Black Friday Magazine Deal

I wouldn't normally do this, but the deal is just too great not to share.

Amazon.com is having a Black Friday magazine subscription sale (through Dec. 1st) on several good magazines. I of course wanted to buy each of my friends a subscription for one of these, but the husband talked me into sticking with just the Christmas card. (apparently .44 a piece fits into our budget better than $5, not that we don't love you $5 worth because we do.)

A few you might want for your own: Real Simple, House Beautiful, Southern Living, Food & Wine, or Smart Money (each just five dollars for the year!)

I snatched up the Real Simple and House Beautiful. One I'll read and the other I may just put around for looks.

Happy shopping!

(I totally stole/borrowed all of this info from this blog)

Thanksgiving

We had a wonderful day on Thanksgiving as we focused on two of our favorites: family and food. (and obviously being thankful)

The morning started off with a quick visit from Santa who delivered Hayden's Radio Flyer wagon (via Grandma and Grandpa. Thank you!) She loves the wagon. There was a slight melt down when she realized she didn't yet have the strength to pull it around, but she quickly bounced back when she was offered a ride or 5 around the house. Whew.

The grands and Bryan took Hayden and her wagon to the park in the morning while I checked and rechecked my cooking game plan. (and peeled a few potatoes)

Hayden was too pumped up to nap so she chatted in her crib while the rest of us enjoyed our Thanksgiving feast. The menu included: turkey, stuffing, gravy, mashed potatoes, caramelized butternut squash, green bean casserole, cranberry sauce, rolls, key lime pie and cherry pie a la mode. I must admit to doing one or two things from the box/can, but with Bryan and Carol's help our first major Thanksgiving meal, with recipes, a spreadsheet and everything, was mostly successful.

The rest of the day was spent unwrapping presents, watching the Cowboys and mostly lazing around when the girl wasn't insisting on being entertained.

Thank you Lord for food and family. Thank you for how you always provide for us!

Weekend Wrap Up

My mom was in for a few days at the end of last week. She entertained the troop while I got out the Christmas stuff. This year we will spend Christmas week in Odessa, but Thanksgiving at home in Dallas with Bryan's folks (who so sweetly volunteered to make the trek from Georgia to Texas so we didn't have to travel with 1.5 children under the age of 2. Thank you Carol and Jerry!)

Included in the Thanksgiving week will be first Christmas of 2009 celebrated with Grandma, Grandpa and Xena. Hard to get in the Christmas spirit without all the decor (We have 1 tree and 3 boxes of decorations for the whole house...doesn't go real far admittedly, but we appreciate the minimalist approach when it comes time to put it all away) Well, having Grammy around sure made putting things up much easier. Hayden "helped" a bit at first, but then quickly lost interest. She hasn't really bothered the tree thus far. She knows she can pat the ornaments gently and there are one or two she can remove and play with. We'll see how it goes...

Hayden's Grammy bought her a Little People's nativity set that I've been quietly eyeballing. I didn't even put up a token resistance. So far Hayden has shown a fondness for both the sheep and the camel with the baby Jesus coming in a distant third. Thanks Grammy!

Thank you Lord for time with family. Thank you for a special time to remember and recognize all You mercifully provide for us.

Happy Thanksgiving!

18 Months of Hayden

Well it is hard to believe that we've had this girl for 18 months (not counting the incubation period.) She is so much fun and sunshine...with a little bit of sass and challenge thrown in to keep boredom at bay.

We visited Dr. S. today and had a fantabulous well visit. Apparently she is practically perfect in every way. Height is 30+ inches (30th percentile), princess crown is 18.5 inches (75th percentile) and drum roll please...........weight is 21lbs. 6ozs.!!! (12th percentile!) Hello, forward facing car seat! (thankfully she waited until we got home to have two big poops) The doc seemed fine with turning her around at this point though the current APA recommendation is 2 years. Hopefully this will be the miracle cure for the screaming, crying, car hating kid we've enjoyed thus far. (if not I may have to resort back to earplugs and loud radio)

Hayden is jabbering up a storm...in either Japanese or perhaps some space language yet to be identified. She is saying ma ma, mommy, da da, daddy, bye bye, hi, night night, baby, what's this, no (started just this week) and uh oh very consistently. We've heard socks, shoes, outside, and a few other words thrown around sporadically. We still do some sign language for more, please, thank you, and finished. We are enjoying all the new communication and sounds around the house. Though according to my late grandfather..."you spend months trying to get them to talk and then years trying to get them to shut up." Apparently our enjoyment may wane...

Hayden loves to carry around her baby and also loves to pat and hug on Baby Deucie (aka Mommy's large belly). Little sister in the womb is quite sweet, though I'm sure the reality of real live baby sister may be a tad different. The doc said kids under two seem to have a harder time initially, but settle in quickly while older than two sibs will have a better initial reaction with a longer adjustment period. We shall see...

Bryan and I are so thankful that Hayden is healthy and such a joy. We continually marvel that she is ours and just being her happy (or even cranky) self can bring us such feelings of love.

Lord, thank you for our sweet Hayden. Thank you for positive check ups and growth. Please continue to be with us as we parent thru these next stages

(potty training, new baby, big girl room, discipline challenges...)

Wordless Wednesday--Halloween (late much?)

(photo credit goes to Kerri!)

Hayden's Big Girl Room

This is the inspiration picture I made at www.polyvore.com . I could possibly become addicted to this site...


H's big girl room by lchamness on Polyvore.com

Hayden's room will not look exactly like this...the striped pillow in the middle is from Anthropologie and is 87.00 (I'm pretty sure nothing but the bed in H's room will be 80 + dollars.) The daybed will most likely come from Craig's list and will be whatever we can find. So like I said...INSPIRATION people.

If you like to dream, plan, make fifty lists and then put a "look" together (or if you are like me and like to dream, plan and list, but never get around to actually finishing things...no pictures actually hang on the walls in our home at this point despite buying many frames) then you should check out this fun website.

As for the graphic yellow curtains and the child sized pink damask chair...I'll keep you updated.

Wordless Wednesday- Cold Weather Ready