A lot to be thankful for!

This has been a pretty dang amazing year for me. I got to marry my best friend Kevin. I got a whole other family as part of the deal who I love and feel to close to and apart of their family. Two beautiful new nephews to join an amazing older nephew who couldn't be more loving. A new healthy body thanks to a lot of hard work, encouragement, and just plain old feeling good about myself. A family who loves me and that I love through thick and thin. A husband who supports me in all of my crazy endeavors and desire for new adventures. I feel so lucky to have such a great family that just gets better all the time! I am thankful for each and every one of you!

This was a momentous Thanksgiving for me, in that it was my first time having Thanksgiving with Kevin in all of our 8 years together, and also my first Thanksgiving not at my parents house! It was a big deal for me, but it was really fun and I am so glad that I have in-laws who I feel so much like part of the family! We of course visited my family throughout the weekend, but the bulk of it was with Kevin's folks, and Adam, Erin, Corbin, and Neal. We had a delicious Thanksgiving dinner, lots of games, took a walk with Adam and Erin's fancy new Chariot stroller, Susan, Erin, and I made Christmas wreaths, ate a lot of food, and enjoyed seeing some of Corbin's new skills and ever expanding curiosity about the world around him!

Corbin and I get some loving in

Thanksgiving was deemed Corbin eats solid food day! He got to try out a little rice cereal mixed with breast milk, and he had a pretty good time with it! It was fun that he got to eat something new for Thanksgiving, and also really awesome that Kevin and I got to be there to see his first shot at it!

Yum!

A pro his first time out, giving feeding himself a try! Also, spoons are his favorite toy.

Uncle Kevin is told to shut his trap!

Our pensive guy

Neal and Mark prepare the delicious turkey for carving!

Kevin and I made mashed potatoes, one batch out of heirloom snowflake potatoes that were quite decadent!

Neal presents....dinner!

A good looking spread!

Neal clearly didn't eat enough if he can handle a baby sitting on him!

But we fixed that with FIVE pies! Wooooweeee! Apple, apple ginger, raspberry almond tart, and two pumpkin! My favorite!

Kevin and I headed to my parents house after dessert, just in time for the end of their dinner. We sadly could not bear the idea of eating anymore, so we just got some love in with the handsome Jackson!

His newest thing is yelling "AAAAAH!" with no aspiration. It's really cute, and VERY loud. He has learned quickly how loud you have to be in my family to get heard!

What a beautiful grin! He has also figured out how to scoot himself backwards on his tummy, so he should be figuring out crawling pretty quick here!

Friday, Corbin and I decided to go retro. He is wearing his Dad's superman shirt from when he was a baby! Pretty cool that Susan kept it!

Uncle Neal gets a great big grin out of the little man!

On Saturday, we girls took off to make wreaths, a tradition Susan and Erin have had for a number of years, and I have done once before. It was really fun to see how different all of them turned out! We clipped boughs from Susan and Mark's house and went to town!

Erin and Susan contemplate the optimal foliage placement.

Halfway through my first wreath, I also made one for my mom. This one is now hanging on our front porch.

My finished wreaths, a little blurry.

Erin's finished wreath, lovely!

Susan's got a bow added to it later, and looks gorgeous!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

A babysitting adventure!

We were off to Bainbridge this weekend to help my parents babysit Jackson and Nate while Matthew and Terri enjoyed a night at the Salish Lodge! We headed over Friday afternoon, and got to hang out with the boys for the whole evening and all day Saturday before their parents came to whisk them back off to their home! We had a great time, and both feel really comfortable taking care of Jackson. And as always, Nate was a delight and so much fun to play games with, go stomping through the woods, and make some delicious cookies with!

A few photos of the weekend:

Jackson loves hanging out in the laundry basket...just goes to show, you don't need all the bells and whistles to keep a kid entertained! :)

A big grin, he is cutting his first tooth!

Uncle Kevin gets some loving in!

My handsome man! He is babbling like crazy, and bouncing around like a mad man. He is also sooooo close to crawling! It's so exciting to get to watch him grow and reach these milestones!

He is also totally obsessed with the pattern on this chair. When he is facing it, he scratches away and makes the cutest little squealing noises.

Kevin and I also took him on our first car trip with a baby! We rode over to his parents house to show off Jackson. He was all giggles and happiness, and we took him out to see the garden. He loved the sound of the shovel in the wheel barrow while Mark was putting compost on the garden beds, but was less than impressed with the worm they found. He also sucked out the pulp from a satsuma, though it was hard to tell if he liked it or not. He kept coming back for more though! I forgot my camera at my parents house, so we didn't get any shots while we were over there.

We decided that cookie making was in order, and Nate was a our mixer extraordinaire! We made really yummy sugar cookies, and frosted and sprinkled the heck out of them! It was really fun, and felt like we were getting into the holiday spirit!

We had a really nice time, and can't wait to hang out with the little guys again! Hopefully, Kevin and I will get a chance to babysit at our house sometime!

You tube videos of Jackson

Somehow my brother and his wife have failed to let me know that I could view my adorable nephew Jackson anytime I want on their you tube videos! Oh my word, he is one hilarious and smart little man! The growling one and peek-a-boo are my fav's, along with him almost crawling! What a great way to see my little man growing! Keep the videos coming, guys! :)

http://www.youtube.com/user/matthewandterri

Enjoy!

I can't help myself!

One more photo of Corbin that Kevin and I keep coming back to and just cracking up about, I have to share it with everyone!

Drunk on milk, life doesn't get much better!

Finally, some Corbin lovin!

Kevin and I finally managed to clear some time from our busy lives to head up to Bellingham on Saturday to see Corbin, Adam, and Erin! We hadn't seen the little guy since the beginning of September, and that is far too long for this auntie!

Corbin also rocks the striped hat!

We had a great time! Erin was away a lot of the day and evening, which was really big for her. She needed a good break from mama duty! So Kevin, Adam, and I were on baby duty, played games with our friend Paul, made super yummy pizza, and enjoyed visiting with our Bellingham family! Adam got to put Corbin to bed for the first time by himself, which was a bit of an ordeal, but they both survived and Corbin stayed asleep the whole evening, though I guess he woke up a lot during the night.

He has grown a whole lot, and is just so scrumptious! He is very curious about everything around him, is grasping things really well, making lots of crazy cute faces and noises, and is very close to rolling over from his back to his front. He is also the squirmiest little baby ever!


It was a really great visit, and we will not let that much time pass again before visiting! Thanks Adam and Erin for having us!

More fun from an historic night!

I am still finding myself welling up with tears and getting goosebumps when I think about how truly monumental last night was for America. I still don't seem to have anything eloquent flowing through my mind to point to just how I feel, but in my heart I know that I witnessed last night one of the GREATEST moments in history. That is pretty overwhelming! So I'm going to go with the age old adage that a picture is worth a thousand words!

Showing my Obama/Biden love at the start of the afternoon

Election day cupcakes! We had balloons and streamers and posters, all around election fest decor!Even the pizza got patriotic!

Joanna, Kevin, me, and Jessie await the results!

Kevin was our numbers guy. He kept us updated with the electoral college votes, and we updated our big map 'o the USA!

Me and Danielle, our lovely hostess!

Obama pile!

Updating the map, we had little pictures of each candidate on their respective color and placed them on each state as they came down. This was putting up the last of the states that were called last night!

Everyone gathered around the tv to hear our President Elect make his first speech!!!

Break open the champagne, Beth!

CHEERS!

Final view of the map before the end of our wonderful evening! What an incredible night, and an incredible journey it has been! Food for thought: This is the first election I have voted in that my candidate is the winner! Yay Obama! Okay, 'nuf said!