Happy Thanksgiving 2008

This year Jeremy's mom, two of his brothers (Troy and Jeff), his younger sister (Natalie), and his Aunt Lori all came to our house to celebrate Thanksgiving. We were so grateful that they all made the trip to be with us (and we were so grateful to not have to travel ) so that we could have some quality family time.

This was my first time to host Thanksgiving dinner. Preparations started early in the week as I planned the meals for the week, shopped, baked homemade rolls, made pumpkin cake, chopped veggies, and cooked yams & apples. Jeremy cleaned the house so that we were ready for the party to begin. We didn't really decorate for the event, but above is a picture of our "Thankful Wall" - which we started early in the month of November and added to throughout the month to help us remember to be grateful. The wall is complete with pictures drawn by Jeremy - classic. Anyway.... Everyone arrived Wednesday night... but the festivities didn't really get started until Thursday morning. In the morning Jodi taught Jeremy and I how to prep our 22 lb. bird. We were grateful for her expertise! Then, we kicked off the day with my favorite activity - watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.
Aunt Lori, Natalie, and Isaac
Then we patiently waited for all of the food to cook by talking, playing guesstures, and eating appetizers. Natalie was a phenomenal guesstures player!
Isaac got plently of love and attention and cuddling throughout the day. Lucky boy! Granny Jo especially adored him.
Finally, it was time for the real feast to begin. Mom and I were both happy with how our turkey turned out.
Isn't she a beauty?

Jeremy was amazing! He was so helpful getting everything set up, doing dishes, taking out trash, etc.... Here he is whipping up some wonderful, creamy, and perfectly seasoned mashed potatoes.
We could hardly wait to dig in.
And here we are, crammed into a small, happy kitchen, our plates piled high with food, and with Isaac as the centerpiece - how appropriate!
It was a very happy Thanksgiving Day - filled with family, food, warmth, laughter, relaxation, games, and Christmas music. We are SO blessed!!!

The Dishwasher Indicent

Here's the story...

I have an obsession with things being clean and organized - BUT there is not always time to properly clean and organize things... SO my blessed husband has developed a gift. Pretty much - he's a magician. When I am stressed and want things instantly looking perfect - he makes any sort of a mess "disappear". To be honest... I don't even want to know what happens to most of the stuff. But it is a very functional gift when your house is a mess and all of a sudden visitors are coming by. ANYWAY... the reason that this information is relevant...

On Thanksgiving Day we had to cook and serve our feast in our very small kitchen quarters. About 5 minutes before the meal I was frantically finishing all of those last minute things - so that everything would be done and WARM at the same time. Unfortunately there was a big pile of dishes in the sink. But we were using our kitchen counter as the "bar" for the food... so I wanted it clean. I wanted it to be picture perfect... not turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, disgusting dishes, salad, yams, rolls, etc....

So - I asked Jeremy to make it all disappear. I turned around and it was gone! MAGIC! Dinner was picture perfect... but after dinner when we started cleaning up - we ran into a problem. The dirty dishes and everything else (including our dish soap) that is normally around our sink had been thrown into the dishwasher for temporary storage. Unfortunately, the dishsoap lid had popped off and spilled directly into the drainage system at the bottom of the dishwasher (hence... we couldn't clean it out). We wiped up what we could SEE of it... and then turned on the dishwasher and crossed our fingers - hoping that not that much soap had really spilled out. But then came...

bubbles

bubbles

and

more bubbles!

It made for a fun night, a funny memory... and a clean floor!

Thanksgiving Weekend

We were lucky enough to have Jeremy's family hang out with us all day Friday and Saturday. Here's just a few glimpses into the fun that was had...

Isaac got PLENTY of love and attention.
Natalie read him some stories. He loved it!
We all relaxed and laid around in our pajamas in a semi-vegetative state.
Jeff, Troy, and Jeremy became obsessed with playing and winning Zelda.
We all enjoyed a rousing game of indoor miniature golf.
Troy won.

We played Connect Four, Clue, watched movies, went bowling, went ice skating, took naps, and ate all sorts of "yumyums" - including Coconut Cream Pie.

And... Jeremy was a great sport and helped me set up our Christmas lights. It was a great weekend. We LOVE spending time with our family!!

Isaac's First Feast

On Thanksgiving Day Isaac turned 5 months old! For the past few weeks Isaac has become intensely intested in our food when we eat, so to celebrate the holiday we decided to let Isaac have his very own feast and start eating rice cereal.

We put him in his new Fisher Price booster seat.
Put a bib on.

And gave it a try!

This is his reaction to his very first bite.

He was pretty skeptical.

But he wanted to give it another shot.

Here he is taking a bite....

and considering it.

His cute messy face.

The verdict - I'm not sure if he liked the rice cereal. But I do know that he seemed to enjoy the experience of sitting up in the booster seat and trying something new. We'll keep trying. Anyway, doesn't he look so big? I can't believe how fast he is growing! We are so excited to watch him as he learns how to eat rice cereal, and as he discovers the many new tastes and flavors that life has to offer.

Random Moments

Here are just a few random Isaac pictures from the last two weeks. I've discovered that he loves to fold laundry with me! I lay him on a blanket on the ground and dump all of the warm clean laundry all around and over him. He loves feeling all of the textures and seeing all of the colors. Then I sit right beside him and we talk. What's not to like? He especially loves the folded socks - he holds them in his hands like a ball and sucks on them. Classic.

Isaac is developing a new talent - bubble blowing.
He loves bath time! Jeremy gives him a bath every night and then I wrap him up in the towel and cuddle him before getting him dressed in his warm pajamas. Happy family moments. :)

Isaac is almost always content when he is sitting on my lap. He loves to sit there and watch everything going on.

And this week he has found his thumb! He loves it!

And he is developing a weird new talent for balancing things on his head. Check out that drool. Go Isaac!

We sure love this kid and all of the random happy moments that he brings into our lives.

A Pedicure and...

...the BEST Husband EVER!!!

One of my favorite things in the entire world is getting a pedicure. It is the most relaxing and luxurious feeling to have your feet massaged, soaked, lotioned, and pampered. It makes me feel beautiful and calm to have clean, soft, relaxed feet. Anyway, I've only gotten a handful of pedicures in my life so it is indeed a luxury - not a common occurence. But this last Sunday evening, after we put Isaac to sleep - Jeremy surprised me by offering to give me a pedicure! He used to do that for me every so often during our first year of marriage... but it had definitely been a while. I was so touched that he thought of doing that for me! He soaked and scrubbed and lotioned and massaged my poor little feet. And it felt heavenly!!!

The best part was the feeling of being pampered. I just sat back in the chair and closed my eyes and .... relaxed. Ahhhhh..... it was wonderful. I just had to share with all of you that I am just about the luckiest woman alive.

THANK YOU JEREMY!!!!

The Jumper

It is so fun to watch your child explore, learn, and discover. Isaac's journey with the jumper has been particulary entertaining. I first put him in the jumper the day that he turned 4 months old. He did nothing. He just sat there and stared at me. What a cutie!

I decided to give the jumper another try two weeks later... and I got a VERY different result. He LOVED it! At first he would just twirl around. Then he would act surprised when he accidentally touched his feet to the ground and his body moved. Then he went at it full force and started jumping, swinging, and smiling. He got so into it that we had a few near accidents with the molding on the door frame. Being the innovative and overly paranoid mother that I am, I quickly improvised by putting pillows on both sides of the jumper to protect him. He caught on really quickly to that idea, and started jumping and swinging his entire body weight straight INTO the pillows. He would do it over and over again (smiling all the time) until the pillow fell down from it's post - defeated. It was so fun to watch! But unfortunately, I couldn't really leave his side while he played in this jumper.... so we decided to get him a safe free standing jumper to hang out in while I get stuff done.

And here is the debut of his new jumper. He is still getting the hang of jumping in it, but he loves all of the toys on it.

I love the way that Isaac intently studies new things. He really looks interested and like he is trying to figure it out. I love that about him!

Anyway, thank goodness for little toys and gadgets like this jumper. It keeps Isaac entertained while I unload the dishwasher, work on dinner, or just eat lunch. Yea for a happy baby and a happy mom!

Saying Good-bye to Fall

We had the most relaxing Saturday. It was lovely. One of those days that you just want to savor and that you wish could continue on forever. Jeremy was able to hang out with Isaac and I all day - which is a rare treat. It's not that he didn't have other things that he should have been doing.... we just decided to completely ignore those things and take a break. We got to enjoy quality family time. It was wonderful!! In fact... Jeremy and I each got to take a NAP. Wow. It really was a great day. :)
In the early evening we decided to enjoy the nice weather (chilly, but sunny) and go for a walk. On the walk, we just couldn't resist an opportunity to play in the leaves and (of course) take some fun pictures.