Setting up the tree and black Friday

We managed to put up our tree last weekend. YAY. We didn't get all the decorations up right away, we had to do it over a few days but it's all done now and we are loving it. It is truly beginning to look a lot like Christmas.

Because I have absolutely no time off, I had to work on black Friday...booo. Hubby had both kids all day. He decided to venture out to check out the black Friday deals during the day, bold for sure. He only managed to get to one store but I was definitely impressed that he took both kids out by himself. I guess hubby is a more comfortable parent the second time around too.

Hubby wearing Jbird is the cutest thing 

I just love this picture

 and of course my Tman has to be in every picture. This is how they shopped all day

When I got home on Friday, the Christmas boxes came up but we didn't actually do anything with them until Saturday. Let's put some ornaments on this tree, we only managed to put up a few before Tman was done and just wanted to go play

 How sweet is this boy of mine, giving me kisses just because

Tman is seriously the best big brother always loving on his brother

Tman helped his dad put up the star. He was really proud

I managed to get a family picture

My brothers spent the day with us so I got a pic of my two brothers and my two boys. Boys and matching clearly runs in my family :)

And the final product of the tree a few days later

I am so happy that our tree is up and decorated. Now to enjoy it everyday while listening to some Christmas music. Christmas is my favorite time of the year and I am looking forward to making the most of it. My utmost favorite thing to do is to drink some hot cocoa while watching tv with the tree lights on. I hope the boys enjoy it as much as I do. Is your tree up yet? How do you enjoy it?

Weekend fun - the Thanksgiving edition

We had an amazing Thanksgiving celebration. My step sister always host and the food is always so good. We had waffle for breakfast then chilled with the kids, my mom, and one of my brothers until it was time to head to dinner. My sister only lives about 15 min away, which is awesome.

I did a mini photoshoot before we left since the kids looked really nice in their matching outfit. It was such a beautiful day so we went outside for pictures. The boys are going to wear these Christmas sweater for every party this holiday season. I am definitely going to get my money's worth on these.

Me and my sweet second boy

All Tman wanted to do was play with the leaves so I decided to let Jbird join in on the fun, hehehehe

I ended up with two beautiful pictures that I am definitely going to print and display in our house so I played with picmonkey a little bit to give them a polished look.

My mom with the boys. She is wearing a super colorful African gown, I love it

And my two boys, both of them looking at the camera and Tman even has a normal decent smile

We took a family picture before we left, of course, and my brother decided to join in on the fun

When we got to my sister's house the boys started watching the football game while the girls (except my mom and aunt) were setting things up. Tman's favorite thing to do is play with noses, what a bizarre thing to do 

Me and my sisters posing 

My mom and stepdad with my Jbird

 My sisters and niece

All the girls (minus my aunt)

My little Jbird with my brother, check out hubby chowing down on some apple pie in the background

Me and my baby self portrait style

Me and my stepdad with Jbird

My sister playing with Jbird

We had so much fun as we always do. We are hosting Christmas and I am super excited about the celebration this year, this will be Jbird's first Christmas and Tman's first Christmas where he is really aware of what is going on. 

In the spirit of Faith's #yesiamwearingthis, my outfit today. I brought out the festive colors, now that Thanksgiving is behind us, bring on Christmas. 

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving everyone. Hope you all have a great day celebrating with your family.

We have a lot to be thankful for. God has provided for our family in ways that we couldn't even begin to described. We are so thankful for our family and friends and more importantly for this life that we are blessed with everyday.

Last Thanksgiving was the worst Thanksgiving of my life (and the best at the same time but we didn't even know). We had just lost our second baby to a missed miscarriage and I was upset, even angry at God. During my despair, I prayed and prayed and God whispered to my heart "wait and see what I have for you" and that Thanksgiving weekend we got pregnant with our Jbird. We didn't find out about him until 2 weeks later. During the depths of our despair, God provided for our family; while I was angry at him, he was still providing for our family. Every tear, heartache, and rocky climb was worth this mountain view.

Thank you my Lord for our Joshua

Thank you Lord for our Tyler

 Thank you Lord for these two boys

Thank you my Lord for our family

The verse that confirmed to me that our second boy's name was going to be Joshua
"But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD" Joshua 24:15

Weekend fun - brunch with the ladies

My husband is amazing, ok everyone feels that way about their husbands or they wouldn't be together but really. He volunteered to watch both kids on Saturday for 4 hours so that I can go to brunch with my girlfriends. Yeah definitely amazeballs. I was a little nervous because I know both of them at the same time can be quite a handful but of course hubby convinced me he would be just fine (this guy I tell you).

I am so glad I went. My cousin hosted the event. We've know most of these girls since College and almost all of us are moms. We left the kids at home with the husbands and had a great time catching up on life and of course the husbands and children made it into the conversation. It was great. We've decided to make this a regular occurrence.

My cousin is all about decorating so she always goes all out when she is hosting anything. Brunch was Moroccan themed

My plate and mimosa, yum yum, check out the folded napkin (she goes all out I tell you)

The ladies

and yours truly

I had so much fun with the girls, I am so glad that we can still be ourselves and have a great time despite having super busy lives. I am looking forward to the many more brunches.

I came home to hubby and Tman reading a book sitting on Tman's Thomas chair while Jbird was just chilling watching Soccer. I was just so happy with my hubby.

The rest of the weekend was spent chilaxing. We didn't really do much but hang out with the kids and catch up on our DVR. On Sunday we watched some football as we always do.

I am so looking forward to the short week, Thanksgiving, and our tree finally going up. Time is flying by you guys. 

Oh and I am sharing my outfit of today using Faith's #yeahimwearingthis. My work outfits are pretty boring, I am usually wearing pants of some sort and a sweater/shirt of some sort. Pretty boring but I figured I would join in on the fun and share. My top and pants are both from New York and Company, great place for affordable work clothes for sure.

Jbird is 3 months

My baby is 3 months old. Wow just wow. He is such a happy baby, we truly got lucky with this one.

He makes the best faces, I can't help but try to guess what is going on in his head. I have the best time guessing. He is alert now and loves to interact with us.

He started smiling and giggling uncontrollably a few weeks ago and never stopped. All you have to do is look at him and he just smiles back, it's amazing. Every time it happens, my heart melts just like butter. He doesn't really cry much but when he does you better not be around because it's loud and deafening.

He sleeps often but no more than 3 hours at a time. So we still wake up twice at night to feed. Since I went back to work, I've been nothing but a zombie. A happy zombie nonetheless. His brother was the same way, he didn't really start sleeping more than 6 hours at a time until he was about 5 months. I guess we have another 2 months to go if we are lucky.

He is still a great eater. Nurses often when I am at home. No wonder this kid weighs almost 17lbs. YAY for a healthy happy baby.

Jbird is such a happy and smiley baby, the perfect addition to our family. We love him to the moon and back.

And for good measure, here is my Tman at 3 months old. 

Me and my sweet Tman with his huge cheeks. He always looked like his cheeks were stuffed with something.

I used to love kissing Tman's cheeks as much as I love kissing Jbird's.

Yeah, 2 years ago I had a 3-month old and now I have a 2-year old and a 3-month old. Crazy if you ask me. Oh so amazing. I'm running on no sleep and going bald but it's all worth it for these awesome kids of mine.Thank you Lord.