at all times give thanks

this thanksgiving wasn't like normal. due to yucky viruses we were not able to go to my mom's, major bummer. nonetheless, we had a fun, nontraditional holiday. :)

lazy breakfast, went to "tangled" in 3-d (think addox isn't quite ready for 3-d, glasses came off quite a bit), sang some thanksgiving tunes, and made our family turkey project. we also named him. so, meet "JAJ" who is made up of the first letters of our names. after going thru AJJ, JJA, & JAJ, JAJ was the winner. it did not go quite as i envisioned, i am pretty sure there is no turkey as skinny, deformed, and silly-looking as ours. for this, i love JAJ even more! poor turkey.

gobble-gobble
<3

oh, and yes, we are standing on the kitchen table. sometimes you just have to.

family turkeys

addox is very into making things (perfect for this wanna-be-crafty-mama!), so this thanksgiving i decided to have addox make family hand-print turkeys. they turned out SO cute, & he had a blast making them!! we actually ended up making 9, it was a three day project. we have a lot of people we love!! :)

hats & hugs

this is one of my favorite pics from this fall... addox was "hugging" the tree. i love hats on him, as do i love his smiles for the camera... :)

kim's wedding

my best friend, kim, got married over the weekend... addox and i were blessed to be a part of it. he was the cutest redheaded ring bearer anyone has ever seen!!

we love you kim & buddy!! may you have a blessed life together. <3

Photo Shoot

so this week was not our best. actually, the past 6 months haven't been our best. "terrible two's" encompassed occasional mild tantrums. three's are what has challenged us more than ever before. leaving out details, i broke this past week. but i also reaffirmed three things:

1) addox is only three, i am only human. he is an amazing, creative, loving child finding his way to who he is. i am finding my way as his mother.
2) i have the best most amazing support in jason, i am truly blessed. and i have the absolute best person to go to for advice in my own mother. i've always said i want to be half the mom she is. it was a relief to learn i am not the only mom to ever have lost it, and i am not a bad mom for it, either.
3) i love that little boy more than anyone in this world could, and he knows it. even when it feels like all i am doing all day is disciplining him. the little soul will be crying his heart out and at the same time wailing "i love you mommy!"

so, when addox got home from school friday, we had an hour or so before he had to leave for the weekend. i knew we needed to do something fun. so i pulled out the camera. we do love to play with the camera. it was a wonderful end to our week. go team. <3

pre-k fall party

Party Time!

it is always fun to see addox at school and watch him interact with his friends! the last picture is a song they sang... it was pretty cute. he did come home with a sugar-high, however.

our "jacks"

we had to do our pumpkin carving on two different nights, but we got them done!! :)



addox drawing his face on the last pumpkin...


addox drawing the face he wanted for his jack... can you tell who was in control of the designing?


this pumpkin carving takes spidey concentration...




addox showing his jase exactly what he wants for the next one

this is what mommy and jase's reward after addox was in bed!! YUM


'
OUR JACKS!

although our first one had to be thrown out yesterday, the other two are hanging in there. addox makes me light them everyday, at least once. :)