Thanksgiving

I lost my trusty memory card last week (causing a slight panic attack that I eventually had to come to terms with), so thanks to Cara for sharing her Thanksgiving pictures.  It was quite a joyful afternoon at Oma and Opa's house.  Bruce gave me the low down on turkey preparation since I've never laid a finger on a turkey prior to it hitting my plate.  Dude partied hard with Brady, Payton, Nolan, Heath and Cohen.  Oh, and Uncle Brad.  He and the kids hung out in the crawl space playing the trombone for a good while.  I know, totally random.  Dude thought that was rather awesome.  Thanks for being willing to be a "kid" with the kids Uncle Brad.  Sue hauled out her famous Turkey game, which draws the whole clan together for some fierce competition.  I made it to the last round and lost to Wes.  Grrrrrrr. 

The grub was delicious (Dude ate 3 pieces of turkey and a roll, but Tim and I chowed down), the company fantastic and the Syers pies even better.  We're grateful for a place to call home when we can't be with our families.  Thanks to Oma and Opa for all your hard work and patience with a household full of super fun chaos! 

Hallelujah

I'm a real sissy when it come to getting emotional these days.  This video, sent to me by my lovely Maria, had me blubbering like a baby tonight.  I don't know what it was that got me....perhaps the sheer beauty of the vocal instruments and the power of the song they're singing...perhaps the joy of spreading the true meaning of the Christmas season with a group of random strangers...perhaps the idea of a little baby entering the world around Christmas time and bringing love and hope....Definitely all of the above.  Enjoy friends..

  

Thankful

It's Thanksgiving morning and our house is abuzz with thanks.  We woke up at 7:45, Duder and I headed down to watch the "big balloons in the sky chasing each other" (Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade), Dad headed to the store to get cinnamon rolls and we did some puzzles that were drawing dust in the corner.  Our little buddy Riley came over for a while - Dude embraced her immediately, wishing her a very happy thanksgiving and bombarding her with unwanted kisses.  Gonna have to work on that one before the dating years approach.

We sat down as a family (plus Riles) with our red "thankful" box to update it for 2010.  We add strips of things we're thankful for whenever the spirit moves us.  Seemed logical to add to it today.  Below is a random sampling of what our little family is giving thanks for today.....

*Tim's patience (yeah, that's mine)
*Our church family
*Lights & coffee (Rylan's...I have no idea.)
*A new small group bible study
*Baby Landon in Cara's belly & baby squirt in Brook's belly (Rylan's)
*Grandpa V's dogs, Annie, Squirt & Riley (Rylan's) 
*Good health, health insurance and a health savings account
*A kiddo who loves to sleep
*Supportive and connected family
*A house with plenty of room to play, play, play
*Baby Chase joining the world in February
*Uncle Kyle and Aunt Becky's l-o-v-e
*God's control over everything.  Despite our need to control.
*Ms. Yvetta, Mrs. Olsen & April.  Dude's pre-school & day care providers who love him like their own & do the crafts that this craft-challenged Mama is not so inclined to do.
*A Colorado family network that we couldn't live happily without

Of course there are countless more reasons to be thankful.  Countless.  We'll continue to enjoy our relaxing morning and will head over to Oma and Opa's to eat more food than should be humanly possible with our Colorado family.  Who we love oh so much.  Sure do wish we could pop in at my brother and sister-in-law's house today and give love to my entire family.  Absence sure does make the heart grow fonder.  From our house to yours, we hope you're all having a very happy Thanksgiving.    

D-Day Update

I've been overwhelmed with friends and fam asking about the whereabouts of the "expecting" blog.  Sorry friends.  We decided, for the sake of our family's privacy, that we needed to shut it down and keep updates for friends and family only.  There are some really hateful people out there and we no longer wanted to give them access to our family.  Thanks for tuning in here. 

Update....all is well in utero.  Baby is growing, heart rate is great and we're still scheduled for an approximate January 7th due date.  Brook is tired, but feeling pretty good and is still confident in her decision to relinquish.  She understands that she's not in a place to give this baby girl the life she wants for her and is eager to let us meet her.  It's been tough not having contact with her and it's getting tougher as the date gets closer.  I'm having to constantly remind myself that God is in control of this entire situation.  He's looking out for Brook, for the baby, for us...His ultimate plan is the very best one.  So, no matter what happens in the coming month, it will be in all of our best interests.  Many days, that's a lot easier said than lived, but I'm doing my best.  Deep breaths.  Stress levels are just high and there's no way around it.  The legal stuff is not figured out yet, which looms over us.  We're having to renew our home study, fingerprints, doctor visits etc as its been a year and they're expired.  The birth details obviously can't be figured out until its upon us.  That's a tough one for this planner extraordinaire.  Really tough.  With a 6 hour drive, we're gonna have to bust it the second that phone call comes through.  We're being asked to stay in the waiting room at this point.  My prayer is that I'll be able to go into the delivery room at the last minute.  I would sure love to be present for one of my kids births.  So...we'll see.         

My mom is coming out early January to stay with Duder while we're gone.  We're hoping the timing will work out when she's here because we can't bring Dude with.  He can't be in the hospital and would be left alone in a hotel while we're in the hospital.  Can't do that.  We might have to stay in Wyoming for a week or more, depending on how quickly the judges from both states sign off on our paperwork.  We're hoping that won't be the case, but are preparing for that reality.  We're also praying that there aren't any major complications at birth as this hospital doesn't have a NICU.  We'd have to airlift her to Denver or Salt Lake. 

All in all, we're really excited to meet this little girl.  And incredibly anxious.  A big part of me is allowing the anxiety take over the excitement until she's in our backseat, heading home to her big brother.  If you're a believer in prayer, please pray.  Not just for us.  Pray for Brook and the birth dad.  This is a massive life experience they're about to go through and we want nothing but the best for them.  We don't want to pressure them in the least.  And so pray.  We're just gonna pray.  That God's will be done.  

Hodgepodge of Happy

I'm a bit behind in my documentation of life.  Lots of happy happening lately.  Let's start with happy hiking.  We went to Roxborough 2 weekends ago with some neighbor buds and had a fantastic morning.  Dude was a real trooper and only made us carry him 7 times.  But we made it, with no tears or blood.  That's something.   

Crunchy leaves provided a whole lotta happy.  What's even happier is that those dead yellow leaves are now in the dump and not awaiting us to bag them.  Dude and Riles (and Dad) enjoyed burying themselves in the ginormous pile before we bagged them in the pitch dark before the first snow flakes fell. 

Duder and Dad went to Las Vegas last weekend.  And I stayed home.  Alone.  Yes, yes, that was a very happy period of time.  I cleaned, organized, went out for lunch and shopping with Megan for her birthday, drank wine with neighbor girlies, went to a matinee with Stacy (when's the last time you saw a flick in the middle of the day????) and hosted a shower for baby Landon.  We started with nails at the cutest little nail salon this side of the Rocky Mountains and then ate and opened little bundles of wrapped cuteness at my house.  It was fun spoiling Cara for a few hours.  Can't wait to meet the latest dude, who might just marry our daughter.  This current pairing is our big chance!         

Back to Vegas.  Tim's Dad flew the boys out for a dude's weekend.  Uncle Adam and our nephew Isaac joined them from Toronto, which was a rare and awesome treat.  They went to the air show, went out for good Vegasy food, stayed in and watched Duder play with the 3 dogs for hours on end, bowled, gambled...it was a perfect weekend of male bonding.  Dude was an angel for Dad - THANK YOU son.  He was awarded with a Buzz Lightyear doll when he got home.  As promised.  I will admit that I was overjoyed to see my big and little dudes when they pulled in the driveway.  Absence definitely makes the Mama and wife heart grow fonder.

 Mr. Vegas. In the flesh. 

 The dudes, minus Uncle Nick, Josiah and baby to be, Chase.

 How cute are these two?  They kinda look alike huh? 

 Future fighter pilot.  Really, he took interest for like 4 minutes and then wanted to hop on carnival rides the remainder of the day.

After an hour of waiting in line to get in, Dude and Grandpa arrive. In style, might I add!

Opening the Dude Vault Yet Again

Gave Dude a box of pink Nerds the other day.  He told everyone he saw that morning that he "loved eating his little pink "nards."  And "would you like to eat my little pink "nards?"  Yeah.  Some day Dude.  Some day you'll understand. 


On Halloween, we went to the grocery store and Dude saw a lady in wings walk in.  He screamed out for "Tinkerbell" the entire visit but couldn't find her again.  Everyone in the store was aware of his quest for Tink.  Finally, I took him to the deli area where there was a heavyset African American woman wearing wings, glitter in her hair and lighting up pumpkin earings.  He said, "Mom.....THERE'S TINKERBELL!!!!!  Can I meet her?"  We went over and he sheepishly said "hi" to Tink.  She melted at my little boy's fascination and gave him a slice of cheese.  Then he said, "Excuse me Tinkerbell, where is your dress?"  As we walked away, he grabbed my face and said, "Mom, Tinkerbell is soooo beautiful right?"  Yes honey.  You sweet little innocent child.  She is so beautiful.  And so are you. 

Dude and Dad were raking leaves this week.  Dude stopped, looked at Dad and said, "Dad, I tink it's time for you to go get my baby sissy."  Little love.  Soon enough. 

Dude was grabbing at his chest yesterday.  When I asked what he was doing, he replied, "I'm squeezing Jesus."  "What do you mean?"  "Jesus lives in my heart Mom.  I'm squeezing him."  I melted.  Cheesy, I know.  But I melted.  Then he started hitting his chest and informed me that he was "hitting Jesus."  I stopped melting. 

We went to Babies R Us to buy a new rocker for the nursery.  Dude found a buzz light year chair that had holes to put your arms through in order to wear it on your back.  There were wings.  And so he "flew" around the store for 45 minutes having the time of his life.  When it was time to leave we told him to put it back because it belonged to the store and we couldn't take it home.  He replied with the following...."No, Mom and Dad.  You just take it to the counter and buy it.  It's $10.  And then I take it home to my house."  Dad and I looked at each other and bowed our heads. 

Dude saw a heavyset woman while out with Dad.  He proceeded to point to her belly and ask her, "Lady, when is YOUR baby coming out?"  Again, yeah.  Luckily for Dad, the woman responded with, "Honey, I just have a chubby belly!"  That you ma'am. Thank you kindly.

More to come as my child graces us with his "kidness."  Oh how I love his "kidness." 

Make Ya Jump

There was a whole lotta jumping going on round here on Friday night.  We kicked off the night at Jumpstreet, a building filled with giant trampolines (and a ton of rowdy teenagers..my favorite).  But there was a section dedicated to little guys, so that's where we spent our time.  The Foremans joined us and Jack and Dude went to their happy place and bounced around for an hour.  Without even considering taking a break.  It was bliss for the 2 little dudes.  $4 well spent.   

"What Ry?  You want to stand on that block?  Well, let's see about that."

 

"What Jack?  You want to play with that block?  Let's just see about that."

After dragging the boys out of Jumpstreet, we put them to bed at our pad and introduced the adults to Tim's new favorite toy, Kinect.  It's a connection to XBOX and is the newest wave of gaming technology.  No remotes.  Just your body and the tv.  The avatars on the screen mimic everything you do.  If you jump, it jumps.  If you pick your nose, it picks its nose.  If you fall on your face, it falls on its face.  You get the idea.  We played for a good hour until we were wiped out, both from physically  moving and from laughing our little hynies off.  You'll get the idea below.  Jump jump.  That was the theme of the night.  A super fun night I might add. 

This Dresser...

Last week, this 300+ pound dresser....fell on top of my little man.  Right on top of him.  I was in my bathroom getting ready and I heard a colossal "thump," followed by screaming.  I ran in there, could not find him and climbed over the dresser until I saw his head poking out the side.  His waist and legs were pinned underneath and he was terrified.  To say the least.  I'm pretty sure I was screaming too and put my body weight underneath the dresser, allowing him just enough room to scoot his legs out from under it.  I picked him up, screaming, stripped him to make sure there were no injuries and held him for 10 minutes until we both calmed down.  Ends up, he had opened all the drawers at the same time and it got top heavy.  Luckily, the drawers are what hit him and the glass from the lamp and frame didn't cut him.  It was a mess, but thank God he was okay. 

We're now talking about mounting all our dressers to the wall to prevent this from happening again.  It's frightening to think about the random accidents that can happen in the comfort of your own home.   

All Things Halloweeny

I'm pretty sure we coined last year's Halloween festivities as "the best day of dude's life," but this year's Halloween activities definitely surpassed the level of joy that dude experienced in 09.  We'll backtrack....

We started the mood with some Thursday night pumpkin carving.  Dude has never been thrilled with this concept before...ok, he has hated every gooey detail of it.  But we made strides this year.  Oooey gooey strides.  When we told him that he could whip the guts at his swing set outside, he was down with the pumpkin carving.  Granted, he did wipe his hands on a towel after every single reach inside.  Whatever.  We shouldn't complain about the kid wanting to be clean right?

After an abbreviated nap on Sunday, we transitioned into Mr. Buzz Lightyear and the rest is a 3 year old's dream.  A dream filled with running around the neighborhood with his Lightning McQueen basket yelling, "To finity and beyond!", chatting with every single home owner that gifted him with candy and being given WAY more than one piece of chocolate goodness per house.  We visited our friends the Perettis for neighborhood co-op madness, which we all love.  They graciously opened their home and backyard to at least a dozen costumed children and adults alike. 
  

 Purple haired Maria and the hood's true Jamaicann, Tim with their little flower, Delaney.

 The "big kids."

The "little kids."

Some of our favorite phrases from the night....

"Excuse me lady, Mommy said you have to put candy in dis basket ok?"
"I tooted in Buzz Lightyear!  Peeuuuu!"
"I am a Buzz Lightyear.  What are YOUUUUU being?"
"And YOU have a spooky house lady!  I see a spider and some pumpkins and skelions that are lighted up too!"
"Let's go meet Tigger dat lights up.  I will tickle his toes!"  (He totally chickened out when we got close to the ginormous blow up plastic character).

 Our neighbors were hit up first and he was gifted with an orange sprinkle donut.  Note, next year eat dinner before trick or treating.

 This is about as close to Tigger as we got. 

My boys hangin outside, waiting for trick or treaters.

Following our neighborhood trick or treating extravaganza, we headed to Oma and Opa's for their annual soup and bread party.  The kiddos were all priceless (special props to baby Heath for being about the cutest little puppy you've ever laid eyes on).  Barbie and Aunt Sue looked pretty smokin!  When you got it, flaunt it ladies.  We stopped at a couple more neighborhood houses on our way home and let Dude answer the door for 20 minutes before his oh so tired little Buzz head hit the pillow like a rock at 9:00pm.

I think he's still carrying a smile as a result of the day.  And he's eating dinner like a champ since he knows a piece of his Halloween candy awaits.

 Like I said, hot stuffs!

 Cute.as.a.button.

 Fireman Noly, Pirate Bradster, Bunny Ella, Puppy Heath, Kitty Payton and Buzz Dude.

    Cohen and Cara were twins for the holiday.  Matching bellies and all.