Thanksgiving 2012

This years festivities really started on Monday 11/19/12. I went out and bought a Turkey and the rest of the items needed for Thanksgiving dinner. When I got everything put away I started my pumpkin cheesecake and I dare say it turned out good :) of course I almost forgot about doing it.

 

Next came on Wednesday when I had to put the turkey in a brine to be ready to cook it the next day.

 

 

That night my parents came up since they were going to have thanksgiving with me. My mom started on the cranberries and rasberry ribbon salad.

 

 

Next day came most of the cooking. Yams, mashed potatoes, stuffing, green bean casserole and of course I cant forget the turkey. The rest of the house guest there were also coming was Cindy, Will, Chenal, Taylour and Jourdan. Sherry and Mike almost came over but decided to go with their son and daughter in law to their daughter in laws parents house. Clayton is on the slope for thanksgiving this year and I just decided with all that Chenal and Cindy have going on this year I would take the burden of hosting off them.

Chenal and Cindy brought over the rolls, deviled eggs, and a jello/marshmallow desert. Everything looked so yummy and smelled so good. And if I do say so myself I did a darn good job (props to my mom and mother in law as well)

 

 

It was really nice to spend time with my family all together (minus Clayton, Brianna, and my brothers), but I heard that Jason spent time Thanksgiving with Nichole via skype, and I'm hoping Adam got to celebrate in some way shape or form being in Qatar. I did get to skype with Brianna and wish her a Happy Thanksgiving. Shes doing well and always "licks" me to say goodbye. One month down and 2 to go.

 

 

 

 

Happy Thanksgiving 2012!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 





Missing her

As I lay in bed unable to sleep, listening to Preston breathe over the monitor, and "watching" tv. All I can do I'd think about Brianna. Even though we're so much closer now than when I was in Alaska it gets harder and harder to be apart from her. At the end of three months (because of her "tudes" as I call then) I am so ready for a break but not a three month break. It could be an hour maybe 2, or even maybe a 24 hour period but not 3 months or longer than a 24 hour period. I miss her like jelly misses peanut butter. I miss her like a hot dog misses its bun. I miss her like a fish misses water. I miss her more than anything!! A child's love can never be replaced! Miss you Bri! These next 2 months will go by quick and Ill be seeing you around Christmas!!

Sesame Street live leads to hard weekend

I can't wait for another year and a half or sooner to go by. It's never easy seeing Brianna off to her dads. It pulls my heart, and now I have to be strong for Preston. He is definitely keeping my mind off missing her but little things bring the aching right back. February can not come fast enough. Yes every mother needs a break sometimes but when I know it's going to be longer than 24 hours it sucks.
On a happier note though before she went to her dads, I wanted to do something fun with Brianna. I was looking into the fun center in kalispell when Clayton decided we should leave a day early so my parents could have a little more time with Brianna. So I looked into the fun center in Missoula. While looking into that my dad told me that Sesame Street live: Elmo's super heros were in town. And he graciously got us tickets. At first Bri didn't seem to into (that's when I noticed that I might have the same issue on my hands that my parents had, a fear of costumes people). Once she got into my lap, I helped her get into it. And at the end she started crying cause she didn't want Elmo to go. We had to tell her he needed a nap and was hungry and needed to feed his fish Dorothy.
I miss my baby girl but at least I'm not 2700 miles away anymore and can come down and see her when I want :)

Happy Halloween 2012

So this year I decided to make a tradition start. The Sunday before Halloween is when our family will carve our pumpkins. We can get them before that time of course but since pumpkins tend to get yucky quick after carving and or people or animals destroy them then why not do something with them just before the holiday season really starts. I let Brianna pick out 3 pumpkins. 2 to carve, and one to color on. For getting them the saturday before Halloween I'd say we got some very good decent looking ones. And when it comes to the carving, I must say I am very pleased with myself on how I did because this was my first year actually doing the carving.

 

 

Brianna had such concentration when it came to doodling on her pumpkin. Mainly because she wrote her name on it. Just learning how to write your name and doing it on a pumkpin is very tricky, but she was a pro at doing it and it came out awesome. Poor little Preston was just stuck in his swing while mommy played with a knife and gooey stuff and sissy colored.

 

 

The day of Halloween came. 2 days of lack sleep finally crept up to me as I got a headache and felt like poo, so I tried relaxing for the most part. I had to get the house back to being clean (amazing that I can clean house spick and span and then have it looking like I never did anything to it in about 5 minutes) since Clayton comes home this evening. Of course my wanting to make cookies didnt help my cause for not making a mess because if you know me and how I cook/bake I'm a very messy cook, I dont tend to clean as I go, I just wait until the end to clean. But I had my helper with me :)

 

 

 My headache went away around the time I had to start getting Brianna and Preston ready to trick or treat. For 2 weeks Brianna has talked about being Belle for Halloween, so she was. Luckily I knew Preston wasnt going to really care about trick or treating being only 3 months old so I didnt get him a costume but Clayton bought him a cute "hunting" outfit and I put him in that, so if anybody asked I could say he was a hunter (no one did ask but they did say awww cute baby... well duuuhhh)

 

 

After only 2 blocks Brianna decided she was done with trick or treating. The blocks that we got to didnt have very many houses that had candy either, unless they just didnt have their lights on yet but one stretch had multiple doors with signs saying no candy. So we made our way back home. Bri took her Belle dress off and once Preston was done eating she used my nursing apron as a cape and became a super hero for Halloween. She did seem to have more fun handing out the candy then she did getting it.

 

 

 

Well Happy Halloween everyone!!

 

 

 



Little man

He's growing up to fast. Sure he doesn't quite roll over yet, he did rollover alot during his first 2 weeks, but his favorite thing to do is stand. Once he learns to push up and grab things I'm gonna be in trouble. He laughs little laughs and loves to talk. He sleeps most of the night in his big crib and is slowly sleeping through the night. It's hard to let him grow up but he's getting to big for his bassinets he almost has no room to move. Today he turned 3 months old, and I can't wait to see what this next month is going to have in store for us.

First snow day

We woke up to about 6 inches of snow on the ground. Which I must say was kinda a bummer since I now have a sidewalk and no shovel. But I knew the sun would be out and would prob have it melted off by the afternoon (which happened). But I figured heck lets make the most of it and get some fresh air really quick before the snow melted. So I fed Preston, bundled Brianna up got my coat and gloves on and bundled Preston up as best I could since we don't have a snow suit for him yet. At first it didn't look like good snowman snow. But one corner of the yard cooperated with us. I built up some snow as best as possible and grabbed some sticks and berries and a leaf from the tree next to me. Got a couple pictures of Brianna before she decided to become her destructive self and knock it over.
We also had a bit of a snow fight :) we were only outside for a little bit before my headache decided to make its presence and Preston started fussing and well as getting a cold nose. So back in the house it is to have some lunch.