Pitter-Pat, Pitter-Pat, It's a Rainy Day!

For the past week or so Tate's prayers have contained this phrase; Heavenly Father, please make it rain so that we can have popcorn! (It's our tradition). This morning we woke up to the sound of rain... Tate excitedly said, "Mother, Heavenly Father did answer my prayer, now go make popcorn!"

I just wanted to say that I'm thankful for a lot of things this Thanksgiving season, but I'm especially thankful for the Arizona Rain. Hope you all have a happy Thanksgiving!

Catch up Scrapbook Pages

I found this picture not to long ago and realized that I had never scrapped it. Tate was such an adorable baby!

I still have a few more that I'm wanting to get to. But, I figure this is a good start...

Just in Case You're Wondering...

I haven't given up on my "Family Proclamation Scrapbook." We are actually still working on learning the 4th page (I really like to master it before moving on). So, I'm pretty sure we'll be ready for a new one next week.

Wanna Know a Secret?

We've had our Christmas Tree up since Tuesday! I just couldn't wait until AFTER thanksgiving :) Only one strand of working lights-who cares! The lights don't even cover the whole tree-who cares! No ribbon-who cares! In years past I've been such a perfectionist in decorating for Christmas. I don't know why but this year I could really care less. It's a tree, and we had fun decorating it, what else matters?

Tag Obsession

As Tate was changing his clothes today, we realized that he had a piece of paper stapled to his underwear where the tag usually goes. Bryan asked him about it and Tate said, "There wasn't a tag on my underwear so I made one. That way I'll know which way my underwear go". He was all proud of himself. ha ha!!!

Perspective

Yesterday we laid out a blanket in the winter grass and had a picnic. In my opinion, it was a big time FLOP-Definitely not what I had planned for! Tate decided to throw a major tantrum and our "could have been" fun experience turned into a nightmare for me. Last night as I was looking through a few pics that I took of the picnic, I mentioned to Bryan how disappointed I was. I said, "We had a terrible time and it was so not worth all the preparation, etc." Tate overheard me complaining and said, "That was such a fun picnic, I loved it!" It was then that I more fully realized that being a Mother always has it's ups and downs, it's what I make of it that matters...

Entertainment

Seriously, what could be a more exciting thing to do on a Friday night, than to eat dinner while listening to our very own little performer? Tate is great!

A Kid Again...

Every now and again I like to plan a full day to really PLAY with Tate, or just simply do what he wants to do. I think that with him being an only child I feel guilty if I don't play with him a lot. Anyways, today was a play day! So we started out early this morning by watching Caillou together-he had the remote and he was happy about that. Then we went on a super long bike ride around the neighborhood (him on his bike,and me on my old roller blades). We rode around the lakes and visited the ducks and then headed over to the playground where we collected rocks. After that we took the rocks home and painted them-BLUE (Tate's favorite color) and set them out to dry. Then we read a bunch of books and that's when he decided that we should go to the library to get some more books... So we did. When we came home we read some more and then made pizza together! It was a very fun day!

Sorry no pics because I totally didn't even do my hair today...

It's Off To Work for the Boys...

And it's a Day Off for the Mom. Yay!!!

Tate's Version of "I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas"

Supposedly, Tate sang this song for his primary class today...

Something out of Nothing

I got together with my Sister in Law Carrie today and we made a fun project out of stuff that we had laying around the house (scrap wood, paper, pics, and mod podge). I think that they look pretty cute in Tate's Monkey Bathroom!

Tate's Thankful Turkey

Tate was looking through a magazine a few days ago and found a picture of a turkey that he just "had" to make. Today when he pulled out the magazine again, I figured that I could take an hour of my time and make it with him.

The feathers have things that he's thankful for written on them.

He is thankful for (in his own words)...

cookies

Daddy-I love Bryan

Heavenly Father-He listens to my prayers

coloring

rocks

my grasshoppers (I don't think that I've ever shared Tate's grasshopper obsession on my blog before). Anyways... long story short, Tate has imaginary grasshoppers :)

my toys

Mommy

The Letter T

monsters

Erin (a girl in his preschool class who he claims is his new best friend)

Rock Tumblers

My Bed

That I LOVE myself

My Home

Lizards

This was a really fun craft, not one that I would have initiated, but fun.

Twilight Shirts

My cousins are selling these AWESOME Twilight shirts! The front says "I love Edward" and the back says "Bite Me". You can buy one HERE, I did.

I can hardly wait until next Friday when the movie comes out...

Late Night Game

Last night was fun. We had Faith & Jon over and stayed up way late playing the Cash Flow Game. We played for over 2 hours and finally called it quits when we were all yawning and couldn't keep our eyes open any longer. Bryan walked them down to their car and I was completely OUT sleeping on the couch by the time he came back. I so don't even remember getting into bed last night...

We've been drinking Mona Vie juice lately, and I totally blame my recent good sleeping habits on it. Seriously, I used to lay in bed for hours and not be able to fall asleep. Now I'm out in literally minutes. It's awesome!

Free Fun

Have you all heard about the FREE WORKSHOPS that Home Depot and Lowes offer for kids? We just found out about them a couple of weeks ago from a friend. Bryan has already taken Tate to two of them-and they absolutely love going! So far they have made a bird house (nailed together and painted) and a Semi Truck Toy (nailed with Stickers on it). They also provide an apron and goggles that the children get to take home. Tate's cousins Savannah and Melanie got to come to the 2nd one which was lots of fun.

For more info or to register online-check out Lowes Website HERE. Then Go up to the "Services" Tab and click on "Build and Grow". For the Home Depot Workshops click HERE.

(They recommend ages 5-12 but I called and they said that children as young as 2 are welcome to come)

Pure Joy!

Today was one of those days where I was reminded again as to why I LOVE being a Mother...

We were sitting in "Fast and Testimony Meeting" today when I was really feeling the need to stand up and bear my testimony. Well those of you who really know me, know that I am terribly shy and that even though I have a strong testimony, I have only shared it in Sacrament Meeting a total of 4 times in my entire life (One for each of the different wards we've lived in). So, to gain courage I leaned over and whispered in Tate's ear, "Should Mommy bear her testimony in the microphone?" He replied, "I think I should say my testimony". So, we both went up (the walk is always the very worst part of it for me). When it was his turn to bear his testimony, Tate didn't want ANY help from me. In fact he wouldn't allow me to even hold him up (we had to get the little stool thingy for him). He had absolutely no fear whatsoever as he bore his simple testimony for the very first time... He said, "Thomas S. Monson is our prophet, I know that the church is true and I love my family. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen".

My joy is so full and complete as I realize that all of the little things that I try to teach Tate every day are actually sinking in to his heart. OH HOW I LOVE BEING A MOTHER! I am also so grateful that Heavenly Father gave Tate to me because he is definitely helping me to climb out of my comfort zone-literally...

2 Out of 3

Mr. Goonie (the Pumpkin) and the Buzz Costume didn't quite make it till Halloween night. Goonie decided to fall over dead about 5 hours before getting dark, so he got to spend Halloween night in the garbage can. The back of the Buzz Costume got all torn up Halloween Eve by a cute little puppy named Lilly. Fortunately my Mom was able to sew him up enough for Tate to wear him last night for trick of treating. Unfortunately the sewing didn't last, so Buzz is all torn up again. Oh well;)

Out of the three (Goonie, Buzz Costume, and Mr. Tate), Tate lasted the longest- all the way until 8 PM. He was exhausted and even though he was walking around like a Zombie Buzz, he somehow stayed awake long enough to enjoy the Trunk or Treat party.