Itty Bitty Goes For A Ride

Before the crazy windstorm almost blew us all away (more on that later)... we spent many an afternoon, as you know, hanging outside. We had really warm weather before a few weeks ago. Then we had a crazy cold snap.

Abby decided that Itty Bitty needed a ride on her bike. I walked outside to find this...

And then Abby decided to join her.

There's Fordy... back around the bushes tormenting Red the dog...

Is she still back there? (love the tongue on this one...)

She spent the rest of the ride worrying that Itty had fallen off. Don't we all do this? Worry while we should be looking ahead? Yes. Yes, we do.

But there are Itty's feet. Perfectly dangling off the back.

You'd think the boy would be getting a tooth with all that drool....

But no. Not just yet. Those cheerios will have to wait.

The pears and peas and carrots and sweet potatoes and avocados and yogurt and bananas and rice cereal are in full swing, however. (Whew. This introducing food thing is tiring!)

492. electricity. oh, my ... how thankful i am for electricity!

493. our sliding door not shattering in 100 mph winds

494. knowing exactly where the candles and flashlights were (a first!)

Elmo Calling

Abby now loves toys that she can pull around. Isn't that a one year old thing to do? Anywho... this ancient telephone is her recent fav. I had it when I was a kid and it was a gift from my big brother. I'm shocked that this wins out over the Elmo cell phone. Here was her conversation today...

"Mom. It's ringing."

"Hmmm. It's still ringing."

"Mom! It's Elmo! Hi Elmo!"

"Elmo? What you doing?"

"Elmo? I'll talk to Santa for you. Okay, Elmo. Bye!"

Book of the Week : Curious George Goes To The Hospital (or "Hopsital" as Abby says)

489. not being in the hospital for heart surgery during the recent storm (we know someone who was!) 490. electricity! 491. windows that withstood our 100 mph winds the other night

Turkey In The Desert

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Hope yours was lovely...

Ours was a glorious time with family. We were in Palm Desert with beautiful warm weather (although not as warm as the 80 degree hot spell we came home to!) so we were able to swim. Here is Abby - first time with floaties on...

Fordy did a little swimming but sometimes we felt just like doing this. Feet up. Sun shining down. Ahhhh.

And when I dove in, Fordy got to hang with fun Aunt Stacey.

And every time I turned around, Grandma was there with another gift for the kids to open. Each and every one was apropos for the moment. A float suit for Ford and a big inflatable airplane that Abby enjoyed more than Fordy did.

Later, Abby got to open her first sleeping bag. Big news, people. Big news. It had princesses on it, too. She literally said, "I'm so excited to go to sleep in my sleeping bag!" This from a girl who never likes going to sleep. Angeles were singing. It was fabulous. So fabulous that she took naps every single day. Maybe it was the sleeping bag. Maybe it was chasing her cousin Abram around. Or maybe it was all of the swimming. Either way, winner!

Fordy's last day at the pool...

And in the great Nieporte holiday tradition, Grandma busted out some cheesecake which Abby was able to take a big spoonful of before anyone else could touch it.

And then....the next day we were off to the club for dinner. It was the second year in a row where we've done this-- no insane cooking for Grandma, no insane dishes for the guys... I must say, it was wonderful. Abby stole this pink thing from Grandma -- her name is Bernice and she sings a little song and flaps her wings. All very cute. But definitely not allowed to come to the club. Frown. She got over it.

Abby even got to eat salmon. And Ford only fussed for a minute. It was actually more calm than dinners at home. Maybe it was because of the sleeping bag. Oh no, wait... maybe it was because we went to dinner at 3:45. Yep. That was it. Maybe we should always eat dinner at 3:45. That way, everyone would be in a good mood instead of the craziness at our house at 6pm.

His first collared shirt...

Grandma and Grandpa at dinner with Fordy (this was before Abby's ice cream which was covered in m & m's which sent her into an insane sugar rush with her running around the house, stripping off her clothes and chasing her cousin and both dogs).

And finally - the four of us. Three years ago, I never would've believed this picture would be our future....

And a week ago, I also would not have guessed that Thanksgiving night would be the first time I'd sleep through the night in 6 plus months. That's what happens when you accidentally turn the monitor to the wrong channel and can't hear your baby crying at night. Sleep training got kick started and now, voila -- I don't get up at 3am!

486. being pampered by my inlaws for 3 days

487. loving watching Abby and Abram grow up together

488. sleeping from 12-7

Classic Fordy

And while I get my Thanksgiving thoughts together, here are some classic Fordy pics from the aforementioned birthday party.

483. no dishes on Thanksgiving

484. knowing that at least I can pray

485. not getting up at 3am (update to come!)

Big Girl Birthday Revisited

We've already shared the birthday party of our sweet friend, Katie.

But.

That was before I saw Katie's mommy's pictures from that day. They're so much better than mine... I just have to share! Check out her blog...she takes amazing pictures.

Abby having her tea (punch!)...

The line up of all the girls. I just love Abby down there on the end, hanging with the big kids.

Her awesome marshmallow necklace (and not giving a crazy "cheese!" face for the camera)...

The three of us!

Abby doling out hugs...

Katie doling out kisses...

The best part! Mini ice cream cones!

479. fordy's nap schedule developing

480. a family to plan the holidays with

481. a new and improved swing set situation

482. our faithful mailman

Thankfulness

Warning! Just-out-of-bed-still-in-my-PJs pictures coming. You might want to put that permanent airbrush option on your glasses or contacts for this one.

Here we are talking about our "30 Days of Thankfulness"-- every day we write down things that we're thankful for- for the entire month of November.

See this little scab on her eyelid? We think she fell asleep for her nap while reading and it poked her eye. Yowch! Didn't seem to stop her for long though...

And that same day, she fell flat on her face out back and smacked her head on the concrete. Not even a minute of crying... we didn't even know it was bruised till after her nap.

Right handed thankfulness.... ("Mom! I'll do it!")

And left handed thankfulness (just like her dad - uses both of her hands).

Hebrews 12:28

Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful...

476. a covered front porch in the rain

477. watching the leaves in our neighborhood change color

478. planning things to do in december to bring in the Christmas cheer

Reinforcements

Dear God,

Thank you, thank you, thank you that they're both asleep for at least 10 minutes. Now I can take a 3 minute shower instead of a 10 minute shower, 9 of which is busy playing peek a boo with Ford in the bouncy chair just outside of the reach of the over spray. And thank you for Matt Damon's acting career. What? Amen.

When I start praying those prayers, I know it's time to call in the reinforcements. Lucky for me we have two sets of grandparents who love to visit!

Papa keps saying, "I don't feel like I'm helping much..." But he was doing this :

And that is everything. It freed up two of my arms to do other things! Priceless.

Plus, he did some awesome assembly line work on a card job for me. Priceless!

And Little Grandma did a lot of this with her partner in crime...

And introduced the little guy to tea sets and cars...

(yes, this was the first and last time he sucked on a car this size, you choking-police-people, you.)

And usually looked like this with her hands completely full...juggling everything with grace.

473. Fordy graduating out of his swing -- too big! too wiggly! too crazy!

474. the first fire in the fireplace of the season

475. rescheduling our music class