Illness, 1/2 marathon and Thanksgiving OH MY!

Croup....Wisdom teeth extraction.....1/2 marathon......Thanksgiving....... This is what the month of November looked like and in a blink of an eye here we are on December 4th watching the elf in our home move to a different place to each night. I can not believe Brecken is 6 months. I can not believe that Jackson is somewhat potty trained and I can not believe that I STILL after working like a mad woman on laundry this week have 4 loads left to do. How is it possible to go through this many clothes in a few days??? Oh wait.  Maybe because Brecken and Jackson both have wet the bed 3 times this week. I feel like they are in cahoot's together. Brecken pees or poos through every single PJ we have. We will never get to sell them to a consignment store. Jackson is still having accidents so that there explains itself. I have a never-ending fight with the laundry and I lose every single time. It just doesn't seem fair.

Isn't Davis just the cutest!! BFF's!

Helping daddy

Jackson came down with croup, which seems like forever ago except we are all still having the after affects of a cough/cold/runny nose. Those of you who have seen your kids have croup or even RSV know the scary feeling of your child struggling to breathe. Its horrible and I hope that I will never have to do this again. Jack woke up from his nap one afternoon and he couldn't breathe. He was grasping for air and grabbing his throat. Me always being calm and collective when something is wrong hysterically call my friend Shanna who lives in my neighborhood and I have never seen anyone move so fast. I think she was at my house scooping Brecken up in her car before I hung up the phone with her. It was a relief to know I have that kind of support. I truly have amazing friends. I rushed Jack to the Urgent Care for them to tell me they couldn't do anything for him and that I would have to wait this awful thing out. But the very next day Jackson had to have a steroid shot and after about 12 hours he almost got it all out of his system. I was just happy he wasn't waking up every hour during the night because he couldn't breathe. I would run to his room as fast as I could, hold him, settle him down, take him to by bedroom bathroom and turn on the shower and steam us in there. When he was somewhat sleeping again I put him back into his bed where he would say "bye bye mommy". It all just tore me up.  Thankfully Brecken just got a cold, but unfortunately he still has it.

Well no surprise here that I was not such a warrior getting my wisdom teeth taken out. I know that its really about 50/50 if you have a good experience or not. I was not able to take my pain killers because I am still nursing Brecken. The day I got home it was kind of comical because Jack knew I was in the bedroom resting and I would hear him try to open the door (but it was locked) and say mama..mama...mama...and then Kevin took a picture of him laying by the door just waiting for me. Silly kid. And of course this had to happen the same week that Jack got croup. It was eventful that is for sure. I was most definitely in a lot of pain but am happy to report that I feel pretty good now. It literally took over 3 weeks for me to feel better.

Of course 2 days after my wisdom teeth was Kevin's big race. He runs this half marathon every year since I've lived here and I have actually run it twice. I had really wanted to go to watch Kevin but also to watch my friend B who was also running and who had never run a 1/2 marathon. I was bummed when I really did not feel up to much of anything and dealing with two children for 2 hours while the race went on was something that did not appeal to me in my state of mind so I opted to stay home. Kevin ran great. It was not his best time, but definitely not his worst. B also did an amazing job and I am so proud of her because I know what a big accomplishment it is. Maybe someday I will be running this race with them.

Thanksgiving was a very memorable time. Kevin and I were so excited when just a few weeks before Thanksgiving we heard that Kevin's sister, parents and family from Wales were all going to be here sharing the holiday with us and the boys. The moment I heard this I tried to stock up on pumpkins. I didn't realize that if you didn't buy your pumpkins in October you will probably be S.O.L once November gets here. Really I could not find any pumpkins or gourds anywhere... I wanted to make it so special and beautiful for Kevin's entire family so I got to work pinteresting collecting millions of decorating ideas.



 Loved my pine cone turkeys!! My acorns were a big hit too. I also loved that we had mason jars as our water glasses.

(Mini vanilla wafer, Hersey's kiss and butterscotch chocolate chip = acorn)

 Jackson made this for us at school. Too too cute!!

Kid's table!

They all came in on Monday/Tuesday and the kegs were gone by Wednesday. Okay only one keg was gone but that is still an accomplishment. I got to witness one of the absolute most beautiful reunions between Kevin's dad and his cousin Teresa. The joy and tears on their faces is burned into my memory. Family is so important to them and they don't even need to say it to have it be known.  I love that I was there to share in it all. Jackson has never met Bill and Teresa before because they live in Wales and Kevin and I have actually not seen them since our wedding over 5 years ago. When they finally arrived on Tuesday evening we geared up Jackson and we were all sitting on our front porch waiting for them. It was chilly and Jack of course had no shoes on or jacket for that matter. We told him to run down and get them when they pulled up and when he did I heard a blood curdling scream come out of his mouth. He was frightened by Bill. He ran around the car excited but the moment he caught a glimpse of Bill he was so scared!!  I'm assuming he thought he was going to see someone familiar. It was hilarious. We were all sick from laughing so hard. He warmed up to Bill quickly though and became the best of friends as they both have a love for soccer or Jack says "kick the ball".  It warms my heart when I see a grown man trulyy love on my baby. Bill and Teresa are some of the most friendly, sweet, loving people I have ever met and I was so sad to see them go. They have promised to come back in May when they go on "holiday" again. We are counting the days down.

Thanksgiving morning Kevin slaved in the kitchen all morning. Colleen jumped into help at about 11 and the food was ridiculously delicious. My mouth is salivating thinking of the world famous brussels sprouts Colleen made and the sausage stuffing that Kevin whipped up. I married into the right family for food that is for sure!!  We had SO. MUCH. FOOD!! We had the pleasure of one of our favorite family's join us. Brain and Michelle are just so sweet and so much fun and their daughters Teagan and Isla are some of the prettiest little girls I have ever laid eyes on and we are so happy to have them in our lives and to share this holiday with us. Teagan and Jackson of course act like siblings but we did manage to get a few drinks in between refereeing. Unfortunately our evening ended with Kevin becoming sick with pure exhaustion and finishing that keg possibly catching up to him.  So to end our Thanksgiving thankfulness it took almost 2 hours to clean up but lucky for me my mother-in-law was there to help me (I think Kevin faked being sick to get out of helping). 

We shared our Christmas with Kevin's family before they left as we won't be spending Christmas Day together. I caught a glimpse of what it was going to be like Christmas morning. One completely overwhelmed 2-year-old is what I will have. It was very sweet as it always is when we have Christmas together except I did not get a chance to sit and drink my wine since I was corralling Jackson. I will definitely miss them this year as I will miss my very own family. One of the downfalls for living 100's of miles away.

As my laundry is still piled high and my carpets still stained with the goodness that Jackson spills on them I am thankful for having laundry to pile high and food to stain my carpet with. There was a point in my life where I didn't have much of either of those things but how quickly I forget that. I promise to try to be less stressed about those little things in life and remember how lucky I am to be where I am and be loved by so many. I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and will be having stress-free holiday season ahead!!

Baby Brecken and Pa Pa (This is what Jackson started calling him)

 Hi baby Brecki!!

One of my favorites memories was Jack all cuddled up with his grandparents! Look at baby Ziki...

Teresa and Richard



 Aunt Colleen and Brecki! She could not get enough of him and I can not blame her.

Too cute!