Thanksgiving Rewind

This Thanksgiving post is coming a little late. I've been waiting partly on purpose so that I could steal pictures from my family's blogs that we shared the holiday with. I was able to get some good ones from my sister-in-law Amelia...thank you! Mine didn't turn out quite as good as yours!

We had a super fun Thanksgiving weekend. It was full of some of the best things...Grandma and Grandpa, Aunts and Uncles, and cousins! Also...yummy food, visits to the park, going to the movies, shopping and football. It really was a great weekend!

We had so much fun with Dave's parents and two of his brother's cute families...

Ready to eat

These kids are big fans of turkey



cute girl cousins

Normally a caption to a picture like this taken on Thanksgiving day would mention something about tryptophan. But the truth is Dave falls asleep easily any time, anywhere...with or without the turkey. :)



Fun with Franny....

What a sweetie!


Fun with Grandma...
Eden couldn't resist...

One of the best parts of visits from the Grandparents...reading with Grandma. :)

We went to the Butterfly park and the park at Town Square...

the kids had so much fun together.

Pink

O.K., so this topic may be somewhat controversial, but I just have to say it. I love pink. Not so much for myself--but for my sweet little daughters. :) I know of many moms who shy away from pink for their girls--they prefer to dress them in purples and pretty blues and browns and greens. And believe me, I totally understand--I really love all those other colors too. But I just can't help myself--my favorite is still pink.

So why do I love pink so much? I'm not really sure. Maybe it's the way it makes Emily's and Eden's pretty cheeks even more rosy and sweet. I just love how girly the color is. There is also something really innocent about pink. I much prefer it to the Hannah Montana rocker girl style that is so popular right now (nothing against Hannah, I know she's got a lot of fans.) Anyway, I hope to keep Emily in pink for as long as she allows (for now she still loves it.) And I plan to keep Eden in all the girly pink outfits I can get my hands on (even though I really do love all the other colors and she still has plenty of those.) I just had to come out with it...I love this color. And after seeing these pics from a recent photo shoot of Eden (taken right before church) you'll see why!

This is also a great post to see Eden's many facial expressions. :)

Also, for a great book to read with your daughters...check out Pinkalicious. It's one of our favorites!

2 Milestones

We had two big happenings in our family this last week. Eden started eating solids, and Emily lost her very first tooth (she's almost 7--so this was a long time coming!) Both things were fun and exciting for us in their own way. I'll start with Eden's eating adventures from this week

Some background...I was planning on waiting until Eden was just a little older to start eating solid food (she's 5 1/2 mo. right now.) But she has just been so interested in watching us eat lately...her eyes would follow every movement of our utensils while we ate and she would lean forward like she was just dying to try it too. So Dave talked me into it and we went as a family to buy the baby food together. Her first meal was a big event in our family...we were all crowded around her high chair eagerly anticipating her reaction to her first taste of real baby food. Emily and Justin were just so excited...I thought it was pretty sweet! So we started her out with rice cereal mixed with apple juice, followed by sweet potatoes. She loved it all...as you can see (videos are down below.)

Her very, very first bite (you can tell because

she's not messy...yet)

next bite...still going good!

On to the sweet potatoes, they were a big hit.

I know she looks messy, but I was honestly

surprised at how much of the food actually

made it in her mouth. So many times babies

push everything out when they are first trying to

figure out how to eat. She was a champ!

Loving it...

I have some pretty funny videos of her eating
at the bottom of the post too.
(and yes I realize none of this is nearly as interesting or
entertaining to others as it is to us...but I just love documenting
these moments :) )

Emily lost her very first tooth while getting ready for bed a few nights ago. This has been a long time coming for her. Most of her friends and cousins have been losing their teeth for awhile. She's had to be very patient!

teeny-tiny tooth.



Her new smile...

Oh, and this is her letter from the tooth fairy. I know it's

too hard to read. But I want to document it anyway.

She got a big kick out of it. :)

Some Other Stuff

We made Thankful Turkeys for family night this week.

The kids had a fun time tracing their own feet for the body and

their hands for the feathers.

They wrote what they were thankful for on each feather.

Some things Emily wrote: I am glad to have my Justin, I love my baby Eden,

I am glad wishes come to life, I am glad I am safe. I love Jesus.

Some things Justin wrote (or drew pictures of): My mom, My Dad,

Eden, Emily, My backyard, playing golf.

Here are some other recent pictures of the kids...

I've heard lots of people say that Eden looks a lot like Justin.

I think in general all three of our kids look a lot a like,

but from this picture I definitely see her resemblance to him. :)

Pretty girls in their Sunday clothes

The kids had a sleepover in the front room

last weekend. They set up the bedding

themselves. I'm just not sure if they had enough

pillows and blankets! :)



Last picture (I promise)

In this first video Eden is just starting out

and is totally mellow and enjoying her meal.

(please don't mind my annoying mommy voice :))

This next video was taken near the end of the meal

and she was going just a bit crazy for some reason.

It's pretty funny.

Bloggers Block...already!?

So, before I had a blog to call my own there were many times when I would think…Oh, I wish I had a blog so that I could post these cute pictures, or write about this cool thing that we did, or document this major moment in our lives. But now that I have one…as far as cute pictures, cool things, or major moments go…we’ve had nada. (Well I do have some cute pictures…I’m always snapping away. But for some reason they just don’t seem to go along with anything I could post about…unless I did a “just cute pictures” post. I could try that.) I know it’s only been a week since I've started blogging, but still! Maybe it’s just the blah, in-between-the-fun-of-Halloween-and-joy-of-Christmas month of November that’s got me down. For a funny post on this overshadowed month…read my literary genius friend’s blog here.
So I was going through my camera’s video clips from the past few months and I found these little gems. They’re videos of Emily teaching Justin how to read a book. I just think she is a very natural little teacher…she’s using teaching techniques I had to go to college to learn. Direct instruction, repetition, modeling, and lots of positive reinforcement!
A few weeks ago she had the typical assignment from school where she had to write what she wants to be when she grows up and why. She wrote “I want to be a teacher because my mommy was one.” (melt, melt) Now I’ve explained to her that I only STUDENT taught, and that she was born less than a week after I finished and I haven’t taught since. But still…she wants to be what I once was. Just knowing that she looks up to me like that (for now at least) and wants to follow in my footsteps (for now at least) just gave me this happy, and thankful, feeling inside. So anyway…I really do think she has a gift for teaching. Check out these videos and you’ll see what I mean!
Note: Emily always adds that she wants to be a mommy when she grows up too. After watching what a great big sister she is to Justin and Eden…I know she’s going to be a natural at that as well!

What better way to start a blog than with pictures from the Happiest Place on Earth?

We had the wonderful opportunity to go to Disneyland over Halloween weekend. Dave's firm takes all of it's employees every October and we had such a great time! It really is the happiest place on earth...I can't even put into words how much fun it was to be there!

This is gonna be a long post (I promise they won't always be this long) so I organized it into categories...Hopefully this will make it easier to follow!

The Rides

Emily's favorite ride was Dumbo...

This was her first ride of the trip and she loved it!

The teacups are always a hit!

This was Justin's favorite ride. It was a Buzz Lightyear ride

where you shot aliens and Zurg and other bad guys like that.

Totally up his alley!

Zapping Zurg!


Tomorrowland!

This picture was taken right after finishing

Pirates of the Caribbean. Justin was just a little scared.

Finding Nemo was super cool.

Here are the kids peeking out of

the submarine! Even Eden got into it!

Proof that Emily went on California Screamin'.

It totally scared her, but she did it!

The Cousins

Dave is lucky enough to work at the same firm as his brother, John. So we were able to spend a lot of time with their family while we were there! The cousins had so much fun together...

These kids really love eachother!

So happy!

The Characters

They have a new Pixie Hollow exhibit where you meet Tinkerbell

and her friends. Emily is really into the Disney Fairy books

so this was really cool for her!

Some Princesses...

(Justin was such a good sport and was happy to

meet all the girly characters with Emily)

Justin was so excited to meet Pluto. He ran up to

him and gave him a hug when he first saw him

even though we weren't even in line yet.

He was cracking up at Pluto signing

the autograph book on his nose.

He thought it was the funniest thing.

note: Justin was also super happy to meet Mickey Mouse,

but I accidentally deleted the picture from this post. :(

The best though was when Justin got to meet Buzz!

Buzz was happy to see someone dressed up like him!

Two Buzz's.

The Other Stuff

Here are a few other moments (not in any category) from Disneyland

"I'm Wishing..."

I have to note here how wonderful Eden was on this trip!

She was happy, and mellow, and content almost the whole time!

She made the trip so easy for us. Thank you baby!

Waiting for a parade.

Our last picture taken...on our way out of Disneyland.

It was so hard to leave, we had the best time ever!

Until next year...

The Beach

We couldn't take a trip to SoCal and not visit the beach. On the way home we took a detour and drove to one of my favorite ones, Laguna Beach. It is so beautiful there!

You can't beat swingin' at the beach...

This is Eden's first time in a swing!

She loved it and was smiling so big!

This is one of my favorite pictures...ever.

The End.