Many Thanks

We have SO many reasons to be thankful this year, not the least of these is our great family. We, once again, had a great time spending time in Indiana with lots of cousins, aunts, uncles and more cousins. It is so much fun to watch all the little ones develop their personalities and watch them growing up together. This year there were 31 people at Thanksgiving on the Indiana side, 7 of those were 5 and under. Amazingly though, there was very little arguing and all seemed to have a great time together.

After we got home from Indiana, we welcomed the Rutledge family at our house and did some more eating and lots of relaxing and talking. Did I mention we are so thankful for a wonderful family?

Making pumpkin pie with Nana.



Painting with Joel

All Decked Out

We decided we like to decorate before we leave for the Thanksgiving festivities so all we have to do is come home and plug in the lights and voila, we're ready for Christmas. So, we unpacked the totes this evening and decorated away. Thanksfully, we have even had some warm temperatures so Gabe was able to get the lights up outside too without freezing his hands off. The kids loved helping organize the branches in piles before putting them all on the tree. And the nativity has been a big hit with both kids as they love rearranging the people and telling their own versions of the Christmas story.

No chapped lips here

Hadley has been on a chapstick kick. She has had a bit of a cold so she keeps asking me to put chapstick on her lips and under her nose where it has gotten a little sore. So, I made the mistake of buying her a tub of carmex at Walgreens. On the way home, I thought she was awfully quiet. When I got her out of the car I realized why. About ½ the tub was empty and this is what her face looked like.

The GREAT cookie factory

Hadley got to have a playdate at the mall this morning with several of her friends. The early childhood director from our church hosted a play date at The Great Cookie Factory. The kids got to decorate their own cookie with lots of different colors of icing and got a drink as well. Hadley loved squeezing lots of icing onto her cookie. She has really been into drawing faces lately so that was the first thing she put on her cookie- eyes, nose, mouth. Then she had to add some hair, then a little more and another touch just for good measure. (I think she really just wanted to put LOTS of icing on her cookie.) After everyone was all sugared up, we headed to the mall play area where the kids got to run out some energy and the moms got to actually finish a few conversations.

Dentist

Today, Drake had his regular six month cleaning. He did great, as usual. He hopped right up in the chair and chose his favorite chocolate chip cookie dough toothpaste for the cleaning. The hygienist asked him if he had any loose teeth, to which he responded, "no". Then, as soon as she started cleaning his teeth, she told him he did have loose teeth- FOUR in fact. His top two front teeth are loose as well as his bottom two front teeth. He will look SO different when he loses those! He just might need to be asking for his two front teeth for Christmas this year- wow. Don't know if I'm ready for this.
While at the dentist and watching Drake get his teeth cleaned, Hadley kept asking when it was her turn. So, when Drake was done, she hopped right up in the chair and the hygienist asked her if she wanted her teeth cleaned. She said, "YES!". So, she sat perfectly still with her mouth open the whole time she got her teeth cleaned with, of course, cookie dough tooth paste too. Afterwards, the kids got their usual new toothbrushes, paste and a prize from the prize box. Then, the dentist came in to check out their teeth. They both got a good report on well taken care of teeth. However, the dentist did tell me it is time to give up the paci as it is starting to show it's wear on her little teeth...sigh. (And just for the record, for months now she has only had it at bedtime.) I knew the day was coming but now I'm really feeling the pressure. Just another sign that my little girl is not a baby anymore.

Underwater Adventure

Drake had his first school performance. The K, 1st and 2nd grades put on a musical performance this evening and wow was it packed. There was standing room only and many parents and family members who could not even get into the gym to see the performance. Drake was very animated and knew the songs very well. He had spent lots of time practicing some of his favorites at home as well. Here is a little clip of the evening: