Halloween Weekend Round Up

I got to meet my new niece on Friday. 

Jessica Nicole was born on Thursday, Oct. 27th, weighing 8 lbs 7 oz. 

She is absolutely precious!  This is my sister's 5th kid (under 6 yrs old).

I still can't believe we got snow on Saturday! Two days before Halloween!



We got most of the snow, but everyone else got rain.

That didn't stop us from trunk or treating at my friend's church.

It's been a busy month and I'm looking forward to slower weekends so I can start getting things around the house!  Christmas will be here before you know it!

Free Christmas Cards from Shutterfly (CLOSED)

Have you started to think about Christmas yet?  What about your family's Christmas card this year?

Last year, I used Shutterfly for our Christmas card (below) and I wanted it to be special since it was our 'coming out' card announcing our pregnancy. 

Shutterfly has SO many Christmas cards and Holiday cards to choose from.  I've already started browsing and I just can't decide which one to go with! I love the stationary cards, which tend to be a thicker cardstock.  The look of it is very crisp and professional.  Their website is very user friendly and their customer service is great at answering any questions. 

Aside from Christmas cards, Shutterfly also has birth announcements!  I ordered Matthew's birth announcements from them too!  It turned out great and I LOVED it!  I received lots of compliments on both cards. 

Now on to the best part!

Shutterfly is going to give three of my readers codes to order 25 FREE cards!  All you have to do is leave me a comment and I will randomly draw three names. 

That's it!  Seriously!

No following required, no tweeting or FB'ing.  Just leave a comment (make sure your email is listed on your profile or leave it in the comment so I can contact you).

Giveaway open until midnight, Thursday, November 3, 2011.

The hardest part is deciding which card is your favorite!!

UPDATED: 11/4/11

Three random winners were chosen. Congrats to Olive, Kimberly and Ashley.  I have sent you all an email.  Please respond so I can give you the codes.  If I do not hear from you by Thurs,  Nov. 10th, I will draw new winners.  Thanks!!

What to do with a 50 lb Pumpkin?

Carve it and put your "pumpkin" in it!!

I finally made something off Pinterest!

Of all the stuff I've 'pinned', this is the easiest to make!
(more like assemble together)

Who doesn't love s'mores??!



Source from Pinterest

One Pin down, tons more to go!

My Pumpkin at the Patch

We went to the pumpkin patch two weeks ago and I am just now getting around to posting pictures.

I took Abbey and  Matthew and we spent five hours there!  It's hard to take two kids by yourself.  (Steve has class on Saturdays now until the end of the year).

We had a great time though.  My pumpkin was taking it all in and was all smiles to everyone.

 

I found the perfect (50 lb) pumpkin for my little pumpkin.

Wait til you see my pumpkin in it!

Matthew is 8 Months

What a big boy!

You are sitting up on your own AND you are army crawling!  Sometimes you will get on all fours and rock back and forth, then drop and roll or scoot. 

You still have no teeth.

You are eating more varities of baby food and seem to enjoy it.

And when you got to grandma's, you get rice pooridge that you eat up!

You have finished all the breast milk that we had in the freezer so you are strictly on formula.

The best part is that you are holding your own bottle now!!!!

You have a new babysitter. Mrs. Melanie returned to work and now Mrs. Melinda (and her daughter Ashley) comes in and watches you while mommy works.  You love playing with Ashley and don't want to nap until she goes off to school. 

You love "reading" your picture books. 

You have started watching baby einstein.  I can't wait until you can really start learning and soaking up everything around you!

You said your first word....Da-da! Mommy will continue to work with you to say ma-ma.  And I continue to speak Vietnamese to you so you can become familiar with it.

You are such a good baby! 

Our lives have been filled with indescribable joy the past 8 months!

I can't wait to see how much more I can possibly love you!

You make us smile EVERY DAY!

It has been AMAZING to see how much you have grown.

Ma-Ma vs Da-Da

Matthew said his first word!!!

I have been practicing for MONTHS with Matthew to say 'mama'...

So, what does he end up saying??



'Da-Da'

Lil Stinker!!

At first I was in denial because it wasn't really a 'distinct' da-da.

But then last night when he said it, it was clear as day.

Of course, Daddy's happy.

New Mommy Lesson #1,246 Learned

 Tonight I had my first scary terrifying new mommy moment. 

I put Matthew in his exercaucer so I could clean up the kitchen.  Before I started loading the dishwasher, I decided I would cut up an apple to snack on while I cleaned.

Matthew was getting a little ansy in his exercaucer so I gave him a slice of apple to suck on (he has NO teeth).  I thought he looked adorable trying to chomp on his apple so I grabbed my camera and started taking pictures of him.



(Not sure what's going on with his hair.  Daddy 'styled' it).

 I would take a picture, then preview it so I could adjust the settings on the camera.

I did this with several shots as I sat on the floor next to him.

Then I snapped this picture and was previewing it when I saw something white in his mouth in the picture!!

When I realized that it was a piece of the apple, I freaked out!

I quickly stuck my finger in and was able to get it out before he could swallow it!

Oh my goodness - I couldn't believe that I was dumb enough to give him the apple.  I thought for sure there was no way he could bite it.  I guess by chomping on it long enough, part of it got soggy and broke off. 

I am grateful that I was sitting right there with him when it happened, versus doing the dishes or putting him in the next room where I couldn't see him. 

I still feel SO awful! I'd probably take the award for worst mother of the year!

 I am counting my blessings tonight that my baby is ok.

Lesson Learned!

Apple Picking

....One of my favorite fall activities.

Enough said.

  

Arizona - Sedona and Meeting a Blogger Friend



I think my favorite part of the whole trip was visiting Sedona and doing the pink jeep tour!

It was absolutely amazing!

We had a great tour guide/driver and we laughed so hard we were close to peeing in our pants. (It didn't help that the jeep tour was a VERY bumpy ride!)

******

After our fun day in Sedona, I met up with a blogging friend, Jen from Do I Have to Be A DINK?

I have been following Jen's journey for a while so it was great to meet her in person. 

She is beautiful! 

I looked a mess because I had been out all day in the sun.

(My camera batter died so I had to use my cell phone).

It was awesome to put a face with a blog. 

Jen's getting ready to go to NYC later this week for vacation.  If you have any suggestions for things to do in the big apple, please hop on over to her blog and let her know!

Arizona was fun and I will definitely be back!

Arizona - Phoenix and Scottsdale

My girl's weekend started out rough, spending six hours at the airport due to plane delays and getting re-routed, we landed in Phoenix 11 hours after being dropped off at the airport.

Fortunately, that was the only bad thing that happened the entire weekend.  

It was a FABULOUS weekend! 

We ate lots of really good Mexican food. I'm usually not a big fan of Mexican food, but Phoenix really impressed me.  I swear I could easily eat a breakfast burrito every morning if I lived there.

We had a spa day at the Val.ley Ho hotel.

An hour massage, followed by thirty minutes of foot reflexology (a.k.a footmassage).

Absolute heaven!

Soooo relaxing that I snored off to sleep. 

We stayed at our friend's timeshare in Phoenix for the first two nights, then she booked us a suite at the Hyatt Regency in Scottsdale.  We spent the entire day hanging by the pool.  Again, very relaxing!

We did a lot of eating this weekend.  If you ever visit Scottsdale and in the mood for good Thai food,  you have to try Soi 4. (They also have a location in Oakland,CA).

Here's a picture of us eating sushi at 10:00 pm at Blue Wasabi.

(I can't remember the last time I ate dinner that late!)

Lots of laughter, food, friends and fond memories.

It was much needed.  It's nice to get away every once in a while with your girlfriends and laugh until your belly aches!

(More pictures to come from Sedona and meeting up with my awesome blogger friend).