Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Happy Thanksgiving {2011}

As  it has been for the past seven years, Thanksgiving was a busy day. Unlike the last few years, it was actually relatively calm and I didn't feel rushed trying to squeeze all the family in. That is one of the main things that I am thankful for this year.

We started out with Kel's side of the family. Nana and Papa (thankfully) made the drive to us this year from Bakersfield. They arrived bearing gifts. New clothes for the boys and donuts for all. We then made our way over to Hometown Buffet and met Kel's sisters and brother in law for brunch. The boys loved it! C actually told me "No" to pineapple and "Yes, lope!" to cantaloupe. Choosing their own desserts and the 4 2 Icees each that Kel gave them was just the icing on the top.



After brunch, Nana wanted to go to our favorite park to take pictures. This is where most of the pictures of the day will be from as I forgot my memory card during brunch, my batteries ran out at the park, and I left my camera at home when we went to my parents. Oh well, at least I have a few from the beginning of the day. C and D did not really want to take pictures though (who could blame them with me as their mother) so the majority of the time was spent at the playground trying to burn off their sugar high from the Icees.







And running up and down the hills.




Of course, being the person I am, I attempted to get a family picture with my boys.



And one (or two) pictures with Nana.



After the park, we went to my parents house for dinner. I love my parents' cooking. Especially the green beans, mashed potatoes, and my mom's fruit salad. After dinner, Aunt R and Aunt K convinced C to do some laps to work off some of the turkey he ate that day. I think he did twelve laps before he and D turned my parents' living room into their very own WWE fighting ring. (Aunt R, if you read this, can you PLEASE send me any pictures/video that you took?). We ended the night with the annual Clark Holiday Poker tournament. Which, surprisingly, I took third place!

Wordless Wednesday



Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Mama Bear

Tonight has taught me a lot of things. A simple request can be misconstrued and turned into something ugly. I tried to protect my boys from someone and I turned into the bad guy.

I don't care.

You can call me any name in the book, but I will always advocate for my boys. If you are putting them in harms way, you best believe I will do something about it. I asked a family member to stop posting pictures of my boys on her Facebook page, as she is still friends with the person who tried to hurt my family. Instead of respecting my wishes, she turned it into a drama-fest that ended with us severing our ties.

I don't care.

My boys will be just fine without her.

I've tried to keep the "ugly" out of my blog. To just post the good and gloss over the bad. But at this point, this is my only outlet to vent. While Kel agrees with the outcome, he doesn't want to talk about it. And I understand, it's his family after all. So while I have a lot that I want to say, and a lot of anger, I will just leave it at this blog post and move on.

Although this wasn't the post that I originally intended to write, and I'll be getting to my "Thankful Tuesday" a little later (probably Thankful Thursday), I needed to write this. And since I don't like having a post without at least one picture, I'll leave you with one that I took today while we were on our daily walk.


It's not the "cutest"  picture in the world, but their faces pretty much sum up how I feel tonight.

And the matching shirts were not intentional...

Friday, November 25, 2011

{Flashback Friday}

This was the day we brought D home from the hospital.



Only we couldn't go to our apartment due to a mold issue in the guest bathroom, so we went straight to Gigi and Poppy's for the night. This is the first picture of my dad holding my D for the first time and I still get teary eyed looking at it. In hindsight, it was a blessing to be able to spend the night at my parents house. My mom allowed me some time to sleep, and D got some loving from his aunts and grandparents.

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Thankful Tuesday

Today I'm thankful for this surprise.


I was 21 and just moving in with Kel and kids were nowhere in our near future plans. In fact, if it was up to Kel, we wouldn't have even thought of having any kids until he turned thirty. Funny how surprises change everything.



I'm so thankful that I have a happy, healthy, thriving four year old who loves to surprise me daily.



Saturday, November 19, 2011

Friday Funday

For the past few weeks, I've been watching E during the day so that Ms. C can catch up on some sleep after working all night. Today I decided to treat the boys to a special trip to McDonald's. Luckily, I only live a few blocks away and it was a relatively short walk.






I also decided to be adventurous, and didn't take the stroller for C. Which meant freedom at its finest for this little boy. Luckily he looks up to E and didn't mind holding his hand and staying with the group. Or when E jumped in front of him when he got too far away.





I had planned on taking more pictures when we were at the Golden Arches, but there were a ton of kids and moms hanging around so I decided not to be the weird crazy lady taking pictures of the boys. When the crowd cleared out, I did get a few pictures. But again, I didn't want to be the "Paparazzi" as Kel likes to call me and use my flash (which would have made me noticeable) so I only got a few. And they weren't of the best quality either.







After spending an hour and a half eating and playing, it was time to walk home. And while it wasn't as harmonious as the walk-to, the boys were still well behaved and we had fun playing eye spy. As soon as we got home, I got the best present of C putting himself down for a nap while D and E relaxed on the couch and watched Phineas and Ferb while waiting for Ms. C.










I mean look at that yawn!

The cherry on the top of this Friday Funday was going to see Twilight: Breaking Dawn Part 1 with my aunt. It was amazing and lead very well into the final movie. Or at least that's what I am assuming as I have not actually read the book series and I have no idea what the final installment entails.

Friday, November 18, 2011

{Flashback Friday}

This isn't the best picture of me. I look like I hadn't slept in weeks (which I hadn't), I needed a hair cut (or at least a better style), my eyebrows needed a wax (which they usually do a week after I have them done), and who doesn't love a double chin (don't answer that).

Regardless of how crappy I look, this is one of my favorite pictures of C when he was a baby. My favorite picture has to be the one that Kel snapped the minute C was back in my arms after being cleaned off, which I posted here. I loved how he was instantly my cuddlebug (hence the nickname Buggy). This was actually taken on November 16, 2009, so just over two years ago when he was three weeks and three days old.