Giveaway winner

After randomly selecting a winner using random.org the lucky winner is...

Number 3 Kristen Kennedy!

Wahoo and congrats! Since I am going out of town today, I will get you your package as soon as Thanksgiving is over. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Guess what time it is?

Time for another giveaway! Wahoo! And although it is going to be Christmas themed, make no mistake that I love Thanksgiving and have still not pulled out the Christmas music, thank you very much! But by the time the winner gets their stuff, Thanksgiving will be over so...here goes!

First, my favorite hot cocoa of all time...Stephens Amaretto. It only comes out at the holidays and I love the flavor!

And next, one of my favorite Christmas movies. Elf. I cannot help but laugh when I watch this.

Each person can enter two times for a chance to win. Please leave separate comments for both entries. Each comment will count as one entry so don't combine them. :)

First comment:

Leave your name

Second comment:

Tell me your favorite Christmas must-haves that you love to bring out for the holidays.

Enter until November 21st at midnight...winner will be announce on the 22nd. Good luck and Happy Thanksgiving!

Nursery

This little guy is officially in Nursery at church. While I have been joking for the past few months that I could not wait for this day (so I could actually listen in Sunday School and Relief Society) I have been dreading it. He is my little baby...not a toddler who goes to a class without me!

We dropped him off and once he saw the blocks and cars he didn't cry or even notice we were gone. I cannot say the same about his parents. I sat in Sunday School next to Mark, he reached over and held my hand, smiled at me and said "This is different. Us holding hands in church again. You ok?" And I started to cry. Not a lot, but I missed him. It is the first of many things my Shortstop will do without us.

When we picked him up (after peeking in on him about 17 times) he saw me, started to cry and laugh at the same time saying "Mom, mom, mom." Then he was very excited to point to the door and say "Out". He drew us a picture which we proudly have hanging on our fridge.

Before church he likes to listen/ watch the Primary Songs on my iPad. Best app ever...thank you Rachel for introducing it to me. We use it on Sunday and for FHE. Anyway, we decided to listen to some fun songs to get him ready for Nursery. (I know he does not have pants on...he loves to take those off first thing in the morning and just be in his diaper.)

Yo Gabba Gabba

Life around here has been...kind of distracting I guess you could say. We have been busy and had a lot of things on our plates so Mark and I decided to take the afternoon on Wednesday and take the boy to Yo Gabba Gabba Live! (Love Groupon!) Now, my son does not stay entertained by tv for very long so we don't watch it often but he LOVES Yo Gabba Gabba. At first I fought it and was bugged to find out Mark had shown him a video of one of their songs and then I realized it would give me 20 minutes of peace and quiet if I needed it and finally I came to be ok with it. It is not my favorite show but it is upbeat, has good messages and Shortstop loves it. Mark loves it because the Aquabats, his favorite band, are the creators of the show. In fact, when we were first married and Mark would go to Aquabats shows, the characters actually made appearances. It was kind of funny to picture a bunch of ska loving teenagers and adults dancing to "Wiggle wiggle wiggle" before a show.

All ready in his Brobee t-shirt

We picked Mark up from work early and headed to Salt Lake. Shortstop was so excited to see the posters and toys for sale. He kept pointing at the large character cut outs and smiling (even though it doesn't look like it in this picture).

So when the show started, he was glued. Beforehand he was struggling and fussing so I wondered if this was a good idea. But I am not kidding, the minute the lights when down and DJ Lance came on stage he was so happy and sat in our laps the entire time.

There was one point when I looked over at Mark and saw him dancing with his little boy singing "Party in my tummy" and I laughed out loud. When did our lives turn into concerts of giant puppet characters singing about eating our vegetables?

But it was a great parenting moment of realizing that the best memories come from doing things to see your kids smile. (Can't wait to take Shortstop to Disneyland!)

We had to get him memorabilia from his first concert so we went with a Brobee backpack. He likes it as you can tell. His favorite is that you can wrap the arms around from the back since they are so long.

It was a wonderful evening.

18 Months

That's right folks...my child turned 18 months today. You know what that means? Nursery! I am so beyond excited to be able to sit through Sunday School and Relief Society every Sunday rather than wander the halls. It is going to be a good day! (I know that realistically it will take him a couple of weeks to be ok being left but I am being optimistic!)

I am amazed at how much he is learning day to day. He and I actually communicate and talk and we understand each other. I love it!

New things he says/ does

• "Mine" and "No" have been added to his vocabulary which are not my favorite but it is pretty cute when he says either.
• Vigorously nods his head yes with a huge grin when he wants something or is happy about something
• At any meal, no matter the temperature of food, he looks at it and says "Hot" then tries to blow on it. So when he kept saying "hot" yesterday afternoon while we were playing with bubbles I could not figure it out. Until I realized I was blowing the bubbles so he thought they were hot. Smart kid!
• Says "Pop" if he hears anything that resembles a balloon popping and he has to say it as he pops bubbles
• Everything is a car and says "Rrrrrr" or "Voom"
• He still signs a little but is better at pointing and taking me to what he wants. The other day I heard him dragging something heavy from his room to the living room. I watched him bring me his zipped bag of Toy Story and Cars figurines, place it at my feet and sign please for me to open them.
• He also loves to bring me a book and say "book, up" so I will hold him and read to him. No complaints there! He loves saying "sigh" for "outside" and "wok" for "walk" anytime he sees the stroller or the door opens.
• He now asks for dad all the time and then says "wehk" when I explain he is at work.
• He says "dow" for down
• Every morning Mark brings him into the room to wake me up before he leaves for work and Mark says "Good morning" and Shortstop finishes with "Mom". Then my cuddle buddy literally jumps out of Mark's arms and into bed with me to give me a hug. Is there any better way to wake up? I don't think so.
• Balloon, milk and bottle all sound about the same but as a mom I can tell a little difference
• He loves "chee" (cheese) and "nunu" (banana)
• When I ask him if he has a wet or messy diaper he pats his bottom and says "bum bum"
• He giggles when I make animal noises and does not make them back right away but when I leave the room and he looks at his animal pictures he does it on his own
• He says "chuch" for Church
• He adds "ummmm" before answering most questions- best thing ever!
• He throws his head back and laughs very loudly whenever I call him silly...this is something Mark taught him and it is awesome
• He loves to lay on my soft robe, or anything soft and fuzzy, while I get ready in the morning (We got him a Winnie the Pooh pillow pet for Christmas and I am betting it will be a favorite gift.)
• He likes to do eskimo kisses
• He knows all the hand signs to "Popcorn popping", "Five little monkeys" and we made up our own for "Twinkle twinkle little star". Whenever we sing that one, we can never stop because it ends with "How I wonder what you are" so Shortstop says "Up" each time to start the next line "Up above the world so high..." Kind of funny
• He recently can actually say "One, Choo, Tree" for 1, 2, 3
• He loves to brush his teeth and got his top two teeth a couple of weeks ago. I think I see two more coming in. They have been holding out on us and now seem to be coming all at once!
• He has to point to eyes, nose, ears, head, hair, teeth, mouth and tongue on both his face and mine when asked where they are

He seems like such a little boy and he really is a funny little kid. Can't get enough of him!

Halloween!

You know what I love about November 1st? All the Halloween blog posts and pictures of cute kids in awesome costumes. So I am going to add to that!

First, some back story. When Mark was a freshman at BYU, long before I knew him, he lived in Gates Hall in Heritage halls and became friends with a Skyler Christensen and Justin Morgan. Both are my cousins. They are a little younger than me so I was closer to their older siblings growing up. Well, when Mark and I got married, they felt it was like their friend marrying into the family rather than their cousin bringing in someone new. It was a lot of fun! Then they both married awesome ladies who I am now friends with. So in August at my Grandpa's 90th birthday party when they three of them began discussing and getting jazzed for Halloween and what they wanted to be, how could I say no to what would soon turn out to be a hideous amount of facial hair.

This is before we parted his hair down the middle- but we did black out one tooth which looked awesome

Please forgive that this is a beer commercial but it is a perfect representative of their inspiration.

They decided to become 1920's boxers and use the term "Bully" all night. (I'm feeling bully...What a bully day, etc...) They worked on their facial hair for three months. Sadly Justin and Skyler both had to shave for job interviews or weddings but still came out with a respectable mustache. Mark on the other hand never had to shave and was very proud with what the end result was. (Yes, Mark put a shirt on once we left the house...we aren't that scandalous!)

The contenders:

We had the Morgans and Christensens over for cheese and broccoli soup and we took lots of pictures. The little girls were a witch (Lydia) and a ballerina fairy (Abby) and Shortstop was a little tree frog.

We were going to have him be a bookie or gangster from the 20's but could not find the right costumes. Look how chubby he looks with the thing on his head! I love it!

Trick or treating was great. We went to my old ward neighborhood and had fun seeing friends. Shortstop kept trying to trade candy with people. They would offer him a piece and he would reach in his bucket and give them something in return. Too cute!

After trick or treating we went back to our place for donuts and cider. The kids were awesome, the company was a riot and the weather was perfect. What a great Halloween!

Many have asked when I am going to make Mark shave. Well, I'm not. No I do not love it but he worked so hard and is so happy with it, how can I ask him to shave? So, who knows, maybe it will be his new thing and eventually it will curl up on its own.