Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope you are having a fabulous and delicious Thanksgiving feast!!! We are enjoying our full and happy tummies right now, and I hope you are too!!

Thank you Joy and Ryan for such a great feast! You guys are wonderful hosts!!

Resolution

Ahh... my absolute favorite kind of day is going on outside my window right now!!  Fall weather, autumn leaves falling off the trees, overcast skies, misty rain, with me all cozy inside my warm house drinking a cup of sweet coffee! Perfection!! I really should be packing for our trip to Denver right now (we leave tomorrow night to drive through the night!) but instead, I'm blogging.

So many times I feel like I'm behind in blogging, and just want to get updates of the boys posted before too much time passes. But today, it is just time to sit for a little bit and enjoy life.  Well, for a few minutes at least! =) Much of my life is spent on the move, doing things quickly, planning for what's ahead, making sure I've thought of everything, etc, etc, etc.  I don't take enough time just to sit.  To relax.  To take deep breaths. To really think about me.  Don't get me wrong... I love every single aspect of being at home and my life being completely devoted to my little guys and my big guy, and I wouldn't have it any other way.  But I am also realizing lately how fast life is flying by!  My boys are almost 15 months old, and it feels like it has gone by in a flash!  It scares me a bit, because I know I'm going to blink a few more times, and they are going to be all grown up!


The other day my mom and I were talking to a lady on our plane to California who is also a stay at home mom of a precious little girl (who was very entertaining to the boys as we flew!).  My mom asked her if she felt like life was flying by, and to my surprise, she said, "No, not really.  I am privileged to get to stay home with her, so we spend a lot of time together, and I really feel like I've gotten to enjoy each moment." (Or something pretty close to that!)  Her response shocked me a bit, since mine would have been, "Yes, it's flying by, but I'm loving every second!" The more I've pondered her response, the more I've realized how much I just need to slow myself down and truly and fully enjoy each moment.  I really feel like I have, but I think I can take enjoying my boys to a new level. I don't want to look back in a few years and feel like these times were a blur because I was trying to do and accomplish so much.  Not that I feel the need to be any kind of supermom, but I think just my type A, do it all kind of personality lends itself super easily to rushing through life, just to get it done, and done well. I want to be aware of the fact that life will get done, but my boys won't stay this little forever, or even for another month!

I'm so incredibly thankful and blessed beyond words for my two miracles!  Each and every day it hits me how lucky I am to be their mommy, that God has answered my prayers.  Today when I stopped at Jonathan's grave for a couple minutes, I realized again how lucky I am to have these boys in my arms, that I get to raise them, and that they are so healthy.  I know they would have loved having their older brother here with them on Earth to play with, and I wish I was raising 3 boys right now, but as they grow up, I'm going to make sure they know how special our family is and that they are lucky to have a big brother in Heaven watching out for them!

So I guess all this is to say that I am making a Thanksgiving Resolution (instead of a New Year's).  I am going to do my very best to slow down, to really take in each moment, to truly appreciate every bit of time with my family, because it is gone too soon!  Especially in this holiday season, where there seems to be a never-ending list of to-dos!  I'm thankful that God has given me my family: our immediate families, our parents, our siblings, and our extended families too!  I don't want to miss any of the special times because I'm rushing through, trying to get life done.  Each moment of life is just too important!

I'm not sure why all this came out today, but I feel like this blog is so helpful to me in sorting out my thoughts... or at least it used to be before the boys came along! =) I hope you all have a wonderful and safe Thanksgiving, and that you are able to enjoy each moment with family and friends! Any of you want to join in on my Thanksgiving Resolution? =)



And because there can't be a blog without at least one picture, here are two!

Like in the picture on the header, the slide (turned upside down) is the boys new favorite place to play!!
Jack on left in this photo

My mom-mobile... with our family emblems that my dad got me!  Note what is on Justin's shirt!
Can't wait for our trip to Denver!  Well, maybe not the 13 hour drive! 

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Finally!! Our CA Trip

I've been trying for days to blog about our trip to California, but for some reason, Blogger was not letting me write a post when I was on Chrome.  Arrgh!!  So I'm trying blogging from Firefox, and it seems to be working! (Anyone else have this problem?  If you don't know what I'm talking about, just scroll down and enjoy the pics from our trip!!)

Beware... there are a TON of pictures! This is our online family picture album, so feel free to skim through! =)

We left on Tuesday pretty much at the boys' naptime.  At first they didn't want to sleep, but finally they conked out for a bit. Will slept for about 45 minutes of the flights and Jack slept for a grand total of 20 minutes!  We had busy boys most of the time, but they weren't crying or screaming, so we were okay with that! (Thankfully, because of the lack of napping, they slept all night long and late in the morning!  We were afraid that they'd still be on Texas time and be up super early!)

Will finally asleep on Mommy

Jack and Grandpa playing

And Jack finally asleep!

When we arrived, Uncle Aaron, the boys and I went to Walmart for the boys' food for the week.  They got stickers, and Will promptly tried to eat his!  Jack didn't seem to realize it was on his forehead, and it stay right there for the next 20 minutes!!

Uncle Aaron and Will

 We spent the first few days staying near Gram.

Having lunch with Great Grandma Alys

 We were surprised with beautiful weather the whole time we were out in the Bay Area!!  It was so nice!!

Out for a walk in her pretty garden

While we were out there, I found an AMAZING C.raigslist find!!  Our old blue Mac.Laren stroller has been slowly getting more and more run down.  I bought in on C.raigslist last year, and we have definitely been using it a lot! So I'd been keeping an eye out for a replacement for about a month (a stroller is a MUST for me to do anything with both my boys on my own), but I wasn't finding much here in Texas. So I decided to take a look to see if there were any for sale in the SF area.  A lady was selling a brand new, in the box Mac.Laren for $105 cheaper than new!!  It was only $15 more than I found a used for, so the boys and I took a drive and picked it up!! What a great deal, and the boys are loving their new ride!

Isn't it pretty?!

Enjoying their milk on their first ride!

After a couple days near my Grandma, the boys and I went out to my cousin Lynnea's while my parents went to another cousin's wedding in Reno.  Lynnea has two precious girls, Grace and Hannah, and they boys LOVED getting to play with them over the weekend!

The boys made themselves right at home!

My other cousin Annie, came with 2 of her three girls, Cica and Inaya, and Inaya is actually 15 days younger than the boys!  She was so precious!  She kept saying "Baby" to both of the boys!!

All the cousins (l to r) Hannah, Will, Inaya, Cica, Jack, Grace

Hanna captured all the babies attention, and they were all smiles for her!

Grace serenaded the boys on her violin

Inaya is walking, and she showed the boys a thing or two about rocking chairs

The boys loved the cat, Jessie!  Not sure how much she liked them, though!

Will laughing at Hannah being silly

 

 

Silly Hannah!

Lynnea cooked everyone a wonderful meal on Saturday night, and it was fun because Grandma came out to join us! It is a big outing for a 91 year old, but she did a great job eating out with us 2 nights while we were together!

We spent Sunday down in Mountain View with my brother.  Aaron and Sara (his business partner in their company Dressrush) showed us all around the Silicon Valley area.  His company has been awarded a spot in the highly respect 500 Startups, a business incubator that helps fund and grow tech start-up companies.  We toured the office where they work every day and were amazed at all the pretty creative people (like my brother) who are all creating some incredible companies! 

We also went to the Cheesecake Factory, and the boys had a great time! They made many friends with the people walking by our table (and a huge mess on the floor)!

The boys love their Uncle Aaron, and I think he was pretty impressed by how much more they do now than when he last saw them!  I bet he won't believe what they are able to do by Christmas!

 We drove all around the Google campus, and even got a chance to ride the google bikes! (These are all over for employees to ride when they have to go other places on the huge property!)

Dad showing me how it's really done!

 The Android headquarters has huge desserts in front. (I guess each new release has a dessert name, so of course, they have huge donuts, chocolate eclairs, cupcakes, etc, all over their front grass!)

Sara, Mom and I in the Donut Hole!

Sara was letting the boys play in the kitchen and be "Chef Boyardees"!

Aaron and Mom relaxing after a long day!

 We stayed the rest of the time at my Aunt Sharon and Uncle Dan's house in Oakland.  They boys had so much fun exploring yet another new place!!

We were able to spend even more time with Grandma, which was so special for me.  It seems like every time I'm in California, we are rushing off to another city to try to fit everyone in, so it was so nice to be able to just go spend time with here so many times throughout our trip!

 We tried getting a picture of both the babies on her lap, but they are just so squirmy now and she is so fragile, that these were the best we could get!

 So we settled for being near Gram! =)

 The last night we were in town, I just had to get to the beach.  So mom, dad, the boys, Gram and I went out to a really neat part in Alameda and I got my fill of ocean! Well, bay. But it was still beautiful to see the sun setting over the water!

The boys loved all the ducks that were there!

Grandma and the boys stopping for a chat

 This isn't the greatest picture, but I just had to post it.  My dad was SuperGrandpa with the boys this week.  He had so much fun with them, and was always there to play with them, feed them, or help corral them!  It is such fun watching him be a grandpa, and he is so silly with them!  They adore him, and have learned many new tricks this week from him!

Jack was so tired that he just put his head down on Grandpa's shoulder!  So sweet!

 

 

 

'Nana Shay' and the boys!

One last visit with Gram

 This was a huge mural on the glass at the airport.  It was covered with these birds, and the boys were mesmerized by it!  It was very helpful since we were all checked in at the airport an hour before boarding! =)

The plane ride was a late one, so we were glad the boys both slept most of the way!  We were all pretty tired too!

Gigi and sleeping Will

Grandpa and sleeping Jack

 And the best thing of all was waiting for us when we arrived in Dallas... DADDY!  I think the boys must have thought they were dreaming though... can you tell that they were still pretty tired?!  It was about 11:15pm in these pictures!

What an amazing trip and I'm so glad that the boys and I went along with my parents.  It really showed me that they are super flexible little guys. I'm the one who has to become more flexible, since with twins, I've had to keep them on a fairly strict schedule for so long. But our boys were such wonderful travelers, so happy to be with everyone we were with, even with the colds they came down with the first day we were there! It was just great to get to show them off to family!  I definitely can say that I did miss my baby gates though... so much!  It is very tiring chasing two babies and keeping them out of stuff in places that aren't baby-proofed and have no gates, but I was lucky to have many extra hands to help with the baby wrangling!

The last two weeks now the boys have done so many new things!  From really truly mimicking sounds we make, animal noises, pointing to things that we are looking at or talking about, to trying their best on words, I've been so amazed at the new things they are learning!  They still don't say "mama" but I know they'll get it soon! It boggles my mind to think of how much more they'll be doing and saying by Christmas!

We are enjoying a pretty low-key few days here at home, savoring time with Daddy (he left for a business trip the morning after we got home!), and getting ready to leave for Denver on Tuesday!  We can hardly wait to introduce the boys to the extended family on Justin's side!

If you're still reading, your amazing!  Hope you enjoyed out trip to California! =)