Thanksgiving Weekend

So far my weekend has been really nice. Relaxing.

I've gotten to spend some quality time with my wonderful family.

We had some good eats.... LOTS of turkey... for some reason we bought a 27 lb turkey for the 5 of us... but that's ok... so far we've had a delicious turkey pot pie and turkey tetrazzini with the leftovers.

We've watched some football and plenty of Manny the Mammoth.



We looked through the black friday ads and did a little shopping...



I got a few new outfits for Maria and she is such a girl... wanting to try everything on and keep it on. She got these adorable boots, but it's really hard for her to get up after she falls... I can't help but laugh!!

Speaking of Maria dressing up.... she really likes my shoes... today she got me to put her feet into these ones (she couldn't do it by herself) and then she just trotted around as happy as ever...



We had a chocolate making marathon. We probably dipped over 1000 chocolates! I've tried the truffle, vanilla pecan, mint, neapolitan, and coconut.... but there's still raspberry, orange chocolate truffle, maple walnut, and strawberry.

It's been wonderful so far... I'm so thankful for my wonderful husband that makes me smile so much, for my amazing daughter that keeps the laughs coming, for my parents who've put up with us for almost 2 years, and for the rest of my family for loving me. I'm thankful for my friends (even if we don't talk much). I'm thankful for the gospel in my life and the perspective that it gives me. I'm so thankful for the millions of blessings, big and small, that I've had this past year.

swings & storms

We went to the park today between hailstorms...

This little stinker could have enjoyed herself on the swings for hours!

Marco's Salad

sliced cabbage
diced tomato

Yup, that's it. Put some cabbage on your plate and top it with some tomato.

The standard dressing is a Mustard-Mayo Dressing:

1/2 cup Mayo
1-2 Tbsp Mustard
Water

Combine mustard and mayo. Thin a little with water.

Nana, we let the chickens out...

but don't worry they all made it back in safetly.

Dear Nana-

We hope you're having fun in Belize. We're excited for you (both) to come back home, we miss you, and your chickens miss you too.

Maria and I went outside to see the chickens this afternoon to check up on them. We gave them some chicken scratch and checked to make sure they had enough food.... I didn't check the water, but it's been raining enough that they probably have sufficient.

Well... I checked the food from outside the pen, and it didn't look like there was much left.... so I went inside the house and put on your shoes.

I opened up the gate and let the chickens loose. Maria was thrilled...



I wasn't so thrilled, because as soon as I opened the door one of the little buggers ran over my foot and got it all gross.



Well I filled up the food container while Maria chased the chickens around.



The big ones were brave and ventured out to the front.



The "babies" stayed near the house.



Maria enjoyed her chasing.



At one point she was helping me out by shutting the gate... what a thoughtful girl! (she also helped me wipe down her chair and the couch today... and then she continued on to clean the carpet)



Dad, I don't know what this goes to but she sure does enjoy walking back and forth on it.



I didn't notice that she had a pen in her hand until we went back inside... crazy little girl, I have no idea what she wanted a pen for. (ps. She might have made a pretty drawing for you in "Bears on Wheels".... I'm sorry. She is getting better at not eating the books, still not perfect, but better.)



.... and mom... I don't know if there is anything you can do, but your chicken coop is a little disgusting... and smelly... and mushy...



but since you have knee surgery 2 hours after you get back from Belize, maybe I'll de-stenchify it for you...



*I noticed how the majority of the pictures I'm getting of Maria now are of the back of her head... she's not too into smiling for the camera.

Holvander Park

This morning we woke up to sun... It's been such a long time since we've seen the sun that I got really excited and wanted to go outside and play. We got ready for the day and headed out to Holvander Park in Ferndale.

It was great. Maria LOVED the animals...



She kept pointing at them and yelling at us!



She also mimicked their sounds



These guys were a little freaky... they puffed up their feathers and then walked the edge of their pen like they were guards.



and then my battery died. We had fun though, we saw the geese and chickens, lots of birds, rabbits and goats. They didn't have any cows or pigs this time...

We'll have to go again on the next sunny day... with battery fully charged!!

Sunday

I nabbed a couple of pictures of my lil' stinker before church this morning....



crooked smile and everything.
Today we debuted the pigtails...



After church we were watching a little TV and the commercial for the Amazon Kindle (electronic reading device) came on, I was in the kitchen getting Maria an orange, she had followed me in, and as soon as she heard the music she ran back out to where she could see the TV and started dancing.... ah. I love my little doll!

Here's the commercial for those of you who don't know it:



Also, we were watching Ice Age this evening and you know the part where the baby starts crying because it's hungry, and then sid the slot changes the diaper.... well when the baby was crying, Maria started crying.... she's so sensitive!!

Cutie Pie.

Maria is seriously the cutest thing ever... I love hanging out with her every day.

Today we went to Fred Meyers and after checking out Maria said bye and did her princess wave to everyone the whole way out.

She has also started something totally adorable... she'll say something, I haven't quite caught it yet, but whatever she says means "hug" and then she gives you hugs. I LOVE it!!

I've got a little time on my hands...

I've been working on sending off emails of pictures I took during the Halloween party, and it takes FOREVER for them to load, so I've been perusing the internet.

I came across this article "Rob & Kristen's Newlywed Game" which I think is pretty hilarious! I thought this little excerpt was great:

Who's more competitive?
Kristen: "Rob. In a very childish way, in every aspect of his life. He'll literally start talking in a different voice if he's won something. He sounds like a five-year-old."
Rob: "I'd say it was even. She said me? Really? When I really win things, it's just like..." [Kristen is correct: He makes a noise like a five-year-old.]

I also like the "who's more athletic?" question... actually, i think most of them are pretty funny.

Notes Left Behind

Notes Left Behind.... it's the title of a book.

Check THIS out.


A little girl that died of brain cancer in 2007 left notes behind for her family.
She hid them all over the house for her family to find after she died...

They're publishing the book to help raise funds for cancer research.

I totally cried....not that I'm overly emotional or anything.