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| The week before Thanksgiving, Harper's class had a Thanksgiving feast. Harper decorated this little card with crayons and turkey stickers. |
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| Brent was able to leave work for a bit and come too. We are glad he works closer to home this year and can do things like that now. |
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| Eating the Thanksgiving feast--The parents were supposed to RSVP if they were going, so we assumed this feast was for adults too. After the kids all got their food, Brent went to the table and got himself a plate too. But then we realized that he was the ONLY adult eating...a touch embarrassing, and funny! |
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| Also before Thanksgiving, Jenevieve intricately planned a surprise birthday party for Brian. The plan worked, and Brian was very surprised--lots of fun! I think Owen was fascinated with all the birthday decorations here! |
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| Getting some Mimi and T-Pa time |
On Thanksgiving Day, we spent the day and night at Mimi and T-Pa's house. It was just our family on this day because it had worked out with everyone's schedules to have our larger family gathering the following day. We did a lot of playing outside, made homemade pizzas and enjoyed the hot tub once Harper and Owen were both asleep. Other than a nap time incident where Harper used a blue crayon and created some "art" on Mimi's white comforter (Lord, help us!), it was a good day. :)
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| Harper spent quite a bit of time in the front yard collecting acorns while we hung out on the front steps. She is still so entertained with rocks and sticks and acorns, etc. |
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| Harper's completed acorn collection--I'm liking the 'Happy Birthday Jarod' cup! |
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| Then we moved into the backyard for some more fun! The weather was so nice, everyone was wearing short sleeves. Owen liked hanging out and talking on Daddy's lap. |
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| Harper said she was making a "beautiful garden." |
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| And the garden needed some raking. :) |
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Daddy sure makes some fascinating faces!
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The day after Thanksgiving (which was when we did our actual Thanksgiving celebration), the Stites family arrived, as well as Brian, Jenevieve, Addy and Holton. We had our big meal together, decorated gingerbread houses, and went on a walk to the neighborhood park.
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| Amy (Kathy's daughter), Patrick, Wesley and Caroline--they are such a sweet family, and it is a blessing for Harper to get to be around such great kids! |
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| Playing the old organ |
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| Classic Lincoln Logs |
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| Giving Mommy sweet smiles |
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| Owen had a lot to discuss with his Mimi... |
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...as well as his T-Pa!
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| The gingerbread houses were the perfect activity for both kids and adults--thanks Mimi! |
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| Addy was inspecting the candy (quality control), while Jenevieve used her surgeon's precision to apply some icing. :) |
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| Using care and concentration |
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| Holton helped too! |
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| At the end of the day when I was talking to Harper in bed, I asked her what her favorite part of the day was. She quickly answered that it was making the gingerbread house. She still talks about it to her preschool teacher, the clerk at Target...whomever will listen! :) |
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| Three cousins on a walk to the park--I mean really, how cute are they? |
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| Holton walking like a big boy too! |
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| We cut through a wooded path that was supposedly going to the park. |
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| Two strollers didn't stop us! |
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| The path did lead to the park; however, we had to physically lift the strollers up this embankment at the end--good thing we had a lot of helpful hands! |
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| Getting a little help from Caroline on the monkey bars |
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| Going down the slide with Caroline... |
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| ...and Addy too! |
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| Sweet shot of Uncle Brian with the girls on the walk home |
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| Bath time is one of Owen's favorite times of the day. |
For 3 1/2 months now, Owen has loved being swaddled. He immediately would relax and know that sleep was approaching. We had tried a few times to leave one arm out to start trying to transition out of the swaddle, but it was NOT working. No sleep was being had. I was doing a little research and came upon an article, which among other things, recommended something called Baby Merlin's Magic Sleepsuit. It was getting some pretty rave reviews. I felt a little ridiculous telling Brent I was considering buying a magic suit. :) But I did. And, I will have to say, I am going to have to add my enthusiastic thumbs up to this invention! It works by muffling the baby's movements so they feel a little cozier when falling asleep. Owen loves it. He might look like the boy from A Christmas Story, but it works, and it has the added benefit of making us laugh too.
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| Owen in his magical sleep suit! |
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| Working like a charm...sweet boy |
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| A couple weeks after beginning the sleep suit, we began leaving one arm out of that. And look what happened. Pacifier out, thumb in. We'll see which one wins out! Harper always sucked her right thumb, and Owen seems to have a definite preference for his left. |
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| And finally, I will leave you with this gem of a photo! Brent did not shave for the month of November, and all of his participating co-workers at school decided to shave their beards and just leave a mustache on the last day. Tom Selleck anyone? Brent kept the mustache all weekend long and received strong feedback in both directions about whether he should keep it or shave it. :) He did finally shave it. |
