The Proctor Group

Friday, February 10, 2012

November including Thanksgiving

It's time again to play catch up with the blog:) Paul's got his finals this weekend so I thought it would be a perfect time to get caught up. November is kind of a blur at this point since my brain has turned into mush so I will try my best to remember what went on that month. I do remember spending a Saturday in San Francisco with Uncle Eric. If I remember correctly, we started with pizza, then watched the seals at Pier 39, visited the Aquarium of the Bay and ended the night with a trip to Ghirardelli's. The best part of the day was hanging out with Uncle Eric. He is a pretty awesome guy.

Seals at Pier 39

Paul with Uncle Eric

Paige and Dad

Mom with a tired Zoey

Jelly fish at the Aquarium

Dad and Uncle Eric

Paul and a school of fish

The kids in a bubble

Paul with the jelly fish

Mom with her favorite pink starfish

Grandpa and Grandma Proctor paid us a special visit the week before Thanksgiving. It's always a treat to spend some time with this duo. We were able to make a trip to the Tech Museum one of the days. It was our first time there and the kids are still a little young for it but had a blast.

Grandpa showed Paul how to get this working

Our thermal family

Paige did not want to leave the water (big surprise)

Catching butterflies

Collecting leaves

We were supposed to spend Thanksgiving in Michigan this year but decided we couldn't swing it with the ticket prices and the shortage of vacation days for Paul. Tickets this year were over $600 a piece and there are 4 of us that need tickets! Now that there are 3 of the Proctor sibling families out here, we decided to all get together in Chico for the holiday. Grandpa and Grandma Proctor decided to join us as well. On the drive to Chico, we stopped at the Jelly Belly Factory for a tour. We just made the last tour of the day!

Jelly Belly Factory ceiling. The beans look so delicious.

Paul looked so cute in his hat

Harry Potter in jelly beans. Such cool artwork.

Zoey after her nap.

The gang after the tour

Kid's table at Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving Dinner. We had an awesome smoked turkey and steaks!

Paige at dinner

Zoey had Cheerios:) She should be ready for turkey next year.

Of course Thanksgiving would not be complete without gingerbread houses.

Working on the houses with dad.

All the houses.

A little hot tubbing.

Little Zoey stands up in this little corner most of her waking day.

Saturday, November 5, 2011

Halloween

I sit here and post this blog while my 2-year-old tosses and turns next to me trying to fall asleep. I hear fake snores every few seconds. We still can't get her to stay in her bed all night long. Right now we have Little Paul in the room with her but she still wakes up and runs out crying for dad or mom. She is such a stubborn girl and I feel so sleep deprived right now. Not only is Paige not sleeping, Zoey still wakes up 2-3 times per night. And on top of that, I got really sick a few days ago with bad body aches and a fever. Paul had finals this past week so I was flying solo the whole week while sick. It was pretty awesome. Lil Paul was so sweet the first day (my sickest day). He helped me out the whole day by playing nicely with Paige, cleaning up the toys and getting things for me when I needed them. I thought about pretending to be sick again at some point because I saw a side of Paul I hadn't seen in a long time. Unfortunately, Paige and Zoey could have cared less that I was sick. It really is an awful thing that moms have zero sick days. For other working people, you get to call in sick and take care of yourself the rest of the day. Stay-at-home parents, unless their spouse or parents' are available to help, do not get to rest and get well. They have to try to take care of themselves as well as other little people that are constantly needing/demanding things. As my sister-in-law would say, "I wanted to light myself on fire" that first day. I don't like taking drugs unless absolutely necessary while nursing so I didn't take anything for my aches or fever. I went to sleep three nights in a row at 7pm with my kids. Paul normally takes the day off when I am really sick but he had no time this week because of his finals. He was up every night until midnight trying to get them done. I feel better now but I think he is now starting to feel sick:( The kids so far have felt fine but fingers crossed.

Well, Halloween came and went again this year. We took a last minute trip to Saint George and celebrated part of Halloween there with Grandpa, Grandma, Kristen and her kids. We also got to meet "New Baby"! He doesn't have a name yet per the Westenskow tradition of waiting a few weeks but he is awfully cute and sweet. I'm so happy I got to meet him just shy of 2 weeks because I won't see him again until Christmas and I know he will look like a completely different baby then. To celebrate Halloween, we made some fun/yummy Halloween cookies and got dressed up for a Trunk-or-Treat one night. We brought our costumes with us but Kristen didn't bring theirs. She somehow whipped up costumes in about 10 minutes from dress up clothes that Grandma had in the basement. She is amazing and they looked amazing too. We decided to be Super Heroes this year. Paul dressed up as Captain America, I was Spider-Girl, Lil Paul was Iron Man, Paige was Wonder Woman and Zoey was Batgirl. The best part of the night were all the kids that thought Paul was the real Captain America. One kid told him he had his movie at home. It was pretty awesome. We got back Sunday night and went Trick-or-Treating in our neighborhood with Aunt Shayna. We had a really fun time. They got quite a bit of candy and at one of the last houses we got to pick some apples from this lady's apple tree. Paul ended the night not eating candy but his organic apple:) My kids were really good this year and donated some candy to Uncle Eric and almost the rest to the troops.

Pumpkins we painted right before leaving for St. George

The kids with their pumpkins

Pumpkin Patch by our house.

Paul trying to hold onto Zoey who is constantly moving. She also officially crawling now as well

Paul running through the hay bales

Paul running through the pumpkins. There were "no running" signs posted everywhere but we couldn't stop this kid. Plus he was having too much fun.

Paige's "baby pumpkin". She carried this with her the whole time we were there.

Again the running. We are bad parents...

The girls at Grandma and Grandpa's house

I got the kids all to take one picture for me on the couch with Sam's pumpkin.

Jane and Paige hiding out behind the couch

Hiding from the boys

Dress ups. This is the smile Jane gave me almost every time I told her to say "cheese." It was pretty cute. Oh, and she called me "mom" for two days straight. That was pretty cute too.