Thanksgiving 2013

Thanksgiving was different this year. We had fewer people than normal, but it was a nice, quiet event overall. The day started as typical--cinnamon rolls, pajamas, and the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade. Austin was pretty into watching the bands and the floats as well as the differen stage performances this year. It was fun to enjoy that with him while Seth worked on the turkey and Graham crawled around.

This is the insides to the Apple Berry Cobbler Pie that I made as a dessert option. So gorgeous and so good!

I had bought two different hymns of thanksgiving for Gran to play on Thanksgiving, but she was gone before the day arrived and thus we just played around with them ourselves. Love that I got some cute pictures of this with my phone!

After the parade was done, we got busy getting ready for everyone to arrive.

Seth's turkey always looks amazing. And he always forgets to save the wishbone! :-(

In preparation for the day, Seth raked the back yard and created this huge pile of leaves specifically for the kids to play in while here.

It seems that I always catch Austin and Turner sitting in a chair together with Turner reading him a book. LOVE.

Nonnie buys a pair of jammies and an ornament for the kids and hands them out on Thanksgiving. These are Austin's gifts from this year.

The annual Immediate Spofford Family Thanksgiving Photo.

This post took forever because our camera wasn't working at the time and thus I had to beg pictures off of other people in order to create a post and then it was Christmas Season, aka Busy Season. Huge thanks to Kim and Anne Marie for the photo help!

Brotherly Comparisons--First Year

Here's a collage (again using PicMonkey) of the boys' milestone pictures from their first year. Think they're related?

Austin's First Three Years

We have the boys' pictures taken regularly--3m, 6m, 9m, 12m, 18m, 2yr, 3yr, etc. and send those pictures to family as well as frame them and put them up in our house. I put together a little collage of Austin's First Three Years JCP pictures using PicMonkey.

Graham's First Year

We have the boys' pictures taken regularly--3m, 6m, 9m, 12m, 18m, 2yr, 3yr, etc and send these to family in addition to framing them and putting them up in our house. I put together a little collage of Graham's First Year JCP pictures using PicMonkey.

A Few New Things I'm Trying...

I recently noticed several friends on Facebook posting things about BzzAgent (BzzAgent is a company that provides you with free products in return for a review of the products.) and it got me thinking...

I've been doing BzzAgent for YEARS. Like probably 5 years or so. I started out really slow and since that was before I had a blog, I didn't get much traffic from it (you get more products the more your reviews are seen and my having a blog means more people can potentially see my reviews). I LOVE BzzAgent. I like trying new products with not much commitment or cost, of course, but I also love that it's something to focus on besides my boys. It is a creative, a brain-using, stimulating outlet that doesn't involve dressing, changing, or feeding other people. Well, it can since I have gotten baby products, but mostly it's a way for me to feel like I have a job outside the home. Which is very good for my sanity! (And if I'm being 100% real with you, I kinda have a secret desire to be a big blogging reviewer person. :-) 

So in effort to try to increase my participation in similar types of things, different ways of expending mental energy on things besides Austin and Graham, I'm trying a few new things. I love my sons dearly, and I don't want to work fully outside the home--it's important to me to be home full time during these early years, but I'm a healthier mom (and wife) when I have something besides them to think about--it balances me. In an effort to increase these sorts of things, I've signed up on two new websites: Swaggable and FlyBy Promotions. I just signed up, so I have not gotten any free products, nor have I even been invited to participate in anything. I'm hoping that will change very soon, though. I'll let you know what I think of those sites once I have an opinion.

I'm also going to try to start being better about doing reviews on Amazon. I use this site probably at least once a week, and they have an amazing "club" called The Vine where they give products to their top reviewers in exchange for a review. You can't ask to be a part of it, Amazon simply selects you based on the amount of good reviews you submit. And it can't hurt to try! So that's the third new thing I'm trying.

The biggest new thing I'm trying, though, is working as a Consultant for Rodan + Fields. It all started a couple months ago when I got a free sample of their products. I LOVED how much better my skin was, and as someone who's tried million different skin products over the years (here and here) and still been unhappy, it was like a God-send! I have been using R+F for two months and my skin is noticeably better! It's softer, smoother, emptier, cleaner, and protected from the sun with a sunscreen that I absolutely love. Love. Love. Love! So, I decided to make a go at having a little side business with Rodan + Fields. It's still very early, but I'm hoping that this is something that works for me.

Are you a member of a site/company/club that gives free products in exchange for reviews? Do you know of any that I haven't mentioned up above? I'd love to give other ones a try as well!

Do you know of anyone who's looking for a new skin care line? I seriously love the products (and business model!) of Rodan + Fields. Get in touch with me if you or someone you know is looking for something new. It has a 60 day money back guarantee, so you're out nothing if you find you don't like it.

Our Trip to Atlanta, Fall 2013

The last week in October, we went to Atlanta to visit Anne Marie and Mike and meet Lilly Grace. It was a perfect trip except for Austin's middle-of-the-night asthma and a detour in the plans to include getting the doctor to call in medicine to an Atlanta pharmacy!

We left here bright and early Wednesday morning and arrived in Atlanta later that night. It's about a 12 hour drive, but everyone knows that having kids along means you have to add a few extra hours to the trip. Add in the downpour I drove through for the first several hours and we didn't make as good of time as we had hoped. It was fine enough, though. And Anne Marie had taken her pack-n-play to the hotel so it was waiting for us when we arrived. We unloaded and immediately went to bed.

The lobby was under construction and the bed was horrible, so we switched to a new hotel the next day. The first hotel comped our room and the new room was only $45/night, so we made out super well in regards to the cost of lodging. We were thrilled! We visited Aunt Rena first thing that morning and then met Anne Marie out for lunch at Felini's on Peachtree. We have eaten there so many times before, and it's never been more crazy than it was with Austin, Graham, and Lilly Grace in tow. Whew! I've never been more stressed out during a meal and we ate outside because the weather was so nice. After lunch we went to Anne Marie and Mike's house to put the two littlest ones down for naps and relax. After naps it was time for Halloween festivities. (Please see this post for those details.)

Friday and Saturday were spent just relaxing and spending time together. We drove around town a little, went to Georgia Tech, ate at Little Azio's on Northside, had Mellow Mushroom pizza with old friends, went to an arts festival, made a trip to Target and during the Saturday afternoon nap (Austin took one too!), Seth went back for another visit with Rena and that night the men and littles stayed home (and watched Cars) while the Momma's went out to a fancy Girls Only dinner. We had such a good time talking and enjoying each other (and saw one of the Indigo Girls!) that we got home later than we had planned, but the exhaustion was worth it. It was an amazingly awesome trip if a little exhausting. The drive home went well and was absolutely gorgeous, but we did have to make more stops than we had on the way out. It seemed the boys' abilities to make it for long stretches had been affected by the trip. I figure it was just because everyone was so totally and completely tired from 5 days of fun.

I'm so glad we went and cannot believe I didn't get any pictures of me and Lilly Grace! She's the whole reason we went! Well, Anne Marie and Mike were reasons too, but still. How did that happen!?

Crossing the Mississippi!

We got to visit with Aunt Rena which was a really sweet time. She hadn't ever met our boys before.

I love how Seth got this shot of Austin looking through her magnifying glass.

Our Crazy Lunch at Felini's.

Our old house. It'll always be our First House.

The owner has added a ton of landscaping to the side, so we took a picture to make a note of that. 

The Fabulous Fox!

I Love Atlanta!

Lunch at Little Azio's!

Pizza Face.

This was how we spent the majority of the trip. By design. Just sitting around hanging out. Love Austin's feet on Mike. lol

I have a 1 year old and 3 year old and we don't own a Mr. Potato Head. HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE? Austin had SO much fun playing with this. (and his next year's Halloween costume that I bought on clearance at Target while there)

The trees were in perfect color. I snapped this one while at the arts festival.

The Two Families. Lilly Grace is a bit hidden, but she's there, I promise.

That Uncle Mike is always up for teaching our boys new things. ;-)

Austin had a blast in the leaves, once he realized what you were supposed to do.

Gotta hang onto that football!

He loved kicking the leaves. Wish I had gotten a better shot of it.

Gorgeous sun with pretty leaves and a skyscraper. Totally Atlanta.

Anne Marie and Mike's house. The recent de-cluttering landscape project has left the front much barer than it was last time I was there. Looks like a different house!

Sweet Sleepy Boy after the arts festival. Even after getting him out of the carseat, he was immediately asleep on Seth's shoulder.

I was driving but started nearly panicking that Seth wasn't getting the camera fast enough when this was our view on the drive home. It was too much!

SO pretty!!!

Reading the books Nonnie sent with us.

At one of our stops, Seth got this "for" Austin. 

I say "for" because I'm the Auburn fan around here. I'm so excited to have that in our house! When Austin came back to the car with it, I knew Seth had gotten it for me.

More beauty on the trip. It's like we couldn't get enough beauty on this trip! 

Couldn't. stop. taking. pictures.

Seth took some of Anne Marie and Mike's acorns with hopes of growing a fabulous tree like they have in their backyard.

Cute Pic Post -- October 2013

October was BUSY. Too busy. I think I've learned the lesson that since The Fair and both boys' birthday occur in October that we cannot. plan. anything. additional. Whew! I've spent the last three weeks sick with first the flu and then a cold which followed two weeks of antibiotics for the constant migraines I was having (MRI revealed a sinus infection). I haven't had a headache in weeks which is AWESOME, but I'm so over being sick and ready for weekends spent with fall candles, college football, and our whole family creating more dents in our couch!

Austin turned 3 and Graham turned 1 this month and we had a blast celebrating those milestones with them. They love each other and it's awesome to see them hug and follow each other around. Austin's potty training seems to be going well and he can now go do it all by himself--hand-washing and britches up/downage included. (This feels like a new life for me!) Graham is signing "more" and eating more table foods. He's had strawberries and peanut butter (two of the big allergen concerns) with no reactions, so that's of course nice.

Both boys had their physicals and all seems to be going well for both of them. Austin actually had his blood pressure taken for the first time at that visit and he was a champ about it. (I could totally see how getting your arm squeezed like that would have freaked him out, but it didn't!) They measured them wrong so their height percentiles are way off, but I'm taking them back in to get that straightened out. Austin got a flu mist up his nose, but poor Graham had to get four shots--two in each thigh. And that was after a finger prick which had him screaming so hard he was turning purple. This kid has strong opinions and he did not want that warmer thing on his finger! When all was said and done, I turned to the nurse and told her I was having a drink with lunch. She laughed. I didn't. ;-)

Here's some cuteness from October:

He seems so big and yet so little in this picture.
The jammies are 4t (I love Grandpa-style jammies!) and he's sound asleep on top of his gloworm.

I didn't get a good shot of this, but he opened it up and crawled right in lickety-split!

I have no idea how he got a spoon in the family room, but he was just crawling around with this hanging out of his mouth. LOL.

Such a sweet boy.

Graham's mischievous smile. My parents have something else they'd call that, but "mischievous" is more appropriate around the boys. Thanks Dr. McColm for that word!

Graham had a blast in this ball pit at a friend's party.

He emptied out the entire box because he was looking for certain letters. Guess I can't be mad, right!? It's educational.

We had the carpets cleaned while we watched Austin's favorite movie.

I love these brotherly wrestling matches. 

One of Austin's birthday presents from us were these Brobee jam jams. They are ADORABLE on him.

One can never have too many pairs of sunglasses.

This big purple mit is what the nurse had to do to make Graham keep the bandages on his pricked finger.

And before he went down for a nap, I added a sock so he wouldn't chew on the bandage.
on a side note--Do you see how up on his toes he is!?

Austin was talking to him... so funny.

He's loving riding this.

And this. A present from Nonnie and Gramps.

He's so funny looking when he first wakes up. lol