Thanksgiving in B-town

We headed to Boise for a fun-filled and busy week. We never seem to have enough time to see everyone we would like, even while running ourselves ragged. Brooklyn had a BLAST playing with all her cousins and friends and LOVED being around her grandparents. I wish I would have taken more pictures with my parents and the kids, but I did get some good ones with Brooklyn feeding the cows with my Dad. She loved feeding the cows! Little does she know, but we will be eating those cows in a few months. : ) We blessed Troy while we were there in my parents home and had a huge showing (and circle!!). They lulled him right to sleep with their bouncing. While we were in town, my neice Katie broke her femer (poor little girl!!), so we visited her in the hospital. She has a cast on both legs up to her waist, but it's hot pink, so she doesn't seem to mind it too much yet. We had dinner with Erik's siblings, made pies with my sisters, I chopped my hair off (YEA!), watched the BSU game with our good friends, shopped at the SUPER Walmart (we don't have one here), and enjoyed the beautiful sunshine (even though it was FREEZING). For Thanksgiving, we ate with Erik's family at the church (in order to accomadate the huge group). They had a pinata for the kids which was really fun. I enjoyed it since I didn't have to cook the whole dinner (like I have for the past 5 years in a row!). I actually got to relax! Then we had dessert with my family at my parents. All in all it was a great trip, but we were glad to be home again in our over-cast "little" town. Although, we already miss all of our family and friends, but we hope to be back soon to visit again. Thanks to my Mom and Dad for again letting us use their car all week and for letting us crash at their place. And thanks to Dee and Terry for watching Brooklyn while Erik and I enjoyed a little date out with his siblings. I have more pictures to post, but they aren't letting me now for some reason. To be continued...

What Troy did while we ate TG dinner.



A little photo shoot at the train depot before TG dinner.

Brooklyn was NOT a happy camper.

Riding the swing, and feeding the cows with Grandpa Hill. The cows let her get REALLY close.

What does a cow say Brooklyn? "Mooo!"

With Grandpa Paternoster before getting blessed.

Our 2 kiddos. I made their outfits. They aren't perfect, but I'm still proud. : )

Grandma Hill, Grandma Paternoster, & Troy

Our little happy family!

A picture of my neice Katie 2 days before breaking her leg.

Twilight

Well the movie was a TOTAL disappointment, but I still had a TON of fun with my girlfriends. And it was SO nice to get out (1st time since LAST CHRISTMAS!!). Anyway, I think I'll re-read the books so I can get the "bad images" from the movie out of my mind. I hope the 2nd movie is better (that is if they even do one now). My good friend Stephanie (in the middle) made us these cute shirts. We went to a pre-movie party and had a blast! I personally like my red eyes. It kind of adds to the whole vampire effect, don't you think? :)

3 months ALREADY?!?!

Mom, are you going to DO something?!

Yes, that is spit-up. Nice huh?

Troy Oliver is 3 months today. I can't even believe it! I say this all the time, but time really does FLY by! He isn't a newborn anymore! He's JUST about to roll over, but can't seem to get over his chunky little arm. But he is very strong and is holding his head up very well. I need to weigh him to see how fat he is, but he's definitely a chunker. He smiles all the time, and gives us little giggles often. Troy is still my little mellow child. The poor guy has probably spent more than half his life in the swing enduring Brooklyn running up and either putting the phone up to HIS ear, or stealing his pacifier and blankets. But he also LOVES his big sis very much, and 9 times out of 10 has a big smile for her when she invades his space (literally). We love our little man!

Also, last weekend, Brooklyn's friend, Gabriella, celebrated her 6th birthday at KidzBounce. Brooklyn had a blast! She was like the Energizer bunny running around like crazy. She SCREAMED when we had to leave. Spoiled much? Hmmm...I guess we'll find out in her teenage just how spoiled she is right? :)

Let me out!!

Queen for the night!

All dogs go to Heaven...

My dear old dog, Tommy, went to Heaven Monday night. I wasn't able to be there, but he was in good hands with my sweet Sister-in-law Cassie, my brother Mike, and their 4 kids. For those of you who have or have had animals pass away, you can understand my grief. I kind of feel silly for being so sad, but he was literally a part of my life and family for 11 years. So here's to you Tommy! I love you!

Summer of 1997 took my mom and to a house to look at puppies. There were several to chose from in the big little of black labs, but there was one that stuck out to me. He wasn't one of the puppies jumping up and down or trying to nibble my hand. He was simply hanging out behind the others patiently waiting to be picked up and petted. My Mom and Dad had always told us the best dogs start out as the calm puppies. So I grabbed him and my Mom and I both fell instantly in love. We took him home and gave him a name: Tommy. I'm not really sure where we came up with the name, but I think it may have been inspired by the movie "Tommy Boy."

I remember taking Tommy to our high school extravaganza and he was of course the center of attention, like most puppies are. I used to sneak Tommy inside and let him sleep in my bed, little did my Dad know (well he actually probably did know, but let it slide). Most of his life I was actually at college, but when I would come home, he would remember me and treat my like I never left. Tommy was such a special dog, and all the grand kids knew it. He would let them crawl all over him, pull his hair, ears and tail, and NEVER once did he snip at any of them. Nor did he bark. He was such a protective dog. Whenever there were little kids outside, he would stick by their sides and be a barrier to the road out front.

One of my favorite memories is when I packed him into my jeep with my friend Melissa to take him to see "Santa Paws." One moment we were laughing and talking, the next moment we were gagging from some AWFUL smell. Yup, Tommy was all man. He let a big one in the car. WE were the ones sticking our heads out the windows that day.

Even when Tommy grew noticeably older, he would still jump up to greet you. And yes, some of you may remember how stinky he was, but he couldn't help it! He LOVED swimming in the canal, but my Mom always made it better by spraying Fe breeze on him.

Tommy lived out the last year of his life at Mike and Cassie's in the country, just where he belonged. I'm sure he spent his last year enjoying chasing the pheasants, scaring the foxes, and protecting the kitties. He was such a gentle dog, that he would even let the little kitties snuggle with him.

I'm going to miss you so much Tommy! But I'm sure you are thoroughly enjoying hanging out with Miss Muffet, Cuddles, Rebel, Rush, and Roxie (our many dogs through the years). Love you Tommy! Here are a few pictures I took off Cassie's blog. I unfortunately don't have any of my own of Tommy on my computer. This shows a little of how patient and sweet he was with kids.

Tag: 8 "interesting" things about me

8 Shows I Love to Watch: The Office, Prison Break, Gossip Girl (I know, I know), 90210, The Hills, Food Network, Lost...I can't think of anything else
8 Things That Happened Yesterday: ran in the POURING rain, Brooklyn cracked me up (pretty much an every day occurance, she's quite the performer), went to Kidzbounce for Brooklyn's friend Ella's b-day, Troy spit up on me (another every day occurance ha ha!), let Brooklyn eat her first McDonald's hamburger, drove Toni to Des Moines and had a nice chat, took a 10 minute nap (love it when I can do that!), watched a movie that was a TOTAL waste of time (the Prince and Me 3, why did I rent that? LAME!)
8 Places I Love to Eat: Ruth's Chris, Simply Thai, Pita Pit (I miss it!), Chipotle, Maggiano's, Fat Burger, Panera Bread, Daniel's Broiler (ok, I've actually never been there, but I'd REALLY like to go SOMETIME!! Hint, hint) : )
8 Things I am Looking Forward to: Thanksgiving, losing this dang baby weight, running Robie again, not being pregnant next summer, watching Brooklyn and Troy grow up, Christmas, getting my hair done, Erik's work Christmas party (I don't get out much)
8 Things on my Wish List: a house, healthy kiddos, my parents live at least another 20 years, that Megan would move to Seattle :), Hudson jeans (or Citizen would work too), a new wardrobe, Petunia Pickle Bottom diaper bag, some "Spanx" (I need something to hold in all this flab!)

8 people I tag: Jenae, Mandy, Heather, Megan (come on, you need to update SOMETIME!), Melissa, Mandi, Brianne, Kim, & Cassie ~that's 9, but what are you gonna do? :)

All hopped up on sugar

Since Halloween, we have had a plethora of candy hanging around our house (much to the chagrin of my figure). We allow Brooklyn to "partake" every once in a while. Well, tonight, Erik let her have some M & M's. The sugar high definitely took effect! She was (literally) running circles around us. We were trying to kneel down for family prayer, but she just couldn't sit still. It was pretty funny. I'm sure all of you who have kids can relate. Brooklyn is sitting in her crib as we speak too hyped up to sleep, but at least she isn't screaming!! What a fun girl. These are just a couple pics I took yesterday of our happy (spazzy) kids. Life doesn't get much better than this!!

Trick-or-treat!

For Halloween night we went to our friends the Rigtrup's for some Taco soup then headed out for some serious trick-or-treating. Brooklyn had so much fun! She ran from house to house but her little legs never seemed to get tired. She was especially taken with all the dogs in the houses (or do-do's as she refers to them). But she got a pretty good stash of candy for her parents, so we were of course thrilled. I unfortunately forgot the dang camera, but my friend Mandy sent me these, taken before we headed out for candy. It's a progression of Brooklyn's tantrum. She wanted to get OUT!! I especially like Erik's face in the last one. Oh and yes, he's the only adult in the photo. He just likes being one of the kids. : ) And they usually can't get enough of him either.