Decorating the tree

On Sunday evening after Todd got home from practice we put up our Christmas tree. I love putting up the tree and even more so now with Aiden here and since I now have a pre lit tree. I absolutely love the pre lit tree...I used to hate putting up the tree because it meant more time fluffing the tree, putting the lights on and all of the scratches my arms would receive from all of this. Now we just plug in the strands to each other plug it into the wall do a little fluffing and we are good to go!

I am a very lucky girl that my husband helps me with the tree. Since the first year we got married, Todd and I have always put up our tree together. I love it! It is such a tradition now that I love and cherish! Aiden made it even better this year. We knew this year was going to be a fun one cause he would want to touch everything! Man were we right. I have red glass ball ornaments on my tree and being a coaches kid, Aiden thought they were all balls and they were all his to play with. After telling him no a few times he understood and has done very well ever since. I am a little afraid to put presents under the tree because I have no idea what he will do to those!

awww....baby's first Christmas

You can guess whose favorite ornament this was. We had to put this one up a little higher so Aiden wouldnt be able to pull it off all the time.

Treadmill

I know my father will be happy to hear that his treadmill is finally getting some good use. He always asks me, "have you used the treadmill yet?" I borrowed his treadmill about 15 months ago to loose my baby weight. I used it a few times and then of course got overwhelmed by everything from going back to work and being a new mom and all of the other crazy events that go on in our life. Well no more worries dad, your treadmill has finally been put to good use...

...Aiden loves the treadmill. It is great entertainment, but I think Todd is the one who gets the real workout cause he has to make it go for Aiden. Todd doesnt want to turn it on automatic because he is afraid Aiden would fall off, so Todd gets on there and does it himself. But I guess as long as someone is getting some good exercise by it then it is all good!

I did it

I know this is silly to blog about, but I was pretty darn proud of myself this Thanksgiving. My step mom made the entire Thanksgiving meal so I asked her if she would like for me to take on desert? She said it would be great! I decided on a chocolate pie, a pumpkin cheesecake, and a pecan pie. I had originally planned on buying the pecan pie and making the other two but I decided where was the fun in that when I could use a good challenge. My friend Angela and I had just been talking about all of the food at the holiday meals and how we arent sure that one day we will be able to do them, so I decided to start with a few things that seemed pretty easy and just do it. Its not that I cant cook or bake, its just when you are talking Thanksgiving deserts are all on you, its a pretty big challenge. I did it! They all turned out great and they all were fairly easy to make. I wanted to call some of my friends the night before Thanksgiving and say I DID IT! but it was really late so I decided to spare them the 2:00 am wake up call! Here are a few pics of my yummy deserts!

Todd, Aiden and I had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We enjoyed spending time with our family. Of course the food was great and we all ate too much especially Aiden on the Chocolate pie and cake! There are things about each familys traditions that I love and cherrish! My mother in law makes the best (hands down) chicken dumplings you will ever eat! I love it every time she makes them and for me that is my main course at Thanksgiving. My step mom makes the best dressing. I absolutely love it. I used to not like dressing until I tried hers. It is so good! At Todds family we always sit at the table and go through the sale adds for the next day. This year was especially fun because my nephew had to go dumpster diving for the good ones! We all had a great laugh. My dads this year was a little different since Adri and Ale are in town. We had a small Christmas for them as well. We enjoyed it and got a glimpse of what Christmas would be like this year with Aiden. I absolutely love this time of year. I am so thankful for everything I have been given. Thanksgiving was great!

First Thanksgiving of the day.

Here is the second Thanksgiving of the day!

I was however a little sad on Thanksgiving because we didnt get to spend any of it with my mom or her family. She did come up for a little bit before she headed over to her sisters for lunch. So Aiden did get to see all of his grandparents on Thanksgiving!

Basketball

Basketball season is among us. I am now officially a single mother!!!! j/k. although at times it can feel that way. With Todd being gone so much, Aiden really misses his daddy so we are going to try to go to more of the games this year. But that is really hard to do cause of how late the games get over with. We did go to daddys first varsity game last week and Todd had a huge fan club of his own in the stands. Both Todd's and my family came to see the first game. We all had a lot of fun and Aiden had a lot of fun watching the ball game and roaming from family to family! It is very hard to keep a 17 month old still for that long, but with everyone there to help he did a really good job!

More fun at the Zoo

We have really enjoyed taking Aiden to the Zoo. We went a week ago or so and were saddened to find out that they close the petting zoo for the winter months. The petting zoo is Aidens favorite thing to do at the zoo besides ride the train. We managed to have a lot of fun though without the petting zoo. This was the first time that we have been that we got to see a lot of the animals out. Aiden didn't so much care about all the animals, but Todd and I enjoyed it.