A Wonderful Thanksgiving!

We started out our Thanksgiving by heading to Jeff City. We had a great time with Grandmother, Grandpa, Jan and Gary. Then we headed to the White River. We had a great time at the cabin. It was wonderful to spend some quality time together. The cabin is GORGEOUS!! (Thanks to Nancy and Craig for letting us go!)

The weather was wonderful! We had warm days and cool nights. We had a fire outside each evening and made smores. We went on multiple walks to the river to throw in rocks, leaves, sticks and anything else that Hayden found. We dipped our feet in the river and it was FREEZING! Doug said he would have taken a swim if he'd remembered his trunks. Big talker! Hayden and I tried to convince him to just jump in, but he wouldn't do it!

We woke up around 7 on Saturday morning and had some breakfast before our first walk of the day.

Hayden was wide awake on our afternoon walk on Saturday.

Lainey was not! We didn't even know that she'd fallen asleep. The hat must have slipped over her eyes and, instead of fussing, she decided a nap was in order (this was after taking a 2 hour nap with me earlier in the day! Now, how can I get her to sleep this well at home??)

Lainey woke up at 6:15 a.m. on Sunday, so we went outside and (tried) to take a picture of the sunrise that we could see from the bedroom window. It is such a beautiful place that none of the pictures I took do it justice.

We were all sad to go, but it's nice to be home again. Apparently, Hayden gets carsick (lots of twisting roads on the way to the cabin.) We left at 9:30 a.m. and didn't get home until 4 p.m. Normally the drive is around 4 hours. We'll definitely be prepared next time! We've also learned that Lainey isn't big on longer car rides. Hopefully, this will change as she gets a bit older and we can turn the carseat around.

Jenn

Out After Dark

Last night Jackie (thankyouthankyou!) came over and stayed with the kids while I went to Mojo's to see Celandine play. For anyone that doesn't know it, this is the band that Doug is in. They are wonderful!! (Not just a biased wife's opinion.) I took the camera and was all set to take pictures and put them on here for you to see, but then our friends Greg and Sara from K.C. showed up! It was Greg's 22nd birthday (or did he just feel 22??) and after speaking the night before we thought they weren't going to be able to make it! What a wonderful surprise to see them walk in! (I completely forgot about pictures, but I will post the next time Celandine is playing.) Greg and Sara stayed with us... They are truly two of my favorite people!

We initiated Lainey last night... she had her first Shakespeare's pizza - and LOVED it! Okay, she didn't really eat pizza, just a couple of crusts, but they kept her occupied for quite a while and she finished most of the first one. Good thing Hayden doesn't eat the crusts! Now he'll have to share with Lainey. Here are a couple of pictures...

We also went to Shakespeare's with Greg and Sara before they left town today. Hayden just picked at his food and at the end (I don't think any of us could have eaten after this point) he got sick. I won't spell it out and won't go into detail, but we brought him home, gave him a bath and he's curled up on the couch watching cartoons. Hopefully it was short lived and not contagious!

Anyway, I'm hoping that I can get out again sometime after dark when kids are asleep and actually hang out with people my own age! Maybe even go on a date with my husband!

Jenn

Grey Days Ahead?

Most of the leaves have fallen and it looks grey and dreary outside right now. We did have a couple of very nice days last week. Hayden, Sophia (the little girl I pick up from preschool a few days a week) and Hope (a neighbor) got out and played in the leaves. (Sophia has on blue and Hope has on pink.) Lainey was content to watch - she would have eaten the leaves instead of playing in them.



Hayden keeps asking when we'll get snow... I hope that we do have a few decent snowfalls this year! He's at the perfect age to enjoy them. Doug would probable prefer no snow due to his drive, but I'd like some just as much as Hayden!

I also went this morning and had 9 inches of my hair cut off to send in to Pantene Beautiful Lengths. They will use it to make wigs for women battling cancer. It felt good to drop it in the mail since I've been growing it for such a long time. I feel much lighter!















Maybe rain or a light snow (won't stick) in the forcast for tonight!

Jenn

Finally, Moving Into the 21st Century...

Well, our camera died and my wonderful husband let me go out and pick my Christmas present out early! Yep, we now have a digital camera! So, I figured I should take the next step and start a blog to keep everyone up to date on the kids, my knitting (what little there is at this point) and any other exciting news from the Midwest.

Well, we went to bed Tuesday night with it looking bad for both McCaskill and Amendment 2. Imagine our surprise when we woke up to see that they had both turned around! What a wonderful morning!

Here are a few pictures from Halloween!

Lainey was our "ferocious" dragon! (We had to plug her up with the binky!)

Hayden was the brave knight and Jackson (our nephew) was Jack Sparrow (Pirates of the Caribbean).

Hayden and Hope, a friend from the neighborhood. Her dad took this picture.

Luke, Camille and another neighbor that stopped by our house.

Other exciting news... we now have a crawler in the house! She's also eating up a storm and is about the same size Hayden was at this point. (She turned 7 months on October 28.) She's also waving and loves to say "ma-ma-ma-ma" when she's upset.

I'm hoping to update often, but we'll see how it goes!

Jenn