Thanksgiving: Round 1

The first phase of Thanksgiving is complete. Justin spent most of yesterday baking pies. Pictured here are two blackberry, two pumpkin, two cherry and two pudding pies. He also baked an apple and pecan pie and of course a cheesecake, for moi!

We celebrated Thanksgiving at my parents house last night. Aaron, Janis, Mary and Ellie were there in addition to my cousin Joanne and her husband Jim and my cousin Keith.

Here's Noah and one of his favorite girls, Mary. The three kids LOVE to play on the piano and Grandma Debbie is teaching Mary and Ellie. Actually, Mary is teaching herself a lot, she's getting quite good. That's something I regret is never learning piano. It's hard to practice when you live with your teacher!
Here's Grandma Debbie and Ellie reading before dinner.
Noah didn't eat too much for Thanksgiving dinner. He did, however, enjoy the jello salad (NOT a favorite of mine). Needless to say he was a big red mess by the end. I'm not sure if he'll do too much better today. We're having dinner at the Shoe's at 2:00 but we'll need to feed him lunch at 12 because otherwise he's so hungry he's not his happy little self.

Here we are trying to scrub the red jello off of the Noah's hands. His shirt is all red too, any one got any tips for getting that stain out?!!

After bath we threw him in his jammies. Here he is getting stuck in the chair. Poor baby kept climbing up on the chair and getting his head caught in the folding chair.
And here we are this morning having a pre-breakfast snack with Daddy. We'll watching the Macy's Day parade, Noah will take a nap and then we'll head over to the Shoemaker's.

We're playing poker tonight, so wish me luck!!

We hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving and gets to spend time with dear family and friends. HAPPY TURKEY DAY EVERYONE!

15 Month Check-up & Mommy's Little Helper

Noah had his 15 month check-up today. He weighs 23 lbs., 5 ozs., which puts him in the 25% for weight. His height however is in the 70%, measuring at 32 inches tall and his head has maintained it's size at 19 inches circumference, putting him at 79%. She's a bit concerned about his lack of vocabulary, but the physical therapist is going to go over that with us tomorrow. My mom claims I didn't talk until I was 3 years old (and haven't stopped since) so I'm not worried. (Well, maybe a little) He's been developing a lot with his motor skills so I think his talking has been "put on the back burner." They say babies can only work on one thing at a time.

So, I admit I am one of those obnoxious people that get their Christmas tree up early. However, this year is the earliest I have ever gotten it up. I usually start it a couple days before Thanksgiving so that by the time Thanksgiving break is over the tree is up with the lights on and ready to be decorated. Well, I already have the tree up and I just finished putting the lights on it tonight. Noah, of course, tried to help with the lights tonight. Needless to say the majority of the lights went on after he went to bed.

This is Justin's "artsy-fartsy" shot of Noah helping me with the lights.

Happy Belated Birthday Aunt Jackie!!!

Happy Birthday Aunt Jackie!

We hope that you had a wonderful day!!!

We miss you and we're sending lots of hugs your way!

We love you!

Christmas Pictures

I think Aaron, Janis and Justin will agree with me that getting three kids to smile at exactly the same time is next to impossible!! :) However, I think all things considered we got some cute pictures of Mary, Ellie and Noah all together. We also got a couple nice pictures of the girls together and some of Noah. We also tried a family shot of the three of us that we weren't happy with: poor Justin's head was chopped off. Anyways, here are our Christmas pictures!

Getting Back on the Blog-Saddle

I don't have any recent pictures to post as I am at school, stalling while I wait for 5th graders to arrive to practice for their upcoming concert.

I haven't been a good blogger lately. I've always thought of this blog as a way to share our good news about our family and I haven't been feeling like doing that lately. My dear Granny passed away on November 10th and it's been so hard to feel joyful. I miss her terribly. It was so hard to see her struggle the past few months and I know that she is in a better place now but it doesn't fill the void I feel without her. Monday was odd not taking dinner over to her house for her and my parents. Instead, we had my parents come to our house for dinner. The holidays will definitely be different. We have spent EVERY Christmas together since I was born. She's been my only grandparent since my grandpa Vogelsberg died in 1990, and I am her only granddaughter, my brother her only grandson. I really an appreciative that I had her in my life for 33+ years and am not looking forward to the holidays without her.

I want to thank every for their thoughts and prayers during this time, they have been very much appreciated.

Noah and his cousins are getting their holiday pictures taken tomorrow. We're going to try to get one of Noah, Justin and myself. I'll post them on Sunday as we're going to my friend Kari's for pizza on Saturday night. Her son, Finn, is about 5 months older than Noah. In addition to Finn, there will be another little one there named Hank. Noah, Hank and Finn were all in swim lessons together last summer. It will be great to see them and see how much they've grown. It will also be great to hang out with their parents!!!

Two Cute Pictures. . .

Here's Mr. "S-ghetti" face. He not only inherited his red, curly hair and dimple in his chin from my Gramps, but also his love of Italian food- especially Romano cheese!

This one can be seen two ways:

1. Noah is doing yoga and is in the downward dog position. If so, we could be going to family yoga with Auntie Jan soon!

or

2. He's practicing to be a lineman for the Broncos. If so, his Grandpa Tom, a former football coach, can give him pointers!

Look What We Did Saturday!

Played with Daddy. . . .
Played the piano. . .

Walked the mall!. . .

Still walking the mall . . . (and had to go into the sports store because a football game was on their t.v.!!!)

Read with Cousin Ellie. . . .

Played with Cousin Mary. . . .

Had dinner and game night with Aunt Janis & Uncle Aaron. . . .

Played with Uncle Aaron. . . (Noah loved it when Uncle Aaron would give him kisses on his forehead- I think Uncle Aaron's whiskers tickled him just so)
And crawled on all fours!!!!!

Go, Noah Go!!!! : )