thanksgiving 2017

The kids and I trekked across the country for Thanksgiving this year, and it was totally worth the hour Tessa spent screaming on the flight out. We had every member of the Treasure clan except Andre and my parents. Craziness, but so fun. Rhett was in heaven with all the cousins to play with, Tessa loved seeing so many new faces, and I just loved the family time. I only wish Andre could have come with us (darn work) and we could have stayed longer!

My phone died the night before we came back (which made for a stressful morning at 4am with a dead phone and a cranky baby), so I lost most of my pictures and was only able to salvage a few. So here are the limited highlights:

 Chess club! Rhett loved visiting his cousins at the elementary school and was amazed that their school has a library inside of it. Chess club was a hoot, especially watching Rachel "teach" it to Rhett--apparently they tied.

 Capitol cousins! We trekked downtown and braved parallel parking to visit the Air and Space Museum. Rhett was scared of the big planes, but then he held hands and loved it. His favorite thing was the "Death Star"--that's what you get when you hang out with older, Star Wars-loving cousins.

 A trip to Good Stuff for a toasted marshmallow shake, obviously. Still the best after all these years.

Tessa's first Turkey Trot! Rhett and I ended up taking a leisurely walk for the kids' fun run, but he was the fastest four year old, so it was still a hit.

Thanksgiving kids table. So much fun to have all the cousins together!

We have so much to be thankful for this year, and this trip was just the icing on the cake!

just some thoughts

I've gotten some creepy/weird robo-comments on my posts lately, so I'm going to take the blog private for a bit. If you're one of the five people who reads this thing and want to keep reading, comment or send me your address and I'll put you on the VIP list.

Second child syndrome is real. We just have so much more going on now than we did when Rhett was a baby (which is kind of crazy, because that was the middle of law school). That, combined with Tessa being super small (10th percentile, baby!) means I just can't believe how fast she is growing. We transitioned her from her pack and play newborn napper to a crib this week. There were some long nights, but we survived. And she tried her jumper and is starting solids this week and soon she'll be driving. Seriously, where has the time gone?

Our new water softener is the best thing we could have purchased for our house. Yes, it is the least glamorous thing to spend a ton of money on, but we can actually drink the water in our house now and the dishes are getting clean!

We went out to dinner the other night to celebrate Andre's promotion and I ordered sushi. This is a momentous occasion. I was inspired by the sample I tried at the grocery store and liked, so I decided I should be a sophisticated person who eats sushi. It was good, but I don't think I'll ever go to a sushi restaurant. Except if it comes on conveyor belts, because that sounds awesome.

Freelancing is awesome and I feel so blessed to have built a "career" of it where I can do what I love, work with some awesome clients, and help support the family. But a few of my long-term clients are moving to internal writers, which stinks and means I'm on the lookout for more projects. It's a roller coaster for sure.

Christmas is so soon! I'm not sure I'm ready for that. I've got big plans and most of the shopping done and I'm addressing Christmas cards this week, but seriously, when did this happen? How is it almost the end of the year?

I've started doing a weekly pilates class with some ladies from church, and it is killer. And awesome. Half way through every class I vow to never do it again, but by the end I'm feeling good and can't wait to come back next week.

I found a few gray hairs this week. It's not adding to my worry that I turn 29 in a few months, which is basically 30.

Rhett is hilarious and way too smart for his own good. Today he asked me what invasion means and then told me his plan (with actions) of what to do if there was an invasion and animals took over the world. He's also recently gotten terrified of porcupines, which is hilarious and endearing all at once. I'm trying to convince him that his chances of getting attacked by a porcupine in the suburbs are pretty darn low.

Every post needs pictures--the two cutest kids around! 

Halloween 2017

Halloween is one of Rhett's favorite holidays, which has made it one of mine too. This year we got in as much celebrating as we can (which means so. much. candy), and we had the best time.

 Making/finding Halloween costumes for Rhett has been so much fun (the UPS man of 2015 will always take the cake). This year I wanted him to get involved, so we settled on a robot a while ago and made the costume together. Putting those old diaper boxes and recycling to good use! His favorite part was the turbo boosters, which he showed off to everyone while we were trick or treating.  He was very specific that he was a worker robot, the RhettBot 4. If you pushed a special sequence of buttons on the front, it would initiate the "dance" sequence or the "invisible" ability. 

 For some reason, we have never carved pumpkins in 6 years of marriage. Blasphemy, I know. I think we tried a few years ago but gave up because it was too gooey. We finally did it this year, and it was so much fun. Rhett loved it, of course, and was so proud of the happy pumpkin he had been planning for weeks. 

 Tessa was a pineapple because she is adorable. 

Andre's mom had the idea to dress up the baby cousins like grandmas when Maura was in town the weekend before Halloween. It was a process trying to photograph two tired babies, but look at them! I still can't look at the pictures without laughing. 

 Are you kidding me??

october moments

October--a month of sunny days, happy kids, and fall goodness. It was a good month! 

 Snuggles with Great Grandma on her 80th birthday

 Showing our Rockies pride for the postseason...too bad Rock-tober only lasted for one day.

 This is Tessa in October--smiley, mouth open, hands ready to grab anything that comes her way

 And of course Rhett wanted his picture taken too. But a good reminder of our daily toast and smoothie breakfasts. 

 Andre took his cufflinks to his first craft show. He made some great connections and has lots more selling days coming up

 Coldest soccer game ever. Fog + icey rain + grumpy baby. Not the best morning.

 Adventuring to new parks.

 Tessa turned 16

 First time in the swing! She was ambivalent about it.

 We found our new go-to pumpkin patch. Pretty close to home, not crowded, free, and a hay maze. That's all we've ever wanted. Rhett loved the old tractor. 

 Pulling our prized pumpkins

 Cutest pumpkin kids around

 Post-church snuggles

 Rhett declared Tessa the "queen of the pumpkins"

 Gorgeous fall sunrises

 Rhett has been working on his second grade dinosaur book. He cracks the code on his own and then I read him the answer. I had to take a picture to document how great he was doing on his own.

 Little baby in a big snowsuit

 A cold night at Elitches with friends--the boys loved the Halloween decorations.

 A fun night riding alll the rides