Thanksgiving Weekend

We had a great Thanksgiving! Although it wasn't the relaxing weekend I was wishing for:) We got up Thursday morning and got ready to head to Payson. I made a cheese ball and marble squares, the only foods I really feel comfortable taking places- therefore I make them all the time. Hayden helped us snap a few photos in the FREEZING temperatures for our family Christmas cards. So glad to have that out of the way.

Then we headed to Tyson's grandma's for the yummy meal! I can't believe I didn't take any pictures there! The food was delicious and we had a lot of fun. Dinner was right in the middle of Easton's nap time so after we cleaned up a little I took him home to watch Frosty and attempt a nap. Of course he didn't sleep. While I was trying to get him to sleep Tyson went for a drive up the canyon. He found a tree full of turkeys! I thought it was kind of funny. They were hiding because they didn't want to be someone's lunch!

We hung out in Payson all day and wore Easton right out. We left at 6:45 and he was asleep for the night within 5 minutes. On Friday Tyson went to work a little before 6 and I got ready to go shopping with Easton. He finally woke up at 6:30 (a lot later than he usually sleeps) and we headed out into the cold. We weren't really after anything in particular and didn't come home with much, but we had so much fun. Easton is just such a little buddy. He just loves to go do things with me. Every year at Tyson's parents' we go through all the ads and are just grateful that we can't find anything we need!

One thing we were looking for was a video camera. We used our Flip video cameras for almost 3 years before they both broke. Tyson suggested upgrading our camera to one that does video too. At first I thought he was just scheming to get a new camera, but it turned out to be a great idea. They had some good deals on the camera we wanted so we got one on Friday. Tyson's parents helped us buy it as their Christmas present. Yay! Now they are worried that we won't come to see them on Christmas so we have to wrap up the camera again and open it Christmas morning:)

I worked Friday night and all day Saturday. I wear compression socks to work and feel like a granny. I'm getting to the point where leave work wondering if my feet are going to need to be amputated because they feel enormous and hurt so bad! You gotta understand that I only get to sit down at work for lunch which is usually about 15 minutes. So the 9 hour shifts just kill my poor feet! But, I am very thankful to have a job - and one that I really do enjoy. On Friday night Tyson and Easton came to my work to watch the electric light parade go down main street in Spanish Fork. Afterwards we all went to Two Jacks Pizza. Mmmmmmm.

Tyson went mountain lion hunting at 2:30 Saturday morning. I didn't hear from him until after 3 that afternoon. They had found a cougar, but he was too little to shoot (phew). So he took some cool pictures with the new t1i. Yes, it freaks me out that he was this close.

When we all finally got home at 6:30 Saturday night, we were exhausted! But we both realized Easton wasn't going to settle down and go to sleep for quite a while. So we made a bed on the family room floor and watched Elf. It was so much fun because Easton watched it the entire time and really enjoyed it. Both boys fell asleep right before the ending credits so I was able to clean up the house and get them both to bed.

We woke up this morning to a whole bunch of snow, and it's still snowing! Easton is so excited to try out his new boots we bought at "Taw-git!"

One last thing, I'm sitting in the family room right now and looking into a sparkly clean kitchen - nothing makes me happier! Tyson has randomly been cleaning the kitchen for me for the last few Sundays in a row. I mean dishes, countertops, sweeping, mopping, the works. He says he just wants me to have a good start to the week. Boy does he know how to make me happy! Thank you Ty:)

We May Be Rushing Things But...

DECK THE HALLS AGAIN NOW!

I've been faithfully listening to my Christmas music since November 1st and when I heard this lyric from "We Need a Little Christmas" I knew it had to go on the blog:) I seriously love Christmas. I started getting Christmas presents in September so the Christmas bill didn't hit all at once, although I have recently noticed a problem with this strategy: I just want to keep buying and buying! Then it ends up just prolonging the spending for four months.

Anyway... I'm kind of sad that I left all my Christmas stuff in storage in Payson. I could go get it, but we'll be moving again at the end of December and I think I could do without the hassle this year. I've been trying to keep busy with things other than decorations to get us in the Christmas mood.

I finished all of our co-worker gifts really early. I will not be curling ribbon at 3AM the morning of the work parties this year. We needed 45 this year, and Tyson just informed me that he may need more - great. One of Tyson's co-workers used this phrase a few years ago and I thought it was cute.

I found the spoons at Walmart 5 for 97 cents and painted the ends of them. I'm pretty proud that each gift ended up being about a dollar. (Ya that's still $45, but remember I started buying muffins in September:)

I got Easton this cute "Santa's Little Helper" apron at work for a dollar. We had to make some chocolate chip cookies just so he could wear it. (PS - he has been doing the funniest smile for pictures lately:)

I got under our bed and blew the dust off of the only Christmas item that made it to Orem with us - the lights. Easton and I spent over an hour untangling them and winding them around the railing on the porch. We broke 8 or 9 bulbs in the process. I had finally wound all the way down the railing and was working my way back up when I broke another bulb. The empty socket fell into a puddle of melted snow and shorted out all three strands of lights. You would think Christmas lights could handle the snow?!?! So I waited a few days and kept stepping outside and plugging them in hoping that they would magically be fixed. Of course they weren't. Then I spent another hour sweeping up glass and unwinding all three strands and chucking them in the dumpster. There will be no lights this year:(

On a happier note, I found this awesome deal at Toys R Us! I got all these games for $12 total! Easton will be getting one of each for Christmas and I wrapped up the extra Candy Lands with some candy canes to use as white elephants or to have Easton give to his friends.

When we stayed at my mom's house last weekend while they were out of town, I went to the basement and started going through boxes in search of the old VHS tapes of Frosty the Snowman and Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer we used to watch over and over and over again as kids. I was so excited to find a box labeled "Christmas books and movies." However it did not contain any movies. I'm actually kind of surprised it contained the books. Labels are deceiving in that storage room:) Anyway, when my family got back, I found out they had already purchased a DVD set of all the favorite Christmas movies for Easton! I was definitely as excited (if not more) as he was!

He LOVES Frosty right now. My Grandma Allen gave him a Frosty book for Christmas when he was a newborn that plays the song and he has always loved it. This morning I heard him singing it..."Fwosty snowman was jowy happy so. Wif a cone bob bipe an button nose and too much ice cream makes us cold..." Doesn't get any cuter than that:)

I can't wait for Black Friday to pick up a few last items and get everything wrapped!

The Birthday Party

I think I was so relieved to have Easton's party over that I haven't been ready to blog about it for a while:) It was just a teeny family party, but still - parties are a lot of work! Here is his invitation I made and had printed at FedEx Office for way too much money...

He had a "ball" themed birthday party. I wonder how many of those he's going to have. It seems to be an ongoing obsession. We had all kinds of ball decorations from the dollar store and I made 4 ball cakes: soccer ball, baseball, basketball, football. The cakes didn't turn out as cute as I planned, but I will post pictures of them and the decor when I remember to get them from my mom.

For Easton's birthday/Christmas we have been working on re-finishing the bedroom set that Tyson had growing up. So far the bed is turning out SO cute and I am excited to post pictures when it's all done! For his birthday we got him his bedding: pillows, a blue quilt, sheets, and 4 decorative pillows that I made him with the left over fabric from his crib bedding. They each have a different ball on them. Baby Callan will not be using the same crib set since I have already had to throw away every last bumper pad - they became wadded up into balls one by one in the washer. So I plan to somehow adjust the crib skirt so it will fit on Easton's new bed and all of his decorations (all 2 or 3) will still match.

Here are the only pictures we got of the night! (PS when I got back from picking up the pizza I was informed that Easton chose to be in his birthday suit for his birthday party. That is typical of Easton. He is often yelling, "I wanna be naked! Always be naked!" :)

He got some very cute sweats outfits from Steve and Arlene as well as Grandma and Grandpa Page. Steve and Alrene also gave him a BYU jacket that is super cute and will fit for a long time. Amanda and Thomas got him a set of balls that are really soft and he LOVES them of course. Hayden and Nicole got him a tractor set with a bridge and stuff which he also loves to play with. My family got him some much needed warm PJ's and a Mr. Potato Head that has kept him entertained for HOURS. Kelsey and Danny got him a BYU Pez and pom-pom. And Kate sent him a Mickey Mouse "dub" house plate and bowl.

We're so grateful for our families and all that they do for us!

Side note - I'm totally losing my mind. I feel like a complete air head during this pregnancy and I'm not sure I'm ever going to get my brain back. Some of the many air headed things I've been up to are...

Forgetting to take a picture of Easton with all his birthday stuff (a Cook family tradition)

Forgetting to hand out the party favor bags that Easton and I spent hours making that week.

Going to spend the weekend at my mom's while they were out of town and forgetting the key which she gave me 4 copies of so I wouldn't forget.

Driving to Holladay for a baby shower and not bringing the invitation with the address. Also forgetting that my phone was dead and forgetting to bring the charger. Therefore missing the shower.

Leaving meals out on the counter over night and waking up to rotten left overs.

Mailing out ALL of the Thank You notes from Easton's birthday party with 2 cent stamps.

The list could go on and on and on. I'm just praying that a small portion of my brain returns after the baby is born.

Just wanted to say...

Happy Birthday! - to my sweet baby boy. Easton's birthdays have such a weird affect on me. They give me anxiety and make me want to cry.

We took away his binky yesterday morning so everything has been a little rough at our house. I had heard that you need to cut off the end of the binky so they know it's really gone. If I had just thrown it away without him looking, I know he would have been begging me to find it. I actually had Easton cut it because he's been really into cutting things lately. The breakdown was much worse than I ever thought. I've never seen him so sad and heart broken in my life when he realized that I couldn't "fick it." He threw a huge tantrum and was screaming at me for an hour. The funniest thing was he kept yelling, "No mom! We only cut fish! Like Bampa Page! Only fish mom!" He had just watched Tyson filet the fish his dad caught the night before:) So sad and funny at the same time!

He has done pretty well without it, considering. He hasn't napped yet, and getting him to bed at night has been a struggle which is annoying because he used to go right down for a three hour nap and down for bed with no problem at all. Makes me wonder if I really should have gotten rid of it! I think if we can get through this week we'll be alright.

Easton and I got to play yesterday morning on his birthday before I went to work. He was so good and makes me so happy. He wouldn't nap so I tried to let him cry in his crib for a little bit while I put on my make-up. When I went to get him I tried to rock him to calm him down. I wrapped him up in a blanket and started saying, "sh sh sh sh sh..." He lifted his head off my shoulder, slapped my face, and said, "Enough mom." He's so bossy! But so sweet at the same time:) When Tyson picked him up from my mom's around 8, he wanted to spend some birthday time with his boy so he took him to Cabela's on the way home and bought him a cute little Lynx stuffed animal. Easton fell asleep on the way home, but we had to wake him up to put a diaper on him. He had a total melt down and we spent almost 2 hours trying to calm him down and get him to sleep. He finally asked for his crib but told me I had to stay there and stand next to it and sing the BYU cougar song. So I sang a lullaby version of "Rise and shout the cougars are out..." for 19 minutes until he finally dozed off and stopped saying "sing again!" Oh the things we do for this child!

Here's a picture from our very first blog post 2 years ago!