.thanksgiving 2014...and the rest of november.

.november was a busy month....but i knew december was going to be much, much, busier. 

.i had planned one project every weekend in november before december came, before christmas came, before BABY came. 

.we started the month out well. getting a few projects done the first weekend, and the second weekend, i helped host a craft boutique....which i made these wood boards for. it was fun, and successful for most of our "vendors"...maybe not for us, but thats aright. i actually sold more boards the following weeks. we went one a shaved ice date with out kids one weekend, and andrew was embarrassed how BLUE my lips/teeth were from it, when we ran a couple errands afterwards. 

.we also took the kids to toys-r-us at the beginning of the month to see what toys the kids wanted for christmas. we figured we would take them around and see what toys they point out, but than continue to ask them throughout the next month what they want for christmas, and what toys STUCK with them. this worked GREAT. the kids each mentioned like 2 toys they REALLY wanted, and we were able to make it happen. however, these toys were some of their favorite that they LOVED but daddy said no, and so did the price tag :) thankfully they were NOT one of the toys mentioned that they wanted for christmas for the next month. 

.we potty trained parker. i was determined to not have 2 in diapers again. been there, done that. parker was potty trained day and night at 2 years and 4 months. 

.well plans changed quickly when our family got hit with sickness. parker got hit first with the flu. the poor boy was SO scared to death to throw up. it was so sad. i pulled the crib mattress into our room on the floor, right outside the bathroom door in our bedroom. i ended up sleeping on the floor next to the mattress. (not cool being THAT pregnant)....b was SO sweet to parker and rubbed his back and asked him what he wanted....

(this is what a mommy looks like after being up all night with sick kids)

...and than brooklynn got it. and on our anniversary....and of course we had a whole day planned for our anniversary to celebrate (something we never do)...so i stayed home with a sick girl that would yell "get these bad germs out of my body" while she laid in pain and sent Andrew off to get his surprise massage. 

.thankfully andrew and I didnt get it, but it did push parker back in potty training. poor kid had the runs, and so we put a diaper on him while he was sick. he still has accidents at night every now and than. but otherwise during the day is fully potty trained. 

.than there was thanksgiving. i had told andrew he was out of his mind if he thought i was going to cook a turkey, let alone TOUCH a turkey. i told him thanksgiving was going to be LOW KEY and EASY this year. I was going to order the turkey already seasoned and cooked to perfection from the local bbq place, and i would make mashed potatoes, stuffing, and sweet potatoes....corn would be from a steamable frozen bag, and pies would be purchased from the frozen isle in the grocery store. 

.however, this all changed when i realized the DAY BEFORE i hadnt ordered the turkey. we had planned for our anniversary all day date the day before thanksgiving...so while we were on our way to our first destination i had andrew call the bbq place and see if you could put in an order. andrew said, "tash, they are practically laughing at me on the other end of the line when i ask order a turkey for TOMORROW" soooooo on our list of things to do for our anniversary was track down a turkey, and figure out how to cook it. 

.we literally left our kids for 8-10 hours with the babysitter and celebrated our anniversary. we went to a movie (hunger games), we went to lunch (texas roadhouse) and we did all of our christmas shopping. can i say...i may make this a tradition!?! it was SO nice to go out with Andrew, make decisions on what we want to get the kids TOGETHER and buy pretty much everything in one day. I think i had maybe 3-4 presents i needed to get before christmas for my family/his family....and we had 3 things we were going to get online-walmart black friday. that was it. literally everything DONE. it was fantastic. 

(can you spot the milk duds i snuck into the movie?)

.and we found a FROZEN turkey, and began to thaw it in water that night, for thanksgiving the following day. (hahahaha, i still laugh at this).

.i called my mom thanksgiving morning and had her walk me through what to do with the turkey....and than i told andrew what to do. NO WAY was i touching the turkey. we ended up getting the turkey in and oven, and crossed our fingers it would turn out good. than we headed to the gas station to get half off slushees (kids LOVED this). I cleaned a bit inside, while Andrew hung some christmas lights. 

.dinner time came, turkey was done and tasted delicious. it was a great thanksgiving with our family. low key, and easy--just what i wanted. i didnt have to be anywhere, i didnt have to drive anywhere, i didnt have to make someone i didnt want to, i didnt even have to get out of my pj's...it was fantastic.

(thanksgiving wears you out)

.we finished the month with our last two weeks of dance class (more to come)...finishing the boys room. (more to come). running errands, growing a bigger and bigger belly (and body), getting black eyes, going into "deep clean" mode, and having a reality check of having THREE kids when we cleaned out the van and put all THREE carseats in the back of the van.

 .dance class.

 .parker wanted to shop while we were grabbing things to finish his room.

 .pretty sure b got this when parker threw a toy at her eye.

 .reality check. THREE carseats (and yes, we have ugly blankets under the carseats...but my leather seats look fantastic. 

 growing. EVERYWHERE.

 .deep cleaning mode- i took everything out and cleaned it like crazy.

.next month- parties, christmas, and baby tayson.

.halloween 2014.

.our halloween was pretty low key.

.or so I thought it would be.

.b had been telling me for 2 months before halloween she wanted to be tinkerbell. 

.done.

.and since parker still is a bit young to realize I was going to put him in his sisters leggings... I decided he would be peter pan. 

.between me and my darling friend, we found on our community garage sale facebook page a tinkerbell outfit for $5 and a Peter Pan outfit for $5.

.done.

.parkers Peter Pan outfut was a bit short, so I cut off the "boots" and added them to a pair of b's leggings.... Than with green felt I had leftover I added the dark green to his top, to add contrast and a little more length. 

.we were done. 

.or so I thought. 

.wednesday, the day before our Ward party and trunk or treat, Andrew asked if we were going to dress up. I was not as all planning on it. So Wednesday night I ventured to goodwill and Walmart. Found a jacket for $6, a cowboy hat for $3, got sone yellow ribbon, and red spray paint. Found my striped shirt for $3 and a Santa hat for $1. Stopped at the dollar store for $1 glasses and headed home. 

.it was late, and I needed to wash andrews jacket still, so I started a load and went to bed. 

.in the morning, I started at it. Trying to create some masterpiece. I spray painted the cowboy hat, spray painted the white to my Santa hat. Popped out the lenses to the glasses and with help from Mandy, cut the white wig I bought from her for $3.

Time clicked away, and I continued...adding yellow ribbon to the jacket and hot gluing the hat to look like a pirate hate, now a cowboy hat. I added feathers to the top of the hat, but there was still something missing...I added yellow ribbon, and that was the final touch. 

. I quickly made cornbread and made parker a Peter Pan hat, and realized I didn't have a lace shirt for Andrew. I quickly got dressed, got the kids dressed and ready and Andrew walks through the door. I tell him what to throw on and grab one of my lace skirt extenders. I pin it to the front of his shirt and close the jacket, and it looks great. I was thrilled with the overall turnout. 

.we got so many compliments. It was a ton of fun. I forgot to add facial hair to Andrew until we were already at the church. We ended up taking second. My best friend Mandy took first with her cute Mario cart family. She was peach, her boys Mario and luigi, her daughter was toad, and her hubby was donkey kong. I gave her the idea of donkey kong....darn it, we probably would of took first otherwise. She even had cars for the boys with balloons in the back (that you shoot in the game) it was way cute!

.we enjoyed dinner/dessert and andrew stayed at the van handing out candy, while i took the kids around to each car and got candy. 

.the next day, we waited for andrew to get home, and headed to IHOP for dinner. they had FREE "scary face" pancakes for the kids, and also a 2 for $10 deal....so I totally jumped on that, NO COOKING?!?! heck yea!

.than we headed to jamba juice and got the kids FREE kids smoothies, and Andrew and I got one to share..than headed to the nice neighborhood next to us, to trick or treat. the kids really enjoyed themselves and filled up their buckets almost twice within the 2 hours we went. we headed back to the house around 8, and had a few trick or treaters of our own...Brooklynn and Parker LOVED handing out candy, and that it was the best thing ever. We went through almost an entire bowl of candy because B would give them a HUGE handful each.

.we really enjoyed halloween this year. with the kids being a little older, and understanding how it all works, and with their matching outfits (tinker-bell and peter pan) people LOVED it and gave many compliments. it was fun to see their faces light up, and run from house to house. it made me even more excited for christmas this year, and seeing their excitement. we have really just wanted to enjoy our last 3 holidays (halloween, thanksgiving, and christmas) as a family of 4 before baby brother comes.