Our Day of Thanks

I hope you all had a safe and happy Thanksgiving. We always have so much to be thankful for. This year was a first for me. I cooked my first turkey!! Since my parents are on their mission in Africa, we had to scramble to pull Thanksgiving together. Two of my sisters and I had a cooking party and helped each other try to figure out what Mom's been doing for years. Absence makes the heart grow fonder and the tummy hungrier for Mom's cooking.

But all in all, I think the dinner was a win. The turkey was moist (2 sticks of butter will do the trick) and the rolls raised. All the trimmings were yummy. Thanks Sherry and Jennifer for the new memories of cooking together! Turkey's done...let's eat!

By the way, can I say how much I love pumpkin? I bought one can of pumpkin and it lasted 3 recipes: some yummy doughnuts, 2 loaves of bread, and a batch of pancakes. I was a baking fool...I love pumpkin!!

My Girl's all Grown-up and Saving China

Ok...so she hasn't joined the Chinese army to fight off the Hun and she doesn't have a little red dragon named Mushu...but that's how I feel about my little Rachie. It seems just like yesterday when she was learning to sit up, roll-over, and crawl. Boy does time fly. I don't know what it is about being five and a half, but kids sure do grow up a ton during this year. Rachel is no exception. She absolutely loves kindergarten and I know she is the the apple of her teacher's eye. She has taken to school like a duck to water. She loves reading and enjoys taking the timed test on her math facts to try and get more done than last time. I can't believe my baby girl is reading!

Rachel has been a thumb sucker since she was a newborn. It was cute when she was a baby, and it was nice that she could sooth herself without me having to keep tabs on a binky. But once a kid gets to 3,4,5 years old it isn't as cute anymore. The worries of braces and such come to mind. (Not to mention all those germs.) So after trying a few ways to discourage the thumb sucking over the years (sticker charts, band-aids, etc) we used some stuff called Mavala that worked like magic. http://www.amazon.com/Mavala-Stop-Nail-Biting-Sucking-Prevention/dp/B0000YUXI0 After a week of using it on Rachel she was done sucking her thumb! (Drew took 2 weeks) Now it's time to start a savings account for the braces. I am so glad my baby girl is finally done sucking her thumb.

Rachel is now a 2 wheeler bike rider! We took her training wheels off one day while Aaron was at work. I thought I would work with her for a few minutes and then Aaron could finish it off when he got home. She was doing really well after just a few times up and down the road with me. Poor Aaron didn't get the chance to help her because she was already zooming down the road on her own by the time he got home from work. I can't believe my baby girl is riding her bike without training wheels.

Halloween 2009

Another Halloween has come and gone. It's not my favorite holiday, but the kids love it so I try to comply. I remember being a kid and wanting to decorate the house for Halloween. So we would color our own pumpkins and scary cats and tape them up to the widows of the front of the house. So when the kids begged me to decorate the house we made a trip to the dollar store. See, I'm trying. And when the kids wanted to go out and look for costumes I even went to 2 stores!

This year we went with the Power Ranger theme. Not that we even watch the show. Connor loves robots so he decided he could be a robot Power Ranger. Rachel was excited to be the Pink Power Ranger and loved the idea of wearing a mask. Didn't we all love the "idea" of wearing a mask? Then once you try to walk around at night with the thing on and it quickly comes off. Drew just completed our ensemble with his cuteness. Let's just say that I felt extra safe that night knowing I has these crime fighting heroes with me.

Just as we were getting ready to go out the door Connor threw-up. I could see in his face how bad he felt. But the idea of missing out on the fun and candy was too much for him. He begged me to be able to go out trick or treating. What's a mom to do? So I let him go and told him that at the slightest tummy twinge we were going home. He lasted all night and then some. Sorry to all you mommies out there. I hope we didn't infect the world with Connor's sickies. But how can a kid miss Halloween?!

It was fun to hand out candy with my sister Jennifer and brother-in-law Kenny, and our friends the Dixons. Thanks for hanging out with us guys. On another note, I just had to show off Aaron's jack-o-lantern. This was all hand done. No cheater stencils here! Go Suns!

After all was said and done I think the night was a success. And here's the proof. I wish I could sprawl out on the floor like that with all my candy!

Drum Roll, Please.

Ok, the long awaited results are in. The votes have been tallied, and much to Aaron's dismay and disbelief, Pose 1 has been victorious! Yes, that's right folks, my pick for our family's picture was Pose 1, and Aaron's pick was Pose 2. It was a close race. At first it looked like Pose 2 was gong to win by a landslide. But, thankfully, due to an overwhelming response to my email account, Pose 1 overcame. Aaron still doesn't believe me; I still have the emails saved for evidence. Thank you everyone for your input. It was a lot of fun to hear what you thought. And now that the picture is up on the wall I am even more glad I chose Pose 1. It looks great!

New Family Pictures

It was well overdue for our family to get a portrait updated for the Living room wall. I had a hard time coming up with something for us all to wear. So after a trip to the Target clearance racks it looked like black was our theme.

That poor photographer. I'm sure she doesn't get paid enough for what she does. Especially after working so hard to get a shot where we were all looking at the camera and not crying or blinking. I think she took over 20 shots. Out of the 20, there were 2 that we liked. We had a hard time choosing between the two. So we got some of each. Ok. I got some of each so that I wouldn't feel so guilty about vetoing the vote our family had to try and pick one. Am I horrible? It was a 3 to 1 vote. (Drew didn't really vote. But I'm sure he would've gone in my favor had he raised his hand.) I was the only one who didn't like the pose that won. I'm not saying I didn't like the one that the rest of the family liked, I did/do like it. It's a very cute picture...uh, hello, it's of my super cute family!! I just like the other one a little better. And so I used the "mommy" card and got what I wanted for the wall. Sorry Aaron, I know I drive you crazy sometimes. At least I got the pose you liked in the 5x7s so you could have it on your desk at work, right?

Anyway, I'm going to post both pictures and get your opinion on the matter. You can leave your vote on the comments page or email me. Just so I can sleep better at night...I'm hoping there is someone out there who likes the same pose that I do. So if you all like the one that Aaron and the kids liked, I guess I'll just have to live with the guilt. Or worse, be sad I didn't get the one everyone liked...No pressure!

Pose 1

Pose 2

Outdoor fun

With the weather becoming cooler...cooler's not the word...less miserable?...not so soul crushingly hot?...bearable? We'll go with bearable. With the weather becoming bearable, we've begun to venture outside more.

Over Labor Day, we decided to go for a little drive and ended up down by the Salt River. We walked around in the shade of the trees and the kids climbed on rocks and walked down by the banks of the river. It was nice to be outside around nature and not feel like you were melting.

One day after Aaron got home from work, we even got out a blanket and laid out in the front yard for a while because it was too nice to be inside. I love these impromptu moments!

Then of course it is soccer season. This time Aaron is coaching Rachel's U-6 team while Connor is still in U-8.

The colors of their uniforms are very similar but they are on different teams. Rachel plays for the Tigers (burgundy and black) and Connor is playing for The Reapers (red and black). They both tried so hard and had a good time. Connor scored his team's first and only goal in their first game, and Rachel was so close to scoring twice (she just missed).

The hardest part about soccer is keeping our curly headed soccer star off the field. We did cut him loose for a minute after Rachel's game though.

We are really looking forward to being done with the heat of summer. Bring on the double digits.

Techno-Baby

Question: Should I be proud of this or ashamed? Some might argue on one side and some of you the other. Either way he is darn cute. But technology is both a curse and a blessing. I know you all know that. It's a blessing for us in the Blaylock home especially since Aaron brings home the bacon working in the IT department. So I guess it's only natural for Drew to be a techno-genius. Since Drew has been sitting on Daddy and Mommy's lap in front of the computer from day one (as I'm sure all of us have done.) It's only logical that the kid would pick up a few things here and there on the workings of computers and hand held devices. It's amazing how he runs by the keyboard, his hands reaching above his head and with one stroke he can start a computer program; or how he can beat Connor's Jedi Math game on the Leapster, and is obsessed with the basketball game on Aaron's iPhone. This week he's started bringing me the TV remote and asks to watch Elmo or Arthur. What's a mom to do? I could either try to limit the amount of TV and computer time my baby is exposed to...it does over stimulate his little neurons, so I've heard. Or I could think of Drew as the Mozart of his time. A pure genius in the making. It's easier to do the latter. Plus, a little stroking of the ego doesn't hurt.