Busy, Busy Times

November is a very busy month for us. We have three birthdays and Thanksgiving to celebrate. This year we had an actual birth which took lots of our energy, but we also celebrated Clare and Molly's birthdays with lots of festivities and food. Below are the photos and memories from those events.

Thanksgiving was wonderful. We were at home and my mom was here to cook and visit...a gift to all of us. We had a great meal and a relaxing day. When I was a kid Thanksgiving was my favorite holiday and I think it still is. It seems so uncluttered...just family and food, my two favorite things. That was what we had this year.

December, of course, is a whirlwind, too, with all of the Christmas preparations. Ours has been good. I am most thankful for the visits from my dad and sister who helped ease our transition into being a family of 5. I am also thankful for our health. We have yet to be sick this fall and with a newborn that is such a blessing.

This Christmas we will be at home just the 5 of us. It will be different, especially for Tad and I who have spent years packing our car and watching the pass report to find the best travel days and then touring Spokane for food and presents. I am sure it will be a good different and the girls are so excited to have Santa come to their house.

To ease our snow withdrawal, we are planning a visit to Spokane to celebrate the new year and introduce Gretchen to Eastern Washington. I am sure she will love it there....who wouldn't :).

We hope your holidays are peaceful and merry. See you in 2010.

Clare is 5!

Clare's birthday was a 4 day affair. It began with cookies for her classmates at school on Thursday and ended with a Little Gym party with her friends on Sunday. In between we had a couple of family dinners with cake and ice cream. Nana, Grandma, Grandpa and Uncle Korey were all here to help celebrate (and to meet Gretchen). Clare's gift from us was a big girl bike. Tad did all the fatherly things...he assembled the bike and then went out the next day in the rain several times to walk with Clare as she rode around the block.

I can't really believe she is five...next year she will go to real kindergarten...it really does go so fast.

Molly turns 2!

Molly had a great birthday....we went to a party at the bowling alley for our friend Connor's 7th birthday, so we saw all of our friends and then came home to have cake and ice cream and presents. Clare helped Molly with the finer points of being the birthday girl and they blew out the candles several times. They would blow them out and have Tad light them again and again. It was very fun.