessing. She is rough and tuff and yet a huge lover of all things Princess. A sweet heart to all animals and babies yet hold her own and then some with the girls and anyone who gets in her way. We love our little November Mae Rowe:)

Countdown to Thanksgiving

 

I thought I would start a new tradition on my blog by doing a 12 days to Thanksgiving countdown of the things in my life I am grateful for. This first choice is a great one because I can truly say it as of today that for #12 I can great full for our bed and to be lucky enough to have a bed and home to rest our heads. (More and more people are not able to say that this year and I am truly truly thankful to be able to)
So I still had planned to do this post today but originally when I was planning my posts (I do plan many of them out you know) it was going to be a little more funny and sad as I talked about how I am grateful for the bed (again truly am) but not so much the mattress. The mattress we had (will explain) was given to us in CA by the sweetest lady I had met who had to upgrade to a new mattress. We had a full mattress and as we just had Kennedy we needed to upgrade to a new larger size. We had talked of getting a king size but hadn't when the opportunity to take her old mattress was given to us and I seized it. It wasn't the greatest mattress but it was big and that was enough for us then. Now 5 years down the road and a few moves later we were dying with it. It has lost any charm it once held for us. The girls, however, loved it. Many times they had fallen asleep on it and in the morning told us that they wished they could have it. Why I do not know but it's true. Anyway we talked again of getting a new one but our resources lacking we had to wait until we could afford a new king size one. Then today it hit me that we should switch the girls twin mattress which are very comfortable with our crappy to us but not to them one. This works because we recently redid the sleeping arrangments in our home. The girls who have shared a bedroom since birth have always slept in the same room. When we moved to a larger home Ava was given her own room to share until Riot was older. This was good in theory but not did not work at night. She always got in bed with the girls. Shane decided they needed their beds (twins) to be pushed together to keep them all together. That made a king size bed and they have been sleeping happy since. We then have turned Ava bedroom now into the play room leaving her twin in there as a couch until we find something more suitable. So now they have a king size mattress and we do to (or two twins pushed together which also work. I have to say it's been a long time since I've looked forward to going to sleep:) We'll still eventually get a better bed since one day they'll want to have their own individual beds but for now, for tonight, I'm can truly say "I love my bed!" Now if I can get Shane to stop snoring in it. hmmm!!!

Another great day! We got to spend time with our friend Laurie and her kids Zenovia and Alexander. Home Depot provided a fun project (spice rack) which was easy for the younger kids to do. We got to have lunch with Laurie and family before heading over to Hobby Lobby for some craft stuff. (Pictures to post once they are done) and then over to Dusty and Sandy's house for a little visiting time. I love the fall, not to cold to want to stay home and not to hot to avoid the heat outside:) Next trip will be the Diary of a Whimpy kid event:) Looking forward to it!!!

Painting Pumpkin Party

We meet some friends at Trader Joe's today to do a pumpkin painting event. The kids loved it! Their clothes got ruined but I figured it was going to happen so I put them in old clothes. After seeing the clothes come back from Kindergarten I'm not surprised anymore at how bad they ruin their outfits. After the painting event we went to Barnes and Noble for story hour. It was an great Saturday! Lets hope Trick or Treating goes as well:)

My guys:)

Hard to imagine that at this time last year having a son was never a true dream for Shane or I. We had three beautiful girls and had no plans for another baby, much less a son. Then on Nov. 5, 2009 our world changed as the stick showed the line that meant we were indeed going to have another baby. It goes to show you that you can NEVER say never. Riot is 2 1/2 months old and already has a special fondness for daddy. Shane will hold Riot and talk to him and Riot coos and oohs and speak to Shane like he is singing a song. He only does this for Shane. I might he an ohh or a ahh here and there but for Shane he sings them. Am I jealous? Yes but then again eventually he starts to cry for me and all is right. As far as having 4 girls vs 2 boys while the girls might have the majority so far the boys seem to be in control as Shane is totally their favorite and Riot has his Mommy wrapped around his fingers. Who knew having a son would be so wonderful?

Bff's, Kids, and Nature

Recently I got to share lunch Shalini whom I have known since the second grade. It was a rare weekday treat as she works full time and I have more kids than I know what to do with. We decided to go to the Rio Grade Nature Center, a place I love but don't get to often enough. We had my youngest two in tow and Shalini and Nova got to be pretty good friends. Shalini "shared" her lunch with Nova, (Nova pretty much stole it from her) and they played together in the kids center. I had my hands full with Riot so I was not much help. I did stand, as told to, for this picture but could not work Shalini phone to take on of her. (Phones hate me) Before we knew it it was time to go but I think we'll try to go again, maybe next time when the temperature is cooler. It's nice to be able to tell your kids that you still have the same friends you meet 25+ yrs ago
PS All pictures taken by Shalini and not posted with her permission but as she sent them to me I post them as mine!

My Space, His Space, Our Space.

After having little room for ourselves we finally moved to a bigger home. Getting settled has been happening gradually and we still have quite a few boxes to revisit but are unpacked for the most part. Shane had been looking forward to his office longer than we have had half of our children. I looked forward to him having it as well, no longer having all the clutter in the bedroom or living room. I assumed he would spend most of his free time in said office therefore I was surprised when he took to using a laptop at the dinning room table over the office pc. I think he realized he likes the noise of his family and felt left out when he is in the office. NOT ME! I set my sewing table up in a "pantry" off the kitchen where I realized I was in need of more space and less traffic. Once I realized how little Shane used his space I moved in for the kill and suggested we share it and my former space would be a much needed area for storage. He was surprisingly quick to agree and I moved my thing in over the weekend. I still need a little more room (meaning the shelves to the left) but that will take a while to clear off. Shane has one large bookshelf in the office and with the office door and french doors leading to the back yard there isn't room now for another. Either we build a bookshelf to fit by his door or hang more shelves, either way it will be a few month before we can do that. Still I'm thrilled to have a designated space that I can leave the table open and ready to sew, (my previous home had me blocking the front door while I sewed and you can imagine how inconvenient it was). I was able to get one square done and that was it as of yesterday. I guess the baby doesn't realize yet that I have this new area. Hopefully I'll get more use of it soon. Happy Days are ahead:)