Happy Thanksgiving!

What a great first Thanksgiving as a family of three. We always have lunch with James' family and then dinner at my family that evening. So we get to be miserable twice in one day. And oh my goodness we were full! James' family is always a really big get together. We all go to James' grandma's house and I think this year there were around 25-30 people. This was a small crowd this year! I love being around all the cousins and aunts and uncles. I don't think we saw Farrah til we were leaving. There was a line to hold that little girl. I put James and me to a one plate max at lunch so we would be able to eat at my parents Thanksgiving. Smart move!! Then we headed to my sister's house to put Farrah down for a nap and to get to enjoy Thanksgiving with my family. My meme came down and it she just amazes me. She is 89 years old and is so independent. Very thankful for that! She doesn't get to see Farrah very often but when she does there is lots of loving going on. Farrah has learned to "give love" and she was giving meme all the loving! Of course meme loved that!

What a great Thanksgiving!!

Where to start??

Wow, what a week!! Like I said I don't even know where to start. It's been a crazy two weeks. I dropped my laptop and shattered the screen so I have been going crazy with no computer. But I do have to say it was a nice break. I would find myself on this silly thing for hours while Farrah was sleeping and not sleeping. I know it's bad but I'm sure I'm not the only one guilty of this. I played a lot more this week with Farrah. She is at such a fun age! She is screaming VERY loudly. The other night we had her in the church nursery and the doors to the sanctuary opened and you could hear her down the hall! After church was over I asked if that was Farrah and poor Tiffany said "Oh yes that was Farrah." So needless to say Farrah likes for her presence to be known...kinda like her mama. (Not the best trait!)

She is so close to crawling. It's been a rough week for this mommy. Farrah is growing up so fast and there is no way I can slow down the time. I just want to remember everything about her at this age. I want to remember her smell, her toothless grin, the way she lights up when her daddy comes home, the way she giggles when she plays with Rockie's tail, the way she sucks her thumb when she's tired. There is so much more. We had to lower her bed tonight. One more step to getting big. She turns nine months on Wednesday. This just breaks my heart that she's growing up so fast. I remember my mom use to say to me...Just wait til you have children. Now I understand what she means by this.

I don't know about you but at this house we can't wait for Christmas to get here! I love Thanksgiving but Christmas will be extra special this year! James and I were talking the other night about Christmas traditions and what traditions we wanted for our family. James' family always went to his grandparents house in Raton, NM. We had several traditions. On my dad's side of the family we would have a very big Christmas party with my Grandma and Papa and all the cousins and Aunts and Uncles. Those are some great memories!! Then on Christmas day we would head to my mom's family, Meme and Pa.

So one tradition we want to start for our own family is having a Christmas tree in every child's room. So Farrah got her first tree and ornament. We want to give her an ornament every year that shows what she is in to that year. So while Farrah napped today I found my snowman ornaments that I don't use and decorated her room. When she woke up from her morning nap she had a tree. She was quite impressed.

Farrah checking out her Christmas tree.



I did finally finish her room. I know, I know it only took me nine months!! There is this one really big wall and I had the painting of her name there but that wall was just so big that it overpowered the painting. So I found these flowers and of course had to paint them because everything is in pink. But I think it turned out pretty darn cute!



To see the green paint on her walls looks horrible in pictures but I promise, pictures do not do it justice!!

So I'm going to end this post with what the Fortner's are thankful for. We are thankful for this precious gift, Farrah. Thankful for our amazing friends and family. Thankful for our health. Our incredible marriage and James' incredible job. It's such a blessing to get to watch my husband go to work everyday and know that he loves his job. My "new" job...being a stay at home mom, that's the job I've ALWAYS dreamed of.

It'a a new day...

What a crazy day!! This afternoon I had to take our dog Riley to the vet. What a chore! To have an eight month and a fifty pound dog all by myself...I know one thing for sure, I don't want to do that again for a very long time!! I needed to get into the vet ASAP because Riley was in pretty bad shape and the only time I could go was during nap time so you can only imagine. So while at the vet, Riley got tangled up in the stroller I don't know how many times and Farrah was fussy to add to it all. Riley gets to have surgery on Wednesday for a lot of different reasons. We bred her two times and had some really great big litters and we were thinking we needed to her her fixed because she is getting to old to have anymore puppies. Last year she was diagnosed with the dog version of breast cancer. We had the tumor drained and were told to just watch for anything else. So last month she had her heat cycle and two weeks later she developed these masses on every mammary gland. So on Wednesday she gets to have every mammary gland removed and we have to have her fixed. This is hard because this is James' first hunting dog and she is a wonderful pet. She is so gentle and great with all my nieces and nephews. It was going to be a hard decision to have the surgery or to put her down because we just don't want her to suffer but our vet, who we love, assures us that Riley will be just fine. Thank goodness!!

This is a big stress for me because of the money. All I have to say is God is so good!! We have been "patients" with our vet for eleven years now and he is giving us a huge discount!! The surgery could of ended up costing us $700-$800 and we are only going to be out a little less the $200. What a blessing!!

We were leaving the vet and I was putting Farrah in her car seat which she has all of a sudden decided that she doesn't like. And I noticed.......two teeth!! Now the fussiness makes sense. I'm gong to miss that toothless grin but what a fun new chapter in her life. She has been up to a lot lately. She is rolling everywhere! She pulled herself up to a stand on the coffee table. We moved the table out! The other day I was in the kitchen washing bottles and she was real quiet and I went to peek in on her and she pulled herself up to a stand against the couch! She was so proud of herself. This little girl makes me smile!! She is so close to crawling. She gets on all fours and rocks back and forth. She will go backwards but hasn't figured out the forward motion. She will be crawling in no time. James and I were talking about her the other night and how fun Christmas is going to be this year. I'm sure she will get lots of no's for touching the tree. I do have one question though...How do you get on to your child without laughing?? I will tell her no and she starts laughing and "winking" at me. How can I resist that?? Oh so sweet that little girl!

Here's another random thought. After I'm done typing I go back and proof read and it cracks me up how hick I am and how many typos I have. I want to have a post that I don't proof and see how many laugh's I can get from it. Am I that only one that does this??

Happy Birthday Grandma!

Last weekend we celebrated James' grandmother's 85th birthday. Grandma is one amazing lady!! So her entire well almost entire family was with her to celebrate. She has seven children and six were there with her for her birthday.

James' family minus one brother, Joel wasn't able to make it this weekend.



Grandma with her kids. There is one son that wasn't able to make it.



Grandkids, I think there were eleven grandkids that weren't able to make it.



Great-Grandkids, there are a lot more great-grandkids I have no idea how many more there are.



The whole gang...well kinda.



Happy Bithday Grandma Fortner!!