Week of Thankfulness

What a busy busy fun filled week we had!! Full of family, just the way I like it! Monday was just an average day for Addy and I. It was range day so Ryan was gone all day long practicing his sharp shooting skills. Tuesday was a little bit more eventful. My sweet Nana was having surgery in Fort Worth at the same time Addy-girl was getting her DocBand. My mom was texting me that Nana was doing good right about the time I was getting ready to send her a picture of our little helmet head :) Addyson did great at our appointment. She hardly fussed at all when getting fitted. We went home and she played all afternoon like nothing had changed!

Such a trooper!

Wednesday might have been my busiest day; Thanksgiving food prep day! I made two hash brown potato casseroles to send to the police station for the on-duty officers, and a broccoli salad and pumpkin pecan crunch cake for our family Thanksgiving. Doesn't sound like too much work but when you factor in a crawling 7 month old who has to be pulled away from the TV and DVR box every 5 seconds, needs diaper changes and feedings every couple hours, it takes a little longer than planned. Then that night we met up with my parents, sissy, and grandparents at Gloria's for dinner.

Addy loved some Mim and GranJim time!

And then was my favorite day of the year, Thanksgiving. I absolutely love thanksgiving because I love to eat! Of course this year was extra special because we had the sweetest little pumpkin ever! Plus we had two future family additions, Sandy and Olivia! The food was delicious like usual, the men went outside and shot skeet, and the girls stayed inside and made Christmas crafts. We had four making Christmas trees and four making wreaths. I made a Pinterest inspired wreath and think it turned out OK.

Not the cutest thing ever but it will do!

Friday I spent the whole day decorating for Christmas! No Black Friday for this girl. Once again something that could have been done in a few hours strung out through the whole day because of my little busy bee. Not as many decorations this year either because I know they'll end up straight in a teeny tiny mouth. She was the best little helper though!

Saturday became day two of Christmas decorating. Addy, Aarin and I headed to Weatherford bright and early to put up our Nana and mom's trees. And we couldn't have a day at Deb's without a mini photo shoot! No sneak peeks for these photos though because you'll see them on our Christmas card this year ;) Of course we had to end the day with our family staple; Mexican food at El Fenix. Ryan actually got off work on time so he could meet us!

Nana's Beautiful Tree

Mom's Beautiful Tree

And yesterday we ended the already long and busy week with a trip to Abilene. Celebrating a very belated birthday for Uncle E and a slightly belated Thanksgiving. We started at MeeMaw and Bubba's house for a delicious, and bountiful (good Thanksgiving word), spread for lunch. Addy played all day long until she crashed when MeeMaw gave her a bottle.

Then it was round two at Mauzie and Pa's. Little missy wasn't as playful though because she's trying real hard to get some teeth in her head. She started running a fever and just needed some nap time. Luckily her Mauzie was there to put that sweet baby to sleep.

We made a quick stop at my wonderful in-laws for one final love fest and then we hit the road for the long drive home. But not before Officer Tuner got pulled over for failing to signal :)

Oops!

Grandpa Keith and Aunt Kinsley

Mama E ;)

 

I have so many things in my life that I am thankful for but at the top of the list I'm thankful to have a gracious and faithful God "from whom all blessings flow."

 

So Fresh and So Clean

Back in the good ole days of high school and college I used to spend money like crazy. I would go to work, get paid, and go shopping. I had, well I still have, the sweetest parents in the world who took care of all my real needs, so I was left to get the frivolous wants. No lie, I spent $400 just in Guess while shopping by myself one time. Ri-dang-diculous. But ohhh how times have changed. I'm now the cheapest person I know. I clip coupons like crazy, buy store brand products, and sit around the house sweating like a pig because I don't want to turn the air conditioner down.

So the last time I was at the store and paid $20 for a box of laundry detergent that would only last me a little over a month, I decided I would start making my own. I knew I had seen several pins for this on Pinterest, so all I had to do was search for "homemade laundry detergent" and up popped 1,000+ pins.

I found one that I liked and seemed easy enough and got going. At the grocery store I found all if my ingredients:

1 4lb box Borax
1 4lb box OxiClean
1 4lb box Arm & Hammer Baking Soda (or two 2lb boxes like I did)
1 box Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda (55oz box)
3 bars Fels-Naptha Soap (or Zote)

First order of business; grating the soap. I should have bought a cheap grater instead if using my good one, but it didn't seem to hurt it.

 

Looks like grated cheddar.

Next, dump in all the other ingredients. This recipe makes about 5 gallons so I ended up putting it all in a trash bag. Then mix it all up! I had some help from the cutest munchkin ever. She loved how the bag mushed around!

And that's all there is to it!

I went to Hobby Lobby and bought a jar and some stickers, and dumped all my detergent in!

You don't think I could make it through a whole post without a picture of my munchkin do you?

 

Finished product!

Simple and cute! This batch should last me quite a while. Not to mention that it didn't even all fit in the jar. I still have a lot left in the bag!

God is so good for blessing us with a washing machine so I don't have to do all our laundry by hand!!!

7 Months Old

My baby is 7 months old!!! No, no, no I don't like it one bit! OK, maybe I like it a little bit because she's so much fun! Here's an update on this growing girl:

 

Eating, like always, is a breeze. This girl takes after her mommy and loves to eat! Still BFing so I'm not exactly sure how many ounces she takes, but its probably around 6-8oz. Solids are still getting gobbled down at every meal, and there are now 3 meals a day! Breakfast, lunch, and dinner just like the big kids do. I still make all of her food, except for some teething snacks I bought, which are gone in no time. They're meant to dissolve so she won't choke, but they still get eaten right up! Her pediatrician gave the go-ahead to start giving her water, but she's not a big fan just yet. I've tried putting it in a bottle and in a sippy cup, but she jut chews on them. So instead I have to trick her and squirt it into her mouth with the medicine dropper. She still looks at me like I'm giving her vinegar though.

Eating in a high chair. Big girl!
 

Sleep is finally happening!!!! I don't have the words to describe how seriously ecstatic I am about this! Being sleep deprived for 6 months is no walk in the park, but we've finally conquered the sleep demons. She takes three 30 minute naps a day. One at 9, then at 11:30-12, and then again at 2:30. I wish they lasted longer but I'm not complaining! Then she gets dinner and a bath around 6 and she's in bed asleep by 7. She still wakes up once a night but she'll cry for about 3 minutes and then fall back asleep and wake up at 7. Works for me!!!

Happy girl in the mornings

Still at the bottom of the charts when it comes to weight. She weighs about 14lbs and is about 27 inches long. She's in mostly 6-9mo clothing, but can still fit in 3mo dresses, and size 2 diapers. I am guilty though of re-purposing her newborn sized rodeo dress from this summer and making it a shirt! She's still a precious cowgirl in it!

 

      

3 Months                                             6 Months



We officially have a little creepy crawler!!! She crawled to me the for the first time on October 27th, when she was only 28 weeks old! Crazy! And now she's all over the place. Let the real baby proofing begin! Not only is she crawling, but she is starting to pull up on things. I'm really in for it :/ I guess I shouldn't be surprised, the kid did roll over on the changing table in the hospital the day she was born... Mobile munchkin.

Already trying to stand
 

Her little mouth is constantly moving, but no real words or teeth are coming out of there just yet. The way she slobbers and chews on everything she touches, I figured we would have a tooth by now, but no such luck. And that's just fine with me :) She says lots of "ba ba ba's" and "hiiiii" but no mama or dada yet. We're trying to teach her a bit of sign language too, and while she is probably months aways from actually making the signs, it's so fun to watch the wheels turn in her head while she's making the connection. Such a smarty pants. I'm not proud or anything :)

We only have to go to physical therapy 1 or 2 more times and then they're cutting us loose! Can't wait to be done! She improved so fast! We're set to have her helmet on November 20th, so I only have a few more days to kiss and snuggle with her sweet little head :( But I'm ready to get this behind us!

God is so good for blessing us with such a gorgeous, happy, and healthy baby!!!

Watch Party

 

Last night we had some great friends over for an election watching party! Unfortunately the election didn't turn out the way everyone in our house would have wanted, but we still had a great time with each other!

 

Ryan smoked an amazing brisket! He was up at 3am to get it going, and it was worth the effort!

Couldn't wait to get a taste!

Of course we had to have our favorite former president make an appearance! Ryan put up his autographed photos and a couple flags for decorations.

Had to show support!

Addy-girl had a great time playing with everyone there!

Always loves seeing Ali and Joseph!!!

Even though things didn't turn out the way I or millions of others wanted, we can rest assured that God is still in control and His plans are always supreme, even when we can't understand His reasons. "If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land."
2 Chronicles 7:14

Happy Halloween

Yesterday was a busy, busy, fun-filled day for Addy-girl's first Halloween! Ryan had to work (boo), so instead of staying home alone Addyson and I packed up and headed to Weatherford for the day!

We started out with a trip to the bank to see Grampa!

Somebody had just woken up, so I couldn't get a smile out of that girl!

 

Then we headed over to Nana's for some lunch and a little play time and to change into our Halloween tutu :)

Next we made a stop by the DSB to see Debs hard at work. Miss priss got paraded all over the office so Debs could show off her sweet little pumpkin!

And then it was over to Mim and GrandJim's for some much needed playtime! Addy just loved Mim's shoes and couldn't get enough of them!

After leaving there we headed up to the church for Fall Festival! Addyson didn't know what to think of all the activity, noise, and dressed up kiddos running all over the place.

 

Then we made our final stop at my good friends, The Mangum's. For as long as I can remember they have loaded up their dining room table with the best candy to hand out to trick-or-treaters. I hadn't seen my friend Jamie in forever so we had to make a trip over while we were in town. And of course she loaded us up with plenty of candy to take home :)

God is so good for blessing us with such a wonderful day to see family and friends! And for giving us candy...