A Week to be Thankful!

Last week was a great week of thanksgiving in many ways. Here are the things I'm thankful for from last week, in chronological order:)

1. On Monday, we got to see our baby boy (Nathanael) again. He is healthy and still scheduled to come on April 10th! This is his most recent photo:)
2. On Wednesday, I was thankful to have a big girl who likes to help mommy "make" things in the kitchen.
3. My Southern Living Turkey recipe:)
4. Friends to enjoy a Thanksgiving meal with...
...and friends to play with!
5. Our friends Suzie, CJ and Reagan watching football with us after the meal
6. A big girl who likes to help mommy wash dishes
7. A child who loves my cranberry sauce (maybe even more than I do!)
8. Turkey Pot Pie leftovers
9. Friends to watch the Carolina v. Clemson game with. This is Marianne, Chris and Marcie's baby, they were in town from Atlanta and we had a chance to hang out.
10. And of course I'm thankful that we beat Clemson again!

11. A sweet husband who kept a nursery full of toddlers so I could enjoy the Advent Service on Sunday night. Thank you Justin!

3 New Posts!

So this is the third post today. Sorry, I got a little behind. Make sure to check them all:) This one is a video clip of Alina singing "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" to her baby doll. She loves to sing and has a couple of songs she likes, but right now this is a favorite. It may very well be the cutest thing I've ever seen in my life!

Tent Building

Alina loves it when Justin builds her a tent using blankets! But the other day, I came home and found that this time Justin set up one of our actual tents in the living room. This was a lot of fun for Alina. Here she is playing in the tent.

Like her daddy, Alina apparently enjoys the newspaper. Here she is reading about Dora in the Wall Street Journal:)

Pear Preserves

This post is a little late, since I've already eaten half of the first jar of preserves, but its still worth sharing. Sorry for getting a little behind! When I went to Clinton on election day, Alina and I brought back some pears. Mrs. Marshall (Jessica's mom) told me to boil them or something, or they would not be very good. So later that week, with Pauline's help, I made them into preserves. It was a lot of fun, and the preserves are very good! Thanks for the pears Mrs. Marshall!

At the farm

Last Tuesday, Alina and I went to visit Patrick and Jessica on her parents farm in Clinton. It was a beautiful day for a trip to the farm(and I was off for election day). We had a relaxing time and really enjoyed the cool fresh air. Alina loved seeing the cows! We also picked pears (which became delicious preserves), rode on the golf cart, played, colored, ate, napped and just had a great time.

Going to get a good look at the cows

Almost nap time

Halloween

We had a fun Halloween hanging out with friends at the Brewer's house! Pauline, Sarah and I baked some goodies. I made the cupcakes, I think this may have been my first attempt at actually decorated cupcakes, not bad I have to say!

Princess Chloe

Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker

The kids had a great time playing together

Ted came up with great games and Riley was such a great "big" sister to help Alina play the games. Here they are pumpkin bowling!

Let's eat!

Trying to eat an apple without hands. This was even harder than it looked, obviously Alina did not try this game:)

I know she was a ladybug last year, but the costume I bought last year was a 2T, and she just sat in it. So I used it again this year, she'll only remember when she sees the pictures. Here's my bug, screaming to get the hat part off. She didn't mind the rest of the costume.

Joel was the winner at this game!

Playing Hot Pumpkin. By this point Alina was having so much fun she was rolling around the floor in the middle of the circle giggling!

Thanks Ted and Sarah for having us over and having such a great time with the kids!

Nashville

Last weekend we took a trip to Nashville. We went to visit Matt, Jessica and Patrick and to go to the USC/Vandy game to celebrate Matt's birthday. We had a great time. Alina and Patrick had a lot of fun playing together.

Here they are being cute in the back yard. They were playing in the leaves. It was really cute, but it was really hard to get two toddlers to pose.

Relaxing on Saturday morning

Game day: Tailgating at the house. You can't stop these guys!

Alina and Patrick also enjoyed tailgating.

We got a babysitter for the game and all headed out to watch Carolina beat Vanderbilt. Well, in the first half we weren't really sure if this was going to happen.

Matt, Dave, Chris and Jess enjoying the game

Mary Catherine and Douglas

On Sunday morning we went to church with Matt and Jess and then headed to brunch at a cute place in downtown Franklin. It was a short walk from the church, so the kids rode on their daddies shoulders.

After brunch, Alina and Patrick played in an 'alley' across the street. Putting them in a container is about the only way to get them to 'pose' together.

Beautiful stop on the way home