Christmas Decorations

Today we decorated for Christmas!  We don't usually do it this early, but we are having a Christmas photo done for our Christmas cards, taken in front of our tree, so we wanted to get it done early.  Hilary and I hit the after Christmas sales last year and I got a new tree and a bunch of other decorations.  I thought it would be really fun to do a theme tree this year.  It's a cardinals tree (the bird, not the baseball team!)  It is so beautiful! 

We started with some pinecones and nestled them into the branches instead of dangling them off the branches.  That made a big difference and gives it a really natural look.  Then we added some sparkly acorns (I know, I know, wrong kind of tree. But they look really pretty!)  It looked so neat that we were tempted to just leave it like that!  But we added the cardinals and some icicle looking ornaments.  It is by far the prettiest Christmas tree I have ever seen!  

Our nativity scene and our stockings.

Another shot of the tree.  The pictures don't really do it justice.

These are our front windows.  

Close up on the tree.  Notice the slight dusting of snow.

We did a little decorating in the dining room as well.

Keeping the cardinals theme, of course.

I bought a plain, undecorated wreath last year and so we fixed it up with, what else, cardinals!

This is our old tree.  We decided to put it on our front porch and decorate it too!  We hung our bird feeders on it.

It's nice having the house all Christmasy.  Now I need to get started on my shopping! 

Oh, and happy nine month birthday to my sweet Lena!

Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!  I hope you all had a nice one.  We had a great one!  Jim and I got to host Thanksgiving for some of our family this year.  His dad and sister, Brian and Amy, came up and so did my parents.  They all got to experience my first-ever turkey.

Here he is getting ready to go into the oven.

While the turkey cooked and I got some other things going in the kitchen, 

Grandpa Brian, Aunt Amy, and Daddy took Lena for a walk.

Our pretty dinner table.

So pretty!

Showing it off.  It turned out really well.  

I will post the recipe and technique I used on my cooking blog.

Jim did a great job carving it.

Jim, Brian, Amy, and Lena.

Dad, Me, Mom, and Lena.

My rosy-cheeked baby.

I had to take another one of her because I forgot her hair bow in the first one. :)

I have to say that today was one of my favorite Thanksgivings.  I really enjoyed having the house full of family and am so glad they all decided to make the trip up here.  (We missed Hilary and Scott but were glad that they got to spend the day with his family.)  I would love to do it again next year for anyone who wants to come.

Oh, and our porch bunny was festive as well, donning a Native American outfit.  He even brought us a chicken he killed with his bow!  Can't wait to see what will happen for Christmas!

Look Mom, No Hands!

So last night Lena decided to start standing up by herself. It was so amazing! She did it for about 30 seconds at a time, and she loved it. She wasn't standing still; she was kind of dancing, while keeping her feet in one place. She had her arms up and was kind of moving her little hips too. It was so cute. We took some video of it, but of course, it didn't turn out. For some reason we can't shoot video at night even though we turned on every single light in the house! We'll try again today or tomorrow and see if we can get a decent one.

I didn't think it would be long before she was standing alone, but it still surprised me. I'm so proud of my big girl.

Seven Years of "Us"

Seven years ago today, Jim and I went out to eat. Jim sent his dish back because it was wrong; I spilled my leftovers on his car. We saw some improv comedy, then had a nice talk over lattes. It doesn't sound like anything special, but it was. It was our first date.

I just want to thank my wonderful husband for seven great years. I can't imagine what life would be like if you hadn't called me. I love you, Jimmy!

Everything's more fun when you do it in a laundry basket!

I know it's unusual that I have been blogging so much recently.  It's just that my kid has been so cute lately!  Well, ok, she's always been cute; I've just been capturing it on camera more, I guess.

Today after church, Lena was playing in the living room while Mama cleaned up in the kitchen.  When I went to check on her, this is how I found her:

Playing with her Fisher Price table while sitting in the laundry basket.  She was not in the basket when I left the room, so she must have crawled in there herself.  What a goof!  She was just having a ball listening to the songs and watching the lights while resting her little baby bottom on Daddy's laundry!

Then she heard me with the camera:

In case you are wondering, the words on her bottom are "Baby Gap."  

More Fall Pictures

Today was a fun day. We started it off with the third of our fall cooking classes at church. This one featured apple recipes. It was really great. One of the funniest moments was when Lena smacked the edge of a bowl and launched soup all over her face. The soup wasn't hot, thank goodness, and the look of surprise on her face was priceless!

Lena's friend, Madelyn, was there again today so they had fun "playing" together. At this age, "playing" pretty much means blowing raspberries at each other and touching hands from their exersaucers. They are very cute together.

Then we ran some errands, got flu shots, and came home. I thought it would be cute to take Lena's picture in a pile of leaves, and since Jim just used the leaf blower to pile them up yesterday and the weather was nice, I decided today was the perfect opportunity.

This is my favorite. So calm and focused on the camera.

Then she ate the leaves.

Lena's bed of leaves.

She posed so nicely.

Then she ate the leaves.

We have a tulip tree in our yard. The leaves are huge!
This one was almost bigger than Lena's head.

Then she ate the leaf.

Here she's holding the little pumpkin that someone brought for our porch bunny.

Then she ate the pumpkin.

(Are you seeing a pattern here?)

She was so distracted by these funny crunchy things that it was hard to get her to look at the camera.


This is the view from Lena's room. It's our tulip tree. It's really pretty right now. I find myself staring at it while I'm rocking her.

I love fall!