one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind

I cant believe this day has finally come, Michael just fell asleep all by himself at the tender age of 23 months! Here he is in all of his glory. I know a lot of you out there are thinking, "its about time." I have to admit that I did take Dr. Sears' philosophy of "parenting off to sleep" a little too far! I am so proud of this little guy I could squeeze him, but I wont because that would wake him up:)

enjoying the big boy room

Michael's new room is a work in progress, but our whole family is really enjoying it. Mike and I are glad to finally have our bed back and Michael is so proud of his big boy bed. He even likes to quietly play on his rug with all of his cars:)

acting so grown up

The other night Michael had me cracking up because he was acting like such an old man. He was so focused on "reading" his book that he would only stop occasionally to eat some dinner.

Happy Thanksgiving

We celebrated Thanksgiving at my parent's house this year. The food was great and the company was even better. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Mike enjoyed his spot on the couch for most of the day:)

Loved my mom's tablescape this year.
This is one of many attempts to get a father/son picture. Michael just wasn't having it.
Michael's favorite this year- Mashed Potatoes.
It takes incredible concentration to get those potatoes on your fork.
Belly up to the bar with Uncle Gary.

Michael was high on candy at this point (chocolate covered blueberries, so I'm counting it as his fruit for the day).

My mom's favorite part of any party...the clean up.

She's in heaven.

Pre-Thanksgiving Dinner

My dad and I have a tradition of shopping for Thanksgiving dinner together the day before Thanksgiving. We start to get the dishes prepared, and then go out to dinner to Europa. This year the whole family joined us, which was nice because Olen and Justine are spending Thanksgiving out in Seabeck with her family tomorrow. Good times were had by all, especially Michael who thoroughly enjoyed his buttered noodles:)

We hope everyone has a happy Thanksgiving tomorrow!!!

We are half way there...

...to getting through a haircut without a complete meltdown that is.

Michael remaining calm in the waiting area. He doesn't know what is coming:)

"I kind of like this slide."
Picking out a cool vehicle to get his hair cut in.

He's starting to figure out what is going on.

Even a sucker couldn't get him through the first few minutes of his haircut.

Looking good.

This isn't so bad.

Wow, that was all worth it:)

Thanks for bringing him mom! Glad to see that a sucker and Thomas the Train can sort of get him through a haircut:)

We are getting older...

We can now sit in time out without moving until our time is up...

but we still need our blanket and pacifier:)

Afternoon at the Park

We took advantage of the nice fall day we were having and headed to the park. Michael had a great time, but we had to cut it short because he kept on running towards the water like an unstoppable rebel force. Note to self...stick to the fenced Tot Lot.

Busy Sunday

We usually have pretty boring Sundays, but we ended up being pretty productive today. We started off the day with pancakes of course, and then headed outside to play. I underestimated how wet it really was out there... Michael ended up getting drenched from falling so much and had mud all over him by the time we got inside. He had fun though, so that's all that matters:)

Starting off dry and clean in his car.

Warming up with a soccer ball.
Getting dirty.

Michael didn't really like all of the dirt on his hands.

Cooling off.

Michael pushing his car...

...and pushing it.

Warming up with hot chocolate after a bath.

Nancy stopped by with Taylor and baby Camden.

Michael thought he was pretty clever because he pushed a chair against the wall so he could reach the light switch.

We hope that you had a great Sunday too!

Some cute pics from the week...

Getting ready to see Noah

Boy that scarf looks good on you!
Michael never knew cribs could be so fun.
This was probably the longest amount of time Micheal has ever spent in a crib:)
We hope that everyone has a fun and relaxing weekend!

Bravo to Bravo

...Bravo reality TV that is!

It is no secret that I had what some people might call an "unhealthy" addiction to the recent presidential election. An average night for me would be a MSNBC line up of Chris Matthews, Kieth Olbermann, and Rachel Maddow. Now that the election is over, my liberal friends aren't holding my attention as well as they used to. That's where Bravo TV comes in. The new seasons of Top Chef and The Real Housewives of Orange County couldn't have come soon enough. Thanks Bravo TV, now I can stop thinking about taxes and the economy and focus on more important things like backstabbing, gossip and shopping:)

I got a taste of the new season of Top Chef last night.

Can't wait for the housewives to come back in a couple of weeks (Atlanta just isn't doing it for me).

Now I can only hope that Jeff Lewis comes back soon!