Thanksgiving Blessings

Every year, Mimi and Papa Dave invite the family over to celebrate Thanksgiving the weekend before the holiday.  We all look forward to the opportunity to spend time with our family and celebrate the many blessings of our life.  This year we each wrote down what our blessings were.  I couldn't help but mention the littlest blessing that was enjoying her first Thanksgiving celebration.

All of the kids posed for a picture with Grandma Great.  Can you believe the lovely day we got for a November gathering?  From the left, the kids are Max, Wiley, Mitch, Hayden, Molly, Rachel, Kate, Amy sitting on Grandma Great, Audrie (hidden behind Grandma), Sean, James, Brielle, Miz, and Abbie.

I love seeing my own grandmother cuddling little Amy close.  Grandma Great is so wonderful with each of her great grandchildren and we are very lucky that she takes an active role in each of their lives.

Give me some of the good stuff!

Amy took to the bottle really well, which has allowed Steve to share in the joys of feeding our little girl.  It's nice that we can share in those special times.

Amy is getting strong enough to hold her own bottle now.  Just look at that face!  We've decided that she already is well aware of the camera and keeps an eye on us whenever we bring it out.

Tummy Time

Amy has been getting lots of Tummy Time practice while hanging out with her daddy.

Her tolerance for hanging out on her tummy seems to be related to how early in the day it is (or how well rested she is).

Amy usually hangs out on her play mat and then gets to play with the toys above her head as a reward after she puts in her time.

While she first flipped from tummy to back on Mom's first day back to work (while Mom was driving in!), she doesn't always like to flip over and often wails for someone to flip her over instead.

Halloween

To celebrate Halloween, Sean and Kate decided to go Trick or Treating in the Thunder Ridge neighborhood, near their old house, and also around our neighborhood.  Kate dressed up as a vampiress and Sean was a Nazgl.  For the trick or treating around our house, they met up with Willa, Jay, their parents, and their grandparents.

Amy and I stayed home since it was a wet and windy night.  Amy dressed as a skeleton and I dressed in scrubs as an overworked nurse.  I figured that my new mom sleep deprived state made that the perfect costume for this year.

By the end of the night, the kids had a bucket full of candy to show for their holiday fun.

Veterans Day Bowling

Veterans Day was a welcome holiday in our house.  Kate was invited to a playdate with a classmate, so the rest of us decided to go bowling.  It was a very fun outing, with Steve winning both games he played and Sean and I finishing with a tie in the game I played.

Amy got to come too and was a great sport, even though she didn't get to bowl herself.

After the bowling, we took Sean out to Red Robin for lunch and allowed him to cash in on a trip to the frozen yogurt place that he had traded for.  He was delighted to get both treats, as he is constantly trying to make his stomach happy.

Morning Readings

Sean and Kate are really amazing with Amy.  They are enjoying their new status as big brother and big sister to her and constantly shower her with attention.  They each read a book to Amy to start the day off right.

It is such a treat to see our three kids enjoying time together.  I can only imagine how this will look as they continue to grow up.

Bedtime Stories

One of the best parts of the days that Sean and Kate are at home is bedtime storytime.  Typically Steve and both kids gather in Kate's bedroom and read a chapter from a special book.  They have spent a lot of time reading from the Lemony Snicket series, but have recently branched out into a series about the Last Apprentice to have a little variety.  Kate loves scary stories and the Last Apprentice series seems to fill that need.

On the nights where we are running behind schedule and story time looks like it is in jeopardy, Sean will ask if we can "make an exception" just for tonight.  Since Steve also treasures that time, it is hard to resist the request.