Thankful

After a fantastic (and much needed) pre-Thanksgiving tradition of getting the hell out of dodge for a weekend while my mom watches the kids, we came back to ABQ and spent the holiday week trying to show my mom a good time. It's a hard balance considering we need to find just the right combination of museum visits, brewery stops and day to day activities. We managed to make everyone happy with a trip to the nail salon....

A day at the Coronado Monument.....

And a few Thanksgiving holiday cocktails at the inlaw's house. Oh and some kids who were at least trying to act thankful!

I am thankful that my mom was able to come and visit (and watch my kids for a few days!) I am also thankful for our health and the fact that we are (mostly) happy. I will let you know if I am thankful our house has an offer and we are moving in a month this time next year!

Keeping Portland Weird

Last weekend we went on our second annual couples trip with our amazingly funny and fun friends Ian and Paige. It's interesting...even though we all have established careers...Ian is an attorney, Paige a nurse practitioner, Tony a firefighter and I a Craigslist baller, we sure do know how to turn all the pressures of the job off and have a good (too good?) time!
After arriving late on Saturday night, we wasted no time resting up and preparing to tackle a new day. That would be the smart thing to do. Instead, we dropped our bags at our uber swanky crib for the weekend and helped to keep Portland weird!

At some point that night I took the liberty of teaching everyone the "Happy Baby" yoga pose, which not only helps relieve lower back tension but also helps soothe your central nervous system in times of stress. It is a bit of an awkward pose and it got even more awkward when, for the rest of the weekend, we could not stop saying "make me happy, baby!"

Namaste

The absolute best part of the weekend (besides for when we left the boys at Deschutes Brewery and went on a shopping spree at Free People) was the Sunday Brunch. It was decadent. It was indulgent. It was delicious. It was 3 hours. It was expensive. It was bottomless mimosas. It was EVERYTHING.

Salty's on the Columbia

I would love to fill you all in on the rest of the trip but to be honest, I don't remember much. Lots of craft brew, lots of walking, lots of drizzle and lots of fun with friends that I love!

Mazotti Halloween

After listing our house for sale on October 14th (and subsequently being forced to stage our house for pictures and live like a Better Homes and Gardens pictorial could be taken at any moment), we did not get to host our annual pumpkin carving event / contest. When I say "we did not get to" I really mean "I did not want to" because after all the work that we put into moving things out of our house to make it look bigger along with all the projects to make the house near perfect condition, the last thing I wanted was to clean up pumpkin seeds and guts off the floor for a week. And although I may have taken the easy way out, I definitely wanted to "walk the hood" for what I can only assume will be the last time as residents. One thing I will miss about Kit Carson and our neighborhood is Halloween. I have never been to another neighborhood in my life that had more kids than this one. It has provided our kids with great memories as they have grown up.

This year Cienna wanted to go as a Hollywood Tower of Terror bellhop, which meant that I had to get creative. She convinced her friend Azlynn (a fellow firefighter's daughter) to join her, and since her mom is currently pregnant with her 4th baby girl, I decided to volunteer to make both of their costumes. Thank GOD for Goodwill Stores and hot glue guns! Overall, I think they came out pretty awesome!

As for AJ, he was easy peasy. We went to Target and he picked out a zombie football player costume. After applying some zombiesque makeup, he went straight into character with absolutely no problem!

I am not sure if it was all the pizza, juice or candy consumption, but after about an hour of trick or treating AJ doubled over with a stomach ache and needed to go home. After high tailing it home and snuggling on the couch for a bit, he quickly recovered and we headed back out to try to fill the pillowcase. The weather was amazing, the candy was abundant, and it was a great final Halloween in the hood!