Thanksgiving.

Well this was the first year Brian and I have not been with family for Thanksgiving ANNND let me tell you (I won't lie) I was a little depressed and (a lot) bitter about it. I think the episode of Parenthood that Brian and I watched made me a little (more) that way - it was all about how fun and crazy being with family is during the holiday season and it made me a little (a lot) homesick. Boo.

This is my depressed face.

Anyway, we ended up going to Coach Anderson's for Thanksgiving lunch and then headed to the Jones' for Thanksgiving dinner. Yes, we are a bunch of gluttons. It was nice though to be with friends and let Kai run rampant a destroy someone's house other than mine (though I still had to pick up haha).
On Friday Malachi and I headed to KC to do some shopping with...AMBER! Yes yes yes! Amber's fiance's parents live in Blue Springs which is only about 40 minutes from us SOOOO for the 2nd year in-a-row we got to go play with her! We hit up Independence Center and Chick-fil-a since that is one of the only things Kai will eat lately (he ate about 8 nuggets!!!) We got some good deals, but I mostly just enjoyed my visit with Amber. I love watching my friends and family with Kai - I am so thankful that so many people love him and I know he will love them more and more each year. He pretty much loves everyone now :)
Saturday Kai and I played hooky on Brian's game and went to hang out with Amber AGAIN! I know, it was great and I am so glad I got to spend time with her. This time we had ANOTHER Thanksgiving with Ryan's dad, brother and sister. Seriously Malachi had a blast getting into everything and playing with Stout and Kodiak. He also participated in his 1st annual Harms family football game - though Ryan and Doug (Ryan's dad) pushed him around (see pictures below). We really did enjoy our time with them and it tuckered Kai right out - that night he went to bed at 6p!! When a kid's gotta sleep, a kid's gotta sleep!

Kai helping Amber in the kitchen.

Oops - Mommy forgot his booster seat so we had to improvise!

All in all we had a great Thanksgiving, but are definitely looking forward to Christmas and New Years! It is going to be SO much fun to watch Kai with all (2) of his cousins...and the dogs. He is going through a mega dog phase right now and just loves them. He saw one on TV the other day and freaked out and clapped and squealed. Hilarious. But anyway, it will be so much fun to watch the kiddos love on each other. Not going to lie, I can't wait to love on my family. I miss them. Every.single.one.

AHnold.

Ladies and gentlemen, may I introduce to you the NEXT Arnold Schwarzenegger. Muscle man in the making. Watch out ;o)

Stripper.

Recently Malachi has learned to undress himself. I don't know how it happened, but it did. At first he would just put his shirt up on his head and run around for awhile, but it then progressed to taking the front of his shirt and flipping it over his head, but he'd still have the sleeves on. Then of course, the nudist in him came out completely and he eventually took his shirt completely off. And now when he only has a diaper on he tries and wiggle right out of it. Oh how I love that little stripper.

(Sorry the pics look funky on the blog - they look way better in iPhoto. Humph.)

Great Grandparents.

"Grandparents are there to help the child get into mischief they haven't thought of yet."

-- Gene Perret

Though this is true for all of Malachi's grandparents, it is definitely true with his Great Grandpa Vick! This weekend Brian's grandparents stopped into town on their way home from their RV expedition to see some long time friends. Honestly they told me all the places they went, but I only remember hearing about Branson and Springfield. All I know is that they had good times with great friends and we were very excited that they could visit US!!! We had such a good time with them and Malachi just LOVED them to pieces...he also loved all the fun buttons that he got to play with in the RV that made things move...and of course Grandpa put him to work with the vacuum, which Kai was obsessed with. Seriously, the kid threw a little fit when we had to put it away to leave. Silly boy. At least now I know what chore to start him on :)

Here are some pictures of our visit. So many laughs and so much fun. I really love them to pieces.

Trying to figure out where the "night" setting was.

Playing PEEK with Kai!

I adore this picture of Kai looking up at him. Melts my heart.

Grandpa Vick showing Kai all the fun buttons to push:)

Kai hit a button and it shocked him because the RV moved - this was his shocked expression HAHAHA!

Grandpa Vick putting Kai to work with the vacuum!

At the volleyball game - Grandma Villa's first college game ever!

Grandpa Vick chasing Malachi after the game.

First Home Game.

Wednesday night Brian had his first home game...and as you can imagine I was pretty anxious about it. Now that Malachi is mobile he is always wanting to run (yes, literally run) around, climb stairs, run some more and just drive his mother crazy :) At volleyball and football games I either have Brian to help me out and chase him down (I actually get some time to myself!!) or I just give in and chase him myself...and yes, on occasion we've just left early. Don't judge, mommyhood is freaking exhausting!

So Wednesday night approaches. Knowing it's a later game (started at 8 instead of 7) I try and get Kai to take a mini-nap at 4p. No such luck. So here we are at 6p with a fussy little nugget who has been up since 12:30 (he dropped his afternoon nap instead of his morning one - weird, I know), an exhausted mommy that has had no time to herself and 2hrs to waste before game time. Finally I call a friend and we hit up Subway and then go to the girls game for a little bit. Side note: Kai discovered Cheetos...loved them...not a good thing.bad.mommy. But seriously, AS SOON as we get into the gym Kai is completely into everything that is going on around him. He loved the pep band and cheerleaders, Mo the Mule put a huge smile on his face and of course he LOVED the game. Seriously, the kid sat in his seat for the whole 2nd half of the girls game. Talk about impressive. He did get down for a few minutes and was able to walk up and down the isle talking to and touching every stranger he passed. He was sooooo good. I think the fact that I fed him the whole time we were there helped a bit too - mom's got to do what a mom's got to do. Plus I had my friend there to help me out (big SHOUT OUT to Maegan!!) Finally about 10 minutes into the 2nd half Brian's game we had to head out. Shoot it was 9:30 and the kid was getting cranky.

So we're headed home. We're walking out of the gym to the car and I start to feel Malachi's body getting really relaxed. I hurry and get him all buckled in and situated and no joke, before I shut his door he was out. Amazing. So we drop Maegan off and head home...the kid did not move a muscle/wake up as I got him out of the carseat, walked up stairs, unlocked and opened the door AND when I got him dressed for bead. Seriously, if you know Kai, you know that as soon as he has the chance he hits the ground running, so this really was amazing.
I know not every game will go this smoothly and that eventually I will have to run around with him and some nights even leave early, but for the first attempt I thought it was pretty darn amazing. Next home game is Sunday...we'll see how that one goes :)

Reading.

HORRAY! Finally. Seriously, every single stinkin' day I was trying to read Malachi a book or show him pictures and every single stinkin' day he would rip the book from my hands and either throw it on the floor OR would open it and slam it shut so it would make a loud CLAP...in which case he would giggle and do it over and over and over again. Well yesterday I was switching the laundry from the washer to the dryer and came around the corner to find that Kai had whipped out all his books and was "reading" them-he would literally look at the pictures and babble and then flip the page and start babbling some more. It was so stinking cute! Today he brought me his favorite book "One Fish Two Fish", moved my hands to make room for his tiny hiny and plopped right down in my lap, then he signed please and looked right up at me like, "Mom get with it and read this to me!" I love his new little stages :)

So It Begins...

If you know Brian...and you know his dad...then you know that this was bound to happen. I'm starting to think there really is a Mt. Dew addiction gene. If that is the case there needs to be some sort of therapy for it. Maybe MDAA or something. I should really look into it. Them Lohrey boys sure DO love their DEW :)

Love.

Malachi has become quite the Daddy's boy lately and it is so stinking cute! In the mornings as Brian is getting his shoes on getting ready to leave, Kai will become his little shadow and be really clingy (fussy) and start waving bye-bye. And the last few days (prior to Brian leaving for Vegas) he has had mini melt downs as Brian actually walked out the door...which is followed by him running to me, signing please and pointing to the door with these big ole tears in his eyes. It's so sad, and yet so precious at the same time. Then, of course when Brian gets home from work, as soon as Kai hears the door open he looks at me immediately, and then freezes as though he is SO excited that he can hardly move and then, like a flash of lightening, he takes of running to the door with his arms raised in the air! If Brian has his hands full or is trying to put his bags down before he picks Kai up, Kai just stands there signing please until his Daddy snatches him right up. You should see the pure, innocent joy on the boy's face. So precious. I just love my little family of 3 :)

Junie B. Jones

For those of you who have not read any of these books and have a sense of humor, then you must pick one up immediately. Don't start freaking out saying, "oh but I already have so many other books on my list to read first" because guess what, you're in luck: they are little mini chapter books for 2nd graders. They are freaking ridiculously funny. Well, maybe I only think they're funny because I'm pretty sure someone followed me around when I was little and quoted me word for word and then put them in the books. Junie B. Jones is me. Once you read one you'll totally understand, unless you don't know me, which is really too bad for you :) You don't even have to buy one, you can just walk into your local Target (or any book store) and read one in 20 minutes...and that's if you are a slow reader OR you just can't stop laughing so it takes you longer to read them, which is my case...therefore I buy them and read them at home because I get evil looks for laughing too hard and rolling on the floor. Don't judge. But seriously, if you don't laugh out loud while you're reading it, then you need to remove the stick and go find your inner child ;)

Here is a little teaser from Yucky Blucky Fruitcake:
"Afternoon kindergarten is better than morning kindergarten. That's because you get to sleep late. And watch cartoons. Only guess what? Today my baby brother named Ollie waked me up very too early. He was screaming for his bottle. But screaming is not polite. And so he needed some discipline, I think. I sat up in my bed. 'HEY! SHUT UP YOUR FACE!' I hollered. Mother opened my door speedy quick. Her eyes were angry at me. 'Junie B. Jones! What do you think you are doing?' she growled. I hided from her under my sheet. 'I think I'm doin' discipline' I said kind of quiet'

A few pages later...(she is fixing her own breakfast)
"I hurried up and got out the 'greedients. 'Greedients is the stuff you mix together. Like the bowl. And the spoon. And the cereal. And the milk. Except the milk carton was very too heavy for me. And so I got the orange juice, instead. I put my bowl of cereal on the floor. Then I poured orange juice to the tippy-top of it. I took a giant bite. 'Yum' I said. 'This is the most delicious breakfast I ever ate. Except it doesn't actually taste that good.'.....'I am eating cereal and orange juice,' I told him. 'It is very delicious. Except for it is going to make me puke I think.'"

Silent Sunday.

Emotional.

So I've always been a pretty sensitive person when it comes to babies and kids and anything to do with them, but since I've had Malachi I have become a ball of emotion. As I think I have written before, whenever Brian is out of town Kai never really sleeps great. I am usually up most of the night giving him snuggles and trying to "convince" him to sleep, but lately he just hasn't been feeling well (tummy issues) and so I think my heart just went out to him a little bit more. Or I'm just being pathetic ;-)

So at about 10p Kai woke up and just wouldn't fall back asleep. I let him cry for a good 30 minutes before I went in (he does this fake cry that eventually turns into a real cry and it had yet to turn into the REAL cry but I was feeling bad for him). Well it always melts my heart when I go in and he just reaches his arms up for me and then when he grips his little arms around my neck like there was nothing else in the whole wide world that he wanted except to be held by me...ugh, gets me every time. So I'm holding him, rocking him back and forth, singing different songs and he finally starts breathing really heavy and falling back asleep. Then I start singing "you are my sunshine..." - oh my goodness I could barely control the tears. I start thinking about the first time I rocked him to sleep when I brought him home from the hospital and how little, precious and perfect I thought he was (and still think he is) and how suddenly he's not a baby anymore, he's a little boy. Don't get me wrong, I love this age and how he can interact and give me hugs and kisses and run around like a crazy boy, but I think it was the first time I realized I'll never have that little baby back. It goes way too fast. I love him.

No...vember.

Can you believe it's November already?! Seriously where does the time go? Basketball season is already here and that only means one thing...TIME GOES EVEN FASTER! Ugh. It makes me sad when I really think about how much has changed over the last...well my whole life really. I still sometimes think I should be in high school or college and literally think to myself, "wait I'm not old enough to be married AND a mommy!!" --- but I wouldn't trade this adventure for ANYTHING!

Over the last few days I've just been thinking about how life passes so quickly SOOOO I've been taking even more pictures than normal. I know, I know, I already take millions (seriously 500+/month - don't judge), but that's only because I never delete photos, even the bad ones. So now I've started taking pictures of just every day life, not just when we go on some crazy adventure. So, here are a few for the month so far...yes, these amazing first 3 days of November :)