Thanksgiving... one week late

I am officially that mom who can't put up a blog post to save my life.  I have thought about this post since Sunday.  I've tried to get the pictures uploaded 3 different times but a special little boy keeps taking my attention- and to be honest, I don't mind one bit.  So you will have to forgive me for my lack of posts lately- I'm sure you have kept yourself entertained in other ways.

So last week was Thanksgiving and the wonderful 4 day weekend!  I really even love that Wednesday before Thanksgiving too- it is slow and quiet and the anticipation of the weekend to come is upon us!  On Wednesday, my mother-in-law brought breakfast which was a great start to the holiday!  Coffee and muffins and some snuggling time with Colin.

My dad bought Colin this John Deere onesie when he was born- since he is a 'farmer' now.  And I had to make sure to get a picture of Colin and his grandpa while the onesie still fits!

But the best part of last Wednesday was it Ryan and my 3 year anniversary!  I can't believe how quickly the last 3 years went by.  I seriously feel like we just bought our house, planned the wedding and got home from our honeymoon.  Our wedding day is still the best day of my life!  I know what you are thinking- what about the day Colin was born?  But Colin wouldn't be here unless November 27, 2010 happened so I have to say the day we said "I do" is still #1.  Love you babe!

We celebrated with dinner at home: salmon, brussel sprouts, and french bread.  AND we popped a bottle of wine from Bordeaux, France.  Yummy!  We enjoyed time on the new porch with the Christmas tree lights and sleeping baby- for an hour.  It was joyous!

Thursday was Thanksgiving and we started the day making lots of appetizers for my parents' house while watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade!  I LOVE the parade and I CANNOT wait until Colin is older and will watch it with us!  

We headed to my parents house for lunch and later to Ryan's mom's house for dinner.  Lots of eating, family, cooing over Colin, and many diaper changes!  I was really bad about taking pictures on Thanksgiving- I was seriously just enjoying our son and his first holiday.  But I did get this family picture-- with Colin's HUGE stretch!

And when we got home, someone passed out immediately!

On Friday I had to forgo the Black Friday shopping which is a family tradition.  But I just figured with a less than 2 month old baby- my sleep is minimal as it is and feedings happen so frequently that I just couldn't do it.  Friday evening we went to the Wild game with Gavin and Trisha while Papa Bill babysat. 

We started at the St Paul hotel for drinks and appetizers.  A little date night.

And I got to see Kathryn since she was at the game too!  I so wish California wasn't so far away but loved the ice cream treats we quickly shared during the break at the game!

Saturday started like this...

We headed to Jaxon's all-conference bowling tournament.  Colin slept thru the whole thing.  There were so many people there that I couldn't even see when Jaxon bowled but I could see the screen which read the scores so I at least knew when he had a strike!

Saturday night was the annual Holidazzle high school girls event!  I have the world's best group of girl friends from high school.  We have made it a Christmas tradition to go to the Holidazzle and dinner, complete with an ornament exchange!  It was so awesome that everyone was home- Tracy was back from Texas and Sydney was home from Chicago!  I absolutely love these girls!  

 

Sunday was a lazy day and by lazy I mean- eat, play, poop, sleep, poop, eat, poop, play, sleep... repeat.

Hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving too!

As a side note- I will likely be blogging less until after the New Year.  A few posts here and there but I will be a better blogger in 2014.  Until then I am soaking up time with Colin and enjoying the Christmas season!

With love,

Weekend Shenanigans

Just a quick post to share our adorable little Gopher fan!

Even though the Gophers lost, we had a great time at  the football party! 

Our weekend also included saying goodbye to one of my best friends, Annie.  She and her husband Reed are moving to Colorado for Annie to begin working at her dream job, USA Swimming.  I'm so happy for her and very proud of her but I will miss her so much here!  I basically cried the whole way home from her party.

Annie and I at her bachelorette party- July 2011.

And Sunday was dedicated to decorating our house for CHRISTMAS!!!!  I LOVE CHRISTMAS!!  

Yes there is a 4th stocking... no we are not pregnant... I just bought another stocking so when we do have another kiddo, the babies will have matching stockings.  And this year, we are using it for Dupree.  Let me confirm, we are NOT pregnant.  I'm just type A :)

And yes this is a sneak peek into Colin's newborn pictures too... that post will be coming soon!

The Addition

And I'm not talking about Colin.  I'm talking about our porch!

When Ryan and I bought our house we knew we wanted to build a deck/porch off of the sliding glass doors from the kitchen.  We affectionately called this the "doorway to death."  With nothing below and a small backyard we decided we would build a porch and deck that took up the whole yard- leaving minimal mowing as well as play space.  

We originally wanted this project to start in the spring but between figuring out the best builder for us as well as working with the city to get a variance to build beyond the build line, the project started about 4 weeks before I was due.  Oh joy.  The project officially wrapped up about 2 weeks after Colin was born.  

We love the new space.  I spend most of my days on the porch and we cannot wait to host parties with the additional room and the deck space too!  Ryan moved his grill to the deck and loves being able to grill while still being social with friends.
Here is the progress of building the porch...

 
 
 
 
 


 

 
And here is the finished product!
 I am in love with the stone wall and the fireplace!  Actually I'm in love with the whole thing!
 
 

Come on over and share a bottle of wine or a pot of coffee with me and Colin!  Well Colin isn't drinking wine and coffee but I am!

Weekend Shenanigans: Mr. Social Butterfly

The weekend started on Friday when we headed to the bowling alley to cheer on Jaxon and Rose at their Conference bowling tournament.  There were 7 teams and Mound finished... drum roll please... FIRST!  Yes they won conference!  Both varsity and junior varsity won their respective matches and are headed to state.  Jaxon and Rose both bowled on varsity and my brother coaches JV so we had lots to celebrate.  And to top it off Jaxon was honored as all-conference!  Hooray!  So we will go to the all-conference tournament at the end of November to watch Jaxon bowl and then at the beginning of December both Jaxon and Rose will bowl on the Mound varsity team at state!  

The whole Mound team

Rose and Jaxon

 

My brother, Carter, Jaxon, and Lisa

Carter and Jaxon were awarded all-conference (Lisa is the varsity coach)

 

My brother and his family

After the tournament we headed to my sister's house for a birthday and anniversary celebration!  Our family had lots to celebrate...

-Stephanie's birthday (which is actually tomorrow)

- Bryan and Stephanie's 18th wedding anniversary (November 11th)

- My parent's 45th wedding anniversary (November 15th)

- Ryan and my 3rd anniversary (November 27th)

- Jaxon and Rose's bowling success

- Colin's first big family dinner!

We had a delicious sloppy joe/chili dinner with everyone and champagne toasted to the blessing of these celebrations and ate cake to top it off!  Such a fun night and I loved that Colin had his first big family dinner/celebration!

Saturday was a full day of PARTIES!  

First- Mike and Danielle's baby shower.  Baby Z is due in January and going to be a boy!  So we are very excited to have another buddy for Colin.  Colin was awesome- napped, ate, looked around and was mainly adorable.  It was a fun shower complete with games, a DELICIOUS cake and lots of gifts for the parents-to-be.  I can't wait for Baby Z to get here but probably not as much as his mama!

Seriously such a pretty mama-to-be!

 

 

Second- Kenley's 1st birthday!  I cannot believe this beautiful little girl is already 1!  She had a very PINK birthday complete with lots of balloons, a candy bar, great drinks, and all things pink!  Kristin did an amazing job celebrating her daughter's birthday!  Let's just say I know who to talk to when it's Colin's birthday next year!  

Third- a bonfire at Trent's house.  Without snow on the ground, it was the perfect opportunity for a late fall bonfire.  Ryan and I were pretty tired from the first two parties so we ran home and had a quick nap and dinner.  We debated going but then decided Colin needed his first Delta Chi party so we made the trip.  And I'm so glad we did!  Colin got to meet June and they had a pajama party!  Please note the frogs on her pjs and the turtles on his... adorable right?!

And Sunday was Colin's first diving practice!  No we didn't put him in the pool and we didn't throw him off the diving boards but we did soak up the chlorine smell and meet the team!  I have not been coaching since August and it was nice to get back to the pool, see the kids and take a few pictures.  

 

 

The rest of Sunday included trips to the gym (Ryan and I have to go separately now so one of us can stay with Colin) and dinner with my sister and niece.  The left over sloppy joes were delicious!  Ryan and I tried to enjoy a glass of wine in the new porch once Colin fell asleep.  That lasted all of about 10 minutes... welcome to parenthood.

Happy Monday All-