Happy Thanksgiving Weekend

First I must apologize for the picture - less post this will be. Rhyan's first Thanksgiving and not one picture of her in her pretty dress and moccassins ;( Oh, well that seems to be the pattern when hosting events, I never have time nor remember to take pictures. You'll have to settle for two, really bad pictures I took the night before on my phone with no flash because the battery was about to die.

Table setting, Turkey Ornaments are napkin holders and favors for guests to take home. Bells are for the kids to hang on their tree.

This year Thanksgiving was hosted by me and Lisa at our place for a small dinner party, 5 adults and 3 and 1/2 kids ;) (Rhyan is the 1/2 just in case you didn't guess.) Our get together started around noon. Here's the menu:

Appetizers

Spinach Dip

Artichoke Dip

Deviled Eggs

Main Dishes

Turkey Breast, stuffed with proscuitto, mozzarella and basil. Breaded, pan fried and baked

Stuffing

Scalloped Poatatoes

Cranberry Sauce

Carrots

Dessert

Apple Pie

Oreo Cheesecake

Served with three flavors of bubbly

Pomegrante Rasperry

Pomegrante Apple

Apple

Almost everything was homemade except the spinach and artichoke dip, (save time, buy your appetizers) stuffing and oreo cheesecake. Lisa made homemade cranberry sauce and this delicious carrot dish and the best apple pie I have ever tasted. I am NOT a pie fan, but I ate both slices she left, it was divine. We both made the turkey, I really didn't have a big crowd so my stepmom suggested to just do turkey breasts. They turned out great! And poor Lisa also got stuck slicing the potatoes and onions. Bruce is a handful when I need to be busy in the kitchen he wants to be involved throughout the entire process. Anyway, the meal was delicious and a lot of fun to make.

Kiel stopped by with his police car so the kids could check it out. Bruce absolutely loved it! He's been a big fan of cars lately. He likes to walk up to every car and try to open the doors and play with the headlights (I'm sure my neighbors are thrilled) so it was quite a treat when daddy let him sit in the cop car and press most of the buttons. Jack and Mariah had fun too. They love to watch Monster Inc. and Toy Story 3 and Jack and Bruce had a great time completely destroying Bruce's room. There wasn't one toy untouched, unfortunately there was a toy lost. I still can't find Jack's car. Those two also had a blast on the stairs, Jack really made Bruce laugh a lot. Mariah and Jack also had big news to share with everyone, Mariah announced that her baby brother Jace was born Thanksgiving morning! congrats to the Jordans! Kiel's parents brought Mariah and Jack over to our house and celebrated that day with us while Shelley and Steve hung out at the hospital with their new addition.

After all was clean (thanks Lisa) and our guests were gone, we enjoyed hot chocolate with cinnamon marshmellows and rested our feet for a quick minute. I headed to Target for the midnight opening of BLACK FRIDAY while Lisa stayed home and took care of Rhyan because unfortunately she did wake up and Kiel was not the happiest guy to find out his wife had ditched him and the kids for a sale (but he said he wasn't surprised.) Here is my quick rendition about black friday. Thankfully, my friend Katie was already in line while I was at home putting Rhyan to sleep. I only had to wait an hour and she waited two hours. The line wrapped around the building three times, luckily we were in the section where it wrapped around once. I could have easily picked up the 47" flat screen for $278 bucks but we don't need one. When we do need a T.V. though, I will be waiting until black friday. Instead, I picked up $5 blu rays, pj's, gifts for families and saved $65 dollars. I saved more than I make in 2 hours so it was worth it but I think next time I will wait in line when I need something big.

Friday day, Lisa, me and the kids had breakfast, cleaned up and went to Suzy Cakes. If you've never had a Suzy cupcake you are missing out on some major goodness. We bought our cup cakes and went to the El Segundo shopping center where the water floor fountains are and they also had their giant tree up. Plus H&M and JCrew are in this shopping center. After eating our cupcakes we did a little retail therapy. Shirts for $5 bucks, sweater dresses for $15, you can't beat that. I'm still soft and gooey all over and decided not to buy clothes that show off my love handles (sorry boys.) Maybe in another month or two or three or four? From the mall, Lisa went to Shelley and Steve's and I went home to put my tired babies down for naps. I think it was around 3 in the afternoon that I started feeling ill and around midnight I had the major case of the flu. I made regular visits to the bathroom all night. Luckily, Bruce and Rhyan both slept in till 10 a.m. so I could try and recover. I had a headache the rest of the day but thankfully I did all of my throwing up during the night. It would have been weird with Bruce hanging right by my side like he does with everything else I do.

Anyway it was a fun filled weekend and I am so thankful for my family and friends and nephews and nieces. My little ones have so many cousins within their age bracket that holiday get togethers will always be fun! Jack, Luke, Bruce and Sydney will be best buds and Erica, Rhyan, Jace and soon to be born, Sophie will have great fun too! My friend Katie mentioned that her mom rents a bouncy house for the kids every Thanksgiving. Eventually when we have our own house we'll have to rent a bouncy house on Thanksgiving for all of the cousins, that would be a lot of fun!

Happy Thanksgiving, we have a lot to be thankful for!

Love

Finally a day where I get to just sit an enjoy them and not worry about work!

Parenting 101 notes

I went to a parent lecture today. I forgot a pen and note pad so I blogged my notes using my phone. I was going to copy it later and delete this post but I think I will leave it up for all those who find this interesting as well. The speaker was Kent E. Parke, who is a family therapist for a little over 30 years. He was awesome.

1. Help your children develop faith and trust in a kind and loving Heavenly Father. - make church attendance a normal thing you do. Lead by example.

2. Demonstrate to your children that you are in love. Demonstrate a happy and wonderful marriage to your children. Knowing their father loves their mother is critical for a child's feeling of security and wellbeing. Learn to treat your spouse with love, kindness and compassion. The lord gave Adam a helpmeet (Eve) = which means equal helper.

3. Choose your battles wisely, avoid power struggles. Never argue or bicker. Set reasonable boundaries and consequences.
- do not raise your voice. "i'm sorry you feel that way" 6 simple words.

4. Never criticize. - 25/1 home research: for every 1 compliment made to the child their were 25 criticism to follow. Children get tons of critical feedback. 1/10: for one criticism give 10 compliments. children interpret criticism as rejection.

5. Compliment often. - maximize the positive - minmize the negative. Give hugs & kisses liberally - use "hit & run" (when older, by themselves give them a hug and kiss and get out of dodge before they complain)

6. Encourage communication - be a good listener. Avoid being critical and judgemental. Be enthusiastic and supportive. Girls communicate more than boys. When they do, be there for them. Be sensitive and understanding to their feelings, even if they tell you things you don't want to hear.

7. Encourage decision making. - age 18 is coming -always give choices and let them use their free agency even if they make the wrong choice.

8. Give unconditional love, kindness, and acceptance. All children have unlimited intrinsic worth and are gifts from God! We can never error on the side of kindness!

9. Make everything fun! "why say 'no' when you can say 'yes' - let's have fun! Be a fun dad, go do stuff with your kids.

10. Be willing to apologize. - none of us are perfect. Please and thank you also help.

Avoid being authoritative, controlling, rigid, manipulative, perfectionistic, critical, judgemental, defensive, grumpy, and rude. Learn to be at peace with yourself, your spouse, and your children.

Enjoy the journey! Kids are amazing and grow up fast!

The loving relationship you develop with your son or daughter always transcends performance! When in doubt - always focus on relationships! Help your children have a safe, happy and peaceful childhood!

Do the best you can and move forward!

Taking Notes

Life is happening so fast. One minute I'm changing Bruce's morning diaper and the next minute I'm putting him to bed. Here are a few photo's of our recent events along with me writing notes to myself.

Only take showers when Bruce is sleeping or playing with Kiel, otherwise he climbs in fully clothed and there is nothing you can do about it. Wait. when did he start getting into the tub by himself? This is new. Very new. You hate how fast he is growing but love every new accomplishment.

Rhyan is 3 months now and has many expressions.

She's mostly happy.But she has the sad face down when you stop holding her. Keep holding her, she'll be bigger in no time.
We went to the beach as a family. You loved it. It was Rhyan's first time there.

Rhyan gets her turkey neck from you, the above picture is proof.You love having a daughter. Especially one as sweet and angelic as Rhyan.
Baby legs are the best (the leggings she's wearing. But yes her legs are the fattest and cutest.) You need to buy more, they are starting to get tight.

Same picture but in different light. You can never decide on what pictures you like best so you just post them all.

Bruce walked in the sand all by himself for the first time. He usually wants to hold someone's hand but not this time. He now wants to do everything by himself. He sat down next to his dad after he pulled out a snack from your purse. He is getting so big. But this moment melted your heart.And this one did too!

Daddy's Boy

A couple weeks ago Kiel and I were wrestling downstairs while Bruce was upstairs, doing who knows what (I could take a gander and guess he was cleaning the toilet with dads toothbrush since that's where I found it...shhhh Kiel doesn't know. Don't worry I threw it away. Geez, I'm just trying to have a little fun!)Ahem, anyway, we were wrestling aka Kiel was being a giant bully and dominating me with all of his strength. Where's Celia when you need her? While I was trying to get a breath of fresh air and amidst being suffocated with a pillow I took a gasp of the most foulest odor I have ever smelled in my life. Kiel must have taken a whiff himself because he gave me the most horrendous look.

"That's not me!" I yelled.
"Well it's not me."
We both look up, and there's Bruce, ten feet away, with a giant grin on his face. We then both jump up on our feet and run across the room in opposite directions and away from Bruce. Kiel yells, "whose ever closest to him has to change him!" That was completely unfair, my sprint landed me near the back door and Bruce LOVES going outside. Bruce and the stench was coming my way. My only saving grace was to change the rules.

"No, we both need to be against the same wall and whoever he comes to has to change him." We both run into the dining room and stand next to each other. Poor Bruce probably feels like the kid who touched the cheese in the movie Diary of a Wimpy Kid. Kiel yells, "Bruce, who do you want to change your diaper?" Bruce comes from the living room peeks around the corner and sees us standing there. He pretends to go back to the living room but then he quickly turns around and runs full force at both of us, at the last second he tags Kiel's leg!

He's a daddy's boy! And this time it really paid off!