Dennison Thanksgiving...

Well we are on the last and final day of the long Thanksgiving Weekend (why are they never long enough??). We enjoyed a wonderful Dennison Thanksgiving here in Boston. Charlie's parents and sister flew in on Thanksgiving Day to spend the weekend with us which was wonderful! We actually had a delayed Turkey Dinner, we cooked on Friday so everyone could relax once they got in on Thursday. I really enjoy cooking Thanksgiving dinner for some reason, I think it is because it is all of my favorite foods. Lots of starch, how can you go wrong?? We unexpectedly ended up with 2 turkeys this year which was interesting. Charlie came home with a 20 lb turkey from work, which was very nice of his company to give him, but I of course had already gone to pick up our 14 lb-er that I had ordered (which was way too big for the 5 of us!). So we have the 14 lb in the freezer that we will cook at a later date (Boston friends, you may be called over to help us eat this one!), and we cooked the 20 lb one for the 5 of us. It is an understatement that we will be having turkey for a LONG LONG time, good thing both of us like it! We ate a great meal of turkey, mashed and sweet potatoes, stuffing, green beans, dill roll, cranberry chutney, etc, etc. Our friends Beth and Jim came over later in the evening to share dessert with us (we are starting a tradition of this, it is the 2nd year in a row:), yummy Pumpkin & Chocolate Pie and Creme de Menthe Brownies.

Audrey has enjoyed everyone visiting and has provided entertainment for most of the weekend for all of us. She doesn't get to see her Grammy, Grandpa & Aunt KK enough and got to spend some quality time with all of them. She thoroughly enjoyed playing with everyone, and would go up to the chosen family member and grab their hand to tell them it was their time to chase her around. Good thing there was 5 of us!

I had high hopes that she would enjoy the turkey dinner, her 1st real Thanksgiving (she slept thu last year) but those hopes were crushed very quickly. She sat in her high chair for a good 5 minutes or so and ate 1 piece of roll as you can see below. After that she was done, and got down to play. Little did we know that she would wake up Saturday with a 102 fever that she has had for the rest of the weekend. Very typical, her being sick when people are visiting or us being out of town. She's doing ok, and is in high spirits as we speak, but last night was a very long night with very little sleep to be had in the house.

Hopefully everyone had a wonderful weekend and got to spend some wonderful time with family and friends!

Chugging the only thing she ate all weekend, milk...

Looking like she is excited about the meal in front of her...

Eating her 1 and only bite of food, a dill roll... That's my girl...

Giving Thanks...

I was watching Noggin with Audrey on Sunday and they had this little blurb on giving thanks this week, which I thought was really neat (not that she understood but still). I realized maybe the adults need to be reminded to give thanks too, I certainly could use a reminder. And what better week to think about it then this one. I have so much to be thankful for in my life right now, most of which I take for granted on a daily basis. I have a wonderful, loving family, especially my wonderful husband and beautiful daughter. I am thankful to be spending the holidays with our family (Charlie's parents and sister are arriving tomorrow for the weekend, we can't wait!), we don't get to do that every year living so far away. I am blessed to be expecting our 2nd bundle of joy in May, and that so far they are happy and healthy. I have a great job, which is something to be extra thankful this year with all that is going with this economy. I have wonderful friends that are always there for me, most of which I don't get to see enough, but I love them all just the same. I could go on and on, but you get the gist. Hopefully everyone has a chance to sit down for a minute over the Thanksgiving Weekend to think about what they are thankful for in their life. Happy Turkey Day everyone!

Up-Up...

Audrey has been "talking" for awhile now, a few words here and there but mainly babble that only she can understand, which is extremely frustrating to Charlie and I. In the past week she has really started to say things that make sense, even if it is just repeating us when we say something, which has made a world of difference. Her latest is saying "Up-Up" when she wants up (yes, she says it twice, not just "Up"). We realized the other night that this is her first real word that she is using to get a point across which is kind of exciting (Charlie wanted me to add this to her baby book, but instead I am putting it on here which is just as good right?). Of course she has been using the phrase quite liberally. She runs up and yells "Up-Up" with arms up high and if I don't pick her up right that second we have issues. I thought she was saying this only when she wanted us to pick her up, but we realized the other night this is not the case. She says this whenever she is climbing up, like if she is climbing onto the couch, she says "Up-Up", like it is going to magically lift her up onto the couch. It's actually pretty funny.

Baby It's Cold Outside...

We had our first real cold weekend here in Boston. We have been super lucky with the fall weather around here, it has been gorgeous so I can't complain. Plus we have yet to get snow knock on wood. But this weekend was in the 20's with highs at 35, plus it was windy, brrrr...

We took Audrey Christmas shopping at the local outlet mall on Saturday which was the coldest day and in hindsight probably wasn't the smartest idea. She doesn't complain when she is cold though, she just sits there with a look on her face. We got a good chunk of our shopping done though so it was worth it right? We didn't leave the house on Sunday, or at least she didn't leave the house, which was good because it was warm, but bad by the end of the day because she was definitely going stir crazy. And I have to say driving me crazy, but that's her job right??

We did a mini "photo shoot" to try and get a photo for our Christmas cards this year. It went ok, but even with both of us trying to get her to look at the camera and smile we got 1 or 2 that may work out of the 50 or so I took. I won't unveil those pictures (don't worry, the grey leggings and striped socks aren't in them:) but I did get some cute and funny ones otherwise I thought I would share. She has a weird thing with socks and shoes as you can see below. She loves putting them on (and says "on on on" over and over until you put them on), but when she is inside or in the car she wants them off. My favorite is the look of, "I know I'm not supposed to be taking them off Mom, but I'm doing it anyways"...

And btw, she picks out her socks every morning, and if these stripped socks are clean and in her basket, they are the winners. She loves them. I love them too (they are a wonderful Christmas gift from my BFF Jaime and her mom & sister from last year) but it is funny because they are on the too small side and they don't exactly match everything... Could be worse right?

17 Months...

As I look at the calendar, today Audrey turns 17 months old. Not a milestone by any means, but I thought I would share an update on what she is up to now...

The girl has quite the personality. She makes it quite clear what she wants and makes it quite clear how mad she is at you if you don't give what that thing is (right now it is making her come inside at night, she would stay outside all night if we let her!). I try not to give in, but I'm not very good at it. Charlie is proving to be much stronger with her in that respect. She is as vocal as ever, but is certainly not constantly saying real words. She will repeat you when you say things, and has a handful of things she says on her own, some real, some made up, but we get it just the same. She loves running around in circles in the house, especially when she has something she knows she shouldn't and sees us coming after her. She is proving to have inherited my klutzy genes and falls quite often, but it doesn't seem to phase her at all. It is pretty funny when she is just walking and all of the sudden she falls, over nothing, then gets right back up and continues on her way. We just got her her 1st baby doll, a Bitty Baby, that she LOVES. She calls is BA-BA (who knows) and walks around everywhere with it. Her appetite is not great as of late, but she eats ok. Her favorites are edamame and candy right now (the later which she isn't aloud to have and causes the above temper tantrums).

I am starting to try and figure out what I am going to do with her this winter. She is so full of energy that there is no way she can stay in the house. I am thinking about signing her up for either a Gymboree class or a tumbling class at the YMCA (thanks Nicole for the great idea!), I haven't decided which one yet. I am frustrated at the offerings of classes for her age that are NOT during the week. As much as I would love to go to an art class on a Tuesday at 9 a.m. I can't and the options on Saturdays seem to be very few... (I couldn't be the only working mom out there wanting their toddler to be in a class could I???)

Fun in the Leaves...

Audrey discovered leaf piles on Sunday which was pretty funny. We were playing outside and I decided to make a pile and see if she would jump in it. I had to show her what to do a couple of times, but once she got the concept, she loved it! She ran in full speed screaming, pretty funny. She also could barely walk in the pile which was amusing to watch by itself.

On a side note, we still have 80% of the leaves on our trees, and if you have ever seen our yard you know that is a lot. So there will be plenty of leaf piles to come, stay tuned...

Get Out and Vote...

I went and voted this morning before dropping Audrey off at Nancy's, and I forgot what an awesome feeling it is once you are done. It's funny, because it is such an antiquated system, filling in a bubble sheet (that is really not that easy to read) with a pen and feeding it thru a machine. But none the less, after you do it you feel like you actually contributed to something. I've voted several times before, but you don't need me to tell you that this election has so much more riding on it then any I have ever been a part of.

So get out an vote everyone! I don't care who you vote for (ok, that is a big lie, do you really want hockey mom having a chance of running this country???) just do it.

Now I wait patiently to see the results and the direction in which the country will be going in. I have my fingers crossed that it will be the left direction...

Trick or Treat...

So Audrey successfully completed her 1st attempt at Trick or Treating, in a costume none the less. We weren't sure if she was going to wear a costume, let alone go up to strangers door but she did both. She seemed happy to be in her Michigan Cheerleader outfit. I couldn't convince her (or Charlie for that matter) to carry the pom poms but thats ok, she still looked cute. The best part is she HAD to wear her pink shoes that Grammy got her, while she has navy AND white shoes that would have matched the outfit perfectly. Grammy will be happy with this news I am sure, I feel like she is too young to have an opinion on shoes but I digress...

Charlie took her out while I manned the house to give our candy. They made several stops back home so I got lots of updates. Audrey had a rough start, with the man giving out candy at the first house scaring the crap out of her (I guess she backed up on the porch and knocked off some stuff, oops). She cried at a couple houses, but came back home to refuel, eat a Kit Kat, get her glow stick wand from Grandma Lutz and head back out. This time she had much more luck. Charlie said she walked right up and took the candy with no problem, perhaps more then 1 piece at a couple of houses. They ran into all the neighbors which is fun too, though Audrey didn't recognize any of the older kids in costume. They came home and Audrey answered the door with me for awhile and got a kick out of that. She also has turned out to have her fathers sweet tooth and LOVED all the candy and ate as much as I would let her.

All in all it was a fun evening enjoyed by all. Hope everyone had a great Halloween!

Here she is, enjoying the fruits of her labor, a tastey Kit Kat...