Happy Birthday JAKE!

Disney on Ice

Since Bishop's favorite character has been Mickey Mouse for months now, we decided to brave it and take   him to Disney on Ice.  I let Leon order the tickets and he got us front row seats!! If you know me, you know that I am way to cheap for that and would have never done that.  I have to admit, in the end, it really was worth it. We all really really enjoyed it! (even Leon!) His favorite was Mickey and all of the gang (of course) and maybe the Lion King. He loved it even though he really didn't know a lot of the characters. My favorite was Beauty and the Beast, Toy Story, and the Lion King (maybe because those are my favorite movies?) but everything was very, very good! I definitely would go again!

Woody was very....um, expressive. 

The best part about the front row was he got to shake hands with all of the characters at the end. It shocked me that he wasn't even scared! He just stood there with his little hand out waiting for all of them to shake his hand as they skated by.....PRECIOUS!

Christmas Parade

Last Monday we took Bishop to the Booneville Christmas Parade and as I suspected...he loved it. He especially LOVED the firetrucks and horses.

Oh, and he loved the candy.

WOW!

And, my favorite new "surprised" face!

You better watch out....

You better not cry....

This is how our Christmas card photoshoot went. Maybe I am terrible for taking the picture, but he is just so dramatic!!  I don't even remember what he was crying about?  He was not hurt though, I promise. I'm sure I had just said "no" to something he wanted....the usual.

I still love him to pieces though.

Oh Christmas Tree...

Don't you just LOVE a real Christmas tree? Well, I do. The smell...well, it just can't be beat. My husband complains about the hassle every year, but I know deep down he really does like it. Really, he does....right?  Since Bishop has been under the weather lately we decided to just go pick one up from Lowe's last weekend. Maybe next year we can do something more fun like go to a tree farm...or go get one from the woods or something. 

For the record, I did take pictures of our tree on the top of the Volvo on the way home, however, I am a not the brightest bulb and left the SD card in the computer at home. We really looked like the Griswold's. 

Bishop loved helping put the "balls" on the tree. He couldn't quite figure out that you hang them by the hooks, but he tried. 

My cute little helper

It is so colorful and cheerful and it makes me happy to look at it all lit up in our living room. 

I couldn't decide on color or white lights...and I'm happy I went with the colored ones! I actually love them both though! 

Mall Date

We don't get out much. Actually we don't get out EVER. And, I am totally ok with that most of the time. However, we decided to take Bishop to the mall the other night and see Santa. I had promised him we would ride the choo choo train and we ended up making a whole night of it.

After a little shopping and eating some Chick fil a, I decided to give the "horsies" another chance since he begged to "ride horsies with mama". However, it went something like this....

I think he somewhat enjoyed it. Maybe? He is fascinated by the horses, but scared to death to actually get on one.

Then, we saw Santa Claus...

 I'll post a pic later...it is funny. He didn't cry although he almost did. I talked him into sitting in his lap, but he definitely was not happy about it. Later on when we passed Santa again, he chatted it up with him telling him all about the horses and the train. Go figure. 

Then, after many promises, we finally rode the mall train. He was a little apprehensive at first (I mean after Santa and the horse incident), but when he realized the Leon and I were going to ride too, he was so happy. 

Saying "choo choo" going down the mall

Then we played in the mall play area...

Picking up the ladies already!

Then, maybe the BEST part of the night for my little cookie monster.....COOKIES!!

Is it ridiculous that I took this many pictures in the MALL? Probably so. Like I said, we don't get out much! It was a fun, fun night. I'm not sure who enjoyed it the most..me or Bishop? Well worth those $8 worth of cookies :)

Thanksgiving 2011

We had a great Thanksgiving this year!

I wasn't able to make it to Thanksgiving with my dad and step-mom (work...boo) but Leon got to take Bishop for a little bit. I heard he had fun.  Leon didn't take any pictures tho...apparently that is a momma thing.

My mom cooked seafood Tuesday night. Seafood? For Thanksgiving? Well, it wasn't actually Thanksgiving and she figured everyone might get tired of turkey and dressing by Thursday. Either way, it was good and Bishop had a blast playing with his cousins.

Thanksgiving Day was maybe the best ever. We didn't have any big family get togethers to rush around to go to so it was fabulous. We just had lunch with my parents and that was it. No stress! Well, that is not entirely true, Bishop may have had a meltdown right as we were about to eat but the food was still great and nap time was near!

Then, we spent the weekend with Leon's family and it was also great. Nothing like a lazy, rainy day with the family! Bishop had SO much fun playing with his cousins.

Cooking the fried cauliflower. It isn't a Hays holiday without it. 

I must at least explain the last photo. Just as Karen was about to set her fresh-out-of-the-oven potato casserole down...splat, it hit the floor. We all just kinda stood there and stared at it for a while. Then Leon's dad scooped it up, put it back in the container, and we ate it. Yes, we ate it...off of the floor...and it was really GOOD. I'm sure it would have been even better with the layer of cheese and bacon that hit the floor!

I'm not sure who made the best first impression, Karen for dropping it or us for eating it??? Either way, at least we can laugh about it!

Where is Bishop?

Thankful

I love thanksgiving, I truly do. I've decided I must be a very festive person because I pretty much love every holiday. I just think there is a season for everything in life, a time for celebrating and a time for reflection and remembering. It is nice to stop for a minute and realize what all we have to be thankful for. Sometimes we get so bogged down with what else we need or what we want or what we think we could do better that we often forget the things that we have to be thankful for.

I have stated it before and I'll say it again, another reason that I love Thanksgiving is that you can focus on family and not so much on crazy amounts of decorations and gifts. Don't get me wrong, I am no scrooge and I love Christmas but I don't like to start thinking Christmas until after thanksgiving. (I won't say that I haven't already eaten a bag or two of Christmas edition candy cane hershey kisses though)

I do thank God every single day of my life for being blessed with my child. Most days I am also thankful for my husband too :) and my super awesome family BUT, aside from that I don't really take the time to reflect on what I have that I really don't deserve. And, quite honestly, I have a lot. 

I have seen on Facebook and other blogs the 31 days of thankfulness and I do think it is a great idea, but I decided just to blog about it...and I may or may not have time to come up with 31 things but I guarantee I am thankful for a whole lot more than that. 

• A God that never fails, always has a plan way better than any I could choose for myself, and one that forgives and loves me even when I mess up. And a God that provides in a way that I could have never imagined. 
• My husband. He truly is a great father and a great husband. I don't know what I'd do without him. Seriously, I don't have a clue. 
• Having 2 of my best friends back in my life. My heart is much happier now. 
• My family....biological, "step" (I really hate that word), and the family I married into. I truly love them all and am so thankful for them. Not everyone has such a crazy fun, loving, and supportive family. 
• Friends..I already mentioned 2 of them, but I am so thankful to have the best friends on the planet. Most of them don't even live in the same town (which stinks beyond belief) BUT we make it work. That is just what real friends do. 
• Good music. I am not musically talented in any form or fashion, but I am thankful for those who are. Music can set the mood for any occasion, bring back memories, bring a tear to your eye, and a smile to your face. I know that is random, but it is true. Maybe I was listening to music when I thought of this...I don't really know. 
• The internet. Really, what would I do with all of my time without it? What would I cook? What would I decorate with? How would I know how to do anything? How would I plan a party? How would I know what anyone was doing? How would I know that there are so many interesting people out there and that some of them have the life I dream of? Not to mention, how would I fill prescriptions?
• Food. I am thankful to never worry about going without it first of all. It is easy to forget that there are people in this world who literally struggle to have enough food for their family. Second of all, I am thankful that food is so darn good!
• A roof over my head. And, I must say it is a lovely roof to me.  It may not be perfect and I can almost guarantee there will always be a project going on and something I am in the middle of changing (ask the husband!), but it has everything I could ever need plus a whole lot of things I don't really need (but I am happy to have). 
• Hobbies. I am thankful that I have things to occupy my time with things that I enjoy....photography, crafts, cooking, sewing, blog stalking, blogging. Problem is I have too many hobbies and not enough hours in the day. 
• My job. Even though I struggle with working full time (verses part time), there is no other job that I could find as a pharmacist with my schedule. I really am lucky. I am very aware of that fact. 
• Sundays. Even on the Sundays I work, I still get to spend the mornings with my family, and get to go to church as a family...something I struggled with for 2 years that wasn't an option because of work schedules. 
• The little things in life. Singing a song with my B, chai lattes, watching Bishop's face light up when he sees something for the first time, staying up late laughing with family, spending days at home and never getting out of PJ's, the way my house feels so homey at Christmastime, sleeping late, snuggling on the couch watching Mickey Mouse with my B, the smell of waking up to breakfast cooking, hugs and "tisses" from the sweetest boy I know, I could go on (and on and on). I saw a quote on Pinterest that read "Enjoy the little things.... for one day you'll look back and realize they were big things." So true. Little things are my life. 

See, nowhere close to 31...but I tried, and I am thankful, always thankful.