Thanksgiving 2010

We spent Thanksgiving with my Mom and her side of the family (her sisters and brother and their families). We timed our travel perfectly and avoided the blizzard conditions.

Nothing says "home" to me like snow on the ground outside and a warm, cozy, beautiful fire in the fireplace - the first of the season. Jay enjoyed "helping" Grandma bring up the fire brick and the logs. I like this first photo as it looks like Jay is trying to give David a high-five.

The next morning Matt took Jay outside to experience the "no" in Jay's words (he's means snow). It was near 0 degrees F out, so it was plenty nippy.

What is better than coming in out of the cold to a nice warm mug of hot chocolate?

Here are some pictures of the snow drifts in my Mom's back yard looking out her kitchen window.

Thanksgiving Day was spent with aunts, uncles, cousins, and their kids. Around 40 of us (out of around 70 of us) gathered in Mom's church's basement for the afternoon to enjoy our Thanksgiving meal potluck and family share time.

Here is a picture of three of Jay and David's second cousins - Lara, Korie, and Julia. Aren't they adorable?

And here are some pictures of Matt feeding baby David his squash and applesauce.

My sister graciously took this family photo of us Thanksgiving morning.

And I'll finish this post with a picture of my Mom's siblings. This was the first holiday celebrated without Grandma Dorothy. We missed her, but basked in the love and bond we share as a family.

Picture: Aunt Beth (top left), Uncle Ray, Aunt Joan, Aunt Mary Kaye (bottom left), and Mom Amy

It was a terrific meal, we had a good time of sharing and fellowship, and the evening was topped off by an after-party gathering at my Mom's house. We'll gather again like this for Thanksgiving 2012.

November Together

(December 13)

It is about time I get back to blogging, isn't it? Life got busy, we were sick with cold bugs for several weeks, then life was full again...you all know how it goes.

Here are some pictures I took in November of the boys playing together early one morning.

Friend Katie wrote this in an email back on November 9th. I've included some of my musings from that day following Katie's email quote:

"Audrey has some stickers for Jay. And when I asked her if we should give some to Baby David, too, she said that David should not have any yet because he's too little, but when he gets a little older and grows up he can have some." :)

Once again Matt and I are amazed at Audrey's verbal and relational understanding. I can't get Jay to say "soup" (I fixed that for his lunch today) let alone talk about relationship stuff. Instead of saying "soup" he just likes to make a slurping sound (I've learned the slurping sound could be for "soup" or for "drink of water").

As I write this, though, I'm remembering Jay being so proud of himself learning that if he climbed up on a chair, he could then from that lean/jump over to the nearby couch and tumble over/across it. And today he loved being able to jump on top of four items he placed strategically on the floor. I used it as an opportunity to teach him counting as he jumped from one thing to the next. He loves conquering new physical challenges.

It is so funny to compare the two 2 yr olds knowing they are just operating as God designed them. :)

As I mentioned in my opening paragrah, we were under the weather for a time, but the crazy part of it is that Jay didn't act the least bit sick. As you might have figured out from my above paragraph, Jay continued to be as active as ever. No "down time" for sickness around here - no matter how you feel! :)

I was so grateful for the 2 hours of nap time I was able to utilize several days. Jay and David often take their long afternoon naps at the same time -- 1 to 3ish. I do my best to try and catch some extra zzz's at least a portion of that time in order to help me fight off sick bugs.

Over Veterans Day weekend we enjoyed an unexpected blessing - having my Mom here (a last minute terrific surprise). Here are some photos from our quality time together.

This next photo of Jay is a favorite of mine. Jay took off his socks and my Mom played with him and put them on his ears to make him look like a puppy. He thought it was GREAT!My Mom is a MASTER at putting baby David to sleep. She can do it so quickly and easily. We couldn't resist taking a picture of sweet David sleeping in his bassinet.

And here is a funny, sweet photo of David after I had finished dressing him for the day. Yes, he stands quite well with just a little bit of support needed. He's growing up so fast!Friday of Veterans Day weekend we took the boys to the play area at the local mall. It is fun to watch Jay climb, slide, jump and play. On Saturday, sis Molly met up with us (Mom, me and baby David) and we ventured off for some girl time shopping at the outlet mall in Auburn. Jay stayed home and had a good time with Dad. We three gals had a BLAST together. We figured it had been a good 15 years or so since the three of us had gone clothes shopping together like that. Nothing beats having some good girl opinions as you try on clothes! Below is a photo of David taking a nap. All our shopping wore him out! Ha! (Not really - he just took his normal nap.)

We stopped half-way through and grabbed a bite of lunch at a nearby Wendy's. David did terrific playing with his toys and a plastic spoon.

Sunday after church brother Scott and his wife Mandy, my sister Molly and her husband Scott, Mom, and my little fam all gathered here at my place for a pre-Thanksgiving family gathering. The camera didn't get used, unfortunately, but it was wonderful. I'm still cherishing the moments we enjoyed together.

Fun in Oregon

We left Friday afternoon for Nana and Pop Pop's house in Oregon. Five hours later we arrived (including a stop for dinner and a rest area stop along the way). The last hour was a bit excruciating with David screaming (we think he doesn't like traveling in the dark combined with the fact he had "had it" of being strapped in his car seat). Suffice it to say, we were happy to get there.

Saturday morning Nana made waffles and bacon for breakfast (YUM!) and Jay enjoyed exploring all of Nana and Pop Pop's toys all morning long.

We left by 11:15 and drove to Cousin Alex's soccer game that began at noon. Of course it rained all weekend, but it was lightly raining the first hour of Alex's game and so it wasn't too bad. The rain on top of cool temperatures (upper 40s) made it feel a little colder than that, so we bundled up as best we could.

Above: Jay running to greet me and David
Below: Alex is the player in green playing defense against the boy in the blue with the soccer ball

Below: Jay enjoying watching the boys play soccer

By 1:00 p.m. it really started to rain hard, Jay was telling us, "Hone, Mommy and Daddy", and David was starting to fuss, so we decided to head back to Nana and Pop Pop's house.

Alex did a terrific job - and his team ended up winning the game 7 to 5. Hooray! Way to go, Alex!!

Below here are some photos I took Saturday late afternoon around the house. (Shawn, Alex, and Josh would have spent Saturday afternoon and evening with us, but they were feeling under the weather so they decided it would be best to stay home and not potentially expose us to their "bug". We were sad about that, but we understood. At least we got to see them!)

Jay enjoyed showing us how strong he was lifting the weights...3 lb weights, that is!

Sunday morning we went to Nana and Pop Pop's church. Aunt Shawn, Cousin Alex, and Cousin Josh met us there and then we all went out to eat lunch at Sweet Tomatoes after church ended (thanks for treating us Nana and Pop Pop!). Uncle Mike would have come to everything this weekend, but he was on their church's men's retreat. Hope it was great, Mike!

Thanks for a terrific weekend! As always, it was great spending time with family. We love you guys so much!! We're looking forward to Christmas when we will ALL be together.