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For now I think I have come up with a solution to my picture issue.  Unfortunately, it requires me to re size every picture which takes time and that is something I just can't seem to find enough of at the moment.  Here are a few pics for our unseasonably warm turkey day.  I love how Ashton is pushing Grant in the pic below- he is starting to figure out life as a little brother!

Ten on Tuesday

1.  So much to be thankful for this year....

insert cute family picture here..... apparently I am out of storage for my pictures.  I need to figure out what to do- buy more storage or print my earlier pages out so I can delete some photos.  Anyone else experience this issue before?  What did you do?


2.  We had a great turkey day.  It was 65!  Although it was nice to get outside with the boys, it just didn't feel right.  I could never live in a warmer climate around the holidays!

3.  Grant is still in his poop phase.  We have tried everything to get him to stop.  He is good for a while and then he goes right back to it.  Today I asked him what he wanted to name his Elf on the Shelf and he said, "poop."  I really hope this phase ends soon.

4.  We are gearing up for another busy week.  Jason is heading off to CA for his ultimate dream golf vacation with his dad and brother and my dad is flying in from CA to stay and help me with the boys.  We are excited to see Grandpa P and happy for daddy that he gets to enjoy this once in a lifetime trip with his family.

5.  I made the Pioneer Woman's Sweet Potato Casserole for Thanksgiving.  Delicious!

6.  I also tried the Garlic Brussel Sprout recipe from the Food Network Magazine last week.  It was also delicious.  Who ever thought I would actually want to eat my brussel sprouts!

7. And, my last mention of food... I roasted my first pumpkins this weekend.  So easy and fun.  Grant loved helping me scoop out the seeds when they were all cooled.  Can't wait for the pumpkin treats that will come from our new home roasted pumpkin!

8.  Have I mentioned that Ashton is into everything?  The middle of our kitchen table and the toilet seem to be his happy place right now.  Grant was never this crazy which scares me because I remember thinking he was crazy.  Any suggestions on how to get him to stop climbing onto the table?  Moving the chairs doesn't work- he just moves them back!

9. I made my first call to Poison Control last week and amazingly enough it wasn't for Ashton!  Grant was naughty at grandmas and tore apart her elephant ear plant which is apparently toxic.  Not the death type of toxic, but rather the, if you touch the oil of the plant your hand feels like it is on fire type of toxic.  Grant was screaming his head off and wanted his hands on ice.  I finally made the call once I realized this wasn't just him being dramatic.  After about 30 mins of screams and soaking his hands in ice cold water, he calmed down enough for us to come home and take a nice Benadryl induced nap.  I was very thankful that I was at grandmas and had the help of grandma, Aunt M and the cousins.  Not sure how people make that call while having a screaming child in their lap!

10.  Blessing of the week:  Family.  No time like the holidays to remind you of how lucky you are to be surrounding by a loving family.

Ten on Tuesday Thanksgiving Style

1.  Today I am thankful for my family.  My boys are my everything (that includes J as one of my boys of course).  They have a way of frustrating me one minute and then melting my heart the next.  They totally exhaust all energy I have, but I love every second of it and I wouldn't change it for the world.  I love them so much and am so thankful that God blessed me with them.

2.  Today I pray for those longing to be a "family".  For those women who want nothing more than to bring a baby home in their arms.  I pray that God blesses them with the desires of their heart and gives them comfort, strength and courage through their journey.

3.  Today I am thankful for the things in life that so often we take for granted.  A roof over my head, a reliable car to drive, food on my table and clothes on my body.  I so often fall into that state of wanting more.  I long for a nice house with a gourmet kitchen, a new car and an entire new wardrobe.  I must remind myself constantly to be grateful for what I have because so many people don't have a house, a car and are never blessed with new clothes. 

4.  Today I pray for those less fortunate than us.  I pray that they will be able to find a hot meal this Thanksgiving and that they will have a warm place to rest their tired bodies.  May their lives be blessed this holiday season.

5.  Today I am thankful for my health and the health of our families.  Watching my mom get extremely ill this year made me face the reality that my parents will not be on this earth forever.  Hearing the news of a 4 year old boy being diagnosed with cancer, a friends' father passing away unexpectedly from a heart attack and a strong women passing away from breast cancer have all made me extremely grateful for my health and the health of my family.  I have learned to not take a moment for granted.

6.  Today, I pray for those who have lost loved ones.  It seems that there have been so many beautiful lives lost this year.  Please be with their grieving families.  The holiday season is centered around family which makes it that much more difficult for those that have lost loved ones.  Please be with them Lord and give them strength that I know only you can give.

7.  Today I am thankful for help.  It sounds silly, but there are days that I am alone with the boys for long periods of time and it makes me so grateful that I have a husband that comes home and helps me when I am running low on energy.  I am also grateful for the two amazing women that take care of our boys on the days that I work.  It makes it so much easier to leave them when I know that they are being cared for by moms that take such good care of them and love them like they are their own.

8.  Today I pray for those that aren't lucky enough to be surrounded by people that help them.  For the single moms that work so hard to provide a wonderful life for their kids. May you give them the strength and energy to keep going.

9.  Today I am thankful for my faith.  It has definitely struggled over the last seven years as we dealt with infertility and the loss of our precious daughters.  But, through all of those struggles I learned that God is always there to lean on and I am so thankful for that promise.

10.  Today I pray for those who are not believers, those struggling with their faith and those that need you, but refuse to seek you.

Ten on Tuesday

1.  Conversations overheard in the public restroom between Grant and I:

Grant:  mommy, are you peeing out of your buns?
Me: no Grant, that is just mommy's girl parts.

Grant: (as he is sitting on the potty) mommy, do you want to touch it? (referring to his boy parts of course)
Me:  speechless.

I really would be laughing my ass off if I was someone outside of the stall listening to this!


2.  Jason was gone hunting this weekend so I ordered Polar Express and had a fun night movie night in with my boys.  I even got Ashton to sit still and watch the movie for 5 minutes.  I think that is a record for him.

3.  Grant and I went on a date to hear Slugs and Bugs, a Christian kids band.  So much fun and so hilarious to witness my first kids concert.

4.  I volunteered this weekend for Feed My Starving Children.  My favorite quote from the director was, "find a cause that breaks your heart and get involved."  I couldn't have said it better myself.  I realize that we are all so busy, but giving just a few hours of our time opens our hearts up to a whole other level of compassion.

5.  Ashton has serious attachment issues to his bottle.  This transition from bottle to sippy is not going to be fun.

6.  Shhhh.... I am slowly switching out fall decoration for Christmas ones.  Jason hasn't noticed yet. This is the only time his lack of attention to detail comes in handy!

7.  I am starting to feel the Black Friday fever.  Anyone want to go out at 12 with me???

8. First snow of the season last night!  I was giddy like a little kid watching the flakes come down. 

9.  Ashton has started imitating us. I was in the bathroom brushing my teeth this morning and he walked in. opened the drawer, grabbed his toothbrush and started brushing his 4 teeth.  The other night Jason walked in from work and gave me a kiss and then Ashton walked over to me and gave me a kiss.  So cute!

10.  Blessing of the week:  2 more hours a day with daddy and $300 a month!  5 years ago, Jason's job was transferred out of town.  It was a rough economic time so we dealt with it the best we could.  A couple months ago, his company announced that there were moving back!  This is Jason's last official week of driving 45 mins to and from work.  We couldn't be happier to have more time with daddy during the day and more $ in the bank!  Praising God that this transition is happening before the winter so I don't have to freak out every snowy morning as he drives away.  

12 Months

*I wrote this post a while back but was waiting for our computer so I could add the pictures*

Ashton Nowell, you are a one year old.  I say those words, yet I am still in disbelief that a whole year has actually passed since that fabulous day they placed you in my arms.  It has been a crazy year as we learned how to juggle two busy boys, how to teach Grant to share his world with you and how to function on little sleep again. This is what you have been up...

*you are such an adventurous little boy.  I joke that I should pre-register you at the hospital so I am ready the first time I have to run you in there for stitches.  You go head first down the slide and laugh after falling off the couch.  Your adventure makes you such a happy boy, but it gives me hives.

*you are a little tike.  You have such a different build than Grant so it doesn't seem possible, but you are actually smaller than he was at one year!  At your appt, you weighed 18 pounds 13 (12%) oz and came in at amazing heights at 28 1/2 inches (6%)!

*we really must just make tiny babies because you eat like a horse.  Everyone mentions how you eat twice as much as Grant does.  You love food.  You are not a huge fan of cheerios unless I let you grab them and throw them.  You love crackers, yogurt melts, bananas and cheese.  You are eating all table food now and are even attempting a fork and spoon.

*your sleep patterns leave a lot to be desired.  You started sleeping through the night at 2 months and did well until about 6 months.  After that, everything went downhill.  You finally seem to be getting back on track.  Let's hope so!


*you love to be a part of everything.  You follow Grant around like a little puppy dog and want to be everywhere he is.  It really is so cute to watch you look up to him already at such a young age.

*you babble a ton but don't really say any real words yet.  You look at the picture of a ball and say ba but that is about it.

*you love to read books. Actually, you love to turn the pages on books.  I have to fight you to get you to actually look at the pictures.

*you wear size 12 month clothes but are still in size 9 month pants.  I am trying my hardest to get rid of the last of the size 3 diapers because you really need to move up to size 4.

*I like to say that you have sticky fingers because your new hobby is picking up things, carrying them around for a while and then dropping them in really random places.

*you always have a smile on your face and love to laugh.

You are such a joy to have around.  Grant is my serious boy and you are my silly boy.  I love you so much and can't wait to see what the next year brings to you.

~momma

1.  I convinced Jason to go with me to the Embrace the Hope event with Todd and Angie Smith last Thursday night.  We are currently reading The Five Love Languages so I think he was looking to fill my love tank by agreeing to go.  In no way was he excited about it. At.All.  I was thrilled however.  I was looking to fill my spiritual love tank which has felt a little empty for a while now.  I did just that.  Todd has an amazing voice and I confirmed Jason's biggest fear of going (that he would be stuck in a group of crying women) by balling my eyes out when he sang It Is Well With My Soul.  Angie told her story which I already knew from her blog and book, but it was good to hear it in person.  I left the evening with a peace surrounding me.  I needed that as the holidays approach.  I have never been a support group person.  You guys are pretty much my support group.  But, sitting in that church and knowing that I could cry without being judged and that everyone around me knew exactly how I felt was a really comforting feeling.

2.  The evening was a fundraiser for Starlight Ministries, a local non-profit that helps kids that have lost loved ones.  I had personally never heard of it, but after seeing the video and hearing the testimonies, I am hooked.  I love donating to little non profits that make a huge difference in peoples lives, especially when it is kids lives they are changing.  If you are one of the millions that donate at the end of the year, please consider helping out this orgnization.

3.  Grant got his first black eye from a girl last week.  I am sure it won't be his last.

4. Just when Ashton had finally slept through the night for two nights in a row, he had a reaction to one of his 12 month shots.  Fever, rash and another sleepless night.  Jason and I actually said it went in the books as one of the worst nights ever with Grant ending up in our bed because he couldn't sleep with Ashton crying.

5.  Jason and I took the boys to a water park this past weekend.  We had talked about doing it last spring, but then we sold our house and life just got too busy.  I wasn't sure how the boys would do so we just did a half day pass and then drove to my parents house to spend the night since it is only 30 mins away.  I am glad we went that route.  We all had a ton of fun, but by the end of our 5 hour stint, we were ready to be done!

6.  Shopping at Ikea was fantastic as always!  My favorite purchase were 99c finger puppets for the boys stockings!

7. I am really regretting not moving all of my pictures to my external hard drive.  I have posts to do and thank yous to send out and I need those pictures!  Hoping to get my computer back soon.

8. Did you vote today????

9. Grant's new thing is to end everything with poo poo.  For instance, he says,"I love you mommy poo poo."  It really is lovely.

10.  Blessing of the week:  seeing the excitement on Grant's face when he walked in the water park.

Happy Halloween from two of the cutest dalmatians ever!  This is the only pic I have right now since my computer with all my pics on it is in the shop. Will take more later once trick or treating starts.  Hope you all have a safe and happy Halloween.