Parades and Trees

A couple weekends ago, we got our Christmas spirit going by picking out our Christmas tree and going to watch a local Christmas parade. Both Hayden and Eliza had a blast at these two activities. Hayden thought every tree at the lot was perfect, except for the one white pine (you know the one with a more pine-like, feathery branch.) Eliza just liked running around like a crazy person amongst the trees.
We were actually trying for a smaller tree this year but somehow ended up with one that was slightly too TALL for our nine foot ceilings. We did manage to pick a gorgeous tree and the girls had fun decorating it!


And if you wonder why it's so hard for us to get anything done around the house (like cleaning, or projects), it's because when you have something to do, this happens... PILE ON!

Then in the afternoon, we attended the Parkwood Christmas parade. It's apparently being going strong for a number of years, but was new to me. A good example of the new stuff I'm learning about Durham now that I've returned to my hometown. We weren't sure what to expect, but it was great! All kinds of things to look at, lots of candy thrown for the girls which they had a blast scrambling around to pick up, nice weather and easy access. We're definitely going next year!

The sirens on the firetrucks at the beginning were a little loud for Eliza.

I just thought this was funny. Who knew drug dealers needed boats in Durham County?Waving at the parade participants.

High-fiving Wool E. Bull.An Arabian princess. Because of course there should be one in the parade.

Scrambling for candy. Their favorite part of the parade.More scrambling, with their stash pile in view. One lady even dumped a batch of candy directly into their pile!

One of the high school bands.

There was even an appearance by Santa at the end but my camera battery died. We really did have a great time and will definitely try to go next year! Come join us!

Oh, and if you're wondering what Molly's been up to, while we've been working on Christmas spirit, she's been....

staring contemplatively at her dangly toys.
testing out the bumbo. (she's still not quite ready)
snuggling with Momma

and playing with her hands. They are quite fascinating and taste delicious!

Thanksgiving and 3 months

Happy Turkey Day! We had a nice time celebrating ours, I hope you had a good one too. We kept it pretty low-key. Staying in town and just going over to Grandma and Popop's for dinner. More family from Grandma's side came, so we had a nice group at the table. Molly got to meet additional relatives, including Uncle Pret, Aunt Paula, Aunt Liz and cousins Vickie and Preston. (She'd already met Aunt Lydia earlier.)

Hayden and Eliza quickly charmed their extended family, getting Liz to read stories, getting hugs from Aunt Lydia, and playing in the basement with Vickie and Preston. I think it must have been the "fancy" clothes they wore (thanks Grammy for sending them!), which they were SO excited to get to wear. We'd been talking about them for days.

Even Molly had a special bib, but she wasn't impressed with the holiday as you can tell by her yawn.

Hayden's fancy skirt.
Technically taken before Thanksgiving but I didn't get a pic on the big day.

The food was delicious. A yummy turkey plus all the fixings - Parkerhouse rolls, green bean casserole, stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, gravy, fruit salad and cranberry sauce. Then chocolate bourbon pecan pie, pumpkin pie and pumpkin cheesecake bars for dessert. Yum! The girls didn't eat all that much - Eliza really enjoyed the cranberry sauce (the canned variety) and Hayden had an admirable 4 yr old challenge to the roll consumption contest, coming in at 3. (The record is 7). She might have pushed to 4 but she stopped when I asked her if she still had room for pie. Molly didn't eat anything, she was too busy napping on Jason's shoulder. The baby handicap was only slight - he couldn't manage a second helping of mashed potatoes, but that was about it.

Family and Food.

Hayden listening very attentively to Vickie and Preston's conversation about something. She LOVED cousin Vickie, and Vickie did great with her little cousins.

Eliza enjoying dinner. This big grin with a squinty eye is her current smile phase.

Snuggles with Popop after dinner.

We actually ended up spending the night at Grandma and Popop's, to make it feel like a real holiday. Then we had a lovely lazy day after Thanksgiving, with lots of grandparent playtime, naps and general relaxing. We also snuck in some shopping - Jason did a lot all over and I hit one store for some great deals.

Cooing and chatting with Grandma.

Aha! I finally caught your smile on camera. Thanks for the help Grandma!

After naptime snuggles with Popop.
Even Hayden took a nap so it must have been a good day for snoozing!

Eliza 'feeding' her baby. Guess what she sees me doing all the time?! :)

Reading/singing "I want a hippopotamus for Christmas" for the umpteenth time. Luckily it's the beginning of the holiday season, so we all chimed in, each and every time!

We even managed a family photo before heading home in the evening. Notice that Eliza has changed back into her fancy dress. Because she could. :) Happy Thanksgiving!


And then, after the weekend was over, Molly turned 3 months old! So I took lots of pictures!

First, fully clothed, with her sign and a smile.

But she spit up so she got stripped down to her onesie. And since it was an awesome tie-dyed Ben and Jerry's onesie, of course we needed more pictures.

Then the onesie was wet too, so she got stripped down to the diaper. And she looks cute in a diaper. (Doesn't she fill it out better than her one month picture?! I think it's the next size up too!)

And naked pics are always cute, so let's take some more.

Then we had to change your diaper anyway, so now it's a different diaper. And still cute. So just one more picture. Now we're done. (I didn't even post all the ones I took.)

Happy 3 months birthday, Molly!

Blizz's Big Day

11-11-11. For some, it's Veteran's Day. Or just a really cool date. But for us, it was Blizzard's (honorary) 10th birthday. Blizz has kind of slid down the family totem pole over the last few years, as we added each little baby; but she was our FIRST baby and we love her very much.

She has been quite the trooper as we disappear for a few days and then bring home this little tiny crying bundle who takes up residence in her house, and causes us to minimize her walks and occasionally forget to feed her. (yes, there was one time recently when I went to feed her dinner, only to realize there was literally NO dogfood in the house. She got fed treats for dinner and we bought food the very next morning!) But she has been very sweet with the girls, always keeping an eye on them, coming to us when they cry too much, acting as the "fun police" when there's too much giggling, and cleaning up after them when they started solids. She is a wonderful dog!

So to celebrate her 10th birthday, we made her special dog treats. The girls had a great time - the dough was awesome for kids to work with - and they turned out great. We even decorated some of them with icing and bacon sprinkles! Blizzard approved since she has gobbled up every one we gave her.

We invited Grandma, Popop and Dooley over for a celebratory dinner. We ate hot dogs in her honor. The dogs got regular dog food, with some leftover bacon sprinkles. Then they each got a frosty paws dog ice cream cup. Dooley "won" - meaning she finished hers first, despite an early 'party foul' of knocking her ice cream out of reach under a dining room chair. A bit of licking acrobatics and she had the cup back within regular tongue reach.



Then the dogs both got a big cookie too. We even sang her happy birthday! Happy Birthday to Blizzard!

Blizzard today, on her 10th birthday!

Look how she's changed. This is the earliest digital pic I could find easily - when she was around 3 years old I think.

Random Bonus Story: While taking pics for Blizzard's birthday, I also captured current Molly moment. She LOVES to look at fans and light fixtures. If she catches one in her sights, and then you move her around on your shoulders or something, she will try to follow it with her eyes. (She is starting to follow our faces too, but fans/lights are way more fascinating!) Jason was bouncing her and she caught sight of the fan, and STARED at it. So funny.

Pumpkins and Halloween

So I meant to break this post up into different posts. One about pumpkins, one about Halloween related activities, one about Halloween. But seeing as how it's already 10 days past Halloween, we'll just put it all together. I swear, at some point, life will simplify a bit, and I'll be able to do better, less chaotic posts. But not today. As I sit here with my left leg propped up because I had arthroscopic knee surgery yesterday, enjoying a bit of quiet time as Jason has all the girls out for a bike riding play date, I will just frantically throw up some pictures from Halloween and pumpkins. Here goes:

We did a lot of pumpkin and Halloween related things in October. You already saw when we went to the corn maze with visiting cousins. We also went to a pumpkin patch to get some pumpkins. We found some good ones! And I got to take some of my favorite photos - kids and pumpkins!

out in the field

searching the pumpkin corral

I want this one! It's heavy!

Who's that cute pumpkin, looking all coy?

A baby pumpkin - my favorite! :)

We also attended various Halloween events - like Trunk or Treat at our church, and the Halloween festival at our pool.

eating cupcakes won at the cake walk at church. Hayden won the very first go round and Eliza won on the second!

Those cupcakes were mighty purple.

We got to go on a "hayride" around our neighborhood at the community festival. Funny to sit on haybales and ride down neighborhood streets!

Hayden LOVED the giant bouncy slide at the festival and went down it many times.

Eliza needed some help from Daddy to try it out. But they all had fun!

Then we did some activities close to home. Like dress Molly up in silly Halloween outfits, and carve our giant pumpkin.

Halloween ballerina! (She's playing Sleeping Beauty.)

our giant pumpkin.

Hayden helping pose Molly with giant pumpkin.
I had visions of cute baby laying on top of huge pumpkin. This did not work out well. She couldn't be put on the pumpkin safely, so Hayden tried to help and then Molly spit up on the pumpkin.

Molly helped to supervise the evisceration of the pumpkin. The seeds were huge - I didn't even bother to try to save them to roast them, because they looked much too big and tough.

Carving the beast.

Then of course, there was Halloween night. Mom and Dad came over to see costumes, help distribute candy and go trick or treating. Hayden loved trick-or-treating; after the first house, she was ready to run from house to house. Until she got tired and said her bucket was too heavy! Eliza was more hesitant and hated having her costume pulled up on her head. They went as Glinda the Good Witch and a Dragon, but they were often pigeon holed into princess and dinosaur. Regardless, they got a good haul of candy and had fun.

our little lady bug.

The dragon and Glinda before heading out.

such a cute good witch!

This is how the ladybug spent most of Halloween night. Grandma graciously offered to stay behind to hand out candy and snuggle.

ringing the doorbell at our neighbor's house.

All in all we had a lovely Halloween. If you need any candy, let me know, because we have lots and we definitely don't need to eat it all! I don't know why giving them a small size candy bar seems so much worse then giving them a homemade cookie or cupcake! Luckily both of them seem to enjoy the lollipops the best so maybe we'll just hide the rest.

Happy Halloween!