Another Thanksgiving

Today we celebrated Thanksgiving with Timmy's family at his parents house. We all brought a dish to pass, so I brought the scalloped corn and he made a few Pecan pies (with cinnamon). There was so much to eat it was awesome! The table was covered with all the snack foods you could ask for and there was so much chocolate... yummy. Kaitlynn was so busy playing with the girls that she didn't want to eat. But eventually she broke down and ate her potatoes and squash. The pumpkin pie was delicious (not as good as you know who's) and there was wither roasted or grilled turkey (Andy is the master). After we ate it was nice to just sit around a gab for a bit. We tried to figure out our Christmas plans but it is hard when we all work different shifts and some weekends too. Argh... we'll figure it out. It is Jade's weekend but she let us take Kyra for our Sunday celebration (she had her for Thanksgiving itself). So we headed home then and got the girls in the tub and off to bed. I was so tired but I wrote a little on my papers (due Tues) and hit the hay. I'll catch up one of these days!

Black Friday

YEEEEESSSSS!!! I love the shopping on Black Friday, it is the third best day of the year (behind Halloween and Thanksgiving). I had the best day ever! We started out this morning at 4:30 and headed to WalMart. I stuck Kaitlynn in her purple snow suit and snuggled her in the car seat. I was hoping she would stay asleep in the cart but as soon as she saw the WalMart sign she was up... and almost as excited as I was. We only had a few things on our list and were able to get them all. I like going to the WalMart in Sparta because there is literally nobody there, like maybe 50 people. There is definitely still a ruckus but no pushing and shoving. After our success we headed to McDonald's to have a quick breakfast. Kaitlynn liked her little eggies and wanted my Diet Coke. I kept telling her "not for babies" but she didn't really care about all that. We headed to Lacrosse after our breakfast and met up with my cousins Krissy and Theresa, my Aunt Barb and Paula (not my Paula, their Paula). Before that mom and I courageously fought the crowds at Kohl's and Old Navy. Our strategy is to get her and the baby in line and while they are waiting i run around the store like a crazy person picking up all our items... It's the best. I think my favorite thing is asking people where things are, its like a certain camaraderie. So we met up and went to Menards. I got a bunch of batteries and some floormats for my car. I was going to ask a stockman where the $3 sausages were but I was too chicken, so I asked a lady instead. We got all our stuff packed up and headed back up to Grandma's. After a quick rest and a little drama, we got Dad and Grandma in the car and headed over to my dad's cousin Bill Herrman's farm for a little get together for the cousins. It was nice to see him visit and to see all our great aunts and uncles, etc. AJ and I headed out early to sneak back to Grandma's to put up her Christmas tree and decorate the house. We wanted her to be surprised... and she was (not necessarily in a good way though, Whoops!). After that we headed to The Village Inn in Bangor Wi, about a 10 min drive. I went with Kristina to check out her Dodge Charger, very similar to my Dodge Magnum... but definitely cooler. We got to chatting a little but will have to catch up at Christmas time. Anyways, we had fried fish and some beers (or whatever) and called it a night. The Village Inn is like on my top five best places to eat EVER... I love it almost as much as my dad does. Who by the way was doing pretty well thing week. He was the one who actually wanted to go out for fish, its a good sign. Lets all cross our fingers. Here he is sleeping on the floor in Grandma's living room with Kaitlynn, they passed right out. What a Day!!!

Turkey Day!

Thanksgiving is AWESOME! I had such a great time today. It was nice to be around all the family and catch up. Little Bella enjoyed hanging out with her cousin Brock, but she got a little rough and whacked him on the noggin. He just stared at her like "what the heck?" Then he cried. My sweet baby girl is a bully! My cousin Kristina made Katie bear a birthday cake and it was in the shape of a cupcake! Bella loved it and ate every last crumb. I took her plate away and she freaked out a little, but the bathtub after was okay for her. She tried a bunch of new foods today: turkey, beans, corn, squash and started drinking cow's milk. We are down to one bottle a day at bed time so here's hoping she does okay with it. After lunch we all sat around the table and looked through the newspaper ads for Friday's sales. It was fun to make our lists and figure out our strategies. Mom and I are planning to hit Wally World at 5am... we'll have to see!

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

Today we will be celebrating Thanksgiving at the farm in Sparta, Wi with my Dad's side of the family. I am looking forward to seeing all my Herrman family, the Johnsons and especially watching Kaitlynn play with her little cousins. Here is a little video of her dancing in the kitchen with her turkey. His apron says "eat more chicken" and it plays the chicken dance. Have a wonderful holiday everyone!

Happy 1st Bday Kaitlynn!

Today Kaitlynn turned one year old. Where has the time gone. It seems like jut yesterday we were putting the crib together and I was wondering if I had enough diapers. Well no I didn't have enough diapers and yes I'm learning alot as I go. I have a wonderful support team behind me. She will be waking up at her auntie Paula's today since I have to work until 7am and then get some sleep. So her morning bday kisses will have to wait... or Paula can do the honors for me. We got a few shots today and weighed in at25 lbs and 30 inches long. Wheew- Big Girl! She is in the 73rd percentile for height, 92nd for weight and 93rd for her head. Lots of brains I tell you. Today we are headed to Sparta to be with the family for the holidays. Its a four hour trip but I am sure we will have plenty to talk about. I am trying to talk dad into stopping at the Oshkosh outlet mall (he needs a new coat you know... wink wink) .Tim is staying here in Green Bay to be with his family and for some much needed rest (ie: video games). I cant complain though, miss Bella, Mom and I are headed out shopping on Black Friday so I cant really judge him ;) All in all it had been an awesome year with our new little addition. Lots of laughs, a couple bumps (black eyes) and tears but in the end one happy little baby!

Birthday Party

Today was Baby Bella's first birthday party. She had a blast! We had everyone over for cake and ice cream at 2pm. Mom and Dad came, Andy and Sharon, Jeremy, Andy, Paul and the girls. AJ and Anna were not able to make it, Jackie had to work and Auntie Karla was soaking up the sun in Las Vegas (jealous). I couldn't decide if we should sing first with cake which is what we would normally do or to have her open presents so she wasn't absolutely filthy after cake. She had a blast ripping open the paper and seeing what was inside. She unloaded every bag until she could see the bottom... literally! She got her chubby little cheeks way down in there to make sure she didn't miss anything. I think her favorite part was tearing the paper. She got such cute gifts... thank you everyone! After the free for all... we blew out the candles on her fairy cake and stripped her down to her diaper. I personally wanted to keep her dress on but was outvoted. So we put her in the highchair and gave her a piece of cake. She poked it a few times, tasted her fingers and then took the whole darn plate up to her mouth. She then realized that that was to much work so she grabbed the piece of cake with both hands and brought it up to her mouth. What a little piggy. It was super cute. Then after she had a few handfuls, she would take her cake covered hands and try to offer some to anyone passing by, like it was no big deal. Gross!!! Paula and I finagled her into the tub and got her all cleaned up. After that it was back to playing with her toys. At one point both the grandpas were on the floor playing with her, it was adorable.

Christmas Parade

Today the girls, mom and I went downtown Green Bay for the annual Christmas Parade. It was a super day! We got down there around 9am this morning to get a spot. The streets were already full so we grabbed a spot on a nearby corner. The weather was cool so I put Kaitlynn in her snowsuit to brave the cold. She looked like a huge purple snowball. The first "float" was Time Warner cable and they threw out candy... I didn't think they still did that anymore. Kyra was super stoked! We saw a float done by Holy Cross which is the grade school that AJ and I went to. It was soooo weird to see that. Another one we recognized was from dad's work WPS. The best part was this huge hot air balloon gondola without the balloon ontop. So when they pulled the string it shot these huge flames up into the air. It was amazing just how warm that felt that far away. The UW-Madison band was there too (about 30 people) playing classic UW songs. The parade was of course finished with the much anticipated Santa float... what a great time!

1 Week to Go

Kaitylnn Bella Bronander will be a year old in exactly one week... Harumph! ( I am pouting)

My Favorite

This is one of my favorite pictures of the girls from Halloween. Here they are with their Hitler Baby mustaches and Carlos. It is one of the weirdest things we have ever done... but we laughed so hard that day... even dad was having a good time. Thanks again for visiting guys, we'll never forget it!

I work three 12 hour night shifts this weekend so there wont be any posts until next week... Or whenever I get to it :)

SONIC

Today Tim and I took another load of leaves to the yard recycling center. You should have seen how huge the pile of leaves and grass was. It was literally enormous. I took a picture because it puts it into perspective. This mound was atleast another two times its with further on the right than my camera would capture... Unbelievable. It was like every tree in Green Bay was storing its leaves there. Although i have to mention I really never understood just how many leaves our yard had until we did it again this year. Good Lord! Reminds me when Timmy and I talk about buying a new house that we consider the amount of trees on the property ;)

After dropping off the leaves we headed to the new "restaurant" in town... SONIC. I know most of you are like "whats the big deal?" But to us, it is a big deal. WE figured there hasn't been a new fast food joint to come to Green Bay in quite a while. This sonic is so popular that the first week it was open, there would be lines of car waiting in the adjacent parking lot just to get in line. No Lie! So we waited until the middle of the afternoon when everyone was at work (besides us of course) to try it out. Not bad... 1/2 off slushies were nice. But I have to say that Hardees still trumps hands down!

candy candy candy!!!

Today was a bit of a lazy day. Dad was sick to his stomach alot so we girls kind of kept to ourselves. I go out to my parents alot to visit... even when he's not 100%... because he's never a 100% anymore. So we did a little cleaning and Kyra decided to organize her Halloween candy. It was so cute! She had it categorized by type, size and in order of favorites ( too bad she cant eat it. Sugar makes her crazy). I love this little girl! She did however sneak a few pieces which we later had to swim off at the YMCA.

Congrats Becky!

Today was the baby shower for Paula's BFF Becky... and I was invited (heeheehee... makes me feel special). Anyways, it was so cute to see all the little baby things again. I know you are thinking- hello, Bella's only 11 months old, she's still a baby. But let me tell you, its different. I was noticing the itch today, but don't tell my husband that. Oh! And today was the first time that Kaitlynn tried summer sausage. OMG! A word of warning (as with ice cream) do not give this to her unless you are prepared for a screaming temper tantrum when you stop giving it to her... Fair warning. All in all it was a wonderful morning. Paula had coordinated some baby games to play including: measure/ guess Becky's belly, guess the baby food, baby bingo and other fun stuff. Oh, she even made little rattles out of cupcakes and a diaper cake... it was adorable! Anyways- shout out to Becky: Thanks for letting me hang out with your fam and friends- hope all goes well!

I heart fleet farm

have I mentioned that I LOVE Fleet Farm? Its awesome! I remember hearing as a child that if you cant find it here at "the man's mall" you dont need it... its sooo true. Tonight we picked Kyra up from school and then met my mom for a little shopping expedition. We headed to Fleet Farm to return a drip pan for my dad's snow blower (i'll explain later) and to check out the toy isles. Kyra was in heaven. The hard part was to watch her drooling and asking for toys that I may (or may not) wink wink have boughten her already. Kaitlynn had a blast looking at all the pretty Christmas lights and I must say that my mother was a bit entranced by a few herself. Kaitlynn got ahold of a huge summer sausage and would not let us put it back. Good thing Christmas is coming up...

So the whole snow blower thing is that my dad had a new garage floor poured this summer and he is VERY protective of it. He sweeps it out religiously and they even have a squeegee for when it gets wet. So when he thought about this winter and the snow blower, he decided that we needed something to catch the water. He sent mom and I off to find something (he's still really sick) and we found a pan. but its a metal pan and that will rust... so that's what we returned and after much frustration I think he has settled on a mat... Ugh! What we do for love...

~Happy Birthday Mary~

Today is Mary's 50-something birthday. It was a nice "stay in your jammies" kind of day. Jennifer and Andrew flew out yesterday and AJ and Anna drove back to Milwaukee too. We decided to do a little yard work at my house and it turned out to be a total lawn overhaul with everyone pitching in including Mary and Carlos. Anna watched the peanut thank goodness because it was quite the ordeal. Mary had fun stomping the leaves and looking at all the colors. Carlos was awesome and helped us heave load after load of leaves into the bed of Timmy's truck.

But today we are taking it easy. I picked up a cake quick from Copps and we sang a little happy Birthday. Kaitlynn was playing with a beer can (I know... bad Mommy) until she saw the candles and the cake... then it was all over. CAKE!!! We had a little pre-birthday celebration for her and let her try a little cake... Okay, alot of cake. But how could I say no? We laughed and laughed... and then took a bath.

Later this evening we headed to see the deer at the yard waste/ recycling center. There are a few deer that come out at dusk so we wanted to she Mary and Carlos. And there they were... a pair of bucks, some does and a few little Bambies (good thing AJ wasn't there to shoot em... not that you could anyway). So we ( and by that I mean Carlos) threw them some extra apples from Mom and dad's and watched them come ever so slightly closer and closer to the vehicles. It was interesting to watch the people that were there to see the deer and those that just wanted to get their yard clippings taken care of.

After it got dark... and COLD, we headed into town to check out the new "SONIC" restaurant which is right by our house. Its the first new restaurant that Green Bay had gotten in a while and its in the old drive up style. Would you believe that there was a line straight out the driveway and at least 20 cars deep... standing still. I couldn't believe it! We skipped it and got a pizza and some movies... our time to experience SONIC will come :)