Thanksgiving #2

Traveling with kids is not #1 on my list of fun things to do. Shelby is not so bad, just give her the DVD player and she's pretty much good to go. Joey on the other hand just wants to be out and crawling or climbing, and of course is too young to understand why she can't. So we decided to try a night drive on the way down to Hattiesburg this time. It was great. Jeremy stayed up all night on Tuesday, helped watch the girls on Wednesday while I worked, and then when I got off at 2 he went to bed and slept until about 9:30. When he woke up we loaded the car, put the girls in, and left. It was great. They slept and we only had to stop one time. We rolled into Hattiesburg at about 7:15 am, just as the girls were waking up. I think it's definitely the way we'll do it from now on.

Thanksgiving was great, of course. Lots of good food and visiting with family. Shelby had a blast playing with Peyton and Brock (Thanks for being a good sport, Brock!). Joey loves everyone and is such a happy, easygoing baby (except in the car). And we loved getting to meet baby Leti.










We left Hattiesburg Saturday night and went to Bastrop to visit with Mamaw and Papaw Jordan and Daddypaw. Another great visit! Shelby loves to show off to her great grandparents and grandparents. She was doing her gymnastics in the hallway at the nursing home, showing how she can do splits and backbends. It was cute. Joey adores Mamaw, Papaw, and Daddypaw and was all smiles. I think Shelby messed with the camera because the settings kept changing, so I never did get a good picture of Daddypaw with the girls. Next time.





Tonight we got to spend a few hours with Kym and Randy (and Ripley and Orion!). They drove from Seattle and stopped through on their way to Hattiesburg. They are leaving for Germany soon, and will be there for a long time, so we were so happy to be able to see them! Good luck in Germany Colonel and Mrs. Jones! (Not sure if that is how you would properly address them. You get the point.)

Thanksgiving #1

Since we are going to be in Hattiesburg for Thanksgiving I wanted to have our own family Thanksgiving here. I made a turkey breast in the crockpot (This is the 3rd or 4th time I've done this. It's so easy and so yummy!), mashed potatoes and gravy, green bean casserole, rolls, and cranberry sauce. (Yes, that IS sparkling white grape juice in the glasses.)





I did not make sweet potato casserole. For one, I cannot stand the taste of sweet potatoes. And two, I had just made this for Jeremy's work party on Friday and dumped half of it in the oven.



I then spent 2 hours scrubbing the oven on Saturday, so I still had a bitter taste in my mouth.

I asked everyone during dinner what they were thankful for. Please note that at the end of my turn I said, "That's it". Obviously I am thankful for so much more, but I looked pretty rough, and I just wanted Jeremy to take the camera off of me.



Tonight for FHE we taught Shelby about Pilgrims and Indians and the first Thanksgiving. We have also been teaching her that she should thank Heavenly Father for everything. So now her prayers tend to be super long and we have to sometimes cut her off and get her to end the prayer. I love our little family and am so thankful for them. To cap off the post, here is some video of Joey learning to pull up on the stairs, and Shelby being crazy. Please excuse the boxes, I was putting up the fall decorations and getting the Christmas decorations out.

7 Months

Joey turned 7 months old last Sunday. I cannot believe what a big girl she already is. She has been army crawling since 5 months. She has been getting up on all fours for a little over a month now, and will rock back and forth, then take one or two "steps" before she gets back on her belly and army crawls some more. She really is pretty quick and I am going to have to put a baby gate at the top of the stairs soon.

Joey loves to give "fives". She will also clap on demand. I love when she claps! She get s huge, gummy smile on her face and looks at you for approval. So cute! She is also eating a lot more solid foods now. She really loves her fruit puffs, mainly I think because she can feed herself. Of the baby food she's had, she definitely loves the sweet corn casserole the best.



Joey can say "mama" and "dada" (though she still usually only says "mama" when she is upset), and when asked where one of us is, she will look around the room until she spots us and then she'll stop and smile.

Joey is not a great napper. On good days she will nap for about 30 minutes. On very rare occasions she will take an hour long nap. I know this is odd for a 7 month old. She should be taking at least two good naps during the day. But, she is not fussy, and she sleeps from 8 pm to 7:30-8 am every night, so I am fine with it.

Now that Joey is older and much more interactive, she and Shelby have been playing together a lot more. Joey LOVES Shelby. If she hears her in the other room she will start crawling towards her, and then she instantly gets a smile on her face when she finally sees her. Yesterday they played in here (the office) together for a good 2 hours. On the way to the grocery store last night, Shelby would just call out Joey's name and Joey would laugh and laugh. They did this over and over the entire way to the store. I can't wait til Joey is walking and talking and they can run around together, play dress up, have hot cocoa parties, etc.

Halloween

Usually I am so excited to post pictures after holidays, but I'm just not feeling it right now. I have been procrastinating posting Halloween pictures, I think, because things didn't quite turn out how I planned. I have been having an off month. Nothing I have made has turned out how it was supposed to. Crafts, meals, costume ideas, etc. - all epic fails.

For Halloween this year I thought we were going to be super cute- Shelby would be a monkey, Joey would be a banana, and Jeremy and I would be zookeepers. For the ward trunk or treat we were going to decorate the car like a cage at the zoo, with lots of foliage around it. When it came down to it, I ran out of time and didn't get anything needed to decorate the car. I ordered Joey's and Shelby's costumes online, and Joey's ended up being too small. It was one of those bunting style costumes. I bought the 0-6 month size (which was the only size this costume came in) and Joey's legs were completely scrunched in the bottom and the sleeves came to her elbows. I decided to make slits in the bottom and just pull her legs through. She hated it. The only time she didn't mind wearing it was at the trunk or treat when it got pretty chilly.

The week of Halloween I usually try to do "Halloween foods" every night. Well, it seemed like every dinner that week was super rushed, so nothing came out quite as it was supposed to. Mummy dogs were thrown together quickly, macaroni men fell flat, octo-dogs looked, well, not like they were supposed to.

All in all, we had a fun Halloween, just not how I had intended it to be. So, Shelby and Joey, when you read this in the future, please know that I tried!

The Pictures That Almost Never Were

About a month ago I received an invitation to a friend's baby shower back in New Orleans. Ordinarily I would have just sent a gift as a 16 hour round trip drive is kind of long just to attend a baby shower. However, around that same time I had also been looking for a photographer in our area to take some family pictures. I had been searching and searching and I was just not happy. You see, for over 3 years now I have been drooling over Becky's pictures. I love everything about the pictures she takes- the lighting, the way the colors pop, how she can capture candid moments and they are the best pictures in the world (unlike when normal people take candid shots and it ends up being pictures of people taking bites of food, or have their eyes closed). Anyway, all the photographers in our area charge at least triple the amount Becky charges, and their pictures are nowhere near as good. Back to the baby shower invitation- when I got the invitation, the wheels in my head started to turn. IF we didn't have a soccer game that weekend, and Becky was available for a session, THEN I could justify going down to New Orleans for the shower. So I quickly checked our soccer schedule- no game. I sent an email to Becky- available! Yay! I was so excited!

So, on the 22nd we headed out after work for New Orleans. We didn't get to our hotel until 3:30 in the morning. We then woke up really early to meet Jeremy's mom, sister, and nephew and walk around the Quarter. Beignets at Cafe De Monde, walking around Jackson Square, muffaletta from Central Grocery. Mmmm. Then it was off to get ready for the shower for me. As soon as I got back from the shower we left for our pictures. Here's where things got hairy.

First off, I don't know what Jeremy was thinking. I guess he had been away from New Orleans too long, but he decided to take the interstate to get to City Park. He actually Google Mapped it. Again, I don't know why. Long story short, Jeremy was wrong (hehe), and we had to take an exit to turn around and get back on the interstate going the opposite direction. Well...at the exit we took, there just happened to be some music festival going on. We were in the ghetto, hundreds of people in the street...we were moving at a snail's pace. I was getting more and more flustered. On top of that, because it was late afternoon and we were in the car so long, Shelby fell asleep. By the time we finally got to City Park, Shelby had been asleep long enough to really be in a deep sleep. Deep. She DID NOT want to be disturbed. For the first 30 minutes of the shoot, Jeremy and I were PLEADING with her to stop being grumpy and just cooperate. Becky was amazingly patient with us, and somehow managed to finally get Shelby to smile.

That was a crazy weekend- 27 hours in New Orleans. It was so worth it though when I saw our "sneak peek" of the pictures. I love them all and can't wait to see the rest. Becky- you are amazing and I am so grateful you were able to squeeze us in and were so patient with us. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!