November Randomness // 2012

November Randomness.... here we go!!

We began the month with new tricks. We climb, we scale, we go everywhere we can! We even crawl up in the desk at Gaga and Papa's house. Did I mention he is just a little over the one year mark?? We are in for it!!

Speaking of Gaga and Papa, they were sweet enough to replace the trees in our front yard. We live on a hill and we get wicked straight line winds. Back in the Spring we had some come through that took down both our front trees. SNAP, just like that!! Thanks mom and dad for the much needed anniversary gift!

He learned to eat with a fork, or three.

Ummmmmm, nothing to see here. Nothing to see.

Kissing on his Scentsy monkey. He loves this thing!

The fall colors were beautiful this year. I love the changing of the leaves. It seems like the last few years have been a little less than desirable. Not this year, beautiful!!!!

We were those people who took the kiddos to vote. The church is right by our house so it only made sense to hit the polls on the way out in the morning. Chaz was with me and the hubs took the baby. All Chaz cared about was his sticker.

This is what happens on your birthday at an advertising company. HAHAHA!! Love you Brianne!!!

Time for a checkup! We were only a month behind on the one year check-up. Much better then the 5 months behind we are at with Chaz. You see, if you get behind, you are always behind. It has to do with shots and insurance. If anyone has a tip on how to reset, please let me know!!

He was cool with whatever. This kid really doesn't get rattled.

But the rest of us get a little stir crazy. You see, when you leave the Hills in a room for 30+ minutes, late in the afternoon, with two little people..... we get a little goofy.

I never understood how their necks don't just snap. Wicked.

 Hungry, Hungry Hippo with the neighbors. Love these kiddos!!
Baby doesn't care if it is pink, it is super cool! Thanks for sharing, Campbell!

One afternoon I was doing laundry and I look out the window to see this. I walk into the living room to ask the hubs just why he had moved our cars from the garage to the driveway... in the rain. You guessed it "Free car wash"  Seriously folks, I live with this nonsense.

Conversation in the car

Me "Hey buddy, you tired?"
Chaz "Nope, not at all! I can't wait to get home and blah, blah, blah, blah"
Me "Your eyes look tired and you played hard, are you sure you don't just want to rest for a bit??"
Chaz "I'mmmmmmmmmmmmm noooooooooooooooooooooooooot tiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiired"
Me "Ok buddy"

Within 3 minutes of being home, I turn the corner to see this. Amazing.

My sweet friend Sarah bought this hat for Dane when he was a baby. I am happy to say, it still fits his big head. Love it!! Isn't he a stinkin' doll?!?!

Adorable. I love that he will keep a hat on his head for longer than 2 seconds (as his brother did) it may be only 2.5 seconds but I will take what I can get!

The love for my parent's two big dogs is simply ridiculous. He is obsessed. This is him in the windowsile, where he spends the majority of his time.

We may or may not purchase scratch off lottery tickets for our kiddo when he is super good. Don't judge.

SO many times in life I have to take a deep breath and remember this. Always good for the heart (and mind)

Day of cleaning = baby in a toy box.

I love my family but I love nothing more than shopping WITHOUT them. Unfortunately this holiday shopping season, I wasn't so lucky. Although they are cute in pictures, shopping with them is incredibly painful, unorganized and chaotic. I have no idea how to properly manage this crew (and I my full-time job is a project manager!!) They touch and try on everything in sight. It is simply maddening.

Promise he had some help with this one.

I think the majority of the issues reside with the oldest male Hill. Yep, the hubs. He has a MAJOR case of A.D.D. and simply can't handle life without chaos. I guess we balance each other well but the entire shopping experience with the crew drives me batty. Thank goodness they are cute!!!

Zonked and refusing to give up the Sonic straw we gave him as a distraction.

Working full time, being a mommy and a wife is a tricky balance. I make it a point to spend the time from dinner to bedtime with my boys. I really, really try and I think I do a pretty good job. Some days are better than others (those others are the result of letting stuff pile up during the better days) but I am lucky enough to be able to have these times... and capture them in a frame.

I love decorating for the holidays, it is probably my favorite thing to do! The last thing I put up was my big tree. The black Razorback tree, white picture tree, kid tree, wreaths, mantle swag, dining room table, kitchen table, full village, kitchen decor and other odds and ends were all up. I think subconsciously I knew this was coming.. We have had this tree for about 6 years.. I opened it up, plugged it in and...........stripes. Not really what I was going for. I unplugged it and let it sit this way for 3 days. I was just disgusted.

November was overall unseasonably warm. We got to spend a lot of days outside in the sun. Chaz fell in love with this Japanese Maple in my parent's front yard. This tree was the tiniest little pup when I was Chaz's age and to be honest, I don't think they are suppose to get this big but it is just his size... and he LOVES it!

The weather was SOOOOOOOOO nice that the four of us packed up and headed out on the Rhino. Dane was first up to drive. He was thrilled!

and the scenery around my parent's place is simply amazing!

Chaz was next in line and super stoked.

So THIS is a story... I can't believe I was even lucky enough to witness this bit of redneck. My dad was out of the country during this trip to my parent's house and was not there to oversee my hubs. I know he is super sad he missed this. My mom was there and made mention of this "contraption" my dad had developed. You see, my pops has a thing with his leaves... he hates them. He spends an incredible and ridiculous amount of time cleaning the leaves off his lawn. It doesn't really help that they live in the woods and have a HUGE lawn. Anyway, back to Redneckville... Here is the contraption. This my friends, is a lawnmower with a blower attached to the front. In making this contraption you lose all ability to make tight turns, the thing is totally off balance and all-in-all it is terrible unsafe.. SO, the hubs saw this as a challenge.

While he was figuring out the "death machine" I was distracted by the cuteness around me.

 and silliness!

and craziness!!

This is JUST a photo opp. He did NOT take the boy for a ride on this beast.

Shamefully once he got going, mom, the boy and I retreated inside.... we didn't want to see the mess that may be my hubs.

Wrigs wasn't so certain what was going on either. I am happy to report, the hubs made it out alive and unharmed. The leaves didn't fair so well, they were just randomly sprayed all over the lawn. It was awesomeness!!

 November brought on one of the baby's worst sicknesses yet. Fever, puking, lethargy, the works.

Later in the day we were able to hold down a few crackers but that was about it. It was rough... really rough.

It really doesn't matter how sick he is, I will still cuddle with this sweet little thang!

Luckily he was only down and out for a few days. Before we knew it, he was back to his normal, bubbly self!

I mean, doesn't he look well??

Yeah, the hubs ROCKED the Movember :) Secretly, I couldn't wait to see this burliness disappear!

Ryan denied me a new, skinny, super tall tree... Grinch. So I had to hand wrap the broken branches in new strands of lights. It is more beautiful now but it was a beast AND it will never be broken down again. Maybe next year I will get a new tree, maybe.... I'm really not holding my breath.

 

This has been my "way" for a few years now. I decided after a certain turning point in my life that I was done with bad "friends" and people in my life.  I knew I couldn't live my life surrounded by petty, crappy people. I knew I was worth more than they were giving me. I knew who my real friends were and I finally realized that I was done with that part of my life. Deep breath and move on. I am in a MUCH better place now. I don't associate with people who are around me for the wrong reasons. I have people around me who love me for everything I am.. good and bad. I am not perfect, never claimed to be, but I know what I deserve. I know what I give to the people I love and that is what I ask for in return. I stumbled upon this recently and it is just so very fitting. I will keep this close to my heart and in my head to gut check myself from time to time.  For all those who survived the cut, (kidding!!) know I love you.