In honor of Thanksgiving....

I seem to always find things to complain about so this month, I am going to post at least 1 thing daily that I am thankful for.
Today, I am thankful that Paxton will eat a banana that is mashed up! This is a huge accomplishment for him and I am so happy.
I am also thankful for having friends over for dinner and hanging out. It was nice to be able to
talk to other adults and have our kids play together last night. I so need to do that more often.
Lastly, today I am thankful for rewards points on my credit card. I just cashed them in for $200, which I can use towards Christmas gifts. Cha-ching. Yay me!

Christmas

I love Christmas. It is my favorite time of year. I love everything about it. I love shopping, I love the decorations, the food, the excitement, the traditions, everything. Every year, I pressure my husband to put the tree up (or bring it down so I can put it up) earlier and earlier. It is such a pain to put it, I feel like I want to enjoy it as long as possible. The kids absolutely love it. We did have to put a gate around it this year as Paxton kept whacking it with Mia's magic wants and baby stroller. Here's a picture of Mia right after we put our tree up.

Paxton's new haircut

I asked for a fo hawk, but we got an older lady this time and she didn't know what that was. Oh well. I can work with this cut and he seems to like it.

I don't wanna nap

I'd rather play with a fork and watch the Young and the Restless with mommy

Cheese

Do-able bucket list

My ultimate bucket list involves a lot of time and money--neither of which we have. It also involves a lot of travel, which is not fun with a 3 year old and 16 month old. So, this is my short-term, do-able bucket list.

1. Get my hair and make-up done by the girls of Jerseylicious (specifically Gigi and Olivia). I'm totally hooked on that show and I love them. I just want to sit, drink wine, and gossip with them.

2. Eat at Bobby Flay's restaurant in Atlantic City. I'm obsessed with Bobby Flay. I don't think he's hot or even really attractive, but I love his personality. He's humble and gracious and really funny. Plus, his food looks amazing.

3. Go up in the Washington Monument. I'm asshamed to say I've lived in MD/VA my entire life and I work within walking distance of the monument and have never been inside.

4. Go up in the Statue of Liberty. Again, been to NYC so many times, yet I never make the time.

5. Host a girls night out soon at the local winery with wine and the new fondue set that Santa had better bring me for Christmas.

work

I never used to want to be a stay at home mom. I like my job. I like interacting with adults and feeling like I'm doing something useful and accomplishing something. I like helping people, but recently, I've been really wishing I could stay home with the kids. I miss them. Mia is in "preschool", but I feel like I could do so much with Paxton. I'm grateful that he is with my mom, but there are so many things I need to work on with him, especially with his food/texture issues. It is so frustrating that I don't have the time to really put into helping him they way that I would like. I get home just in time to make dinner. Sometimes, my mom has already fed him because it's late and he is hungry. I'm jealous of those moms who get to have play dates during the day. I guess on the flip side, maybe they are jealous too? I work so that I can afford to do things with my kids and take them places. I work so that we can afford our house. Hopefully, this tradeoff will pay off someday.