Thanksgiving '09

Ed and I spent Thanksgiving with my family again this year, so the night before we had dinner with his mom and dad and mom helped me make a Jello dessert thing to take to my uncles. Thursday morning wa pretty low key, we made a salad and headed to carson around 2pm. Dinner was excellent as always, two turkeys, stuffing, green bean casserole and every type of dessert imaginable :-) Waylon even got in on the action, my aunt gave him his own plate of mashed potatoes and let him go for it... he was a mess but was totally loving life! Afterwards we played with these disk guns that me Grandma brought, that was a lot of fun, and just about every one got in on the actions. Then we watched some football and played Wii where I busted out my mad hula-hooping skils, LoL! Also, Mason helped my Grandma and Cousin build a gingerbread house, he was kind of confused on why he couldn't eat the candy but did very well! It was a lot of fun, then after we left there we went over to mom and dad's to hang out with them for a little bit, a nice way to end a nice day!

The Boys Chowin' Down

Waylon Loving His Taters

Playing With The Disks

Waylon, My Cousin Alyssa and I

Me and My Uncle Darrin :-)

Ed and Uncle Darrin

Us with my Grandma

Building the Gingerbread house

8 Months Old

I just don't know where the time goes, it seems like just yesterday I was anxiously awaiting Waylon's arrival and now we're at 8 months old! He's quite the busy boy too, he doesn't quite crawl, he's got this army/worm crawl that he does and he's constantly pulling himself up on everything, I'm pretty sure he'll be walking before he turns one! He's a funny kid, he still is amused by Mason, Mason just has to look at him and he cracks up! He eats an insane amount of food, I think he's going to be a "healthy" one! Here's some recent pics... Oh, and he's got 2 teeth in now!

A Visit With Ry

Last week we were finally able to get up to reno to see my mom, sister and adorable little nephew! It was a crazy time as always, with the three baby boys now it can be a loud evening :-) We got some pizza and just hung out. Mason ran around like a crazy man as always, getting into things he shouldn't be and torturing the dog and Waylon crawled around and kept trying to sit in Rylan's chair with him and eat his arms off! We also gave Ry food for the first time so that was pretty exciting, he did really well, I think he's ready for some veggies! It's crazy how fast they grow though, he's already almost as tall as Waylon is now and he's only 4 months old! He's a cutie though, I wish we lived closer so I could see him more!!!

Happy Birthday Mom!

Another Birthday yes, October/November is a busy time for us Almeida's! This time it was my mother-in-law's Birthday! She is such a wonderful person and does so much each and every day, so I wanted to make her Birthday special and do as much as I could to accomplish that! First off though my sister-in-law made dinner for her on Monday night, so we all went over there and had dinner and cake and mom did like a gift exchange, she got presents for all of us and then we got to chose if we wanted to trade with someone... you had to be there :-) it was fun though! Then Tuesday night Ed and I and the boys went down and decorated the office with a banner and streamers and I made this collage thing of all the fun times we've had the past couple of years with his mom and put a flower and some candy on her desk! Then wednesday morning (her birthday) I made her some strawberry crepes, I was nervous, I've always been intimidated by crepe making but it was actually really easy, so they turned out pretty good! She headed into the office and was very excited about the decorations so that was good. Then I had planned to bring down lunch but dad called me tuesday afternoon and wanted to throw a little surprise lunch for her at Barone and Reeds so I made some calls and got a couple of people to go down and we had lunch! Then wednesday is our bible study night so we had it our house instead of at the church and I made a roast and the Gemmill's brought a delicious german chocolate cake and we had another little birthday celebration! I had a lot of fun doing it and I know mom was pretty excited too! She means so much to our family and she deserved a day as special and wonderful as she is!!!!

Monday nights party!

Waylon sportin' his hat

The office decorated!

The collage I made

The crepes

The final blowing out of the candles, I think this was the 3rd time she had to do it :-)

Halloween

Halloween has come and gone again, it seems like it always sort of kicks off the holiday season! I was thinking back to last Halloween and boy a lot has happened in just a year. On Halloween night last year Mason took his first real steps, he walked from a chair to Ed which was about 6 steps or so and off he went from there! Anyway, on Thursday night Mason and I carved pumpkins, I was really excited because he was totally into it this year, last year he was not sure about it at all, so we had fun. He kept trying to eat it for whatever reason and feed it to whom ever got too close :-) it was funny! Then after we got it all carved up and put the candle in it the pumpkin man became his new BFF, he had a little melt down when I set it up on the counter and told him it wasn't a toy!! Then Halloween night we went over to Jeremy and Steph's for a little Harvest Party, we dressed the boys up, Mason was a dragon and Waylon a Lion, and Stephanie made a delicious cheese fondu with all kinds of bread and veggies for appetizers then a baked ziti for dinner and finished the night off with chocolate fondu! It was a lot of fun! In between it all we took Mason and Waylon out to trick-or-treat! Mason was hilarious... he was cracking us up, he would knock on the door and then shout HELLLLO before anyone would open it, it was great! We did about 10 houses or so and then headed back to J & S's. There was finally some trick-or-treaters by the time we got back there so Mason started handing out candy and I think he liked that more than the actual trick-or-treating part, it was pretty funny! Waylon crashed after we got back and Mason ran around like a wild man the rest of the night! It was a lot of fun, Halloween was a success!

Mason wanting so badly to eat the pumpkin but could do it

The look on Waylon's face after Mason tried to feed it to him

The Fam

My little Monsters!

La La and Papa

My Little Lion all tuckered out

Mason... finishing the night strong!

Happy Birthday Dad!

Wednesday was my wonderful Father-in-law's Birthday, so we celebrated it on Monday night with our family. My grandparents happened to come down that day and my grandma was kind enough to help me make a pie for him. It turned out really good, I used a foodnetwork recipe and it was really easy and tasted great! Anyway, so mom made dinner and we were all able to get together and celebrate dad's birthday, and what a joy he is to have in our lives!!!

My apple pie :-)

Little Malachi

A few days ago Ed was telling me about this family, he had gone to school with the mom, Rachel, and their son was diagnosed with leukemia when he was like a year and half. He's been battling this horrible sickness for 2 years, in and out of the hospital (mostly just in) they finally let him go home 10 days ago because there was nothing else they could do for him. He's been in so much pain and so uncomfortable and the Lord finally called him home this morning at 3 years old. I can't even imagine... they also have a son who I think is 4 maybe 5. If we could just be praying for this family that they would find comfort in knowing that their son is face to face with our Lord, pain free and completely at peace. The boy's name was Malachi James Smith, his Parents are Wes and Rachel and his big brother Ethan. It's so difficult to think that God could call this little boy home so soon, but as I was reminded, God too cry's with their family today. As I read Rachel's blog and their caring bridge blog, she and her husbands faith is incredible and encouraging. If anyone would like to view her blog, there's a link under "Blogs I follow" on my page here to the right her name is Rachel Smith, and here's a link to their caring bridge page: http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/malachismith/journal

I don't even know this family yet they have to deeply impacted my life in the past couple of days and as I watch my two healthy baby boys play and crawl and even cry I am reminded that life can change in an instant and we are to take NOTHING for granted! We have so much to be thankful for in our lives, and just when we think we have it tough or I know I get tired of changing stinky diapers or when both kids are screaming and the house is a mess; count it all joy! After reading what this family has been going through it's hard to think, "Waylon stop crying," because I am so blessed to hear him cry, for God to let me wake up to another day with my children, and my heart goes out to the Smith family today our prayers are with you.

Corley Ranch Pumpkin Patch

On Saturday we took the boys out to Corley Ranch to pick some pumpkins! It was so much fun, the had a little petting zoo that Mason loved, I thought for sure he was going to be afraid but he got right in there and wanted to pet everything, it was really cute. Then we watched the big races that they had, that too was very exciting, I don't think I've ever seen a pig race! After that we went over to the pony rides and Mason and my niece Amanda got on their pony and rode away. Mason was cracking me up, the second he got put on the pony he started clicking his tongue like to make the sound of a horse, it was hilarious, that boy loves horses! So he did that then we went into the big corn maze that was there, and that was pretty fun, Mason pretty much ran the entire time through it! Then we picked out some pumpkins and he and Amanda rode the little "choo choo" ride and called it a day! I'm really glad we went out there, it was a lot of fun! Afterwards we went over to Jeremy and Stephanie's so Mason could play with Anthony, her adorable nephew and had some delicious home made tomato soup and BLT's!!! Great day!

Italian Festival

The Sunday after Mason's Birthday we went up to the Italian Festival in reno with Jeremy, Stephanie and Simon. It was fun, they had really good food, we got some lasagna, meatball sandwiches and sausage sandwiches! Mason was loving it, lasagna two days in a row! It was supper supper crowded and with the strollers it was a little crazy but a good time!

Happy Birthday Mason!

I can't even believe it but my baby boy has turned 2! It was quite a fun day for him I think, we made him some chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast and put 2 candle in it for him to blow out. Grandma and Papa joined us as we sung the Birthday song and ate some pancakes! Afterwards we set up for his big party while he was napping and he woke up to all kinds of balloons and decorations, he really enjoyed that! Then the party began! We made lasagna (well costco made it actually but I heated it up ;-) ) he's a big lasagna fan, then he got to open all his presents and I think he was a little overwhelmed! From the buzz lightyear to the handsome clothes to the new tricycle, he didn't know what to play with first and was very confused when I kept taking them away so he could open the next one! It was a lot of fun! Then we tried to get him to eat one of the delicious cupcakes Stephanie made for him but all he wanted to do was play, that's when you know when he's found something he likes is when he passes up something sweet! It was such a great day and thank you to everyone who helped out, I couldn't have done it with out you!!! Happy Birthday Mason we love you!!!