Happy Thanksgiving!

We had a wonderful, but busy Thanksgiving weekend. Brooks had the four days off, or course because his company will take the day off just to golf or sneeze for that matter. I think he wanted to rest and relax the whole weekend, but his crazy, hormonal wife had other plans.

We did chill out, actually, on Thanksgiving. We made ham (we are not turkey people), mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, stuffing, gravy, cranberry sauce, chocolate mousse pie and cherry pie. Brooks helped quite a bit with the cooking, and we only managed to burn an oven mitt- between my forgetfulness and Brook's kitchen inexperience we did pretty well. It was delicious and very sweet that he helped out. In between cooking, we went and played basketball outside and Taylor ran around with his friends. Well, actually I watched Brooks play basketball. He is the best!

I had plans for us on Friday. We went to breakfast at Ikea, then bought a new dining room table. It is so nice to sit and eat as a family. Of course the table had to be assembled, so we did that too. We were nervous going shopping on Black Friday, but it actually was not bad at all. We got parking right up front and there was only one person in line in front of us. They were having a free delivery special, but the table easily fit in the car with the seats down. I wish we could have brought the leather love seat and chair to match the couch. But, hopefully later this month. After we put the table together, we brought out the Christmas tree and put it together. It is a fake tree but much easier then assembling a live one in a stand, and less mess although I miss the pine smell. Then we went to Walmart, and it was not busy there, either. Jasmine got a new Princess robe and Tay got a Bob the Builder potty seat for the big potty. Hopefully he will start using it :)

Saturday we went to our storage room to finally get rid of the last few boxes that had been in the dining room, but didn't fit so well with the table in there.We also picked up the big box of Christmas decorations. We whetted our sophisticated palettes at Taco Bell for lunch, then we all went and got haircuts at Angie's salon. Tay was such a big boy and sat in the chair all by himself again. I got a snazzy new haircut, of course you can't really tell with it pulled back in a pony tail, so you'll have to trust me. Brooks got his ole' reliable hair do, but he cold wear a potato sack on his head and still be handsome. Then we went to Ross and I got some new maternity clothes. Brooks was trying to find a new wallet, but they were all too boring for him. Once we got home, we all worked together and decorated the tree and house for Christmas. Tay did a great job, and he is so interested in Christmas right now. It is very cute!

Sunday we went to Toys R Us and bought Tay one of his birthday presents. It is pretty cool, and we know he will love it. We are trying to decide what else we'll get him for his birthday, what he'll get for Christmas and what he should ask Santa for. His birthday party is at Chuck E Cheese, and it should be lots of fun. We went to Cold Stone that night for dessert, and as Brooks says "chill-axed" the rest of the night.

Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving!

Just one of those days...

Today was just one of those days where I was reminded of how cool it is to be a mommy, and especially, how great it is to be Taylor's mommy. He is the best little boy ever! So smart, cute and sweet!

Tay and Herbie

Taylor has lots of toys. He really likes them all, like monster trucks and his play kitchen and his many jets and Lego's and all those cool boy things. But, he really loves Herbie. He has three Herbie's: a big white Herbie he calls "mom Herbie", then there is a soft black Herbie that makes vroom vroom sounds, that's "black Herbie", then there is a small matchbox sized bug taxi cab, that actually is not a Herbie at all, but he calls it "Baby Herbie."Last night he was playing so hard, he just wore himself out and we found him asleep on the floor and snuggled up to mom Herbie.

Little Brooks

Hi everyone!

My name is Taylor Allan and I am almost three years old. I love my Mommy, but I love my Daddy, too! He is very silly and I like playing with him. He makes great animal sounds, and sometimes I call him "tiger" and he roars at me. I like to do the same things my daddy does. Mommy took this picture of me at the park, I was drinking water from the gallon, just like Daddy does. Sometimes, mom catches me trying to drink from water or milk out of the fridge this way. She gets mad when Daddy does it. One time, mom was making me and Daddy brownies and I got myself a spoon and dipped in in the brownie mix and walked away to eat it, just like Daddy does. The other day, I opened the cabinet and helped myself to a bag of chips and took it to my room to watch a movie. I thought it would make a good dinner. Daddy and I also like to eat the same things, like ramen and Totino's pizza. Daddy and I both like Transformers and he can pick me up and make me walk on the ceiling. We call it "Spiderman". Also, when I sleep I make the same face Daddy does, which mom says looks like I am puckering up for someone to kiss me. When I smile big or laugh, I make the same face as my Daddy, too. Since I am cute like my Daddy, Mommy usually does not get too mad at us. Lately, I like to pick out my own clothes, but Mommy says I look like my Uncle Ryan when I do that. I also like hanging out in my under ware, just like my Daddy. I like going places just with my Daddy, and sometimes I get mad at Mommy when she wants to come. Daddy buys me cool toys, and I love him very much.

That's our girl!

Here are Jasmine's 22 week ultrasound pics (finally!). She is super cute and wonderful. In her profile shot, she has her mouth open and looks very similar to Tay's profile shot around the same time. Looks like they will have the same nose :) In the picture of her face from the front, she is waving her hand behind her head, the other pic is her sweet little feet and toes. I hope she has little feet like her Mommy, but is taller-maybe not quite as tall as Daddy, but somewhere in between.

Have I mentioned we are very excited to have a little girl?

We have a name!!

The world's pickiest man finally decided on a name he liked as a middle name for Jasmine. We have looked at a bajillion different names. We wanted something unique, but not too funky. We were trying to find a pretty Arabic name, but couldn't agree on one. I like Aneesa, Ameerah, Rana, Aayliah-Brooks thought they were all too funky. We both liked Marie and Ann, but they were both not unique enough. I love the name Sarai, but he didn't. I also like Mia, Laurel and Lilly, but he liked Lauren, which is already the middle name of our sweet little niece (just spelled differently). Finally, he happened upon a name we both fell in love with- Natasha.

Jasmine Natasha Wintemute.

Sounds perfectly fitting for our sweet little princess. We also went to Babies R Us and set up a registry. We picked out the prettiest crib and some super cute princess bedding for her. This is going to be so wonderful! Of course, we bought Tay a toy because he was pretty patient while we were checking things out. He will be a great big brother.

Where did October go?

October was a busy, busy month. We held the first annual BizEMoms East Valley Bridal Affair. It was a success, but a lot of work. Check us out at www.BizEMoms.com. We have over 40 members, representing almost 50 valley business. At the expo, there were 63 unique businesses. I was in a bit of doo-doo with Brooks and I think he was tired of me running around and doing a bunch of stuff, so I have spent the week getting the house spic and span. Which is quite the feat with a spoiled stinky rotten two year old, and his many toys, and a dog who is questioning the need to go potty outside. My housewife must haves: my Dyson vacuum, my carpet cleaner, snuggle dryer sheets, cascade action packs, dawn with bleach and Kleenex cottenelle paper. All this costs a bit more, but is worth it!

OK, back to October. Tay also has a new friend. His name is Ray-Ray and he is three years old. He likes to come over and play and does so nearly every day now. He also likes chocolate milk and Cheetos, so I have to keep plenty on hand. Today he informed me that I should buy some starberry milk from the store, as well. He is super cute and although he is older, Tay could eat him for breakfast. They get along pretty well, but occasionally there are issues with sharing. Tay has also started picking out his own outfits, and loves one-on-one time with Dad.

Brooks is doing fine at work and things with the house are coming along slowly but surely. It will be great to be done with renting. We went to Maricopa last weekend on a reconnaissance mission to check out a restaurant for Carlson and it was delish! We also heard from our friends Farah and Hassam who have been MIA for a few months. They have two boys we had frequent play dates with, and will start up again. We are planning on a trip to San Diego later this month, and hopefully everything is OK with the fires. We are going to visit Sea World and the beach one last time before Tay turns three. We still have to go crib shopping and all that jazz, but will do so now that I have nothing but time (yeah right).With the success of the EVBA, we are getting calls and emails from people who want to know when the next one is.

Jasmine is doing well. Daddy finally felt her kick the other night. Her next appointment is this month, then December 11th is the 4D Ultrasound. We are super excited about that. She is a sweet little girl, much less rascally then her bother was in my tummy.

So, Hello November. Hopefully this is a more relaxing month.

Happy Halloween!

This was the first Halloween Taylor got to actually go trick-or-treating. It went over OK, he was a little scared of the older kids in costumes, but fortunately had the mighty daddy and the waddle-mommy to protect him.

We went out to dinner at Red Robin, then headed to my BizEMoms friend Jennifer's house for the first stop. She gave Tay tons of candy plus some play dough, which was a huge hit and dried up the first day as he didn't want to put it away. Then we went to another BizEMoms house and visited with Angie and her three doggies. The older two were dressed up like Snow White and Cinderella. We hit about ten houses or so in her neighborhood, then Tay was happy to go back and play with the dogs some more. He was totally pooped by the time we got home and so was I! It was an early evening, and I was out by 9:30.