Happy Thanksgiving!!

We had a wonderful day. Thankful for family, food, fun, and fantastic little girls!

I decided to give up on the idea of staging some elaborate Christmas card photos---because frankly I'm too busy to think of something and too lazy to put the effort into setting some photoshoot up, only to be disappointed by uncooperative children--who even when trying to cooperate still never manage to look at the camera at the same time! lol. So we took a few pictures today with them looking cute in their matching outfits--and I scraped together  a few for a Christmas card. Not going to share the  card on here yet though, but these are others from the day :-)

I had to chuckle, as I  stuffed Brielle's  highchair  under  the kitchen counter and she ate mum-mums like a poor  forgotten baby, while the rest of us sat around the table for Thanksgiving dinner :-P Oh well, she didn't seem to mind!

Raya was in 7th heaven sitting at the  "kiddie table"....she  thought sitting under the kitchen counter was super cool!

It's the little things that make her happy :-)

...and then after eating a giant Thanksgiving dinner and stuffing ourselves full we did what any normal family would do...we went and jumped on the trampoline! LOL

Love her baby belly showing haha

I warned Grandma that  her butt would make the blog :-P

And now  I'm off to let my stomach recover before  our next Thanksgiving celebration on Sunday!

P.S. Check  out my blogger friend over at Mrs. Mommy to see pics of her little girl modeling the turkey shirt I made her---she looks adorable! :-)

We're shopping around for a baby to love...

...and last  night Lee found one that I told him I wanted to bring home! Isn't she cute? We got her on sale--she was discounted because she doesn't nap and likes  to eat things off the floor :-P

Lee thought it'd be funny to  push Brielle around in the shopping cart and "chase" Raya. Let's just say Raya  was not at all amused.

I'll end with a few things I'm thankful for, since Thanksgiving is tomorrow and I've not been good about remembering to include my thankful posts every day on here!

1) I'm thankful that everyone is coming over to our house tomorrow for lunch, and that we now live close enough to actually have things like this at our place! I'm also thankful that  everyone else is doing the cooking, because even though I have to clean house today at least I'm not trying to cook a turkey! All I had to bring was fruit---picked up a fruit tray at the store today and now I'm set ;-)

2) I'm thankful that Brielle is a happy, thriving baby! Of course every mom thinks her kids are the smartest and most adorable, but mine really are! :-) Brielle has been doing lots of new "tricks" lately. She  can stand on her own now! I first discovered this when she pulled up on Raya's bedroom door and when I opened the door she continued to just stand there, not holding on to anything! And now (if she's in the mood) I can stand her in the middle of the room and she'll stand there for 5 seconds or so. Such a big girl! She is also "dancing" now....pretty much only her head dances, but it's so cute. She'll shake her head side to side and giggle along with the music. I'm going to try to take her 10 month pictures with sock monkey  this afternoon (b/c I"m sure she'll wake up from her nap after 20 minutes lol)....I've decided that as long as her monthly photos get done during the right month it's all good---we've pretty much given up hope of taking them on the actual day :-P

3) I'm thankful for my health. My rheumatoid arthritis had really flared up after having Brielle---after kind of being in remission for a couple years--and that was a big bummer. But things settled way down the last  couple months. So  much so that I'm supposed to take medicine daily and have such a hard time remembering because I'm not in pain during the day to make me even think of it! So yay for that :-)

4) I'm thankful for being able to bring in some money even while staying home with the girls--best of both worlds! We don't *need* my money  to survive, because obviously if we did I never would have quit my job. But it sure is nice that I can stay home with the girls and still bring in a little money to help out and feel like I can splurge on things from time to time. My Etsy shop has been doing so so well lately---it makes me very happy! Get this everyone....in the last 7 days I have done just barely under $500 worth of sales. Amazing! Clearly it's a time of year when people are buying so I don't consistently bring in that much weekly, but it sure does help out with my xmas shopping this time of year.  I also babysit my neice and nephew on Mondays,  and as of now the plan is that I'm going to start watching Sawyer and Harper's cousin (from their other side of the family) after he is born this  spring--3 days a week. I  graduated with Emily's brother and he is having a boy in March, so in April we'll likely have some boy cooties over here ;-) It'll  be good  practice for when we have our third and final baby---which as  of now I am in absolutely no hurry to have!!!!

5) I'm thankful for the pumpkin muffin that I'm eating right  now--impulse buy when I went to the store today for the above mentioned fruit tray. Yum :-)

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Mama's girl---no, *really*

So today I  was reading one of my favorite blogs (Spohrs Are Multiplying ) and she was talking about how her 2 year  old is a complete Daddy's girl. And as she was writing about how her daughter will say "no, daddy do it!" or how sometimes they have to "force" her to give her mom a hug goodnight, etc. I was thinking to myself "that is so sad!" ....and then I thought about Miss Raya Marie. She does that *exact* same stuff only  she is a Mama's girl! Most of the time it's great (I mean, nothing like an ego boost to have your kid think you are the best, right?! :-) But other times it's really really annoying (like when Lee is volunteering to do baths and bedtime routine, and Raya is screaming "I neeeeeeeeeeed Mama!!!" and crying hysterically. Oh the drama :-P)

I've been trying lately to have Lee do more things with her when he's home, but at what point do you decide you're not  going to pick that battle? I mean, do you really put your kid in timeout and make her scream and cry because she doesn't want to let Daddy comb her hair? Isn't it kinda silly to force your kid against her will to let daddy read a bedtime book--what kind of daddy/daughter moment is it really if you're reading a book to a screaming hysterical toddler? :-P Anyways, that's kind of the state of affairs right now with  Miss Raya. She's stubborn and too smart for her own good, and she's a major Mama's girl! Oh well, guess I'll just enjoy it now, before she's a teenager who wants nothing to do with me :-)

Here are some pictures of *both* my Mama's girls--goodbye cardboard fort in the basement, and hello climber/slide :-)

Clearly we are working on taking turns with sissy

king of the mountain!

She was saying "look at my stinky butt Mama!"  LOL

Kiddie Glamour Shots

First off, Lee took some "timer" pictures of his recent daddy day---thought I'd share :-)

Clearly  his setup was a little off in this one hehe

In other news, I'm staying busy around here! Is it Thanksgiving yet? I  need a break lol. Oh wait, I volunteered to  have Thanksgiving at my house this year--gotta clean! At least my mom is making a majority of the food. Lee's parents are coming up and also my brother's family. Then our big Thanksgiving on my mom's side isn't until Sunday. Yum  Yum.

Today is Monday,  which is aka crazy day :-P

Actually, Monday's aren't too bad. I sit in the basement with my coffee and the today show, and every once  in awhile I peek  up the stairs to make sure the kids are still alive

Yep, still there :-P

Ok, Ok,.....just kiddin'. But  sometimes when I have to run downstairs quick I can't help but taunt the babies  a little :-P I like to stand on the steps and say "na na, you can't get me!" ....they love  it ;-)

How good is this picture  I managed to  get of them today?!

of course, then Harper started swatting at Brielle, which is her favorite thing to  do...

...and then when  I told Harper "no no" I  got THE LOOK.

This is one of my favs of Harper :-)

Hoodie!

MUST. REMOVE. HOODIE. NOW.

"Fine,  the hoodie  stays"

Sawyer likes  to watch  TV under  our coffee table for  some reason

And now begins my photoshoot attempts.

Seriously, when did my baby turn into a beautiful little  girl?!

Forehead kisses

A little tongue  action :-)

And now, my kiddie glamour shots--I was trying to get a good look at their eyes--so different but both so pretty! (or handsome ;-)

Raya got a little rash on her forehead after she was sick last week---and ended up with  a random scab on her forehead!

Happy Thanksgiving week everyone!