Thanksgiving morning I pull out my old box of dolls and doll clothes for Bella. She has a few dolls of her own and I thought she might like to try some of my old doll clothes for her babies. After a brief introduction to the old gals, Bella is in love with her new babies. She especially liked the girls whose eyes open and shut. Believe it or not...3 girls out of the following two pictures are with us today (okay, one may be ~20 years older and no longer blonde) in addition to a couple of other old favorites who didn't make it to either of these parties. Pics are courtesy of Nana.

The purpose of this reference is not so you can wonder where to get any one of these three gorgeous carpets but so that you can see the humor I found in the video of Bella. (of course, I had a couple of years on her in these pics...it takes time to get the right seating group down)

Daddy is a little frightened at the thought of two Type As under one roof. For his sake, I hope baby brother or sister are lay back fancy free types.

Nevermind what we are wearing (or not wearing). This was her doing actually - pjs with shoes and no pants.

I saw her start to line up the dolls and I knew where it was headed. Who knows, maybe all little girls do this with their dolls?

If nothing else, you get to hear the sweetest "Happy Thanksgiving".

Bella's First Thanksgiving

Our angel had a great first Thanksgiving. It was just the three of us and we took our time and enjoyed every minute. Bella got to participate and she really enjoys working in the kitchen.

We baked the pumpkin bread pudding last night. She loves anything that has to do with the mixer and spatula.

Daddy shows off his artistic talent again.

Bella is a very orderly child. She will ask to have her hands washed mid meal or likes to have a napkin near by to wipe up anything that gets on the table while she eats. She isn't much for a mess when it comes to food. I wasn't sure what she would think of mixing with her hands. After she got used to it, she thought it was pretty fun. Of course, she insisted washing up immediately. Where did she pick this habit up?

Daddy's favorite bakers!

After all of our prep work, our fabulous feast comes together.



What's this? No bib, a cloth napkin, a real fork and plate? I get to wear my favorite Snoopy t-shirt? This is the best holiday ever.

Are you sure, Mommy?

She saw us put our napkins on our lap and she had to put hers on her lap as well. At the end of the meal she wanted to give Maxie and JoJo a bite of turkey. They were asleep under the table but they perked up to have a bite of turkey.

Bella's favorites were the turkey and the scoop of ice cream that I gave her with her pumpkin bread pudding.

We hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. We could not be more thankful for our beautiful family. It is hard to imagine that it is possible we could be a family of four next Thanksgiving.

Newspaper Boats

If you have ever read "Curious George Rides A Bike" by H. A. Rey, you may recall that George uses a bag of newspapers to make boats to sail down a river. Well, the book gives directions on how to make said boats. I heard Daddy and Bella reading the book from the next room and before I knew it...

...Bella and Daddy had made a "nu-paper boat".

Say Cheese Biscuits!

November is National Adoption Awareness Month. National Adoption Day is typically celebrated on the Saturday before Thanksgiving. This year, due to the anniversary of JFK's assassination, it is being celebrated Saturday, November 15th.

Coast to coast, county courthouses celebrate National Adoption Day by finalizing record number of foster care adoptions as well as celebrating completed adoptions from the past years. It is also a time to raise awareness about foster care and adoption of beautiful children all over the world.

To our fellow APs and PAPs, Happy Adoption Day!

I am sorry to say it appears to be the end of the road for the infamous Whooville jacket. The jacket style continues but I am not crazy about the options for this season so we are on the look out for the perfect winter jacket.

Beautiful Day

I hope our buddy Colton doesn't mind...but there couldn't be a sweeter picture out there to represent our feelings late last night and today. We are so very proud of both our country and our state.

History in the Making

We are glued to the TV tonight - between tears and wanting to throw up (okay - maybe just Mommy feels like this)!! GO BABY GO

I thought I'd give a quick update from our camp....a sweet little conversation Daddy shared with me after Bella's bath tonight.

Bella: "bunny, bunny"
Translation - B wants to be dried off and wrapped in her pink bunny wrap

Bella: "mirror"
Translation - Little Miss wants to see herself in the mirror in her bunny wrap

Bella looks in the mirror and (all on her own) says: A B C D F G H 9 10 ocho (8 in espanol)

She has been getting close to saying 1-10 on her own in both english and spanish. She will say quite a string of the alphabet but loses interest part way through. Not a bad place to be as we turn 21 months tomorrow!

Our First Election Memories

One of us...sitting in our family room watching Reagan pound Mondale in 1984 on a 12" black and white TV. Thank God for color TV now or the state visuals would not be quite as effective.

The other...January 1977...watching the inauguration of Jimmy Carter on TV in elementary school and writing F O R D in large letters on some notebook paper from a green (wow, the memory) notebook and holding it up in protest.

We are a couple of real activists.

School Costume Parade

Olivia - Bella - Ava

Mmm...wonder who is the troublemaker in this BFF duo?

photos courtesy of Olivia's mom