Thanksgiving

Since Andy wasn't going to be around for Hoyt Thanksgiving 2.0 with all of his siblings, we decided to go to his parents the day of. It was just us, my MIL's sister, and FIL's dad. Andrew didn't get a nap, since dinner was right at naptime. He did ok for it though. We dressed him in his Christmas outfit and ran outside to get pics in front of the barn. He wanted nothing to do with that, and kept trying to go on the slide. So, his Christmas picture was taken on a slide, lol. Here is the only Thanksgiving related picture we took all day! It's four generation of Hoyt men! That's Great-Pop and my Father-in-law, Jeff, if you didn't know :)

Late afternoon, we headed to my parents. We like to go see them anyway, since they have no one else to spend a holiday with. We were just going to have dessert, but I was STARVING, so ate their leftovers. My mom made pumpkin creme brulee, which sounds like it would be awesome, right? NO NO NO. It was SO bad! We were really disappointed!

The next day, we realized no one had sent us home with leftovers, the horror! So we made greenbean casserole, stuffing, and got those premade mashed potatoes and jarred gravy. I was not a fan of any of it, sadly. I did get a good repeat on Sunday though!

Ok, so they had two huge tables set up at Steve and Tara's, one being the kids table. Andrew was sitting directly behind me, so I could keep an eye on him. He refused to eat his sweet potatoes, which he typically loves, pretty much only ate the bread I gave him, then started eating corn off of Anthony's plate! This child, I swear. I try to give it to him, he won't eat it. Another kid is eating it? Must be good! This is also how we got him to finally eat carrots... A friend's daughter offered some to him, and it turned into his new favorite food!

Andy had taken that week off, three days :) We didn't have music class, so we took Andrew to Jumpin Jakes, the bouncy castle place. I love that place. Andy enjoyed it fairly well, and of course Andrew was in heaven. Andy thinks I should take him there more often. Okay!
Tuesday, we checked out the storytime they have at our Barnes and Noble. Andy thought it was goofy, but Andrew was into the books. They sing, read, sing, read, maybe repeat one more time, then color. What's not to love?

We decorated our Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving. Only one ornament broke, and it was Andy's ugly Jets ball. And he broke it :) It didn't take long for Andrew to learn no hands, but he still slips up when I am not looking! I also finally got him to stop pulling handfuls of tinsel off the tree. I am praying we can't find that crap next year, and our tinselling days are over.

Happy Halloween!

Here's hoping everyone had a safe and happy Halloween! And we've all recovered from our sugar comas!

We carved our pumpkin on Wednesday night. Last year, Andrew was all over the pumpkin guts; tasting them, squishing them with his hands, digging in the pumpkin for more, in and out of the bowl. This year, he would only touch the pumpkin withe a spoon!
We practiced really safe carving techniques.
Andrew and the finished Jack-o-Lantern Friday, we went on a visiting trip to see the grandparents. Up to Kingston to see Gramma, then to Clintondale to see Meme and Poppy. Andrew got to spend a little bit of time at their house on the slide, his favorite thing!

We stopped by his cousins' house, then headed home to Trick-or-Treat. We only planned to hit up a few of our neighbors we are friendly with. No need to take a 21 month old to get free candy! Andrew enjoyed ringing the doorbells, and taking something out of the basket, but he refused to say his lines, or thank you! He really was not impressed with the whole thing. Next year!

Here he is, dressed as a monkey! Since he refused to say trick or treat, I just told him to tell everyone what a monkey says! That night, as he was falling asleep in his bed, we heard him all of a sudden call out ooh ooh ah ah? it was the funniest thing ever!

There is nothing like the smell of an apple pie candle and garlic cooking on the stove, the sounds of the early Beatles playing, and your son and husband playing and laughing in the next room while the rain beats down outside the windows to know you are really home.

The only way to make a more perfect picture would be one of the cats licking their paws in the doorway. But, they are dirty, and don't do things like that, so, too bad.


Oh, and if the furniture magically repelled dust.

Happy 3rd Anniversary!

Yesterday, Andy and I celebrated our 3rd anniversary. Hard to believe its been that long already!

In August, I was in TJMaxx and saw a nice leather armchair for nice and cheap. Handily, the modern gift for a third wedding anniversary is leather! We bought this as our anniversary gift to ourselves to replace the horrid. vinyl recliner that has been passed along through Andy's family.

Now, this was our gift, that's it. Of course, Andy doesn't follow that rule. He never does. When will I learn, and get him a little gift?? He got me the Willow Tree Together figurine, and a cardigan from Old Navy.

We headed off to Woodbury Commons to buy Andrew's fall wardrobe. We hit up Children's Place, the Gap Outlet, and the Stride Rite outlet. I am most excited for the shoes, let me tell you. So cute. His nice brown shoes are little boots, though, so I needed to work with those to figure out how to quickly get them ON. hard!

Andrew slept the whole hour ride home, but woke up the moment we parked in the driveway. It didn't help that a strange man was in our driveway, left as we were driving up, then circled back and parked behind us. Freaky, yes? We were both wondering if it was a guy come to spy on our house, interested in looking. Yes, even Andy was thinking this.... except is was the florist delivery van with a dozen red roses for me! haha, idiot. But yeah! I tried to get Andrew to sleep more, but the cats ruined it. we were lying there on my bed, and I was sure his eyes were closed. Then carter jumps up behind me, and this little hand reaches across my belly towards him. I knew I was done for then!

We went to Hudson Ribs and Fish for dinner, and I had a delicious filet mignon. Then we headed to the mall to see Dark Knight, FINALLY. We had an hour to kill, so we went to look at the Gap. I was freezing, so we wanted to see if there was a sweater or anything there. Andy walked out with a new button down and sweatpants, and I got jeans and a sweater. Our theaters just expanded and redid everything. There are now 16 theaters all with stadium seating. Which is nice, except I think the chairs are too big for me. I left with a killer headache from aching neck and shoulder muscles. The movie was really good. But definitely could've ended at least 30 min sooner! Maybe its just cause it was late and I was tired and headachy? But dammit, catch the Joker already!

MY CHILD JUST PEED IN THE POTTY!!


I just started potty training today, and not so much potty training, as we bought one, he thinks its way cool, so I've sat him on it when I go to pee or changed his morning dipe.

We were sitting there, reading Barnyard Dance, and I said WHAT THE HELL am I doing?? He is 20 months old! he can't potty train!! Ok, Andrew, get up, let's change your pants.

AND THERE WAS PEE!!

my kid can't talk or count to 101 like everyone else's but he can pee in a potty (on accident...)!!

Happy Birthday, Eric!

I mentioned that we would be traveling to Atlanta with my parents to visit Eric and his family. I didn't elaborate on the We part, since Eric didn't know the true reason for our visit! Jo Ann wanted to really surprise him for his 40th birthday, and the first step to doing that was to throw a big party a year early! My mom and dad, Christian, Andy, Andrew, myself, and some other very special guests all descended on Atlanta to help celebrate!

First, our flight out... my parents had to go on a different airline than me, and were limited with flight times, so we took a 2:00 pm flight. Smack in the middle of Andrew's nap. I was afraid he would be so overtired and crazy, but unwilling to sleep due to cool new things. Then the plane broke, and we were an hour late taking off. He ended up passing out before we even left the gate!

Saturday, we did nothing but watch Cameron cheerleading, hang out and get ready for the party. Eric was definitely surprised! It was a challenge for my dad to keep him out of the house in the afternoon so we could get ready. Christian had spilled the beans about him and my aunt coming from Mississippi earlier in the week, then Cecilia called to "cancel" that morning. He was surprised to see them there. He had an even more surprised reaction to Andy being there though, I think! Poor Andy was holed up in the hotel all day working :(

Sunday, the other out of town guests were leaving, so we all had breakfast at Eric's in the am, then they left around noon. At this point, it was Andrew's naptime, so he and my dad napped in Genevieve's room. While he was asleep, and Andy worked in my brother's office, my mom and I went to the mall with Genevieve. My mom paid her Discover bill at Sears. On vacation. weirdo. I ran to Gap to get something long sleeve, since Eric's house is an ice box. The mall has an American Girl Store, so we went in there. I am not sure who was more excited, me or Genevieve. Probably me :) I told my mom how badly I still wanted to complete my dolls' collections, and she said I had to wait so my future daughter could experience the excitement. I said, she can get her own damn dolls. Hello! That is my plan for collecting them all! And yes. I am nearly 30 years old, and love my dollies.

We stopped at Starbucks on the way home (which was conveniently between the hotel and his house, bad for the wallet). Genevieve picked out a baseball cookie. Then after we paid, she says "I love you Aunt Katharine". MELT.

Sunday evening, they'd invited a few friends over for a BBQ.

Monday, I had to take Andy to catch the train to the airport at 5:30 in the morning. In the pouring rain. In the dark. It was so scary!
My mom and I were bound and determined to do something touristy, so we went to the Georgia Aquarium. I thought Andrew would love it, but only sometimes. He was tired and hungry, so was in a mood. He wanted to run around, then get picked up, then down, up down, up. He found it necessary to climb onto every bench. He most liked the aquariums that were floor to ceiling and chock full of fish. And the penguins. oh, and this sea lion that was swimming in circles underwater, with his eyes closed. he just kept going back and forth by the window, and Andrew loved it.

Our flight home was at 8:45. Well, mine was. my parents flew a different airline. So, we were supposed to be there at 6:45, return the car beforehand and drive there. The plan was to leave the hotel at 5:30. IN THE MORNING. Omg, it was hell. Andrew woke up, and only slept briefly in the car. Also, we didn't leave until closer to 6, because my mom takes forever to get ready. They landed at noon, and we were home around 1. Andrew napped over there, I layed around and read, then we headed home a bit after 4.

When we put our house on the market, I asked the realtor if we should maybe paint our kitchen. She said nah, leave it as is. On our feedback page, we've gotten several comments that the kitchen is very dark, and that wasn't JUST because there were merely two recessed lights on the ends, and a big hole from where the fan used to be (it fell out of the sky three years ago, when Tracey and I were baking cookies for the wedding). The room was literally a wooden box. the ceiling, the walls, the cabinets, were all the same color. you can see much better pictures at the fabulous www.1ambercourt.com

We finally bought a new light fixture to replace the ceiling fan, and my dad came to help install it. My mom stopped by on her way home from work, and decided to remove the wagon wheels from the doorways. They were a so hard to remove! She ended up leaving some nice gouges and splinters in the doorway. Alas, how to cover these up??

PAINT!! My mom thought we would be able to get it all done in one day. I would primer in the morning. Then we'd pick out paint at Home Depot and get to coats on. Ha! ha.ha.double ha. Because its allll beadboarding, you had to pay close attention to getting paint in the grooves to cover the wood. It took forevaaaah. We got the primer done Tuesday.. The ceiling on Wednesday. and the walls first coat done on Thursday. On Friday, and we were able to buy a new door and finish the second coat on the walls. I did the first coat of trim at 11:30 Saturday night, and finished it Sunday morning.
I am so in love with it. I used to have to turn the light on above the sink to wash dishes. Now I don't need to! and I can see into my cabinets! Yay!