Merry Christmas!

Christmas-y Visit

Had a great visit with Janice, Jane and Judy the other weekend, seen here snuggling with Helen. We had so much fun hanging out with them!

We made christmas cookies (lots and lots with Aunt Judy!)
We went to the Arch and went up!
J&J at said arch - cool pic!
H at the arch.
M&H looking out of the tiny windows at the top of the arch.
J&H coloring
J&H hangin'

Fab-u-lous Thanksgiving!!

Happy belated Turkey Day! We were so happy to share ours with Sarah, Jim and Savannah - what a great visit we had!! Here S and H are posing in the TJs Thanksgiving scene before we did some holiday food shopping. :-)
S and H had such a great time together! What fun was had jumping up and down on Helen's new big bed and running after each other through the house!
Getting ready to go see the Christmas lights at a nearby park. The lights were so cool and it was nice and chilly outside.
Thanksgiving day was pretty nice - we got to play outside and kick some balls around before serious cooking ensued by S&J - we were so lucky to be treated to an awesome prime rib dinner in-house thanks to the traveling chefs!
After T dinner and hours of play-dough fun at the table, the dining room needed a quick sweep.
The little yellow dust buster was a big hit.
The dads took the kids to the butterfly house, but it didn't go over too well. The park and nearby carousel did though, so it wasn't a total bust.
This park has a carousel inside that is really nice and is only $1 to ride, AND the parents can ride too - how cool is that?
Snuggling on the couch, watching Rudolph. The weather was so chilly that we couldn't help but get a little ahead of ourselves.
I think Savannah really bonded with Chester.
We went back to the butterfly house on Saturday - H still not that interested, but I thought it was super neat!
Did I mention that it's getting chilly? Dora snuggies are the best (especially when you find them on clearance at ToysRUs for $5 the spring before - woo woo!). D and I each have one too that I found at Walgreens on clearance last spring - we are all set for this winter in our new town.

Halloween (meet the latest debutant)

Here are some pictures from Halloween a few nights ago. Helen went as princess/southern belle/debutant. Her dress was the frilliest one I saw all night.
Home with the loot. Not a bad take!
Best. Day. Ever.
Went trick-or-treating with cutie-pie Maggie, fellow princess and neighbor!
Front view
Back view

Halloween parade at school
Clean pumpkin slate (D later turned it into a world pumpkin - turned out pretty good!)

Fall Update

Here are a few photos to catch up the past month or so. It's weird, the camera is no longer constantly in our back pocket now that Helen is 3 - I think it's because she's not changing so fast, but I also like to think it's because we enjoy "living in the moment" and we don't have to capture everything. At least, that's what I tell myself.

I couldn't find the camera last weekend during a G&G visit (I looked in all the usual places a couple times and came to the conclusion D took it on his trip). The day after my parents left, I opened a drawer and found it immediately -argh!! I took some photos on my ipod and darned if I can figure out how to transfer them and make them photos that anyone can view (I downloaded them, but no idea what format they're in, not being an apple kind of person - double argh!). Anyway - here are some photos from as soon as today (the ones right below - gorgeous, warm weekend here) to as far back as mid September (same time as dancing H video).
Found a fall fun place in the country to ride a horse for 2 minutes and other very fun things including hay rides, corn mazes, hay bales and corn bins, drum/cow train rides (old white plastic drums cut out and made to look like a cow, I hope the drums held things like milk and such, not herbicides and pesticides - see below - she went on it 3 times all by herself!).

Couple weeks ago - morning of her first official "pre-ballet" class at school


H enjoys photographing things, including Chester (above and below courtesy of H)
A few weeks ago, we finally went to Cahokia Mounds in IL. Totally cool place in the middle of a far reaching suburb. Apparently, it was the a huge city (for its time), even bigger than London was during the same timeframe (I read it on a plaque, but cannot remember the date - after 1000 AD I think, but before 1400 AD?? but not entirely sure and too lazy to look it up on google....).
On top of the biggest mound.


H shot at the Brentwood carnival
H and I went on a swing ride at the Brentwood Carnival. Very fun!!
Happy fall! The weather here is awesome in fall - yeah!!