Because mom said

I received this from someone at work and thought it was just to funny not to share. For those of you "non moms" out there, this certainly capture what the day feels like with little kids. It it titled Momsense make sure to have your sound turned up when you start.
Enjoy

Trains!!

Abby and Chris went to go see the train exhibit today and Abby is still talking about it. They saw Thomas the train, a Christmas train and a lot of other un-named types.

They even went for lunch at Burger King, which for some reason Abby asks for all the time. I can count on 1 hand the number of times she has been there, so not so sure why she is so fascinated by the place. Maybe it is sponge Bob, who she is in love with these days.

Las Vegas visitors

To top off the night, we had a girls night out at the Bent fork and got all caught up on everyone's lives. We all have so much going on and all so different, everytime we got out, I think we should do this more often, but I think those days are long gone. I am still very happy that we do get together at all and was sure glad Wendie cam back for the weekend.
We were laughing about how we are all so well connected because we all blog (except Janae but we are trying to put the peer presure on her as so much is happening in her life) that we feel like we keep up to date fairly well.
Here are Melissa, Wendie, Janae and I after a wonderful meal.

Of course I have to add the picture of Wendie and Nate, since the did come out of warm country to come visit us in the cold.

It's a bugs life

While everyone else slept this morning, I was out and shopping before 5AM. I meant to go at 4AM, but I fell asleep in the girls room last night. I got some killer deals, so it was worth it. I saw a few faces of people I knew when I was out, of course all trying to get the good deals.

I got home about 8AM, just in time for Chris to shower and leave for work. Everyone was just getting out of bed when I got home, but it sure was nice to shop alone (without 2 unhappy children). I couldn't believe how many kids I saw out with parents at 5AM, my kids would not have been happy if I had gotten them up to go shopping at that hour!

When I got home, I called my mom who was just finishing her shopping and we were off to the Butterfly Pavilion. Abby loved all the spiders and butterfly's that were there. She wasn't so sure about some of the fish, but she was a good sport and touched one.

Here she is holding Rosie the spider that is the highlight of the whole trip.
Tori on the other hand loved the fish.
I spy a butterfly...if you look really close you can see the butterfly too.
Tori was very into touching all that she could.
Here we are mom and kids in the tropical butterfly world.
It was a good day at the butterfly pavillion and the kids both crashed on the way home, always a good sign of an outing!

Thanksgiving

Well Thanksgiving day was great.
I am thankful that this year is almost over, it has been a hard year, but we have made it through. I am thankful for a great family, two wonderful girls and a fabulous husband.

I spent most of the day cooking either for dinner or for the other meals that we enjoyed today. The pies turned out wonderful. Here is a picture of the pumpkin and apple pie. They tasted just as good as they looked.


Abby wanted to make a strawberry shortcake for Grandpa's birthday so this is what we made, a chocolate strawberry cake, it was very good!
Here are the Lynette (Jeff's mom) and Reta (Judd's mom) and Aunt Vivan before the dinner began.
Tori and Rachel before dinner. Grant, Rachel and Abby playing dinner before we ate. Doesn't that pizza look yummy?
After dinner Tori had to take a little nap, maybe to much turkey for her...
We celebrated Dad's birthday and Jon was ready to help blow out the candles.
Dad managed to blow out all the candles, get he will get his wish.

Before the presents were unwrapped and the cake was eaten.
Tori helped herself to some of Grandma's pumpkin pie, she loved the stuff!!
Abby showing us one of her dance movesRachel, Chris and Abby relaxing after desert.
A happy Tori.
A happy Grant.
Tori loves the dogs she couldn't get enough of them tonight.
We finally left my parents house at 10PM, so we thought for sure the girls would fall asleep on the way home, but they were awake all the way. Maybe it was Dora that was playing, good thing that people got to sleep in the next day.

Thanksgiving cooking

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving and so it is time to prepare some yummy foods for the day. I decided to do 3 deserts, a pumpkin pie, a apple pie and a chocolate cake with strawberries in the middle. I found a great recipe on the food network, of course for the pumpkin pie so I hope it turns out good. I am going to try the cranberry relish so we will see how it goes tomorrow. I love the food network, I have missed the whole season so far, so it is time to get back to some good old fashioned cooking watching!!

Tori's new trick

Latley she has been a really picky eater, so meals have been a bit hard. She won't eat table food and wants what ever it is that we are eating. She is really a good eater, if you find the right food for the meal. She thinks it is a game to not let you have the spoon or fork back when you try to feed her. So tonight I was able to catch her in action.

What kids go through

Well I can say I really feel sorry for those kids that get ear infections and that I know first hand how they feel. I finally went to the doctor yesterday after a week of suffering because surely, I wouldn't have an ear infection, so I did everything else from drugs to wax buildup treatment. In the end I had to breakdown and get antibiotics. With that being said I should be able to hear better in a day or so.
I can't beleive that some kids go for months on end with this sort of thing, I am sure glad that my kids don't have a lot of them, that never is fun for anyone.

Fall clean up

Abby and Chris worked in the yard today raking (or sweeping) leaves so we can see the ground again. It was a wonderful fall day and we were able to do lots of jobs around our own house versus some rentals today. My only regret was that I didn't get the carpets cleaned, but I guess that can happen next week. With all the parties and children lately they are in need of a serious cleaning.
I even took some pictures to commemorate the event...

Look our new fence!

Abby's helpful hand

Chris in action, see he does do work around the house once and awhile

Tori's checkup

We had Tori's 1 year checkup today. The Doctor said she is doing great and and developing right on track. She is a healthy 50% tile child (compared to her sister who at this ago was 15%) so he just wants to make sure that she keeps up. He wanted to make sure we were doing table food to which I had to laugh. This girls was done with baby food a couple of months ago and just turns her head if you try to give her that mussy stuff.
Since we did shots I promised the girls we could go to the library afterwards for some play time. I can't say how much time we spend there, but I know it is a lot, Abby loves, loves, loves to read and so we always end up taking more books home then are on the hold list.
They have a play house that both girls enjoy going in sitting and reading in. I am so glad we have a library so close.

How smart is Tori??

Okay so I have to admit I am one of those mom's who reviews the check up lists from the Pediatrician than works with my child so that they can do all the items on the list. I was a little behind on Tori's this time and was doing my review today for tomorrow's check up. This is basically a list of things so they can check your child's development at different ages so for Tori we did the 12 month check in. I told Abby we were going to play lets see how smart Tori is, and so off we went asking her questions and trying to get a response. Well she did pretty well, I am sure it would have been better if I had worked with her a little more. She did pass most of the items, there were a couple like does she scribble on a piece of paper if you give her a pen, where she choose to just chew on it, so that was a no, or does she try to get the Cheerios out of a clear container, where she just shook it because it sounded good.
When I told Chris what we were working on, he just laughed and said that she doesn't have to do every thing on the list, I somehow disagree!

Tori's birthday party

We had Tori's big first bash today and what a great time was had by all. We had almost the whole family there and a few friends to celebrate her big day. In all there were over 35 of us and the house was jammed packed!

She got lots of great present and had lots of fun. Here is a sample of some she received

A toy to pushA couple of books Her very own baby stroller and baby dollStuffed animals, baby's, dog's

From Grandpa Dennis and Jeannie a musical piano

From Grandpa and Grandma Gillmore a musical computer Little peoples blocksCute and comfy clothes
Sorry not all the pictures turned out, so don't take it personal if your item isn't shown!

The cake also proved to be a real hit. I took yesterday off so I could decorate and it turned out pretty well. It was her very own princess cake decorated to the hilt. I even made a separate cake for Tori to rip apart and enjoy, which she did without a problem.

Abby in her true comic self thought it would be fun to rub chocolate ice cream all over her face which had everyone laughing, what a mess!!

When our guest left everyone got to take home some fun and a thank you for coming toys for the kids and special pink and orange M&M's for the adults!

Thanks to everyone that helped make the day extra fun!!

Peek a boo

Abby thought she was so funny as she tried to hide from me, little did you know that I was faster than she was.

My first fence

As many of you know we have a few rental properties. As many of you also know that means that we get to do the fix up's on those as well. Well I have been working for about 3 weeks a couple of hours here and there to build a fence/gate at one of our homes. The old fence/gate was rather unstable and one day when it was blown upon, it fell down. Now being the novice that I am I thought I could go out and build a new one in a couple of hours. Now any of you that have done this work before know that is crazy, but in true Gillmore time frame it seemed reasonable to me. Well needless to say it took more than a couple of hours, but I have to say I am pretty proud of it being my first one and all.

Here are the easy steps to follow to build your own fence/gate:

1. Start with old broken gate

2. Cement in your posts, making sure to stabilize them so they don't move once level

4.Build your gate5. Place your support beams6. Nail you boards to your support beams
7. Put on your hinges, and latches and your done!

I sure enjoyed getting to use all of our power tools and I feel pretty good that I built it all my by my self. After I got was done with this, I went in and fixed her toilet which was just running water, that of course only took about 15 minutes and was a much easier fix then the fence. Wow, if I could only put that kind of time into my own home, think of all the things I could get fixed!