thanksgiving with the knights

Thanksgiving was just the 3 of us this year. Our move was so quick and unexpected that my parents didn't have time to make travel arrangements. We will definitely be seeing them at christmas. Our day was really nice and quiet. My new job asked me to come in for any 4 hours I wanted. Which was fine because I live literally 2 minutes from work ( if i catch the green light). I guess they needed someone from social services there in case any holiday drama popped off, which it did but I was gone by then :P

Brandon cooked dinner this year... with gracie's help of course! They made spinach & artichoke dressing which was very tasty!

Such a big girl!!!

She ate a little of everything... even the dressing with spinach in it!

Veruca hounded us for turkey as per usual.

Our tradition is after dinner we put up the tree. It's only decorated from the middle up because we have little hands that like to take the ornaments off...

Ready for bed. It was a good day spent at home with our little family!

Silverton Aquarium

I have totally been neglecting the blog lately. I've been a little busy learning how to balance being a mommy and working. On top of that I lost the cord to attach my camera to the computer... luckily I found it in the backseat of the car so now I can post some new pics.

Last Saturday we went to the aquarium at the silverton hotel & casino. Everything in vegas that you would want to take your kids to is either in a casino or attached to a casino. Anyways.... the cool thing about this aquarium is that they have these chicks that get in the water every 15minutes who are dressed like mermaids. They swim around all mermaid like and put on a little show. Could you imagine putting that on your resume???

moving day.

It's Saturday night in Sin City, well henderson, but you get my point. We are pretty much moved in... just a few more boxes in the garage and the kitchen.... and the living room. There's still a lot of work to do and I start work Monday. I had my orientation on friday and the most bizarre physical exam ever complete with paper shorts!! I'll be posting more pics and writing more when we get settled.

viva las vegas for good.... well not completely....

So I got a job offer back in Henderson. It's for a social worker at a 244 bed skilled nursing facility. I just can't pass it up, it's literally less than a mile from our house there so I kind of have that "it's meant to be" feeling about it. It's like my last job but a lot better because I won't be the only licensed social worker and I don't have to drive 80 miles one way to be there. The hours are better, 7-3:30pm. Since we still have our dawn crossing house and there's no possible way of selling it for any kind of profit right now, and the rental competition is strong we made the decision to move back. It just doesn't make any sense to pay the mortgage on a house that's just sitting empty.

With that being said, when the market turns around and we sell our house... because we are eventually going to out grow it ;)... We'll decide at that point whether we want to give it another go.

Going back to work is definitely bitter/sweet. On one hand, I love being home with Gracie on the other hand, it just seems like it's a much better fit for me to go to work. Plus my hours are a good fit for me to rush home and have time with her before bed, oh and I can come home for lunch too!

halloween weekend & gracie's birthday

We woke up the morning of halloween in our halloween pajamas ready for all the fun we were about to have.

After a long morning of grocery shopping for gracie's birthday party that was scheduled for the following afternoon, we went to grammy's work to show off our costume!

After everyone got home we carved pumpkins and ate pizza for dinner. This is our pumpkin family.

This was gracie's pumpkin, they both have the same teeth!

I wanted to get a quick pic with my little bee girl!

Papa and gracie trick or treating..... at grammy and grandpa's house!

At auntie kenzie's parents house

"Put it in my bag mommy!"

candy!

Brandon will be mad at me for adding this to the blog...

We were all very sleepy. It was time to get a little sleep before the big party the next day!

I told my mom what I wanted on the cake and she made it happen. The cake was chocolate and the pumpkins were carrot. My camera broke during the party so I'm waiting on people to send me their pics of her eating one of the pumpkins. She liked it at the time, but ended up throwing it up later.

Cake table

I made plain and vegetable with meat chili. There were different kinds of chili toppings and breads. We had chili because it's a family tradition to have chili on halloween!

On wednesday it was Gracie's birthday we celebrated by going to the Jungle. It's an indoor place with lots of tubes and balls and nets to climb on. You have to be 1 to go there so we thought it would be a good way to celebrate... kind of like buying smokes on your 18th birthday. LOL!!! We started her off in the toddler area but she seemed kind of bored , so we tried out the "big kid" area and she loved it!!! Her climbing amazed both of us, she would crawl behind me in the tunnels, laughing and screaming with excitement. She must have really got a taste of adventure yesterday because this morning she climbed up onto the back of the couch using brandon as a ladder! Brandon and I should have taken advantage of the knee pads they offer for adults. I'm hurting today!

Escaping the balls can be difficult!

Mommy and Gracie at the Jungle.

When we got home we opened a couple more presents. Grammy and Grandpa got her a little people house to go with the little people farm that Auntie Jen and Travis got her.

As usual she was most interested in the cards.

Birthday kisses from Charlotte!!