A time to give thanks for ALL that God has blessed our lives with....

Hi loved ones....what are you thankful for? I am thankful that God has blessed me with an awesome husband and two Amazing babies! I am thankful to have the things that we have, but most importantly that we are healthy and that our babies are healthy so that we can all be on this earth to enjoy eachother. I am also thankful for the great friends I have in my life even if we rarely talk or get together. And last but certainly not least I am thankful for my siblings, theirs spouses and their children and for the most Amazing mom in the world! To raise 5 kids on your own is a pretty Amazing thing I must say!
We hope that all of you had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Ours was great! We went to Ohio to visit Rays' family there. The kids got to see snow and play in it until it melted. That was one LONG ride though. One that we won't be making again anytime soon. Not to say we won't be going back to visit ever, but we will definately have to have the money to fly. :o) The kids did really well though considering how long we were in the van each time. Olivia got to meet some family for the first time, that was nice. They both got to play with cousins that they rarely get to see and they really enjoyed it! Most of you probably know that Nicholas LOVES the movie Cars and Mac, the mac truck that is in it. Well is Papa and Nona in Ohio own a trucking company and Mac came to visit us at the house oneday. Nicholas' face lit up, he just couldn't believe it. So we let him get up in it and Mama and him went for a short ride in Mac and he even got to honk his horn! He was the happiest boy EVER at that moment.....it was awesome!! The night before we left to come back home Nicholas fell and hit his head on the corner of the wall! It was so loud(he hit pretty hard) we ran over to him and of course put ice on it right away. We were so lucky that Nona had a plastic corner protector on the wall, bc if it wouldn't have been there his head probably would have hit the steel behind it and been split, therefore we would have been ER bound. Thank God that wasn't the case. A little ice, milk and TLC and he was fine! We almost made the whole trip without anything happening :o) Aunt Billie gave us a corvette that Marky wasn't using anymore for Nicholas to have. So he was SO excited about getting to have that come home with us! It seats two also, so he can ride Olivia around in it too.
A few days after we got home Ray and I got outside and put up the Christmas lights! Nicholas and Olivia love it! Whenever we are in the car at night and we pass by Christmas lights Nicholas says "Mama, their beautiful"! It's so sweet. He's so sweet. Both of them are.
Lets go back a little before Thanksgiving and our trip.....Ray and I always have FFN(Family fun night) every Friday night! We started the tradition for our family so that no matter what we would always have that night set aside just for us. That leaves Saturday nights open for us to have date nights also without having to neglect our family night. FFN always consists of ANYTHING as long as we are together as a family. It could be just dinner home or out, a movie, icecream, playing games going to the fair etc. Well this particular FFN Ray decided it would be fun for us to go to the fair! Well, we thought maybe the other cousins might wanna go. So we ended up with the van FULL and on our way to the fair! What a fun night!! The kids weren't able to ride much b/c of their height, but Ray, myself and my sister rode some and it took me back to my childhood for a few hours. The kids sat and watched us ride the rides with smiles on their faces....it was awesome! We found out that none of them really liked cotton candy(meant more for us!!). Of course you can't leave till you also have a corndog and a funnel cake :o) We did and well the kids LOVED those. We went and checked out the animals which they all enjoyed too. It was def a LONG night, but was a lot of fun. We ALL slept great that night.We also switched Nicholas to his big boy bed, because he had started telling us he wanted it. And he wanted it under his Cars tent. So that's what we did and with Cars sheets on the bed as well. He LOVED it! He still sleeps in his room although some nights when I check on him before going to bed myself he has moved to the floor. I pick him up and put him back in bed and some mornings he'll still be there and some mornings he's back on the floor. I thought at first that he was rolling out of the bed, but that's not the case. I actually saw him once get out and lay on the floor. Apparently some kids do this and then eventually start sleeping back in the bed. So the next weekend after we switched his bed we had a cousins sleepover! My oldest brother and his wife had a charity function at night so we offered to keep them! We had pizza for dinner and had air matresses all over the floor and watched a couple movies and had popcorn before it was time for bed. The next morning we had a huge breakfast compliments of Ray: Pancakes, eggs, bacon, toast....I think they all had a great time.....we did!
Olivia is still not letting go and walking by herself....when she's ready she will though! She is just a dollface! I love watching her explore and follow her big brother around the house. Although, she still gives me a hard time when I try and change her :o)
Ray is still losing his weight....I believe he only has 25 more lbs that he wants to lose. He's doing great! Work is busy for him and I'm trying to get some little projects done around the house in the afternoons once I'm home from work and with the kids. We are just working, living life and trying to raise our kids the best way possible.
Well, have fun shopping for Christmas! We are going to have fun shopping for the kids(although most of ours was done a few months ago)! Don't forget the TRUE meaning of the holiday though. That's what is MOST important! Merry Christmas and happy new year! My next blog post will be after we ring in the new year.....be well and be safe! Our love to all!


PS) don't forget to check out the pictures from November on the sidebar and the video below this blog post.