Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! I hope that everyone had a great time with family and friends today. We had a very low-key, low stress Thanksgiving with just our nuclear family and some good friends. We've had Thanksgiving with them the past three years and it's always a great time of good food and company. This year, we had lunch, followed by our requisite post-Turkey Day Walk.

Thanksgiving is the best holiday because it all centers around eating! We made turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, green bean casserole (all ingredients from cans!), Stove-Top Stuffing, and Smearcase Pie. Our friends brought over yummy homemade everything - stuffing, rolls, cranberry sauce, macaroni and cheese, pecan pie, and pumpkin pie. Our food didn't all fit on the table!

Speaking of food....while Daniel abhors all green vegetables, he loves all of the "yellows." Here is Annika feeding Daniel some squash.

Finally, this evening, we put up the Christmas tree! Here is Annika with the finished product.

No More Whining Ever Again

Okay, so that is ambitious....but I might surprise you! Just got back into town from my Big Scary Conference and I am so excited to be home. We had a lovely day today - went to Lakeland to a children's museum.

Will has done an awesome job of holding down the fort, especially since this is the third trip I have taken in as many months. While I was gone, he took Annika to her dentist appointment and got to go to her school's Thanksgiving Family Feast, while skipping out on his own stuff. I can't even express what an incredible parent Will is and that there is no way I would get through my program without him.

Which leads to - pictures! Here's what's been up this past week:

Daniel is all bundled up for the cold, cold winter.


The indoctrination begins early.

Annika with Sweet Berry, riding the rocking horse. Sweet Berry is the newest member of our family, courtesy of a garage sale find.

Will loves his kiddos.

The Massive Picture Post

Hanging out before soccer.

Annika at school.

Ready to go!

All dressed for soccer, complete with Blueberries for Sal.

Ready to play!

We survived another week!

Food. YUM. Hurry, hurry!

Oh, how I love to jump.

Hanging out at Downtown Disney.

Me, too!

And Mom! Our photographer extraordinaire.

Ready for Daniel's baptism. We were all on stage, so no documented pictures of the actual event - but he has a handy-dandy certificate.

Daniel and Grandma, Post-Baptism.

The Dudes.

Daniel has discovered his play gym.

Did I mention that I love to jump?

Oh yes, and eat.

But I'm oh-so-angelic when I'm asleep.

The sick family, on the couch.

Have a great week! We are having lots of fun with Grandma. ;-)

Exhibits A & B

Exhibit A: Annika in the backyard of our old apartment. Age: 18 months.

Exhibit B: Daniel in his infant carrier. (I know.) Age: 6 months.

Anyone notice what's in common???

And, because Pictures are Fun....here is Annika this evening. She's proudly showing off her cool new pajamas and book from Nonnie, and her bear o' gatorade. (I know.)

Finally, Will made an awesome carrying case for Daniel's bottles for school so that they can stay numbered in the order to use them in the school fridge!! I think this is so darn cute. And much classier than if the packaging of Not Pop wasn't covered...

This One's for Bekah

Truthfully, Will and I have *no* idea where we will go when we are both done with school. I promise everyone that we aren't holding out on you - we will literally go wherever we both have jobs!

But because it is more fun than actually working on getting done, we like to talk about ideal situations and geographic areas. Will captured this in a map of the country:

(*Note - I would put staying where we are now in Orlando as right after going back to Kansas in order of priority. The ranking is more for the *rest* of Florida.)

I think it is a Freudian slip - can you guess what part of the country Will forgot to rank??

No More Daylight Savings Time

Our household is so excited to be done with daylight savings time. I've never understood why we have it when it does not save energy. Now that we are back on "regular" time, it is nice and bright when we wake up in the morning, which means everyone wakes up earlier. An awesome thing when you are already running behind in the morning.

Here is a picture tour of last week:

We finally broke down and bought a deep freezer. Annika is super excited about that for two reasons: (1) we might actually be able to store ice cream again. (2) It came with a GINORMOUS BOX. And what is cooler than a box?? She has transformed it into her "bear cave" where she likes to "hibernate."

Daniel the Dalmation spots the candy bowl with Annika's loot. "Hmmmm....is that for me????"

Annika's class went on two field trips last week. The first one, shown below (and taken by a classmate's awesome mom that shared pictures of the field trip with everyone) was to Barnes and Noble on campus to hear Halloween stories. The second one was to the administrative building to go trick or treating in all of the offices. Score for the "Littlest Knights"!

Daniel in his stylish Very Hungry Caterpillar Blanket Sleeper. It fits his personality quite nicely.

Daniel, showing off his cool new duds. Looking at him sitting up so well, you'd never guess that he has never once rolled over. But sitting up makes for way cooler pictures.