Christmas Morning!

 

Aren't we Sexy?!?
The kids had a blast!

Oh Christmas Tree Oh Christmas tree...

Your saggy branches depress me...

We last had the girls here on December 3rd. We picked up our tree on December 2nd so the family could decorate it together. We had some massive tree drama. It fell over at least 3 times. Cat, Cody, crooked base. Ugh! We finally used flag stones to help it at the base and anchored it to the wall with twine and a screw.
We got it up and got it decorated. Oh so pretty. It was full and lovely. And had a random assortment of ornaments from my childhood and beyond. Some donated to me, some I bought, and the most random ones came from the left over stuff (no one else wanted) of Grandma Graves' holiday things. We had fun choosing what to put on the tree and making it pretty.
Slowly over the next few weeks the branches began to sag. The weight of the decorations and lights coupled with little Cody and the Cat effects have been proving to be too much for the tree. I am pretty sure the cat named Mouse thinks this is a huge new toy for him. Bella thinks it is a place to hide from Mouse. And best of all, it seems little Cody thinks the tree is a place to try and hang or throw your toys. (Which I think is cute, funny and clever, but sad for the tree.) 2 days ago he threw is jacket at it. That was all our poor tree could seem to handle. The front lower half was flat. Totally saggy with a huge hole and flat. Yesterday Big Cody and I tried to turn it. This did not work as we soon found out. The side that had been facing the window was even worse! Not flat just totally almost bald. (Thanks Cats, for that, ugh!) So after Cody left I had to do some serious tree fixing. I called one of my friends from church and was so close to borrowing a small table top tree and dumping old ugly 4 days before Christmas. But as I sat and stared at my sad dead saggy newly naked except the lights Christmas tree, I decided to see what I could do to let her last 4 more days. I did some major tree repair and revamping. I think she turned out ok. Here is to hoping she will stay together for 2 1/2 more days.
Oh Christmas tree, O Christmas tree, your repaired redecorated look pleases me...Sigh.

Oh it is awful

This terrible two's bed time routine. It is killing me. Geeze! Ok. Here we are midnight and he is asleep. Maybe. He stopped crying when Linda and I were outside his door whispering. Maybe he just needs to hear the noise to know he is not alone in the house. Perhaps I will invest in a cheap CD player and he can listen to sounds of nature or sounds of the oceans to sleep.

Big Boy Bed!

We did it! Being the planner I am I got a crib that converted. Some people were worried about roll outs in his sleep. We will see. Tonight is the night. (Starting with a pile of pillows on the floor next to him. Just in case.) Wish us luck!

Little Cody...2, Kidney Stone, like 17... Mommy...Zero

Oh, it's one of those days. Home sick from work. Made the mistake of not taking Cody to school. I love being with him. I don't get to be with him enough working full time and all, but today, not a good day to keep him home. I slept like 2 hours this morning while he watched t.v. (terrible parenting, I know.) And suddenly when it was his nap time he mastered (totally mastered with his 1st successful attempt) to climb out of his crib. I know being that he will be 3 in 2 months that he has stayed in that sucker a lot longer than most kids do, but that being said now I have to figure out how to get him to stay in bed. I will take any mommy tips you have on this. Please!!
But isn't he just so cute? In case you couldn't tell from that picture here is another one.
And while we are on the subject of terrible parenting, the other night when our fridge was looking pretty barren and the kid was whining for dinner and we were are scrambling for some thing to eat, I handed him a hot dog wrapped in bologna. Yep, folks, you read that right. For dinner I gave my son a hot dog wrapped in bologna. Not my proudest mom moment, but, eh, you make due, right? Normally in a pinch (and pretty much for breakfast every day) the kiddo gets a bologna, cheese tortilla roll up which he loves. We were out of tortillas and cheese (and just about ever thing else) so the hot dog bologna roll up with a side of animal crackers it was.
The home from work I mentioned? Due to this awful stone. Blah! Kidney stones. 2 surgeries, lots of pain and it is still there. Looks like it might have formed a protective force field and embedded it's self there. Which would be fine if it didn't hurt so bad and it wasn't blocking something. So, another appointment and most likely another out patient surgery coming up for me. But we do what we can. So, kidney stone, you won this round and the last 5 but I will win the war! And give you to my doctor as a souvenir.
One last note. I did say Mommy...Zero at the beginning of this post, but I am changing that. Little Cody also started saying "I love you." It sounds more like "A hub ew." I'll take it. And hub him right back! So mommy...1 and I say that makes today a winner.

Magic Team Mantor Time

Ever since Linda arrived we have been waiting for the right time to share with her our favorite eatery. We have posted pictures of our trips here, before. We finally had it in our schedules for all of us to go here together as a happy Team Mantor Family. A few nights ago we went to the Magic Time Machine. We had a great time. This is the place my girls get so excited to go. They dress up. All 3 of them wore tutus. We wore our family shirts, too. They love the attention that brought.At the Magic Time Machine all the servers are dressed as a character. This evening we had Dora the Explorer and the Bride from Kill Bill. Many others stopped by to say hello. The Joker, Captain Jack Sparrow, Tinkerbell, Woody, and more

. We had a blast! Yay Dad! Thanks for taking us!

Epic Fail

I'd like to say I have been trying, but if that were the case I have tried and failed. The problem with that is that what I am "trying" to do is something I have done successfully before. As is evident from these pictures below I am fat. I know this. I have finally started to try to do something about it the last 2 weeks. But as my kids would say, it has been a fail, an Epic Fail. I realize it only takes one day to totally mess me up. In the week and half I have had a t least 3 "bad" days. Snacking days. That means I have had 7 "good" on target days. Yet, the 3 bad days have succeeded in keeping me at like only a 3 pound loss over all. Ugh! Usually this blog is about me family and our awesome happening and lives. And today was going to be no different, yet when I was deciding what pictures to post with our adventure everyone with me in it was something I didn't want to look at. (Usually I think I am not to bad, but ugh!) I am having a minor surgery today to break up a kidney stone. I was reading and these are more common in fat people. I also have had borderline high blood pressure for the last few months. Also more common in overweight people. Boo. In the past I have done Weight Watchers to get back on track and drop some unwanted pounds. This has worked for me. We can't really afford for me to go to meetings at this juncture. But I do have this handy dandy app on my phone that is great for tracking my points and weight and what not. So I have been using that. I am going to keep doing that. And not cheat and not have bad days. Since I am putting myself on blast here I will happily post pictures of my family and my self and report in February that I am back to the weight most of you remember me at. Which is not skinny by any means. (Still fat, really.) But it will be where I am more comfortable with myself. I am actually making my first little goal to be at my prepregnancy weight. Which like I said, is still over weight, but it is definitely a doable goal, and since I am spilling all this now, I might as well ad this, it is well under 200, and I meed to get there. I can't seem to bust below that number. But I will. I can do it. I know I can. That recent Team Mantor adventure I mentioned above? Well, I will post that on another post. This is a picture from our fun night, though. I think the day deserves it's own lil' post.

And for all you on my same weight loss adventure... I know you can do it, too!

You take the good, you take the bad...

Hey Cody go sit by Mouse...
He decided to sit like Mouse, too. Ha!

Life and then some. That is what has been going on with me. Man, my boy has a shiner. He looks like a kid that is being abused. Or really clumsy. He has a bruise on his right cheek a scratch on his left cheek and a huge black and blue eye. All of these came from different events. 2 at day care. He is a boy alright. I hate to see him like that because I know it musta hurt him. But he still doesn't talk clearly or enough for me to know exactly what happened and how much it hurt. Maybe I will get a picture tomorrow. He still is missing that front tooth he lost and will be for like, what 7 more years? On a lighter more exciting side, the other day he said his longest sentence ever. Before this the most words he has stung together in a row has been like 2. But at dinner the other night he pointed to the bowl of apricots and said, "Can I have some more... please?" Just like that. I was so excited! He is so awesome. I feel like he is very delayed, but I know he will get it. He mimics voice pattern and inflection so we can hear him singing and counting, and talking but usually the words are not clear unless he is saying just one word as in... I say.. Twinkle twinkle little... The he says "STARRR!" Clear and loud and excited. But more that two he fades to jibber jabber. He knows what he is saying we just don't, usually. We will, though. I know we will one day. I can't wait.

My car was hit today. In a parking lot. Not my fault. In fact....(this description of what happened comes from my facebook) It was not my fault, thank goodness. I was in the store. My car was hit by a lady in the parking lot. Dented the bumper a bit. When I came out my necklaces hanging from the rear view mirror were totally swaying. Then I noticed my car was unlocked. I thought I was robbed. I was freaking out. I checked the back to make sure no one was in there (too many urban legend emails, I guess) then got in. Then a lady came up to my window and gestured for me to roll it down. I cracked it and say..."Yessss?" All Lurch style. And then she told me she hit my car. She had moved and parked like 4 rows away but came back to check the damage. She messed her beast up quite a bit. Oh well. I felt bad for her, right after I felt the relief that my stuff wasn't stolen and no one was gonna shank my ankle and steal my kid. (for those of you who were wondering, the car wasn't locked because I had the key chain with the bad clicker and I thought I locked it but it apparently didn't catch.) Poor Gerty! That is my cars nickname, not the name of the woman who violated her. I was trying to find a picture of her. Gertrude Esmeralda, my car. But I dont have one handy. So here is a couple of pictures of people in her...
And actually while making that collage I did find one that shows part of her... There on the side.

Why Gertrude Esmeralda, you ask? Well, because she is cute and spunky and to have a name like Gerty you've got to have spunk. Plus she is (was...sad face) pretty, too!

Play pretend...Serve yourself...Dance the Night Away

Little Cody's mind and imagination are growing every day. He loves playing pretend server. He has this Minnie Mouse little plastic thing that came a top a mini play dough years ago. It has tiny castle shaped cookies. He pretends to take them off and serve them to us. He has to make sure everyone gets one and eats it, too. He will also pour you some pretend milk. At nap time I often hear him in his room just talking away. He knows what he is saying I am sure. It seems on Sunday's he always fakes his nap. He is so funny. When he is thirsty he will find a cup and go to the fridge and fill it up. He is happy to do this. We have to lock the water dispenser some times though, because once he is done drinking he likes to pour the water from one cup to another or to a bowl or a toy or what ever he can find. back and forth until most of it is a mess on the ground. When he wants a snack he tells us by standing in front of the fridge and tugging at the door. When you open it he pulls out a slice of cheese or bologna. The girls say he might be a dancer when he grows up. You know how you watch those dance shows and the dancers say, "I've been dancing since I was two" and stuff? Well, that is true for Cody. He dances to Dancing with the stars. He gets out of his ballroom style and gets his funk on with So You Think You Can Dance. He will dance to classical music on little Einsteins and he even does the Hot Dog dance with Mickey Mouse. He is a little singer, too. He doesn't give us all the words correctly, but some he does. And then he goes on with the sound and tone of the next lines. He is so smart. He is great at problem solving, too. Man, I love this kid. Now... off to find him!!

Lions and Tigers and Butterflies... Oh My!

We went to the zoo this past weekend. Cody is really starting to know his stuff. We had a lot of fun. He loved looking at all the animals!
Even the snakes. (Although this is something he sees daily in our house. Ha!

We are here to trick or treat....

Little Einsteins got us again. A song stuck in our heads all month long. We are here to trick or treat, trick or treat, trick or treat, we are here to trick or treat. On Happy Halloween.... Thanks.
Last night was our Trunk or Treat. It was loads of fun. Here a a few pictures. I forgot my camera at home. I was able to get a couple of pictures on my phone. (And some before we left.)
Linda brought her friend Anna. Linda was a cat and Anna a cowgirl.
I was a lioness and Little Cody was a lion. Big Cody won a prize for best hat. Hahaha. Love it. The turkey and lion. Rawr!! (And waaahh!)
Cody was literally eating 2 suckers at one time.

Halloween fun

Little Cody, Linda, Stephanie and I had fun carving the pumpkins. It was a 2 day deal. Stephanie wasn't here the second day and that was when I brought out the camera. I am excited for this weekend. I always loved dressing up as a kid. I love trunk r treat. I am excited so many shows on TV that I watch have done Halloween episodes this year.
We hope you have a safe and fun Halloween! Costume pictures to come...
Here is a preview...
Just kidding!!! That was a pajama outfit my mom got him from China town. He actually wore that to bed 3 nights ago. Hahah.

This is the Halloween preview...

Pumpkin Patch Fun!

We did not get a pumpkin at the pumpkin patch. We did do a bunch of other things, though. Like have a ton of fun!! We went on a hay ride. We fed some goats. We swung and slid and climbed and hung from monkey bars. We crawled in tubes and tossed bean bags into Christmas trees. We rode bikes and did an Amazing hay maze (as well as a few others that were far better than amazing!) We tried our hand at fishing. We had duck races and so much more.

The sack race resulted in some pure comedy when on the return trip I biffed it as you can see below. It was awesome!!
My family is so great! I love them so much! And this guy... He is the best. He is so patient and loving and kind. I am so very lucky and I know it!

Family Time is Fun Time

Linda had a community service thing she helped with this weekend down at La Villita (which is off the San Antonio Riverwalk.) We decided to stay and hang out while she was doing her thing. After she got done we showed her some things and took some pictures. I wanted to share some of our pictures.

I wore the worst shirt ever for taking pictures. Ugh.





They have some beautiful old houses downtown. there are some neighborhoods where the houses are lived in and restored, but there are some that are just there.





There are so many awesome spots to take pictures. If I had a photographer with me I could set up some amazing shots. My husband is so great and patient with all the picture taking.





I know it was a lot of pictures here. Thanks for looking/reading. All in all we had a great day!