Family

My family is here visiting us and we are having a busy and great time. Today we had our real Thanksgiving at my in-laws house. This pic is Ryan's first taste of bananas! He LOVES them and eats them so well.

We love having family here and they are just loving on Ryan. If I'm not careful my mom is gonna try to take him back home to Memphis! Ha! Better watch that boy carefully!

My brother playing with his favorite (and only) nephew.

My mom loving on her sweet little grandson. She said she just can't get enough of him!

My dad feeding Ryan. I can't wait to put him in the TN outfits he brought him. They are so cute!

We had a great dinner tonight at my in-laws. My MIL sure knows how to cook, always so yummy!

Can't wait to eat breakfast at Mimi's tomorrow morning and go shopping with my mom!!!

Thankful

I am so very THANKFUL for how God has truly blessed us this year!

I am thankful Ryan has two sets of grandparents who love and adore him. I am thankful for a family who loves us and support us. I am thankful for a healthy family. I am thankful for a wonderful husband who works hard every day to provide for our family. I am thankful for a beautiful home, clothes on our back and food on our table. And most importantly I am thankful for my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

I am so excited to celebrate God's blessing tomorrow and Friday!

Ryan can't wait for lots of hugs and kisses! ;) I'm looking forward to showing Ryan some of our Thanksgiving traditions. My mom and I making dressing, eating turkey and my all time fav, watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.

What are some of your Thanksgiving traditions?

Happy feet

Thankfully I am feeling better. I still have a stuffy nose but no sore throat and feel almost back to normal. I MUST return to my workout tomorrow!!! Gotta get ready to eat some turkey later this week! Yum!

Ryan has found his feet! It's the cutest thing seeing him reach for his toes and playing with them. He's growing up so fast! I was putting some of his old clothes tonight and couldn't believe he was ever so small.

We've been busy this week preparing for Thanksgiving and my family's visit in just 2 days! I've been running errands and cleaning, cleaning, cleaning. I love Thanksgiving! I can't wait to get together with my family and enjoy a great meal. I have so much to be thankful for this year. I am truly blessed and thankful to my Lord and Savior!

What are you thankful for this year?

Under the weather

I've been feeling under the weather this weekend. I've had a sore throat and runny nose. Thankfully neither Ryan nor Matt are showing any symptoms of catching what I have.

In other news, Ryan tried bananas this morning and LOVED them! He couldn't get enough of them. This week will be busy cleaning and getting ready for my family to come visit for the holiday. We are so excited and can't wait to see them.

Show Us Your Life: Pets

Today on Show Us Your Life over at KellysKorner it's all about PETS!

We have 2 sweet miniature dachshunds. Annabelle is our 4 1/2 year old chocolate and tan doxie. Soon after I moved to State College, PA in 2005 I saw an ad in the paper for 6 mini-doxies. I begged Matt to go with me to look at these puppies. I had just moved and getting a puppy should have been the last thing I should do but who can say no to those puppy faces.

We drove on a Sat. to "look" at these puppies and I fell in love! Annabelle was the first puppy I picked up and she wimpered as I pulled her away from her brothers and sisters. I knew right then I had to have her. She was only 2 weeks old. We put a deposit down on her and came back in 7 weeks to take her home!

She is the best dog and just so much fun. She has such a personality. She's definitely our first born and acts like it. She knows she in charge!

Who is who?

Annabelle is on the right and Mason (Annabelle's Dad) on the left. She's a daddy's girl for sure. (Annabelle's mom is a silver dapple)

In Nov. 2007 we moved into our new home. I thought Annabelle needed a playmate so I started looking at puppies online. I totally opened pandora's box. They are all so cute and I wanted all of them.

I knew I wanted a black and tan mini doxie. I found a breeder located in North Carolina and she had a litter of black and tan pups. I saw a pic of Gracie and knew she belonged in our family. It was a little more complicated getting Gracie than it was getting Annabelle.

I contacted the breeder and let her know we were interested in Gracie. We didn't want to drive to NC so the breeder flew her to Columbus, OH. So I arranged some work I could do in Columbus and I drove to pick her up (a 2 hour drive). I walked in the cargo pick-up room and could hear her crying. She was in a travel crate and I'm sure was scared to death. I put her in the back and started on our way home but the smell was enough to knock me over. I thought she had pooped in her cage but she hadn't. I had to ride with the window partly down (in the middle of Feb) b/c she smelled so bad. Poor girl! I got her home and cleaned her up and she just charmed her way into our lives. She will be 3 years old next week on Nov. 29.

I can't imagine life without them and even though they can drive me crazy. Now that Ryan has come into our lives they have taken a back seat but I know they will all be best buds one day.

Just a little somethin

This was Matt and Ryan at dinner last night!

He was trying to get Ryan to laugh...and he succeeded!

Precious moments!

Wordless Wednesday

Not much to report on here today except.....

I'm SUPER excited my family will be here to visit a week from tomorrow! I know my parents can't wait to get their hands on their adorable grandson!

We stayed home all day and just chilled in our pj's. It was a cold, rainy day here so it was a perfect day to stay home.

Splish Splash

This little boy loves his bathtime. I can't wait til he can sit up on his own. I think bathtime will be so much more fun when he can sit and play in the big tub. Now I don't want him to be mobile and crawl yet, ha... just sit up by himself.

Matt is the bath giver in our house. I think he enjoys this time with Ryan. He usually loves his bath so it's a great bonding time for them. We still give him a bath every other night. I'm afraid once he's eating more we will have to bath him every night.

Bundled up, dried off and getting ready for bed. We read him a few stories then it's off to dreamland!

Five Months Old

RYAN - You are five months old!!!!

What have you been up to these days?

• You weigh 16.6 lbs
• You are 26 inches long
• You wear size 2 diapers
• You are pretty much in size 6 - 9 month clothes
• You hair is coming in sloooowly. You are one cute bald baby!
• You are still sleeping through the night. You sleep 12 hours, usually down between 7-8pm and up around 8am.

• You love to make a lot of noise and "talk". You definitely have found your voice, ha!
• You can now "JUMP" in your jumperoo, you love it!
• You rolled over at the end of October but have only done it again 2-3 times since.
• You don't have any teeth yet but you LOVE to chew on anything and everything.

• You love getting out of the house and shopping with mommy. You are so easy-going and enjoy wherever we are.
• You love to blow bubbles and razberries.
• You are starting to notice Annabelle and Gracie more. I wonder what you think of them.

• You love to sleep on your side and have started sucking your thumb. Not sure how I feel about this but hope it's just a short phase.
• You love to grab things now including my cell phone, the remote control and basically anything in my hands.
• You have tried rice cereal, peas, applesauce and as of tonight...green beans.
• Your favorite so far is applesauce.

• You love your mommy and daddy soooo much!

IPhone and dinner date

We have been planning for some time to upgrade our cell phones to IPhones so on Saturday we traveled on over to the AT&T store to see about getting them. We are on a family plan but Matt's official contract isn't up til the first week of Dec. but we were hoping to talk them into letting us upgrade sooner. Unfortunately they couldn't override it for Matt but I was able to upgrade. I had a crazer before (not that out of the technology loop)but I feel like I have arrived. The phone is so neat and can do so much. I think Matt might have created a monster, ha!

Here we are before church this morning. We were way late but I insisted we take a pic (especially since we missed it last week).

Tonight Matt and I went out for my birthday dinner. We went to The Precinct and it was awesome. I said awesome so many times tonight, ha! It was nice to have a night out with just us. We had a great time and enjoyed each other. Plus I got a free dessert since we were celebrating my birthday! We are so stuffed we could pop but it was sooooo yummmmmy!

My yummmmy dinner tonight. Filet mignon and baked potato. Highly recommend The Precinct to anyone who lives in Cincy or just traveling through the Nati.

Ryan is 5 months old today. I will be posting his 5 month milestone post tomorrow! My boy is growing up so fast!

30th Birthday

So far i've had a great 30th birthday! This morning when I woke up I didn't feel much different.

I met Matt for lunch at Cracker Barrel. Yummy!!! Then Ryan and I headed downtown Cincy to the holiday market. It was good and I got some Christmas presents. Woohoo! Christmas is going to be here before we know it. Only 6 weeks til Christmas. I must say I am super excited about Ryan's first Christmas and shopping for him.

We had a quiet dinner at home tonight. We are going to The Precinct on Sunday for my official birthday dinner. I am super excited. Ryan will be chillin at home with Aunt Brenda and Aunt Teresa. And my yummy birthday cake. I could seriously sit and eat the whole thing, ha! It's white cake with white icing and strawberry filling.

Tomorrow's Friday

Today is my last day in 20's. It's bittersweet. I turn the big 3-0 tomorrow! I'm excited and a little sad at the same time. I've loved my 20's and did a lot of growing up the past 10 years. Graduated college, got married and had a baby all in my 20's. I'm looking forward to my 30's, you know it's the new 20, ha! The best is yet to come. Everyone keeps telling me your 30's are the best years of your life! I can't wait to find out!

We had a great time at MOPS this morning and came home for a great 2 hour nap this afternoon.

He looked so cute and sweet after his nap I decided to snap a few pics. Had to get my quota for the day, ha!

I'm afraid he has discovered his thumb. Before he would suck on his fingers or hand but now it seems it's always his thumb. How do you prevent your child from sucking their finger or thumb. I was a finger sucker and hair twirler til I was probably 10.

When I went to check on Ryan during his nap today this is how I found Ryan. He was almost on his tummy. I was worried he couldn't breath. Upon further inspection I saw him sucking his left thumb. Guess he liked this position quit well b/c he spent for 2 hours. =)

Beef Stew

Tonight Matt made beef stew for dinner! YUMMY!

And he even cleaned up afterwards!

Beef Stew

Incredients: 2lbs stew meat

1 large onion

2 packets lowry beef stew mix

1 bag of frozen green beans

1 bag of frozen corn

1 bag of frozen peas

chop 5 large carrots

2 large cans of diced tomatoes

1/2 dozen potatoes - cut and cubed

Directions -Brown beef in pan with oil

-Drain beef and put in cooking pot with 2 cans of tomatoes, chopped onion and 5-6 cups of water

-Start cooking on hi heat to get started then move to med. after 30 min.

-Throw in frozen veggies

-Add in lowry stew mix and carrots

-Cook for 2 hours then add potatoes and finish cooking for another hour.

-Season to taste

We enjoyed a great day with Matt at home today. We started our day with storytime at the bookstore. We had lunch at the mall and did a little shopping. Matt cooked dinner while Ryan napped and I worked out. What a great hubs! All in all a great day!

Tuckered Out

This little boy is loving his jumperoo more and more every day. He seriously just goes to town when he's in it. It's so amazing to watch him discover and play with the toys. His little, I mean big head...have you seen the size of this kids head, is just developing more and more every day!

We had applesauce again tonight and he loved it so much. He ate half a container. He is becoming a better eater every day.

This little boy is just plum tuckered out!

After he finished off the applesauce it was time for his last bottle of the night. He was hungry so I started feeding him in his high chair and this is what happened. Is he not the cutest baby boy ever?

My best friend Rachel sent me this Toddler Bible for Ryan. We read a story from it tonight and it's so great. The stories are 4-5 pages long and lots of colorful pictures. I am so excited about reading Bible stories to Ryan and telling him all about Jesus!