Like a mirror.

Some things just don't need an explanation.....

Thanksgiving Family Visit

 Early last week we were thrilled to welcome Momma Shedd for a much anticipated visit.  As she usually does, she brought tons of fun for the kids including a GINGERBREAD HOUSE KIT!!!  The kids spent a wonderful afternoon eating candy and frosting, decorating their house.

Mid week Uncle Todd made HIS much anticipated appearance.  They both were wonderful with the kids and read stories for hours and hours on end.  The kids were in heaven!!

 Then came Thanksgiving.  It was the first Thanksgiving we have had family over to our house and it really showed us all we had to be thankful for:

We had a wonderful time together and are so thankful that our family was able to spend the time with us.  In fact, we had such a wonderful time we didn't get nearly as many pictures as I would have liked but this is what we did manage to get:

 The Girls:

The Boys:

David was pretty lukewarm on the whole Thanksgiving meal until he discovered PUMPKIN PIE!!!  It was soooooo good he just had to share it with his bear:

(While David wasn't overly thrilled with the meal his mom was quite proud of the Turkey she and Momma Shedd made so please admire it in the forefront :-))

Delaney just loved the food.  She always does:

And just because I am their mom,  and this is my outlet to brag on my kids here are two cute pictures of two of the things I am most Thankful for:

After the thrill of Thanksgiving we got down to the serious business of decorating for Christmas.  At least some of us were serious about it.....some of us just wanted to play in the tree box:

Check back soon for updates on the Christmas decorating......

And a HUGE Thank You to Momma Shedd and Todd who absolutely MADE our Thanksgiving by visiting and sharing time with us!!!  We hope we have started a tradition this year :-).

Halloween

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!

Carving the Shedd Family Pumpkin.  Looks like mommy and babies are doing all of the work but really it was all Daddy....we just played in the guts :-)

Starting out.

On their Way.

David Dinosaur

Girl Monkey Delaney

This is the kids enjoying the fruits (candy) of their labor.  Notice David with no pants?  Yup, the dinosaur costume was a bit more difficult to take off at potty time than we anticipated.  OOPS.

Cooler....

The weather has (finally) turned cooler.  Time for footed PJs and fires in the fireplace......

Kitchen

Homeownership.  Then endless effort to make a house "home".  Then endless trips to Lowes.  The Money Pit.

For us it has always been about the kitchen.

This is what we got when we moved in:

After Andree set the oven on fire, adding a microwave so she wouldn't have to cook with the oven, and adding granite because Lowes had it on sale.....

And finally getting new cabinet doors and the cabinets painted from 1970's orange/brown to white we think we are finally there.  On the kitchen anyway.......

Happy Fall !!

We made our annual trip to the Pumpkin Patch this weekend.  The weather finally turned somewhat cooler (at least not in the 90s!!) and it was just one of those perfect, clear crisp fall days.  It was perfect!!

David.  And Thumb.

Delaney LOVED the tractors.

So did David.

So did Daddy.

 Horsey Swings.

 These are two activities David throughly enjoyed.  Given Delaney's tendency to eat everything not nailed down we decided NOT to let her play in the corn (sand) box or cotton jumpee.

 Cool corn-stalk horse.

My little pumpkin!!!!

Oh what a difference a year makes!!

We go to the Pumpkin Patch every year and these are some comparisons as to how far we have come in a year:

2011

2010

2011

2010

Delaney's First Birthday

 HAPPY FIRST BIRTHDAY DELANEY!!!

We had a party for Delaney's first birthday tonight.  It was so much fun and little girl was VERY excited about her party!!!!

MOMMY AND BIRTHDAY GIRL

DADDY AND BROTHER DAVID

THEN IT WAS TIME FOR CAKE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A PICTURE IS WORTH A THOUSAND WORDS:

After cake it was time for presents.  We were really worried about how David would handle the new experience of NOT getting things when Delaney did but he turned out to be quite the helper for her and it was sweet to see them share (sort of :-)

Helping Delaney open a present

LOVING her new cell phone.....Thanks Aunt Emma and Uncle Matt!!!

MOMMY got me a DOLLY!!!!

And then the GRAND FINALE:  A COZY COUPE CAR!!!!!

David did have a little difficulty letting this one go by

But after a bit he jumped right into the spirit of things!!!

My sweet little Delaney has made the transformation from baby to little girl.  As with most things this is a somewhat bittersweet transition.  I miss my little cuddly baby but I am enamored with Delaney as I see her little personality start peeking through.  She is so much more social than David and after accomplishing something (like her favorite activity:  climbing on the coffee table) the first thing she does is look around to see who is watching her.  Then a BIG SMILE and frequently a clap.  She eats very well and is now walking freely on her own.  She LOVES walking!!  Despite my best efforts she is every bit as much of the "blankey baby" that David was so frequently they roll around together on the floor wrestling blankets.  It's too cute!!!  Delaney and Tim have a bond I can't even begin to describe.  All Tim has to do is walk in the room and little Delaney just LIGHTS UP and Tim will spend hours contorting his face just to make Delaney giggle.  It is precious to watch the dynamic that Delaney has brought to the family develop.  She is such a gift and we love her so much!!  Happy Birthday Sweet Delaney!!!!!

P.S
It seems that Blogger has updated it's site and made things a bit easier so I am going to renew my efforts to keep the blog updated.  Having said that we are off to the Beach for much needed R&R so look for a beach update in a week or so.