Sweet potato puffs and giving thanks..

Sitting here on this warmish fall afternoon with the 1 year old, eating potato puffs and scoping online sales.
Our Thanksgiving went without a hitch, and the simple turkey we made ( basted in broth and lots of butter) was delicious. Our newest tradition is eating cinn rolls and watching the Thanksgiving Day parade on Turkey Day morning. But not the big one, we catch some of that too, but we primarily watch our local parade. It's so much fun! We have fun trying to spot people we know in the crowd, and looking at the floats for local businesses.
My goal for the kids this Christmas is to have more experiences, and less "stuff." I am thinking of a museum membership, or tickets to an event. Also, we always do our Christmas lights drive, our Polar Express watching, and cocoa drinking traditions.
I have 4 days until December!!! Need more ideas!

In other good news, usually we have a sick kid on Halloween......it never fails. BUT this year, no one was sick and a good time was had by all.

Thank you Universe.

Hi Ho! :-) We have been enjoying this beautiful fall weather way too much. I want to bottle these walks and these warm days so that in January I can open it up and relive it. We live in the city now, so no more getting snowed in at the top of the hill for a week. ( Yes that happened to us our first winter together, before the baby was born....actually that was the winter that he was conceived. Go figure.) But I still hate winter so. I need to find ways to like it. I do love Christmas. Christmas is still magical to me, and I try to make it as wonderful as I can for the kids. They are only kids for a short time.
This year we will get a natural tree again. I love the smell. We also do stockings and Charlie Brown special, and Christmas light trolling, and...and.....I guess I am excited about winter too.

I also just filled out my FAFSA for Spring. I was in school before Dax got sick, but once he did and we  (he) was hospitalized...all of that flew out the window. I could think of nothing else but whether or not he was going to survive. I am so glad that was a year ago. Time is helping me heal from that traumatizing experience.

And yes, little one will be 1 soon!! The big 1!!

Life is amazing.

Happy MoNdAy!! It is quite the dreary day in our neck of the woods.
Baby D and I are cleaning house and get ready for Grandma and Grandpa's visit this week! Wooohooo! He has no idea the fun he is in for. We are going to get him a new bed, and have a little celebration!
Also at the end of the month is little D's first birthday. I've been looking all over pinterest for things for me and the older brothers to make as party treats

I love finger foods, and I have always wanted to do a full meal in miniature. Wondering what a good mini first course might be. Sliders is the easy answer, I love to do mine on sweet rolls. I was also think maybe mini meatballs on a stick would be a good protein. Everybody loves a good meatball. For the veg heads in our lives, I will make sure to have some good wholesome foods. My one thing about this party is that it has to be all baby friendly foods, since our little man is the king of the day. That rules out the PB tofu, or a raw veggie plate.

Speaking of little man.....off I go....

Better late than never..

WHY cant I ever find the time to update this blog? I update it all the time in my head. I wish I could have my head just transfer my thoughts to this blog. Well, some of my thoughts....

What else is new....I lost my mind over the summer and am just now feeling like my normal self.
PPD is HARD. If you know a mom who might be suffering from this..do everything you can to reach out to her. Make her some dinner, watch her kids for her while she naps or cries, slap her husband upside the head if he's not helping her...just do something. No one should ever have to feel like that and deal with it alone.

Parenting is hard even under the best circumstances, but sometimes life throws you a curve ball.
It's hard to appreciate the humor and beauty in moments when you are filled with anxiety and fear.

There was one day in June, after D's recovery, and the older kids and I were infested with lice, I couldnt get rid of it, and D was not sleeping through the night yet, our finances were broke and getting broker due to lice treatment and such, and I had just survived the most trying and awful period of my life ( D's illness and recovery)

.....................and I just broke into a million pieces. I saw my doc later that month and began my own recovery.


This year has really been tremendous.
We bought a house, an adorable bungalow in the city, and our littlest boy has been doing so great. No more outbreaks or developmental disabilities. He will be a year old next month. My older kids went on an epic road trip with their father over the second half of the summer, and they not only survived but had great memories and I learned to let go and not worry so much.

So much to say yet, D has woken up from the longest nap ever and he's grumpy so, ce'st la vie.

Hello 2012!

Hello 2012!!!