Happy Thanksgiving

The Pilgrims made seven times more graves than huts. No Americans have been more impoverished than these who, nevertheless, set aside a day of thanksgiving. ~H.U. Westermayer

I hope that you and yours are aware and thankful for all that you have on this day.

Personally, I am thankful for a number of things:

* A healthy family
* A happy marriage to an awesome man
* The two cutest little turkeys
* A comfortable warm home
* Amazing loving friends
* And a blazing fire in the fireplace on this chilly morning!

Wishing you and yours a splendid turkey day!!

Galaxy of Lights 2009

Last weekend we visited the Huntsville Botanical Gardens to see the Galaxy of Lights, they decorate the gardens with a truly massive amount of Christmas lights. We went with friends and had a great time. Kimber slept the entire time, Matthew enjoyed the lights and got pretty excited when he recognized animals, stars and FINALLY a tractor!!!!

My little heater.

The whole family!

Happy Two Month Birthday Kimber

Happy Two Month Birthday Kimber

My sweet Kimber. Seriously, two months have passed and you have managed to make us love you even more. This second month has been a busy one for you. Your godparents came to see you all the way from Texas, you are holding your head up as steady as any normal 4-month old, you have the absolute biggest and most adorable smile on the planet and your coos melt my heart every single time. We have been working on tummy time which you like in short doses. We have also been trying to encourage a little alone sleep, as much as I love having your warm little body next to mine, Mommy does not sleep so well when worried about you...not to mention you have inherited the bed hog gene from your big brother. You love to eat and I get tickled watching you get excited when you know the milk is near. You continue to endear yourself to big brother, he laughs when you make noises and you enjoy getting kisses from him even if he is a little rough at times. We went to the doctor today for your check-up and shots and you handled it like a champ. As suspected, you are a big 'un, you are in the 75th percentile in height, weight and head circumference.

Your stats:
Height 23.5 inches
Weight 13 lbs ozs
Head 41 cm

Again, you continue to enrich our lives in ways we never predicted.


We love you and look forward to the days, months and years ahead.

My absolute favorite picture of you this month,
that smile just takes my breath away every time.

My little chunker...

TEXAS comes to BAMA

This past weekend our very best friends from TEXAS came to visit us in our new Alabama home. We had a wonderful time going to the park, visiting the Space and Rocket Museum, eating fondue and hosting our first ever Shrimp Boil. Thanks Ronny & Nicki for making the long trek to see us, we had a blast and are so glad the we all got to spend some time with you guys!

Uncle Ronny offered to carry Matt in his favorite method of transportation,
Matthew was thrilled as you can see.

Gig' Em and Red Raider lessons.

Deep Thoughts....

Leaf Eaters

Just had to share some pictures of my little redheads in the gorgeous leaves in our yard that have provided hours of entertainment in recent weeks.

This last one was taken by my budding little photographer, Matthew.

A belated TRICK or TREAT

Happy Halloween!

This was Matthew's 3rd actual Halloween but the first one that he dressed up for and boy did he dress up. He dressed up for German class, for a carnival hosted by my mom's group and then again on Halloween night. Kimber got in on the action too...though he snoozed through most of it.

I spent Halloween night with the most adorable DOG and the most huggable tiger (you didn't know tigers could be huggable, did ya). We trick or treated around our neighborhood and then came back and introduced Matthew to his first Tootsie Roll among other candies.

This was Matthew's first trick-or-treating experience and he has a bit hesitant at first but by the third house he had figured out the gig and would hop right out of his push car and wait patiently for his candy.....I am afraid next year the patience level might diminish?!

At the carnival with his buddies, EK & KK and of course the mommies.

At the Halloween carnival

That huggable tiger I was talkin' about.

Thrilled that Nana was helping him open and consume candy!

Gravel anyone?

This is a post from September I forgot to publish.....

A few weeks ago we had 26 tons....yes you read that right....26 tons of gravel delivered to our humble abode to finish a few projects we had started. Matthew had quite a time climbing and sliding down the gravel and we burned many calories spreading said gravel. We had awesome weather, a little rain and are very happy with the progress that we made. We installed two sets of walkways, one through our vegetable garden and one through our cutting garden/patio area. Here are some before and after shots as well as a few fun ones I could not resist.

Checking out the gravel pile....

About to slide....tummy first.

Prepping the veggie garden - GRASS REMOVAL!!

Raking......

Almost ready for gravel!

Progress....

Holding down the gravel....such a good little helper!

Muppet riding on the skid steer.

Mommy-Love

The cutting garden/patio....before gravel!

Changes

Matthew has been decided that Kimber's carseat is quite a fun toy and it is funny to me to see this big toddler sitting in this seat that was once so big.....

At 4 days old.......

At 2 years old......

They really do grow up so very fast!

Butter Butter, Pay Dowww & Bamps

Matthew has taken his time in talking but over the course of the past few months his vocabulary has literally exploded. It is such a treat to watch him learn new words. It is frustrating to have him say something to me a hundred times and for me to just not get it.

He says a lot of words so well such as ice, baby, cheese, mama, papa, dog, book, choo choo, tractor, track, blocks, bath and truck.

I decided to create a legend for future reference:

Matthew's Term = Actual Meaning

Butter Butter = Peanut Butter

Baboon = Balloon

Yes Sir (with a salute of course) = Asking to watch Toy Story
This came from the soldiers who recon the party gifts.

Pay Dowww = Play Dough

Eats = Eat

Ock = Sock

Bamps = Gramps.....or Nana for that matter.

Lala = His friend Ella Kate..

Bahk-Bahk = Chicken