Thanksgiving in Memphis

As you already guessed we traveled to Memphis over the Thanksgiving holiday! We had a wonderful visit with my family and even getting to see some friends!

Saturday we went to see my friend Melanie. Melanie lives in Alabama with her husband and little girl Abby. Melanie and I went to college together at Union, were sorority sisters and were in both of each others' wedding. Our parents all live in Memphis so we finally were able to get together while we both were in town.

Melanie's little girl Abby is just 3 days younger than Ryan. We actually had the same due date, ha! It was so neat going through our pregnancies together and now raising our wild and crazy toddlers.

Abby is such a cutie pie. She and Ryan just had the best time playing together. They loved eating and sharing their snacks, ha!

After spending many days indoors it was time for us to get out of the house some. We took Ryan to the mall where they have a fantastic play area for little kids. It was perfect and just what Ryan needed to get some energy out.

He absolutely loved the slide. He went down the slide over and over again. I'm thinking Santa might be bringing Ryan his own slide for Christmas.

Uncharacteristically Ryan woke up very early at my parents house, like 6:30 in the morning early! Totally not like Ryan, he usually sleeps til 8. I was so glad that he slept til 8:30 this morning. Unfortunately I don't think he sleeps well away from home. Can't blame him though, we all got a much needed good night sleep last night.

Thanksgiving Blessings

We had some great Thanksgiving festivities yesterday. Matt and I got up early to run the 4 Mile Turkey Trot at Shelby Farms. I had planned on walking most of it but I couldn't help myself but run. My time was 52min., I'm a slow running but I'm a very fast walker. I ran about 3 miles of the race.

We enjoyed seeing Aunt Lex, Uncle Allen, Josh, Juliette, Amber and Mike. We enjoyed a very yummy thanksgiving lunch with all the trimmings! We had cornbread dressing, turkey, ham, green beans, corn, lima beans, peas, sweet potato casserole and rolls. Thanks to my mom and aunt Lex for doing most of the cooking. I'm not sure what it is about Thanksgiving but we eat lunch and then we are not even hungry for dinner. Isn't that the funniest thing.

Annabelle and Gracie were so full after lunch! They lounged most of the afternoon!

Aunt Lex and Uncle Allen brought Ryan an early Christmas present since we will be in Cincinnati for Christmas. They got him a train and a dog pillow pet. He loves them and is really enjoying playing with them.

After lunch with chatted, watched tv and relaxed.

Ryan loves this spinny toy my mom found. He walks around holding it for the longest time. My dad was showing him how to push the button and turn it on.

Ryan couldn't get enough of the game that Julie was playing on my brothers Ipad. Julie, who is 8, was entertained by the Ipad pretty much all night.

My brother Matt and Ryan wrestling. Ryan loves his Uncle Matt!

It was a great thanksgiving! We are beyond thankful for the many blessings that the Lord has bestowed on us this year.

"From the fullness of His grace we have all received one blessing after another." John 1:6

Eventful couple of days

We have had an eventful last couple of days.

Yesterday Ryan and I were heading from the gym to our church to drop off shoeboxes for the operation shoebox drive. I was driving down a two lane road. A car, two cars in front of me, was turning left into an apartment complex. A toyota camry approached behind me but didn't see that we were stopped. I glanced up at my rear view mirror and before I could even finish the thought "wow that guy is going fast, I think he might run into us" he slammed into our car. I have no idea how fast he was going but he said he looked down and when he looked up he realized we were stopped and he didn't have time to stop. Subsequently I hit the car in front of me but it was more like a vendor bender.

(my car is the Lexus on the right side of the pic)

It was a rough and hard impact. Of course it scared the life out of me and my first concern was Ryan. As soon as it happened I jumped out of the car and ran around to get him. He was crying and confused but after a few minutes he calmed down. He seemed fine the rest of the day and no indication of anything wrong, praise the Lord. The impact was pretty hard and my neck is pretty sore today. I took Ryan to the pediatrician this morning just to be on the safe side and he checked out with a clean bill of health! Very thankful we are ok and no one was injured in the wreck. Praise the Lord!!!

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The camry that hit me is completely totaled. My car was not drivable since the muffler was completely crumpled so it was towed to the collision repair place. We got a rental car but there is no telling how long my car will be in the shop. Funny how you can look at the pictures and think my car doesn't look that bad, especially compared to the camry, but I'm afraid there might be more damage we can't see. Lexus makes a very safe and well built car. I am soooo thankful that I drive a very, very safe car!!! Definitely makes me want to buy another Lexus!

Today we chilled at home most of the day except for the visit to the dr this morning. Ryan was good today and seems to have gotten his appetite back! We are packing up to head to see my family tomorrow! Cannot wait to see them!!!!

Our Weekend

We had a good and low key weekend! Saturday morning I went to breakfast with my friend Leah then we went shopping at Hobby Lobby for the Christmas lunch at our church in December. We are in charge of decorating the tables for our group. We had a blast searching through Christmas stuff and finding adorable things to decorate the table. They are going to look so good. I will of course share pics after the event.

Saturday night we went to Longhorn for dinner with some family. We had a great time and thankfully Ryan was pretty good. He was good until he threw up all over himself. He's only done that one other time. I didn't see it coming at all but he seemed to feel better afterwards. Not sure if he has some kind of bug but he hasn't had a good appetite since he got sick on Wed. night. Unfortunately he got sick all over himself and I didn't have an extra outfit so he had to leave pant-less.

Ryan slept so well last night. Since he got sick last night I didn't feel comfortable taking him to the church nursery so Ryan and I stayed home while Matt went to church. I was so thankful he slept til almost 10 this morning. It's been a loooong time since we have slept in that late. I actually woke up at 9 and checked the monitor and turned up the volume to make sure he was breathing. Then he took two naps today. Poor little boy just didn't feel himself all day. I worried Ryan might have a virus so I just fed him applesauce, crackers and milk today. I hope this passes soon and he starts feeling better soon.

Tonight our friends Jim and Sally came over to eat pizza and hang out. We had Papa Murphy's Pizza. Yummmmy! Have you ever had Papa Murphy's? It's take and bake pizza. We enjoyed some fun time with them and so glad they came over to hang out. It was a good weekend. We are looking forward to the holiday week and spending time with family.

Pajama Day

Today Ryan and I spent most of the day in our pajamas. Last night we woke up about 2:30 to Ryan crying very loudly. I immediately knew something was wrong. I went in his room and he was sitting up in his bed. I thought he might be having a bad dream but I soon realized there was something wet in his bed. He had gotten sick and thrown up. I immediately called for Matt's help and we got him cleaned up and got his sheets changed. He didn't have a fever and we gave him some water. We put him back to bed and he fell back asleep quickly. About 3:30 we woke up to him crying again. When I went to his room I noticed he had thrown up a small amount of water. We cleaned it up and we all went back to bed.

This morning I had planned to go to the gym since we didn't have anything else going on but I was worried Ryan would get sick so we just stayed home and chilled in our pj's. It was nice to just play and have fun at home.

Tonight I made this roast that Laurie talked about the other day. I love roast and potatoes but Matt isn't really a fan. Tonight, however he changed his mind. He said it was the best roast he's ever eaten. Not only did he have seconds but he had thirds!! ha!

I have to admit I wasn't sure if I would like this recipe because I HATE ranch dressing. I can't stand to be in the same room with it but I had to remember it's a mix. The roast turned out to be really good. The roast comes out soooo juicy and tender. Here's the recipe:

Get a tender chuck pot roast and play it in a crock pot on low.

Add one packet of Hidden Valley Ranch mix. Sprinkle it over the roast.

Add one packet of McCormick Aux jus gravy mix or you can use a brown gravy mix. Sprinkle that packet over the roast as well.

Then place a stick of butter on top of the roast.

Let the roast cook at least 8 hours and DO NOT ADD WATER!!!

I also made sister shubert rolls and they were amazing! Just melt in your mouth! Yummm!

17 Months

Last weekend we had some family photos done and I just had to share some of them. We are planning to use some for our Christmas cards this year. I'm so excited! These are my favorite photos we have done so far. Amy at Into Wishin Photography did such a great job.

I can hardly believe that Ryan turned 17 months old yesterday! Where in the world has the time gone? I feel like it was just yesterday that I had a newborn.

Ryan - You are 17 months old!!!!!

What have you been up to this month???

You are growing and changing all the time. You are so busy you never stop moving! NEVER!

You weigh 26 lbs. You wear size 12-18 month and 18 month clothes. You wear size 4 diapers and size 5 shoes.

You take one nap a day usually from 1 - 3:30/4. You go to bed around 7:30 and wake up around 8am. We are so blessed that you are such a good sleeper!

You are figuring out your toys more and more every day. Right now you love toys with shapes. You love your mega blocks and of course you love your stuffed animals!

You are becoming more independent. You want to feed yourself and that's challenging to watch. You are pretty good as long as I help you get the food on your fork. It's messy but you are getting better every day.

You are such a momma's boy and always want momma to hold you. You do really well in the nursery and you go right in to play without any tears.

Your 'more' sign is you holding your hand palm up up and bringing your fingers in, like an upside down wave. You do this whenever you want something. It's so cute!

You are throwing lots of fits and get so mad when you don't get your way - you throw yourself on the floor and cry. I am currently reading Dobson's "The Strong-Willed Chid". It describes you so well but I'm confident we will find the right discipline for you.

Usually by the time you go to bed I am ready to sit down and relax since I'm exhausted from the day. I love interacting with you during the day and always can't wait to see your smile first thing in the morning.

This was you exactly one year ago today! I cannot believe how much you have grown in just 12 months. You were so sweet and precious....and still are! This has always been one of my favorite pics of you!

I cannot imagine life with you. You bring so much love and joy to our life. We love you so very much!

Birthday Celebration!

So Saturday was my 31st birthday. I went with some girlfriends to a holiday market/craft show. I had only planned to be gone a few hours but ended up being gone from 10-3, ha! To say we had a great time was an understatement. We got some good shopping done and marked off a few things off our christmas lists.

Saturday night Matt's dad and step mom came over to watch Ryan while we went to dinner with our small group. It was our date night out and we went to Maggiano's Little Italy. We got the family style dinning and it was soooooooo yummy. It was so great to fellowship and chat without being interrupted by kids and all. We can't wait for our next date night.

Sunday we had a relaxing day at home. After church we all came home and took a nap. It was fantastic and oh so wonderful.

I love this pic of Ryan and me. We were sticking out our tongues and it was just adorable! He is such a character and so much fun!

Birthday Dinner #1

I have always loved celebrating birthdays. I don't love getting older since I still feel like I'm 25 but I love having a special day just for me.

Here is my birthday cake! Isn't it beautiful. I wish I could claim that I made this but I ordered it from Busken, a very yummy local bakery here in town.

We had dinner tonight with our neighbors and friends at The Old Spaghetti Factory. I had chicken parm, my absolute favorite meal, and it was soooo yummy! They have the best chicken parm around.

We enjoyed some cake after dinner! They also had spimoni ice cream. It's chocolate, strawberry and pistachio ice cream. Very delicious!!!!

Ryan did pretty well at dinner. We ordered him spinach tortellini and he loved it. He enjoyed feeding himself using a fork. I think it made him feel like a big boy. He is still learning but boy is he messy. When I took this picture he wanted down and was pretty much done, ha!

Looking forward to birthday dinner #2 tomorrow night!

Have a great weekend!