Thank You!

Once again, I'm sitting here with a pile full of blogworthy stories and photos.  That's what happens when you wait a month to update right? Actually, the real reason is that I had the most wonderful Thanksgiving week!  I was showered each day with reminders of all the things I'm so thankful for--Jess and Nathan came up from Arizona, and Mom and Dad drove all the way from Virginia! So between those 4, Sydney, and then our usual party of 3--we had a full house for the whole week!  It went by way too quickly.  It was so nice to just hang out together, eating our weight in German chocolate and peanut M&M's.  Not only that, but Jake was surrounded by so many loving arms (sometimes a few to many--Jake gets a bit skiddish in large crowds), which was a great break for me--all in all just a wonderful vacation. I have tons of pictures I want to share, but I tried my hardest to narrow it down. Enjoy!

The night my parents arrived we went to Nathan's sisters wedding reception.  They had it in this greenhouse up in Sandy.  It was sooo beautiful! Jake cried for about the first 10 minutes there--too many people, too much noise.  He is a total lightweight--but with a little food in his belly and 20 minutes to adjust he did just fine!

Like I said before, Jacob is a total lightweight.  His main area of terror involves men.  With the exception of his dear old dad, he won't go near them.  I was a little worried about how he would do with his grandpa.  But my dad went nice and slow with him, no quick movements, and after about an hour Jake allowed himself to be picked up, and then discovered something wonderful about his Grandpa--Whiskers!!!  Jake loved tugging on his whiskers! This was the icebreaker, and it didn't take long for him to feel comfy and happy playing with grandpa. 

One afternoon we made a family outing that I had been looking forward to for months--yes, we went to see Twilight.  It was so fun! Us girls wore our Twilight gear, and I even dressed Jake in the twilight colors. (poor kid, if he had a say I'm sure he would've voted against that move--dressing up for a chick flick.  But hey, he's 7 months old, and most definitely has no say.)  I thought the movie was great, and you know the best part? My mother let me be selfish and enjoy the entire movie! She took care of Jake for the whole thing.  The whole week was truly a vacation for me.  Thanks mom!  (sidenote--what is it about grandmothers? my mom has an amazing way with Jake.  Even though he doesn't get to spend much time with her normally, I felt like he was just as happy and content with her as he is with me...and for my super-sensitive child, that's saying something!)

My mom and I always agree that Jake looks good enough to eat--after watching Twilight and becoming vampires, we decided to have a taste! :)

A lot of the week was spent around the house.  As for me, I did more relaxing than I've done since Jake was born.  It was so wonderful! Jake was passed around like a hot potato, and we used our famous Schindler teamwork to do just about everything.  (incase you were wondering, that basically means that my mom did about half the work, Jessica was right behind her, and sydney and I dragged our feet pitching in when necessary :)...it was great! thanks again mom!) It was lots of fun cooking thanksgiving dinner together too--the first time in years :)

Jake learned to crawl about a month ago, and has thrown himself into the business of standing and walking.  we have a lot of scary crash landings around here, but I'm learning that my son is a little tougher than I thought!

Wesley giving me love while I slave away at Thanksgiving dinner.

sydney--one serious turkey coma.

Nate and Jess showing off their baby bumps.  That's another thing--It was so fun to see Jessica with her cute lil belly.  And then we found out that Jake gets to have a little boy cousin to play with!!  Yet another thing to be grateful for this year :)

Jake enjoyed reading the Martha Stewart magazines with his Aunt Jessica--should I be worried? :)

This picture pretty much sums up Sydney's relationship with her brothers. 

On Black Friday, Jessica and Nathan were already gone, but the rest of us went to this opening celebration of the season in our little town of Salem.  It kind of reminded me of the festival on the movie Groundhog day.  There is this little pond in the middle of town, and they put a bunch of christmas trees on the water.  They lit it for the first time that night and along with our fellow citizens of Salem, we sang carols, drank hot cocoa, and even met Santa! Jake was a little unsure of the large bearded man, but was very excited about all the Christmas lights on the water.  It was such a fun and festive way to begin the season! 

Whew! another insanely long blog by Kristie.  Thanks for reading. I'll try to pace myself in the future and avoid these super long posts. Merry Christmas!